|[ Visuals - 9/10 ]|
It has a very distinct style, and saturated, pop-y colour palette - similar to that of "Words That Bubble Up Like Soda Pop" - which is pleasant enough to the eyes, while standing out against other anime. However, when it comes to character design and art style for characters... it's fairly standard. Clean, Serviceable, but nothing special. And, of course, bad guys predictably look a little worse for wear for the most part than the "good guys", with some exceptions. The main character's design is safe, as are most, but I suppose the grounded, more realistic designs do work for the setting. At times, however, it looks almost lazy, and in some scenes, I think it takes away more than gives. A general lack of detail replaced by colour that confuses the mind a little, can make certain shoots simply look off... but for the most part it works well, and looks good.
Plus, I can appreciate the cats, and the OP/ED.
However, some character designs, I question. One woman's design in particular, looks dubious, and I wonder if it's "diverse" or offensive, but, not being from that group, I think I'm not quite qualified to be the ultimate judge.
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|[ Sound - 7/10 ]|
Nothing much, if perfectly serviceable. The only stand outs for me are the openings and endings, and the voice acting is okay... but, I have to say, I hate how pretentious it is. The ED song doesn't quiiiite fit, I think; it was most likely chosen because it had "pretender" in it and was sung by a well-known singer. I can enjoy it for what it is, but it's not as clever as it thinks it is. I can appreciate the cats that acoompany it too, but still...
And the worse stand out aspect of it is the frankly ridiculous choice to have characters speak in foreign languages in some scenes fully, and sometimees donning only an accent. It's not "smart" or "quirky", it's just inconvenient and poorly executed. It's also inconsistent, and, frankly, sometimes seriously unneccessary, especially when everyone in the room is speaking the same language. Moreover, for those who struggle with written language - typed or handwritten - would it not be terribly ableist for these people to demand of them to have to read the subtitles to understand the languages spoken if they have not yet learned those languages? To me, it seems like a major oversight, and even though I myself do not have dyslexia, the inconsistent changing of languages ruins the immersion for me, rather than improving it. If I wanted to watch a series or movie in a foreign language, I would simply watch it with subtitles. However, as I prefer to multitask to make the most use of my day, I have to reduce the score for this part of my review because of this pretentious and frankly insulting decision.
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|[ Characters - 7/10 ]|
Nothing amazing, not the most choices of characters to root for, but good enough. None of them seem too exaggerated, but frankly, I'm having a hard time even pinning down their qualities except for "skeevy", and y'know, they all have some sort of sad backstory, but frankly.... there's just something missing to them. Well, at least they're not obnoxious or boring, they just won't be making my favourite character lists; that's all. Not exactly a tragedy, if you as me. Also, these are relatively modern day characters, but their wardrobes are so... same-y and basic. Which is a pity, considering if we're talking fashion, this time period is probably the most diverse, because with globalisation, everything's more accessible. You would think with the exciting, colourful artstyle, the fashion choices would also be a bit more... interesting. Unfortunately, no dice. It's serviceable, and works with the characters, but I guess since the characters themselves ain't much, predictably, therit styles aren't much either.
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|[ Writing - 7/10 ]|
Nothing too egregious if you ignore all the fake-outs and occasionally dubious dialogue. Moreover, this anime seems to have a problem with thinking that convoluted = good, when all it is, half the time, is confusing. Oh, and thugh I said the characters aren't too exaggerated, there are definitely tropes and cliches riddles throughout the story. Which, can be good, but there are times when it just doesn't hit. Granted, this is subjective, but still. This IS a subjective review, as are all reviews to some extent, so you know.
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|[ Enjoyment - 6.5/7 ]|
Frankly, due to some of the issues I had with this, half the time I was just waiting for the opening/ending to start, since those were the only times when I could have some carefree enjoyment of the series.
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|[ Overall - 7/10 ]|
Look, this anime is perfectly suitable for someone whose free-time is endless and all they do is watch anime. But I fit into neither of those categories, let alone both, so... I can't find the same enjoyment. Moreover, I want to watch the dub for the dub. Not to have to read subtitles anyway. I still don't hate the show and found /some/ enjoyment, but I wouldn't rate it as highly as others.
