Coming from two big names in the industry, Shinichiro Watanabe and Yoko Kanno, and produced by MAPPA—a newly founded studio by one of the industry legends, Masao Maruyama—Zankyou no Terror was an intriguing title. At least, it probably was an intriguing title for the people who had background knowledge about these names back in 2014. I was a newcomer in the anime medium with no background information when I first watched Zankyou no Terror, and I didn't have any big expectations. But it still was quite an experience. It quickly grabbed me with its realistic approach to the medium, beautiful OST, striking directing, appealing characters, and compelling story. What would you ask more from a show, right? With this mentality and believing it's a total masterpiece, I spent years after years, and despite rewatching it a couple of times, I've never realized its big mistakes. However, my preferences for a story and anime changed over the years. And also, I started to understand the fundamentals of writing better—and as I thought about it more, I began to comprehend its narration mistakes roughly. Yet I didn't watch it one more time to confirm my doubts. At least until now. I recently rewatched it again, and now I can see where it did go wrong for Zankyou no Terror more clearly.
Zankyou no Terror starts with two youngsters who call themselves Sphinx do planned bombings in Tokyo and announce it beforehand through videos on social media. In these videos, they are giving riddles about the place of the bombing to the police. It catches the attention of Shibasaki, a former detective now working in the archives for disobeying orders given in a case fifteen years ago. And he solves their second riddle, which leads to him returning to the first unit. Then he eventually realizes something bigger is happening behind the scenes and tries to unravel what they are trying to accomplish.
The story goes very straightforwardly from start to end without taking a detour. It might sound appealing at first, but believe me, it's not—at least not for a show like this. Zankyou no Terror is a show that tries to be a plot-driven and character-driven story with a low episode count. It's a very challenging task only a few can accomplish, and, saying this in sorrow, Zankyou no Terror is not one of them. I'm sorrowful, and the reason for that this show is not just a random one that fails on this task because it can't cut it. This show had the potential of being successful and making a name for itself as an undoubtful masterpiece. After all, it has spectacular production values and a magnificent first five and final six episodes of a two-cour show. However, the middle episodes of that two-cour show are absent here. It only has eleven episodes, and this causes it to conclude with its plot and characters remaining undercooked. If it took some detours instead of trying to reach the final at lightning speed, it could add more layers to its story and characters, which were necessary to make this a better show.
Shinichirou Watanabe commenced this project with a clear goal in his mind—showing the effects of war on children & innocent people and how tomorrow always bears hope with a unique story concept. It's easy to make people emotionally invested in the story and cast with a theme like this. So, it's a good choice. However, the execution of this is another story. Go and ask this theme to the people who watched Zankyou no Terror. I bet most of them will say it's an overreading. Is it because they are not smart enough to understand what Shinichirou Watanabe tried to do, or the story itself? They certainly are not. That's the fault of the show, not otherwise. The main idea and the messages are still there. You can dig it up and get them. Regardless, it doesn't change the fact narration is weak and couldn't portray the message proficiently. There is almost no trace of this message until the last three episodes, and it heavily relies on exposition in those final episodes. Also, there's a possibility some people still couldn't understand the show's message even after that exposition because it's a bit vague. That's where the symbolism steps in.
There's one thing in the show almost every scene contains: The colors of the flag of Iceland. Items in blue, red, or white appear on the screen too often, usually at the same time—I know there are too many countries with the same flag colors, but the word "VON" is also used many times in the show, which means hope in Icelandic, so it's Iceland without a doubt. So, why did Watanabe choose Iceland specifically? Because Iceland got invaded during World War 2 despite staying neutral. It's similar to the Japanese government in the show using innocent children as test subjects to improve the situation of their country. However, this symbolism is even vaguer than the narration through it tries to convey its message. Therefore, it doesn't hold any value in the end. The same thing also goes for almost every other symbolism in the show. Most of them are cool and all—but they fail when working in context due to the lack of a strong narration.
"If it doesn't have a striking narrative to be a good plot-driven show, how does it spend time until the last three episodes? Is it a character-driven story that contains character arcs?"
Unfortunately, no. It does not have character development or exploration until the last three episodes. This show offers a magnificent first five and final six episodes of a two-cour show. It starts outstanding and quickly hooks the audience with well-paced first five episodes. Then it starts to take a weird turn in the middle of episode six. The story after that point feels as if we skipped ten-episode worth of content. It gives all five main characters clear goals and enough personality traits to not make them feel like cardboard characters. However, their characterizations and character arcs are a mess.
