Story :
The pacing is just horrible. What were they thinking ?? At the start the story is going nicely but once in Platinum Jail the story takes us by the hand and drags us, without letting time to catch up what's going on. Because of that important character arcs are brushed to the side and scenes that hold so much meaning feel flat. I also can't understand some decisions like with Ren's worm. Why making Noiz remove it in the first place if Ren get infected by one in the end ? They could have taken a different scene from his route.
This horrible pacing don't help with the fact that Dmmd story is very complicated in the first place. Even if I know the game very well I had trouble adjusting with what was going on.
Art :
We all know too well the infamous episode of the anime... Luckily there is another version. I saw the 2nd version of the anime, not going to watch that horrible episode. From what I've seen, yes it's nowhere near the quality of the game but it's passable I guess ? From time to time it looked good to me at least
Sound :
That's really what made me watch this, the music and more precisely the character's songs that play after their episodes. When I saw that Itou Kanako, Vertueux and Seizi Kmura were coming back I had to give it a watch. I wasn't disappointed, at all. I love to death Clear's song, Lullaby blue, along with Koujaku's, by my side. The op, Slip on the pumps, grew on me with time and I fell in love with the ending, Bowie knife, the first time I listened to it. The VA all do a fantastic job on their characters, as good as before. The OSTs really feel like the game, I loved them.
I really recommend the anime for the songs alone.
Characters :
So I have a problem with them and that problem is directly linked to the pacing, they all feel flat. Maybe Mink is the more developed one, at least it’s what it seemed to me. Another problem is their bond with Aoba. Koujaku being a childhood friend is the only one who didn’t suffer from this problem but for the others
Noiz : A punk who agressed him and who broke into his house. He also did pick up fights with his best friend and looked into his dog without him knowing. Aoba has no reason to trust him nor to even care about him. Noiz just looks like a spoiled brat who likes to brag
Clear : A weird guy who fell one day and now follows him. They did have a discussion once but Aoba still looks really awkward around him. Hell I even think Aoba prefers to take his distance from Clear. I even start to think that the kindness that Aoba showed him was just pity, like how you would treat an abandoned kitten you found on the sidewalk. In the end his act of protection was just because he was his master, not because he was Aoba. That just makes me angry, treating Clear as an obedient dog and not his own person.
Mink : An ancient inmate that broke into Aoba’s home and kidnapped him. Thank god the almost rape scene wasn’t included but still Aoba was beaten up. Then when he did go out it was under a condition. So I don’t understand one bit why Aoba would want to help Mink with scrap. That’s bullshit. Aoba is acting like a nice puppy around him for no reason. Dude he kidnapped you
I also have one last thing to rant about in this section. It’s about Clear ending (again). So usually he would go boom by himself against the alphas and be out of order for about A YEAR. He even needed the help of Tae’s acquaintance, that I think worked on the alphas, to be repaired. But no, here he is a few episodes later, fighting. I guess Noiz repaired him, someone who never worked on androids. This makes absolutely no sense (even why would Noiz repair him)
Enjoyment :
Apart from the anger-inducing things I spoke about in the character section and the horrible pacing, this was quite pleasant. I absolutely love Aoba’s VA and while watching it some dmmd memes came to my mind. Some parts like the “baby” from Ren were funny and I wished they put more of those in the anime, like the Clear in an apron scene. The music was also really good (including the OSTs).
Overall :
I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone that has never heard of dmmd. That’s a terrible first experience with the franchise. It’s much more of a recap for those who have played the game, with bonus songs included. Go for it if you’re a diehard fan, otherwise, never touch it unless you wanna have a bad time. I really wanted to like it, the same way I liked the Togainu no Chi anime, even if this one wasn’t that good.
Separate scores :
Story 2
Art 6
Sound 9
Character 5
Enjoyement 8
