Reviews

Bleh, I feel like 8 is too high yet 7 is too low for _Humanity Has Declined_. One of *those* anime... I liked how the artwork completely clashed with the cynical two-faced narrative, and the time loop was one of the better ones I've seen (possibly on par with _Steins;gate_), and the bread of episode 1 needs no further praise (Rest in peace, Pan-san. You will never be forgotten); I liked the ED (unsurprising since it's by the same people as _Haibane Renmei_'s music apparently). The satellite arc was just lame for me, although reading discussion online, it seems everyone either liked the manga arc XOR satellite arc, and I happened to like the manga arc. The final school arc felt badly incomplete, with no discernible effect of fairy intervention, and a weirdly inconsequential ending given the insanity of the girls we witnessed. The world makes little sense even on its own story-logic framework (although I do appreciate the post-Singularity framework, which make _Jinrui_ a nice addition to my anime essay http://www.gwern.net/Aria%27s%20past,%20present,%20and%20future ), and there are Chekhov guns galore: literally, in the case of Grandpa constantly practicing with and polishing his huge armory of guns but never acknowledging them or using them. Is the light novel series as mixed a bag as the anime or is this a case where the adaptation didn't quite work out well? I don't know, but I need to judge the anime on its own (de)merits.