Sphinx members, Nine and Twelve, start the story as simple terrorists and get more and more characterization as the story progresses. However, these characterizations don't add up after a point. We can summarize their characters as Nine is the cold-headed and Twelve is the happy-go-lucky one of the group. They balance each other nicely, but the show fails to deepen their characters. The saddest thing about this is the show gets too close to success at deepening Twelve's character but fails because of the pacing choices. He gets involved with Lisa too much—she is a random girl who becomes their accomplice after their first bombing—and starts to develop some bond with her because there was no one he could befriend until now except his lifelong companion, Nine. However, this attempt fails because the show decides to move to the final stage without proper story development. If the show had more episodes, it could utilize his potential. For example, they could've written his character arc as he learns how to get loved and love someone for the first time in his life and live like a regular teenager. Don't get me wrong—I don't try to say this is precisely how Twelve's character arc should've done. It's just a random story concept that came into my mind after seeing the failed romance attempt of the show between Twelve and Lisa.
The situation is even worse for Nine and Shibasaki because they don't even have character arcs. They are there only to make the story move and don't have any crucial impact that can come only from them. You can replace them with similar characters from a random crime drama—and the story would stay the same. However, they are still fun to watch. And this is what makes me sad the most. With the addition of good character arcs, they could be unique and riveting characters. I have no idea what could've been done with Nine since the show gives almost no room for creativity to think about a possible character arc for him, but there's a lot to do with Shibazaki. The simplest yet effective one that came to my mind is a buddy cop story. When Shibasaki was assigned back to the first unit, a newbie officer named Hamura—who didn't know Shibasaki was a talented detective back in the day—was there. He already got some characterization, so they could've written interesting character developments by turning him and Shibasaki into a team. It also would help the story since they could've done more things with the journey of Shibasaki to solve the mystery behind the Sphinx's actions. What they did in the show with Shibasaki and his journey is giving it a couple of scenes where Shibasaki realizes all of the bombings Sphinx did were somehow connected and wrapping it up in the last three episodes with a rushed plot. With the addition of more than ten episodes and a buddy cop subplot, Shibasaki and Hamura could've solved the mystery with a pacing that feels more natural.
Now it's time to talk about the female main characters of the show—Lisa and Five. They are the ones who often get the most criticism for being unnecessary among the main characters. Do I agree? My answer depends on what we are talking about here. If we are talking only about the existing content, my answer is—yes, they are unnecessary and steal screen time from the other main characters. Also, their existence causes both the plot and character developments to end as rushed. But if we are talking about this show's true potential, my answer is—no, they are not unnecessary.
Both Lisa and Five are characters with tons of potential. Lisa has a mother who mentally abuses her, and she is a lonely girl who gets bullied in school—also, at the start of the story, she wants everyone in the world to disappear. With a characterization like this, she has a lot of room to develop. And what I said for Twelve goes for Lisa too. Lisa and Twelve are a perfect match because how both need someone to love them in their lives. However, this idea doesn't get explored much, and Lisa becomes just a Damsel in distress not only once but three times. She gets into trouble three times only to get rescued by Twelve. Also, her character arc ends without any significant development. We don't know if her life got any better after all the things she went through. The only thing we got is an implication that she started to have hope in life. Her character is another misused element of the show, and I understand why people see her as a nuisance.
Although Lisa is a misused character, I can see what Watanabe tried to do with her and the theme of hope. However, I have no idea why Five does exist. What is the purpose of Five for the story? I'm asking you because I have no idea. I can't see anything she does good for the story. However, if this was a two-cour show and she got a character exploration, we could justify her existence by saying she spices things up and provides a dramatic character arc. And this isn't a wild dream because it's clear they wanted to make Five a character with clear motivations and goals. During her last meeting with Nine, she tells him how she always wanted to surpass him, and he is the only thing that made her be able to come this far. This whole speech of hers should've been a complete character arc. We should've seen how she struggled only to meet with Nine for one more time before her time was up. It was the only way she would've been relevant to the story.
I know I was too harsh against Zankyou no Terror, but the reason for that isn't that I think it's a bad show. It's the opposite—I see Zankyou no Terror as a good show. However, I also think it had the potential to be much better, yet it couldn't utilize this potential. It's a good show, but it could've been an undoubtful masterpiece.
With this said, I think it still can provide a good watch thanks to its spectacular directing, high production values, and fast yet smooth pacing for the people who want to watch a short and completed TV anime. But, of course, this is only viable if you think a show that feels like more than ten episodes in the middle of it removed is a completed show.
I know I was too harsh against Zankyou no Terror, but the reason for that isn't that I think it's a bad show. It's the opposite—I see Zankyou no Terror as a good show. However, I also think it had the potential to be much better, yet it couldn't utilize this potential. It's a good show, but it could've been an undoubtful masterpiece.
With this said, I think it still can provide a good watch thanks to its spectacular directing, high production values, and fast yet smooth pacing for the people who want to watch a short and completed TV anime. But, of course, this is only viable if you think a show that feels like more than ten episodes in the middle of it removed is a completed show.
