I definitely understand some viewers being confused when they're plastered face-first into a battle at the beginning of the series, but honestly I think . But honestly, I think that was one of the best ways to introduce the series, and I believe it was executed very well and left enough room open for exposition later in the first and second episodes, which I enjoy quite a bit. Sure it's a simple story, but it doesn't need to be so involved with lore like most anime is nowadays. I think it also helps that this is a bite-sized anime at six minutes long. The characters are also fairly simple, except the main character who has a bit more backstory when we get so see the stage, and I think that's what needed to be done as well. I love the AI observers being like "what the heck, that isn't fair" and sort of breaking the meta at times.
Unfortunately, this anime isn't perfect. I was originally going to rate this an 8, but some of the animation inconsistencies led me to drop it down to a 7. Plus, there's some details about the device the main character wears over his eye that the main villains of the story don't want the public to know about, and I wish that loose end was tightened up a bit more. Chihiro, the pink-haired character, also sometimes gets unnecessary dialogue. And there are a couple weird moments of fanservice in the second half of the series that leaves me feeling a little disappointed. Still, I enjoy this series and have respect for the team that made this.
Now, I did say there was ironic enjoyment to this too. Here were some of my favorite ironic moments:
- The theme song where one of the layers of words just goes "ous Heros" (fr they misspelled heroes), and the final s is trying to catch up with the rest of the letters (I think the katakana for "Glamorous" is misspelled, too, it looks like "gurarorasu" to me.)
- Episode three when one of the characters just nonchalantly goes "bakaaaaaaaaaaa" after a whole building is chopped down
- PIZZA
- The MMD dancing
- That one moment where they're frozen in mid-air for a second and then drop off the screen without their bodies moving
- The occasional sub glitches
- The transformation from one sword to two swords
- When it plays into some its more wacky moments, like "What do you mean you have to be stronger than the strongest there is?"
So yeah, um, I like this, and I guess this is going to be the top entry on my "People didn't like it but I did" list. I implore you to watch it yourself, even if it's for ironic enjoyment. I really don't believe this show deserves to be hated. At worst, it's a decent show with some funny moments and small errors, definitely not worth trashing it though! It's something I definitely recommend. I love it, flaws and all.
