Going in, this adaptation was always going to have issues. Not only does it adapt the weakest part of Arknights’ main story, it was produced by Yostar Pictures. On paper, this makes sense: Yostar got burned when they trusted another studio with Azur Lane, and they’ve largely done everything in-house since. The problem is that YP is a small studio, which — lacking enough resources or staff — forced them to outsource to various studios (Studio Palette, Studio Silver, Candy Box etc.) for Episodes 2-6. Add in a first-time director in Yuki Watanabe and a limited budget — Arknights is profitable, but nowhere near the levels of FGO or Genshin Impact — and you have a recipe for disaster. So, given all of these restraints, how did it do?
Visually, the anime is inoffensive. Character close-ups are beautifully drawn, and key moments are clearly denoted by a sharp increase in dynamism and detail. There is some inconsistency present where characters at a distance are either drawn in a more pixelated fashion or animated with CGI, but this is the exception rather than the norm. The problem lies in the stiffness of the animation, particularly in fight scenes. For a game that doesn’t shy away from its dark atmosphere, the action in this adaptation is awfully toothless. Enemies will get shot, slashed, smacked, or stabbed, but in almost every case they’ll end up knocked to the floor at worst; seemingly unscathed. YP’s sporadic usage of blood is especially strange, adding it almost at random in a few moments across the entire cour. Some of this (e.g. characters that are burning to death or have been dismembered) may stem from censorship, but that alone doesn’t explain the strange camera cuts, mediocre choreography, lack of force, and questionable logic that summarize each battle. YP’s full inhouse production of Episodes 7 and 8 results in a significant improvement, leading me to wonder how much of the issue stems from a combination of outsourcing and budget. Either way, the result is a beautiful art style that is held back by lackluster animation for most of the cour. With a bigger budget and more staff I have no doubt that YP could deliver an impressive visual experience, but this adaptation isn’t that.
Of course, I’m not an artist. I’m a writer, and speaking as one: good grief, this storytelling is flawed.
Arknights' in-game story is notorious for having poorly written dialogue. This isn't a localization issue (Chinese players complain about this as well), it's the writers acting like they need to turn every sentence into a paragraph. The anime isn't much better in this regard — unnecessary padding is all over the place — but that isn’t the main problem. In a recent interview with YouTube content creator Dogen, Rafał Jaki — the creator and executive producer of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners — highlighted the importance of ‘the dramatic question’, noting:
“...there is a difference between the story and the plotline. Story being, ‘what happens if a family member dies?’ and the plotline is, ‘somebody is going to the funeral, they go to the city, and they have this adventure’...but without the question it has no substance, it’s just things happening to the character.” (Dogen 22:22-22:46).
Arknights’ earlier chapters are all plot and no story, failing to establish or explore a dramatic question. The closest I’ve seen to one was suggested by Reddit user scot911, phrasing it as “Is it better to work inside the system to reform it through diplomatic means or is it better to violently overthrow the system and start anew?” If this is the case, then Arknights does a terrible job of investigating this. Rhodes Island is implied to be restricted by Lungmen’s authority, but how often does that actually matter? Without getting into spoilers, nothing Lungmen withholds or demands from Rhodes Island hinders their ability to complete their mission. Things would by-and-large have happened the same way even if Rhodes Island had total autonomy, meaning that the penalties of ‘working inside the system’ are more superficial than anything. There isn’t enough ideological conflict between Rhodes Island and Lungmen to create genuine problems in their relationship, and this results in their partnership feeling rather uneventful. Meanwhile, Reunion’s perspective never gets the justification it needs in order to be legitimized. Whereas in Akira it is clearly conveyed that Neo-Tokyo’s government is incompetent and corrupt — needing to be overthrown for change to happen — Lungmen is largely presented as a normal city. This changes in later chapters of the game, but for the purposes of this season the viewer never gets the sense that Lungmen as a city might warrant Reunion’s methods. The discrimination that the government enables is barely explored, as is the police brutality of the L.G.D. Poverty and violence are implied to be issues, but the plot never stops to take a closer look. This is the true issue with Arknights’ earlier chapters: the plot never lets characters investigate the world, much less themselves. The writers attempt to compensate for this with philosophical monologues, but these fall even flatter than they already did when applied to a more visual medium. This results in a rushed, barebones plot that is only slowed down by dialogue-heavy low-points in tension. The sad thing is that even this is vastly better than the in-game story; the bar being that low. The anime incorporates multiple minor changes that contribute more substance to the narrative, and it’s a shame that YP didn’t attempt to push for more. As is the plot is still deeply flawed, which — combined with overwrought dialogue and poorly crafted fight scenes — creates a slow and uninteresting story that never says anything profound.
To note one more thing: characterization suffers because of the aforementioned issues, leaving most characters plain at best and irritating at worst. Amiya’s character development is indiscernible until the end of the season, with any payoff locked away in a second season. Speaking of payoff, it’s hilarious to me how the Doctor claims in Episode 3 that they’ll gradually become more of a character over time…only to be no different by the end of the season. Gacha game protagonists are notorious for this — even FGO’s anime equivalent of Ritsuka is relatively flat — but that’s no excuse for poor writing. If you imply that development will occur, then show it in the short term instead of assuming the viewer will stay engaged for the long term.
That aside, there isn’t much to say. Yuki Hayashi’s soundtrack is ambient and rarely gets a chance to stand out, capturing the lack of tension throughout the story. The OP and ED are nothing special, though admittedly this point is subjective. Voice acting — whether by members new to the cast or reprising their roles from in-game — is generally solid, but it isn’t enough to carry the story.
All in all, Prelude to Dawn is an adaptation with limited style and hollow substance. I brought up the comparison to lukewarm tea in my preliminary review, but I think that describing it as a watered down soda works as well. You can taste the flavor that was meant to pop in your mouth, but only just. It’s too diluted to amount to anything else, but hopefully — should Yostar receive an increased budget — this will be as mundane as it gets.
