True to its thriller and mystery genre, the show takes twist after twist, sprinkling a perfect amount of them, but never falling in the trap of having everything a twist, like many of its genre likes to do. The directions the show takes are surprising each time while logical in hindsight, and plenty episodes start off at random points and time periods, relying on you to slowly put the pieces together as it goes along. The story follows the two of them executing different missions in different points in time, each mission a mini thriller movie and each mission showcasing the different thrillers, with the goal of preventing the future war with AI. The show is episodic, arcs of 2-3 episodes then 5-10 year time skips in, creating an episodic feel, but using that fully to its advantage. Each mini-arc presents a whole new environment, a whole new world and point in time as the science of AI and the world is vastly different to the previous one. It brings a whole new environment with new variables, and new spice, creating each episodic encounter really feel like a whole new show. It’s a show that explores the growth of AI as its main concept, and uses the timeskips as a way to chart their progress and each mission does have consequence, not isolated incidents like Jojo pt3. None of the twists or what to expect is expected, and yet the show maintains its air of logic throughout. Despite each arc being highly engaging, the next one tops it, as the show explores the world and AI in such a unique format. The show is an action mystery thriller, and its obvious by how the story flows. The missions are all great in their own right, as they all maintain their variety also not two having the slightest similarity. The plot defiantly isn’t the most unique or out there concept, but it’s the execution that makes it work so well.
The vast majority of characters are AI robots, and yet the amount of development, and unique concepts tried are done extremely well. This is further amplified as the show constantly isn’t sticking it in your face trying to say that it is deep, something that some stories which I won’t name, try similar things creating inherent problems within. The show again while lacking with unique concepts, turns that into a strength especially with the idea behind AI, and their singular mission that they are to carry out. Within each time skip the AI are always a focus, and the show does what it can to flesh out and show how while they might have changed with certain functions, they really cannot change in full, as they simply are “AI”, created things by humans. Although that doesn’t stop the show from humanizing these robots in almost every possible, making you want to believe that they are no different than humans. The main character obviously is the one AI who refuses to believe that, and due to that is on a constant mission to prove otherwise, but luckily her moments in proving the opposite are few and far in between, as they almost fail in making it an interesting point but still keep it in the back of your mind. Her development as the robot who wants to be a human is done extremely well, but not just hers. The AI that she meets and the ones that she interact all receive development, but not as a result of her "shedding light and acting human" but because they are good characters, who develop throughout time, even if they are AI. As for the antagonistic characters, the show explores the good and bad of each side, each villain and obstacle credited with understandable motivations and goals. Not to say that every character is given a Naruto backstory, just that each gets small amounts of developments that explain their processes up to, and bring to light certain motivations weather good or bad. The antagonistic forces are perhaps just as interesting as the main characters, as their organization is one that we get to see change throughout the time skips,amounting to decent minor villains.
As for the main character duo, they are perfected in terms of goals, and dynamics. They share the same goal, but like every great foil depend on different methods, with the main character obviously choosing the perfectly moral path, and the futuristic AI choosing the objective and more likely to win path. Another nice subversion is how the main character’s perfectly moral methods do not always work, and sometimes it’s the Objective robots methods who work. They are perfect foils for one another, and not just their characters and goals, but their dynamics. Full of life, and plenty of funny moments, it’s the quintessential, “have to work together but don’t want to” and “wants to work together and annoys the other” movie and anime trope done extremely well. There’s comedy, moments of trust, and moments of annoyance, and they work extremely well in tandem.
The greatness of the show continues with the animation clearly that of Wit Studio, with animation that never ceases to amaze. Fluid and creative fights that utilize their environments, still and picture frames with detail on the extreme, animation of things that look less like animations and moving objects, (Squishy objects as one example), and colors and so many types of animation depending on how things are. The designs are given careful thought, both human and robot, and each fit their environments. The background frames are done well, and the animation is clean throughout, virtually no moments in which it makes you stop or criticize.
The show isn’t perfect, but why that it a standard or a need is completely baseless, as what it strives to be works plenty. It’s an thriller movie with more depth, and action movie with better action, an anime original with originality in execution. There are some of slow moments, cliché scenes and predicable outcomes, but media has been so overdone, its hard to find any show that is completely unique in everything, as, as soon as it has been done, others will do the same. At the moment however, this is pretty close to being completely unique and new, its only pitfall being the over-reliance on its finishing action scenes with Sakuya ending to each mini arc. Aside from that it’s a thriller show, and should be viewed as that, the character depth while done great only a secondary factor.
If there was one thing I regretted about watching the show, it was that I didn’t watch from the beginning. This series is best experienced weekly or with some space in between the episodes, as it is a thriller. However, the tension and mystery did not degrade upon binge watch, although it defiantly leaves you on the edge of you seat in certain episodes. If you are still reading this, give the show a watch, but beware of a slightly slow start, as the show is “good” for a while, but only gets “really good” later on.
