This anime, entitled "World Destruction: The Six People That Will Destroy the World", is set on a planet where the seas are made of sand and humanity is inferior to the Beastmen. How either species keep hydrated is never touched upon.
STORY (3/10) --- Now, an average boy named Kyrie Illunis is forced to go on a journey with the enigmatic Morte Urshela after she inadvertently exposes his identity as a human. A journey to where? There is no answer to this question. Morte wants to destroy the world using an orb she calls the Destruct Code. Apparently, this involves a large amount of hiking. Along the way, a Beastman bear named Toppy joins them.
The group, known as the World Destruction Committee, are being chased by the World Salvation Committee, made up of a half-human Naja and Lia, who is descended from dragons. They are not so much a threat as a plot device to keep the WDC moving. That is, until Lia is provoked.
The story is rather disjointed for the majority of the series, with each episode featuring the World Destruction Committee getting stuck in some situation. Kidnap is usually the reason given, but it is as if the characters are simply wandering around waiting for these things to happen. Naja and Lia are always just behind, obtaining information they could have no way of knowing and generally just trailing along in the WDC's footsteps. Fortunately, the last few episodes of the series break away from this tired formula to present a climax that was almost good.
CHARACTERS (5/10) --- Overall, Kyrie is mostly useless for the vast majority of the show, serving only to interact with his more interesting companions. Morte and Toppy may just be able to redeem the series. Morte is an interesting character with an unconventional mission and is the focal point of the few emotional scenes, and Toppy is certainly likeable and provides some comic relief without diminishing his character.
On the other team, we have Naja and Lia. Naja is a calm intellectual, while Lia is a hot-headed centuries-old woman with a tendency to attack first and ask questions later. While they do not seem to be an actual threat to the WDC, Lia and Naja's scenes contrast well with that of the trio.
Aside from the main five (who's the sixth who will destroy the world, I hear you ask?), there is an average size cast. We have a smuggler, Morte's deceased brother, and an antagonistic alligator. All of these fail to interest, although Morte's brother does prove himself to be important in terms of plot, and as the driving force for Morte.
In terms of character development, there is certainly some emotional journey that occurs alongside the mindless mountain-trekking and countless kidnappings. Morte's past and coming to terms with it is an important aspect that plays a large role in the climax. The three main characters, who are thrown together and forced to work as a team, truly grow close to one another. Lia gets her five minutes of awesome towards the end, but Naja is much the same person throughout the series, making no notable change.
ART (6/10) --- The art is not particularly worthy of its own section. The characters vary very little from their game counterparts, and scenery is decent. One quarrel I have is with the design of the Beastmen. Their designs are uninspired and uncreative. Everything else is perfectly... average.
MUSIC (6/10) --- The music is not distracting nor inappropriate (a la Mars of Destruction). In fact, at the end, you'll be wondering if there was any music. The opening credits feature "ZERØ" by pop band AAA. While it is good in partnership with the opening, it does seem out of place with the actual content of the series.
DUB (10/10) --- The English dub has no faults that I can find. Strangely, Toppy's use of the word "kuma" at the end of just about every sentence does not get irritating.
HEAD SCRATCHERS --- If the world is at stake, why is it that only a dragon and a half-breed are sent? How is the world kept hydrated? If there are rivers, where do they all flow to? How do sand whales survive and move in sand? Why did it take so long for Kyrie to ask the question the audience was dying to have asked --- why does Morte want to destroy the world?
IN CONCLUSION
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World Destruction is little more than something thrown together to promote a game published by Sega, a shadow of its former glory. No new themes are presented and the story is largely routine for an average fantasy series. The first seven or eight episodes do not drive the plot forward at all, simply providing another twenty-odd minutes for the WDC to run around and get captured. When the climax comes, it's a case of too little, too late.
But despite everything that's been said, there are things far worse than World Destruction. I wouldn't recommend it for those looking for storyline, but its vibrant main cast and weekly misadventures make over four hours of mindless entertainment.
Kuma.
