The target audience for this anime is for those that are tolerant against typical dark themes like r*pe, gore, etc. If you can't handle these themes then it's not intended for you. As for those who are tolerant, if in anycase that you find the execution poor, then you have all the right to argue and criticize.
Now without further ado, let's get into the analysis.
Plot:
A seemingly simplistic plot about Gods Vs. Demons, but underneath all that we have ourselves a very intricate set of characterization and themes.
Sub-Genres: Ecchi, Mystery, World-building, Morality
World-building is a common element that Amahara likes to add to his collection of works, such as the case with Ishuzoku Reviewers. While this may be a basic element, it still plays an important role in establishing the state of the world which greatly parallels with world history. While the world-building isn't revolutionary, it still sets up some pretty absurd moral actions that each species tend to appeal to. To simplify it, the moral takes granted most of the time tend to shit on human logic which may come off as unappealing to moralistic individuals.
The morality throughout this whole series is abysmal, which is to be expected when the main cast is comprised of Gods and Demons. Of course a human is added to the mix to give their take, but we all know how that turned out. To be honest, the whole morality ordeal is pretty unbelievably realistic. For example, the current generation of Idaten living in isolation and peace for most of their lifetime don't ever find the need to develop a sociolgical structure like humans do. As for humans, they are weak and need to rely on support for each other. That is why they form sociological structures, but since humans are weak they will eventually fall into the act of commiting sin. And due to the act of sin, conflict arises, which ends up with humans being predatory towards one another. Of course the Idaten will pay no heed towards this, because it is not their problem and even though the majority of their being is made from human thoughts, they know for a fact that the predatory acts will just support the growth of the predator's side which doesn't have any affect on humanity's decline. As for the Demons, they are pretty much oppressive dictators who have absolute power over the humans. There are two types of demons, [Intellectual] and [Base]. The [Base] demon is basically a rampant monster that possesses little to no intelligent thought and they run on the basic instinct to attack the Idaten. The [Intelligent] demon is basically a mixture of human and demon, where if successful, you would have yourself a very powerful creature that is capable of basic human intellect. But if unsuccessful, you would have yourself a weak demon who is inflicted with a major side effect. These side effects are still successful tbh, considering the abilities we've seen. To conclude the morality of demons, they basically function just like humans, since they possess their brain afterall.
Mystery is also another common theme to be found, but I won't get too deep into it like with what I did in the previous paragraph. The mystery incorporated is done through huge exposition dumps that definitely feels like lazy story-telling, but considering the pacing of the story it's understandable. While it's definitely a subjective opinion, I believe the directing towards these fast-forward exposition dumps was handled pretty well. A bombtastic ost combined with moving visuals is an effective strategy in engaging the viewer into boring dialogue. Besides that point, the mystery narrative comes up pretty often as well as being solved pretty often. This doesn't come of as pretty impacting, but it for hell sure does keep the viewer engage.
Ecchi is the last thing I will cover for this section and I will make this short.
Any artists seeing this rn better get on their ass and create some rule34.
Characters:
I definitely felt like a lot of details went into their species rather than their actual "character", but I would still like to cover this part.
To sum it all up, each character is pretty stereotypical, but I don't mean to put this in a negative tone. Although they follow the basic personality format, they are still pretty enjoyable characters thanks to Amahara's sense of humor. Of course a lot of these jokes may be filled with a lot of dark humor, I still found it quite enjoyable since it gives a bit of meaning towards each of their character.
If you want to know the basic traits for the Idaten:
Hayato: Shounen MC that wants to become stronger
Isli/Yeesly/Easely: Nerd that serves as exposition dumps and strategy tactics
Paula: ... Fill-in Heroine? (I honestly think she has a ton of potential with her communicative ability, but so far she served little to no purpose other than negotiations)
Rin: Training Master that is brutal af. Also one of the two idaten who served an emotional purpose.
Prontea: He seems pretty cool and laid-back, but he's built like a mf ronald mcdonald head ass.
The last Idaten is actually a spoiler, but I would just like to say that this one has the most potential out of all them in terms of character development.
I won't be going into the demon's side, but from watching the series I can say that they do possess the traits of humans as well as being bat shit crazy.
Animation/Visuals/Production (AVP):
This will be the last thing that I will cover in this review so I want to make this long.
As expected of Fuko Noda (Producer of Dorohedoro), we now have ourselves another masterpiece in terms of the art/visuals. The mix of different color palletes can be seen throughout this series and it's used in such a creative way that I can't help but find myself looking at it in awe and admiration. It is without a doubt one of the most artistically creative works ever seen in the anime medium and to think that this is being paired with Amahara's cartoonist and simplistic artwork is pretty unbelievable. Also to top it off, the Idaten Opening is a certified masterpiece, nuff said.
*(Yes, I know that Coolkyoushinja is listed as the character designer, but none of the character designs actually look like his work. Take a look at the Islis from both source materials for example.)
For the animation side of things, I would definitely have to say that it feels kinda experimental. This is to be expected since many of the freelancers that worked on this series are just starting to make their debuts. While it may be experimental, I still think the animation in this series was pretty above average and there were definitely some very good moments, but they ended too short which kinda sucks. I believe the reason for all of this is the fact that the production wasn't so great in the first place. Considering they announced the pv last year back in november 2020 and for it to release within the 2021 summer time-frame, the schedule is handled pretty poorly. But considering the staff's talent, I would like to praise them for putting up with this mediocre schedule and to still produce high quality content at the same time.
Conclusion/Final Thoughts:
As with that being said I'll be giving this an ９/10 for this review. I know that I barely listed any criticism for this review so I'll list a few such as the plot barely having any substance. Viewers will percieve the substance to be psuedo, considering that it was mostly given to us through expostion which isn't good story-telling wise. Another criticism that can be made is about the flimsy structure of the plot. The plot being as basic as it is doesn't exactly strike that much to some viewers and it isn't exactly outstanding, so concern is to be expected.
Moving on from the criticism, I honestly think this is one of the best animes to come out this year. The directing was insanely good and it still managed to give me the feels even if most of the main cast are sort of apathetic towards humanity. The ost as well is another masterpiece in my books which is all thanks to Yoshiaki Dewa (Flying Witch, Fate/Stay Night). This series felt so chaotic and simplistic in such a fun way that I can't help but f'ing love it.
Second 2 pls....
