Let's start with the first thing that we can see: Animation. For an anime released in 2022, it does not look like one. To be more specific, I watched this right after I finished watching Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Die Nuee These Sakubou. As a direct comparison in terms of animation only, I feel like I am going back 15 years in animation quality. When compared to K-ON! from 2009, which is a 13-year-old anime, Arknights still looks more outdated. But I do see they put depth-of-field in the animation to make it look better. Still not impressive for a 2022 anime though.
Then the next thing we see is how the story goes. This is where things get better. The story telling is okay. It doesn't feel rushed but unfortunately, the battle is something that seems to be skipped here. The battle duration is very short and we hardly see every characters' abilities in fight which is a disappointment. The good thing is, it keeps important things in check while skipping the not-so-important things. Still... the lack of cool battle makes this anime uncool.
Then we get into the music. The opening song performed by ReoNa have a gentle melody while the story itself isn't. A kind of weird choice but I guess the studio knows more than me since I don't even pay attention to the meaning of the lyrics. In game music is fine but hardly noticeable because there is no moment that can take a full advantage of the music in the anime. The ending theme performed by Doul gave a different impression but I think it is a quite good song though.
Then we get into the characters. Amiya is somewhat a typical character that anime logic comes right into the play. I mean... Who the hell put an underage girl as a leader of an organization?! Definitely no one in real life would do so, especially when there are many adults that should be more capable as a leader in the organization. Then we see the "Doctor" who has no memories and rarely speaks. We don't even know what kind of person the Doctor is. One thing we know for sure, The Doctor is not capable of fighting. The other character worth mentioning is Ch'en. By far, she is the most logical character in this anime. The other characters that seems logical enough are Dobermann and Liskarm, then the rests are your typical anime characters with colorful personalities.
After characters, comes the voice behind the characters. The seiyuu(s) or voice actors/actresses. Doctor voiced by Kaida Yuki sounds not old enough as man. I wish for a more manly and commanding voice. Kurosawa Tomoyo as Amiya sounds like a girl with sad life which gave me weird impression. The girl who showed up in every life streaming, Ishigami Shizuka as Ch'en actually fits really nice here. A leader with strong and commanding voice. Interestingly, I think the other seiyuus also did very good as their own character.
I have a mixed feelings watching this anime. For those who played the game, this is worth watching and still considered to be a "Good" Anime. For those who don't, just skip this. It simply doesn't worth your time. After seeing how Azure Lane gets anime adaptations, I wish Arknights could be better but that simply isn't the case.
