Reviews

Feb 4, 2025
This anime is a unique case of where the first season absolutely stumbles over itself to barely make the finish line. Whereas the second season somewhere does a 180-degree turn, to make you think 'actually that weren't too bad in the end'. For parts of this review, I will split it into two sections for season 1 and 2 because I feel some parts deserve that clarification here.

Story - You're essentially thrown in the midst of a death game called 'Tasuketsu' where every night at a certain a question will be asked and depending on the answer a collection of people will die or survive.

Pretty simple premise, the problem with season 1 here is they seem to sort of expect you know why this is all happening. For instance, there are many scenes between characters where they are talking about what happened prior to the death game, their reasoning for what they are doing. There's many where I'm sort like okay, I don't really get any of this and a lot of it glazed over so briefly left in this weird moment of should pause the episode to look stuff up on the internet. So for much of season 1 imagine you just being a random person tagging for the ride, and you're pretending you know what's going on.

Season 2, on the other hand, is a lot better there are a few moments where flashbacks explain a few of characters motives, and the story conclusion rounded quite well in this instance. Another positive is that there's clear goalposts for these group of characters, whereas in the first season, a lot of it was just guessing what to do until the last episodes. Here they clearly define what each group's goal at the end of all this is, and the last few episodes make you wonder if certain characters are in it for themselves to potentially backstab the others.

Characters - Very much a mixed bag depending on whether you tolerate the first 12 episodes, as a lot of characters get better in the last 12 episodes with introduction of a new protagonist and other side characters. I think what originally hooked for the second season was the introduction of Raion Ouno, he is an enjoyable character to watch as he's a more manipulative character than the others. If you weren't a fan of Saneatsu as a protagonist from the first season then you'll be glad to know that Raion is very much his polar opposite.

Art and Sound - Overall it's very consistent throughout the two seasons I didn't notice any drop in production value on this side of things. However, this show isn't breaking any records, and expect to be appearing in any 'Best of' awards.

Enjoyment - Now this where things get a bit iffy for this series. The first season I wasn't a big fan of held on for the ride till season 2 hits. At that point, I didn't expect season 2 to be much different, however, I was pleasantly surprised by the change of characters and the pace and different focus of the story. So much so, that I would recommend anyone to give those last 12 episodes a go.

So you're probably wondering why I'm so indifferent even though the review is tagged under 'recommended'?

Well, if you're a person that can tolerate the mediocrity of the first season, I tell you now that the second season most certainly raises the bar by a few points, and it will be worth the trek through the swamp you just had to go through to get there. However, if you tried getting into it from the start, but just couldn't continue. I urge to watch/read a brief summary of the first 12 episodes on the internet somewhere, and then watch those last 12 episodes.

Again it's weird I have to say this but, I just this series is worthy of a recommendation alone on those last 12 episodes!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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