This is my first ever review, so just a heads up if I don't do it as well as other people.
I will start off with no spoilers and then head into spoilers in a separate paragraph.
-NON SPOILERS-
The show starts off with incredible mystery in both the plot and in characters. It does a great job in the early episodes of giving you teases and glimpses into the truth of the show. As the characters begin to explore outside of the initial city, you get to see the truth unravel more and and it starts to get real interesting. However, episode 8 the story goes off the rails and plot points just happen because the writer needs a "twist" to happen. To sum up my feelings in a word, it is 'disappointed.' I will continue to watch this since I'm only 2 episodes from the end, but I will likely be making fun of it every second of the final 2 episodes.
-Updated After the Final 2 Episodes (Non-Spoilers)-
The show slightly redeemed itself at the end. There was a plot point, that I get into in the spoiler section, that did piss me off and was a fearful prediction that I had, but the final episode and the final fight was very entertaining and made up for it. I still don't think there is anything crazy coming from this show, nothing that makes me say "Yes you need to watch this!" but there are some decent points in this show that I can say it's an average watch. If you got time and nothing else to watch, give it a try.
-SPOILERS-
Story (3/10)
Yay, I can now talk about the shit show that Sabikui Bisco has become. Like I said in my non spoilers section, this show started off great, and I was thinking that this could rise to my favorite "small show" series of this Winter (this was battling with Strongest Sage for my favorite "small show" this Winter). I loved the episodes in the city, where Bisco is being called a man-eater and is being hunted, but in reality Bisco is just trying to spread the truth. I also loved how crazy he was because he was liking the fact that, even though it was all a misunderstanding, people were hunting him down. I also liked the look into the kid's village and even the rust eater was cool. But man the moment that they go save Pawoo from the office and leave Kurakawa there instead of killing me, that is the moment this show lost me.
There was no legitimate reason for them to not kill him there, it was just the fact that the author wanted the plot to continue. I also still have no idea why Kurakawa is keeping any of them alive. He is depicted as a psycho, but in reality he just an idiot. He leaves Jabi alive twice, he leaves Pawoo alive for too long, his decisions just make no sense. Can we also talk about that fact that in that same episode Panda and Bisco are escaping, get shot multiple times, and are some how just fine the next episode. Did the agents not chase them down and make sure they were actually dead?
Unfortunately that is not the end of my disappointment, because in the very next episode Bisco literally dies for no good reason. The author first doesn't kill off Kurakawa for no good reason, and then kills off your main character for no good reason. For the people reading this, thinking that Bisco's death was done well, I heavily disagree. Kurakawa was in a very weak state, a weak enough state that Bisco in his weakened state could completely overpower him and tackle him into the burning rust. You know what else he could have done? Bisco could have just kicked or shoved him into the burning rust and then still lived. It is ridiculous, so much so that I wasn't even sad when Bisco died, I was just confused.
Then this most recent episode came around and me and my roommate are just laughing at how ridiculous the story telling of this show has become. I also love how this show all of a sudden turns into a Michael Bay movie with all of the explosions that randomly occur. As I talk about the art, sound, characters, and enjoyment, I will keep them short, as I did go long on the story portion.
Art (7/10)
The art is unique in this, and works well with the action. I don't think I have seen an anime yet that reminds me of the art style. It just fits the whole theme of the show.
Sound (8/10)
This has been the only redeeming factor of this show besides the art. The opening is fun and gets me hyped up for some good action, and the music during the show adds to the tension and action sequences during the episode, even if the tension is pretty terrible due to the poor writing.
Character (5/10)
This score isn't necessarily because I see the characters as bad, because I like the main 4, and I even like Tirol, even if you only see her for a couple episodes. The main reason for this score is because the development makes no sense. Panda, who is just a freaking doctor at the start of this show and has had zero combat experience is now just as strong as a Mushroom Keeper by episode 10. The progress in the character skills just make no sense.
Enjoyment (4/10)
Because of how random the plot points go, and how random the character strengths go, I just struggle to enjoy this show. The only reason I enjoy this show at all it to make fun of how ridiculous it is.
-Concluding Thoughts- (4/10)
It is a shame how far this show has come from the the beginning. It went from battling for my top Winter anime, to being the lowest anime I have rated I have completed since The Promised Neverland Season 2. Who knows, they may somehow redeem this show in the final 2 episodes, but if they actually do bring Bisco back to life like my roommate is predicting they will, I will hate it even more...
-Updated Review After the Final 2 Episodes-
Alright so the final 2 episodes came out and I watched them, and sure enough my fear came true...Bisco came back. Bisco coming back felt so forced, but guess who else came back, KURA-FREAKING-KAWA!!! Like how many times they gotta fucking die! The revival of Bisco felt terrible, but I would be lying to you if I wasn't enjoying the final fight. Something that shook me was the fact that they actually confirmed the relationship between Pawoo and Bisco. I had shipped them, but had seen so many other people shipping Panda and Bisco, but NOPE, Pawoo kisses Bisco right before the final fight. The show ended well, and as much as I hated the show overall, the final episode slightly redeemed it. I still cannot rate it any higher than a 5 because of all the plot issues throughout, but it did raise my score up 1 from a 4 to a 5.
