Reviews

Jan 27, 2021
The story of Icarus is the tale of a Greek tragedy, regarding a man who decided to fly too close to the deadly sun upon gaining literal wings of freedom. Just like Icarus, COTE as a stand-alone anime flies too close to the "we're definitely going to get a second season" area of anime - an area that certainly brings down the show's overall quality.

This show has got to be one of the biggest disappointments ever in literally very category I base a show by - plot, pace, character, music, art, and overall enjoyability. Some have claimed that the light novel version of this story is an experience far superior to the anime, so if you're a LN reader I express my apologies early.

Let's start with plot. The concept itself is something I really shouldn't spoil but involves similarities to shows like Danganronpa or Kakegurui, In terms of the execution however, COTE fails to deliver as high a level of intellectual quality as the former example (with expectations of "big brain plays" being completely flushed down the drain), or as unique a style as the latter.

If a story can't carry a plot, then it comes down to the characters; getting easily emotionally attached to or being well written in general are both ways to capture the audience's attention. Yet, neither are done as well as they should be when you realise that this was a show released in 2017 which lasted 13 episodes. Even if it was made with the intention of promoting the light novel, one look at the lack of character development, or the sheer audacity to portray the entirety of the female cast as clichéd and two-dimensional, makes you think twice.

To sum up the previous statement into more digestible terms, I hate every single character. COTE manages to portray the students of the academy as snobby and silver-spoon-fed brats to a shockingly realistic degree, but then proceed to change nearly nothing over the course of five hours. From my personal perspective, not only were these landfill wannabees tedious and tiresome to watch in interactions, but gave me a sense of annoyance running so deep that I wanted to physically gouge my eyeballs out every episode.

The main character gets a lot of praise for being unique compared to everybody else but, to be honest, what I thought was steady development was simply me thinking too much into who he was and how he spoke and acted.

The rest of the cast including the supporting members were even worse. Bland, uninteresting, unloveable, unmotivated, lacking substance, lacking depth, and lacking desirability. The one and only character I liked was pink hair model girl who was for all intents and purposes the most anime-cliché dandere. If I wanted to watch a shy girl squirm I would rather watch my cousin prepare for a speech - and I'd STILL be more invested in that.

The final nail in the coffin - the character were so disgustingly mediocre for me that I genuinely cannot remember a single one of their names.

There's nothing interesting about the OP in terms of the visuals since it's a blatant Assassination Classroom OP1 ripoff (understandable since it's the same animation studio, Lerche). The song itself is also pretty average - Caste Room by ZAQ certainly sets up a mood, but it just doesn't sit right with the entire basis of the show, especially after knowing what happens over its run time, The ED Beautiful Soldier by Minami is just pure wasted potential especially with the powerful singer that she is (a key example being the DomeKano OP).

Nothing particularly stunning with the art either. I can tell that a lot of the backgrounds seemed Pinterest quality at best, with the character designs all being pretty average too - black hair, large chest, blonde gyaru, nerdy glasses, sociable dude with blonde hair. It's almost as if they're desperately trying to steal from Oregairu and use these stereotypes again and again and again.

With an awfully below average level of well, everything, I simply couldn't find myself enjoying the series as I would have expected. Maybe it's because I'm the only one who feels like it's too pretentious, or maybe it's because I've played too many social deduction games to the point where sticking objects on walls just isn't a smart solution to problems anymore.

If you're into a moderate level of psychological drama and school-based settings, it wouldn't hurt to give the light novel a try instead of the dumpster fire experience requiem that the COTE anime has presented to me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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