I have been following this anime for quite some time. A friend of mine told be about the manga, and how good it was, so I knew of its existence that way. Some months later Mappa announced that they would be in charge of the animation for this anime, and that was for me the perfect match. I have watched a lot of animes from Mappa, loved how they used 3d animation on Dorohedoro and (be it controversial or not) liked what they do with AoT (although I like Wit more). I knew the animation for this series would be good and had no doubt that the manga was good too, but... Here is a big BUT: Mappa is adapting this story as if all the viewers have read the manga before. 12 episodes should be enough to adapt 1 arc (or maybe 2 short arcs), but the story has to be captivating, the characters must be well-written and likeable, and it has to be catchy... For me, the story is not even close to JJK, for example, and the pacing is worse too. It is slow as hell. Don't get me wrong, I can take slow animes, but when you waited years for 12 episodes and at episode 6 nothing has happened yet, a lot of red flags are raised.
The animation, sound, all the technical stuff are on point. The problem here is the time. Made in abyss told a well written, complex, new, intrincated story in 12 episodes, Dorohedoro has lots of fights, good and bad guys that you like, because they are intriguing and funny, and complex. CSM has 1d characters (most of them except for Aki), superficial and boring. It relies in the love people have for them (Power and Makima for example).
It is concerning that MAPPA took this approach, that told the story linearly and did not use flash forward or started some chapters in media res, instead they showed off their animation capabilities and focused on creating 12 different endings and looking for all the references in pop culture. This show lacks well put effort in what matters, the story, how is told, how to make characters approachable, more likeable, well written. It's like a classical pianist, they played the piece to the perfection, but without adding their touch, without making it theirs.
I know I will be watching more, maybe waiting another 3 years for something good to happen, expecting 1 new op and ed per episode... IDK. This show is frustrating so far, MAPPA could have told the story better, I know, because I have followed their work for many years, hope it gets better, but it certainly is not living up to the hype.
