The animation is godly and the story is mostly ok i suppose. I just wish the story had been on par with how good it looks. Hell, sometimes its down there with solo leveling, especially with women.
Oh my god, that moment when they stop being individual characters, their eyes gloss over and their personality derives down to watching the guy be their ‘hero’. Its clearly visible. It wasn’t an accident. They intentionally dumbed down the women when serious stuff happened. For a show that’s criticizing the very concept of heroism in some pretty good ways and tries its best to ground itself into a serious tone to shatter its illusion in such a way… its just disappointing.
This I feel is the main difference between shows like this and shows like Frieren. After an arc is completed. You can look back at the characters and understand exactly why and how they became the people they are. Through all their flaws and strengths.
There’s a reason why I’m this harsh again this show. Because this isn’t your run of the mill superhero deconstruction piece like Loser Ranger. The good parts of this, are absolutely fantastic, but it’s being held down by chains that I doubt will shatter with the upcoming episodes.
I can’t believe I’m pointing this out either, cos i rarely care about how stories portray minorities or anything for all i care, its fiction either way. But this one just gets on my nerve.
Little addition to what i said about this show before, now that i’ve watched 11 eps. Emm, this show sorta rocks. It still has some of the issues I was talking about before, with shallow characters and all. But, but, BUT, ep 11 practically blew me away. Its like a chasm that all lay lines conjoin at. It connected practically most of the individual threads the show has been weaving and grounded them in one timeline. And what a timeline that is. Took me a few minutes of fast forwarding through every previous episode to see all the minor world building and foreshadowing bits and pieces. They all add up now.
I’m still quite frustrated by how shallow these characters are honestly. Because this show it trying very hard to tell a grounded, hell, even a monster level of thriller while having the character development that fits into the memory of a goldfish. For example, the show does an amazing job at introducing the dean at the orphanage. Between the talks with the reporter guy and the huge tonal shift when he started exploiting cyan, his build up was done really well. Then it all just somehow goes to shit and he just turns into a monster and evil person. Like, bruh, don’t just do whatever with a character to move the plot along. At least give me some clues at to what is going on. With the way the show is poised and how much development other characters are getting, you’d expect the same from the main villain of an arc. But no, you’re not told a peep and the show just moves along like we’re meant to believe he turned evil along the way…
I also like how the show’s art style completely changes between the old heroes and the new guys. We’ve got Queen and Cyan in, might I say, one of, if not the most beautiful 2D animation style. Now THIS is a true contender for Unlimited Budget Works. Then there’s the arcane-esque art style, which is great, but not my preference.
The more i watch this, the more it feels as if I’m being sold on it ngl. I think its mainly because of how good the main characters are. Every arc has story elements that are mind blowingly good that its hard to even specify which one’s my favourite. Like, its not just a cool character, the way this show grounds them and shows us human struggle through the lens of its trust based system is really cool. Really makes me understand what kind of a mental space they’re in.
Now that was an anime. Really interesting story plus a whole lotta visual cocaine.