For this particular case, I want to make a different approach to this anime called Sabikui Bisco and make a full-fledged review, vastly different from what I have written. Without further ado, time to start.
"I love you."
Ah yes, Sabikui Bisco. When I first looked at the trailer, I thought I was promised an intriguing world filled with mysteries and bizarre details that caused the world they lived into oblivion. The characters had unique designs and stand out, the soundtrack was also quite bizarre, which took a while for me to settle, but I found it to be quite fitting. If I were to remember, I rewatched the preview about 10 different times, becoming one of my anticipated shows this Winter. As I have said, I was hoping for an enriched apocalyptic world that had something to show other than its competitors. Unfortunately, I am filled with sheer disappointment as every episode that came out, it was getting worse the more I looked at it.
First, we must talk about the story, the synopsis of the story unravels about a post-apocalyptic Tokyo after being poisoned by the plague-like wind of rust. From the first sentence, it's already a problem. Rust is supposedly a reaction that only happens to anything that is mostly pure metal, which the show is also derived from, which led me flabbergasted, as such a thing would never exist to infect innocent people and usurp people's lives. But hey, it's all fiction, why should it matter if the author decides to make rust a plague? It is an issue because there are plenty of things that I feel like that are overlooked by the author when he made this. If such a thing called rust wind exists, then people who are venturing are not wearing armour that is resistant to rust, which I'm not seeing here. Why aren't the people using metal sacrifice to protect themselves from rust? Does the show has never heard of the term 'electroplating'? I believe all the chemist professionals happened to die on that day.
It's not only the fact that it's severely illogical in terms of its setting but how the author decided to introduce a cure right off the bat that can supposedly 'eat' rust, which then again is just a way to turn it into a prophecy. The approach of having a certain cure where there are already things proven to prevent corrosion of metal or even the show's main threat, rust is beyond me. I could not believe it myself.
Enough about the stupid lore, now the story. The story is without a doubt inconsistent and convoluted. In the first few episodes, I was not liking how the show was reluctant on showing us the action, one of the things I was highly expecting. Their exposition of dialogue bored me to death until the last few minutes when something actually happens. A mushroom spawner can make himself fly because, for some reason, it can launch him and grow instantly without any withdrawal symptoms from it. They both met and decided to find the rare 'Sabikui', a mushroom that will cure the doctor's sister's disease that has plagued her body.
Then, when the first few episodes were finally over, it decided to turn into an adventure between a goody-two-shoes doctor and a screaming archer who don't know where they are heading. From what I can discern from that part, the show shows more interest in going for anything that suits the current tone of the story, no matter how inconsistent and stupid it is. I was genuinely furious when Episode 9 came along, like the author thought he was doing good writing by having us shocked but ended up making more plot conveniences than Dragon Ball Z, a show notorious for its story stretching further because of abundant plot conveniences. The show was so focused on finishing the story it started, everything felt rushed the moment Milo decided to assault the main villain.
My next point is about art. There's not much to say about it honestly. The characters from an artistic point are not that bad but their art backgrounds don't practically stand out much. But I realise that the stupid mushrooms spawning out from Bisco's arrows was getting on my nerves as if those are the only things he can do other than screaming and sometimes being a motivational guy when the time is convenient. What had me legitimately done was the Iron Titan, which happened to be the ugliest thing I have seen made in CGI, in which I do not hate CGI animations whatsoever, but damn, I remember the Titan is more disgusting than it being a dangerous threat.
Now to the characters, let's say that I was not quite fond of the characters in this show. Their choice of dialogue is so awkward and edgy most of the time. Character development seemed to be forced for the sake of the plot. The villain of the story sounds threatening but was nothing more than a side villain who completely sucks. Kurokawa was as uninteresting as he was annoying, who existed only to make the main character die, yes indeed it happened.
A prime example of that is Milo, whose personality takes a 180 during the last few episodes after portraying himself as a well-mannered, compassionate and determined person, decided to be like his counterpart who is known to be childish, aggressive and downright dumb most of the time unless the plot decides to make him intelligent. This for some reason, threw me off and had me confused as it doesn’t make any particular sense in the slightest to have this happen.
Not only that, the side characters of this show other than the main duo just feels... fake. Pawoo, a lady portrayed as a sexy fighter with rusts on her body seems to be there for the fanservice and nothing else, despite being the main reason for the doctor to go on an adventure in the first place. Even as the plot goes on, I cannot indulge myself with the fact that Pawoo is supposed to be a character and nothing more than an image of lust. The only decent character out of them was Jabi, who had something to say for himself, but yet again, he doesn't seem to be anything that amazing where the main character has talked about him. Tirol on the other hand had something, but it was disappointing that she doesn't get much attention other than a few particular episodes. In the end, the characters of the show are incredibly poor and easily forgettable.
In terms of enjoyment, it felt like my time was wasted on this junk, which successfully fooled me into thinking it's an actual good piece of fiction, which it's nothing more than trash. I regretted not listening to others who knew what they were getting into, its tendency of pulling out plot conveniences, contradicting characters, forced character development, rushed storytelling, and illogical lore.
"I'm telling you it's overrated!"
Overall, do not watch this anime in any circumstances. You will regret it. Hence, I end my review about Sabikui Bisco. Also, screw you too, Sabikui Bisco.
