Reviews

Well, well, well. What to think of this one. It seems that the production staff team of this show didn't get the note that the main character doesn't even show up for like 90% of its adaptation, which is actually meant to flesh out the worldbuilding of this show even more. Instead, the person to blame: Toshifumi Kawase, the 3-in-1 director, script and series composer of this show, decides to do a Higurashi and lay barren the 90% of the adaptation of mangaka Shizuya Wazarai's immaculate work that is akin to the late Kentarou Miura's Berserk in full late-90s style artwork and story, all in 11 episodes.

You know it's legitimately bad when the anime adapts both the original (Ankokuden) and its sequel (Shitouden) with only the main character in question: Cestvs, the Roman Fighter. Obviously, Shizuya Wazarai's work of Cestvs is so much more than just Cestvs alone, and I would wholeheartedly recommend reading the manga over watching this anime, much or less it's jarring CGI which isn't half-bad, but by no means called "animation" in the first place.

The story and characters of the world of Cestvs aren't shown all that well in detail (except Cestvs), only giving "tip of the iceberg" surface-levels of characterization, which makes the anime feel less desirable to watch. Not to mention that the outsourced CGI done by LOGIC&MAGIC (which I reiterate again, is NOT bad), this show just feels like a man and a team's job of cheap production values just so that the staff working on this show can at least have a rice bowl on their table. Business-wise I understand for monetary reasons, but to see material horribly adapted like this is just...I'm speechless for words.

At least the music's not half bad too, both OP and ED are actually decent though.

It's technically a spoiler alert to say that the manga is abruptly skipped in favour for the MC, but just go ahead and read the manga instead if you're interested in the worldbuilding that the anime misconceptionally missed out on.