Reviews

May 20, 2021
This series is the greatest disappointment I've seen up to this point, and I mean that as a compliment.

Throughout the first half, it functions well as a survival story involving kids by providing adequate tension, the right tone, and likable characters. You'll get bonus enjoyment out of this if you, like me, actually enjoyed reading Robinson Crusoe throughout all the building activities because you like following the steady progress. Despite supposedly being a kids' show, the most kid-ish aspect of this is that most of the characters are emotionally mature and get along well. If this was a live-action series for adults, you'd have the characters start bickering each other for the sake of drama from Day 1. Instead, the writers opt to concentrate all the unlikability and instigating duties in Howard, which makes him especially hate-able for most of the show for the benefit of keeping all the other characters pristine. Other than that, the obstacles that the characters face are presented with an adequate amount of difficulty and complexity for both kid and adult viewers.

On top of the survival storyline backbone, the characters are drawn well enough figuratively and literally to evoke audience sympathy and a genuine sense of comradery. The tasteful character designs help vitalize the archetypal frameworks that the characters are written from and endear you to their simplicity. Though the characters are archetypal on paper, the writing is moderate enough not to exaggerate their archetypal qualities. In addition, while having a strong plot lessens the need for interesting personalities, the combination of the art style, lack of cringe, and general tone of the show lend it an coating of authenticity that makes the characters work and even shine.

Thus, when the show does focus on the pasts and development of individual characters, they are able to rise above their archetypes and become three dimensional and sympathetic. The character development isn't major; it's more like little adjustments that round them out--- in this important aspect, the series is rather mature in its subtlety. Besides the individual developments, there is also the natural progression of the group as a team and as friends as they brave the forces of nature together. This is one of the few times in anime that the power of friendship actually works, because it's shown rather than told.

All this is helped by the fantastic soundtrack, which is NOT generic music from a cheap visual novel as Gundroog says. However, over the course of 52 episodes it is stretched thin and the main pieces are overused, even if they're good enough that you won't get sick of them.

Now for the issues. There aren't many issues throughout the first half if you personally didn't notice any copouts to the obstacles. While it is true there are some conveniences that save the protagonists, it was not enough to scratch the tension and enjoyment for me. On the other hand, around episode 20 they introduced a character that did nothing for the show but serve as dead weight and a vehicle for the writers' message, though it's not a major issue. Later, the kid-friendly nature of the show would rear its head and for the first time truly disrupt the show because the kids would refuse to use lethal force against lethal threats. But most of those instances were concentrated in one episode.

By far, the glaring problem with this series that made it fall flat on its face occurs in the last twenty episodes, wherein the show jumps the shark. Firstly, these episodes add nothing to the show because the character arcs were already complete and the power of friendship was already shown quite well. Secondly, they actually damage what was already built by doing what half of all anime always seem to like to do: go for some preachy emotionally driven message making a generalization about humanity that oversimplifies the issues at hand and comes across as more stupid than inspiring because of the lack of common sense. There's "power of love translates to superpowers", there's "logical AI can't understand power of human emotion", there's "logical AI decides it's best to wipe out humanity", there's "save the planet at all costs", there's "kill characters off just to bring them back for dramatic effect", and there's "power of friendship to bring back mind controlled friends" all rolled into one. What was once a survival show becomes a save-the-planet show, which doesn't work because of the disparity between a group of powerless kids and the planet-level threat.

All in all, it's terrible. Which brings me to the whole point of this review: to advertise my alternate ending. Look, normally, if a show ends badly despite starting off well, I can pinpoint flaws and warning signs that were present throughout the entirety of the show, such that you can't only focus on the good parts. But here, there's such a stark disparity in quality between two halves of the show that I think it's totally appropriate to cut it in half. I highly recommend you watch the first half of the show and ignore the last 20 or so episodes unless you want it to spoil the show for you. Instead, I've edited episode 33 to make it the ending instead. I've uploaded all 33 episodes up until that point on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg1v2eEVwW-axOWmhF7RdDandgiDbrt16

But who am I to tell you how to watch a show, right? Maybe you won't find the second half (mainly the last 10 episodes) as intolerable as I did. Regardless, you'll still be attached to the characters enough by the end of it, so that central pillar is still there.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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