Kujira no Kora's first epiosde was quite the hook, it's interesting and unique world where people live on small islands that floats on top sea's of sand. it sounds like a great concept if handled properly, so it's only natural you'll be interested. Then the third episode came and the suspension of disbelief kicks in and it's no longer possible to watch the show without yelling at the screen.
i'll be going over some of the writing problems the show has, so this review will have minor spoilers, since it's a show that's impossible to talk about without examples.
TERRIBLE EXPOSITION, Characters talking in a completely fake way to explain things they already know. this show also has one of the worst cases i've ever seen of such exposition, as at one point, characters ask another character to explain things they already know while acting like they don't know about them, it's plain stupid and an obvious example of the show's bad writing. not to mention the quality of the dialogue is terribly low.
FLAT CHARACTERS AND TERRIBLE DRAMA. The characters barely have any personality or character in them, they are only defined by their conflict, they are killed almost immedietly after they're introduced, and their deaths are overdramatized in an attempt to milk some feels from the audience that it's nauseating, you barely know them or anything about them and there is nothing to remember them for, so of course you won't be able to care about their deaths.
The show also keeps ruining it's dramatic tones with out of place comedy, the mood whiplash it creates is immersion breaking and ruins the mood the show has. and it's hard to give a damn about any of the characters who die if the show is constantly messing around afterwards, as if they never mattered.
There is also barely any effort in writing the opposition, most of them are faceless mooks wearing the same clothes and masks,, and the one that stands out is the one dimesional pink haired evil guy who likes to kill people just because, and is written in a way that makes it impossible not to hate him after 5 seconds of his introduction.
NOTHING MAKES SENSE, logic is thrown out the window in favor of appealing to the emotional side through shocks, and is constantly breaking rules it already established in it's setting. for example, the enemy is supposed to have no emotions, yet some characters clearly exhibit them, like the pink haired one dimensional villain who kills people because... he's evil and likes to murder people and shit.
Non of the actions the characters or enemies make any sense either, for example the enemy are here to wipe out the island, and for no reason they stand around waiting for the characters to finish their monologues or crying instead of attacking them, something doesn't align with how emotionless they're supposed to be either.
They also have numerical and tactical advantage, yet they leave for no reason and give time for the main characters to fight back. and instead of preparing for them the elders decide to drown the island and it's inhabitants instead of fighting back for no reason.
And when they attack again, they lay a trap down in their own ship in case the island inhabitants decide to attack them inside, yet they are standing around asking the attackers where they're from which gives the main characters enough time to kill them, as if there are other islands with people on them around (there are non), and act like they're surprised when they actually learn they're from that island, as if they forgot their own plans.
There are also a lot of unexplained things, like why are there marked and unmarked people, why aren't people allowed to cry for their dead if they were the ones who chose to embrace their emotions, why were they exciled instead of eliminated in the first place, why did the enemy decide to eliminate them now, why aren't they eliminating their own soldiers who clearly also exhibit emotions, and many other things. if you're the kind that likes to see everything explained, then you'll be having a bad time.
TOO MUCH PLOT CONVENIENCE, things happen just because the plot demands them to, because the writer is incompetent or too lazy to write events in a way that makes sense, or progress the plot in a plausible way.
Things like one of the characters being able to fight a bunch of enemies and defeating them easily despite not having any experience in battle. and later one of the main characters magically passes through a wall of enemies and captures their captain as if he can teleport, the same captain is supposed to be emotionless as well yet acts like he's afraid and gives up, and the soldiers with guns are standing around instead of shooting him or the other intruders.
An army of emotionless soldiers with guns who have been training all their lifes on combat are being easily beaten by a bunch of kids who have been using bows for a week. said kids appear happy and excited about killing other human beings as if it doesn't matter. enemies not killing the main characters immedietly so we can have some other convenience to save them. a character with deep wounds falls into the sea of sand yet somehow survives despite it being impossible, even though completely fine people not surviving if they did. shameless plot armoring is shameless. if it wasn't for all this bullshit plot armoring all the characters would've been dead from the 3rd episode.
The only thing this show has for it is the brilliant art work, it has some really eye pleasing aesthetic, the beautifully drawn backgrounds that feel like they're crayon drawn, the visuals are stunningly beautiful, the sound track really great. there are also some really nice music video's in the show, their placement is random as hell, though.
This show is an example of a good concept ruined by bad writing and terrible execution. the best words to describe this show are disappointing and frustrating, it feels like a waste of it's nice aesthetics. this is what happens when a creator prioritizes shocking the viewer and appealing to their emotions over theme exploration, proper characterization, or even making sense of their own world's rules.
To enjoy this show you have to be waay too forgiving, must take everything to face value, and throw away common sense, but even then you'll be yelling "STOP STANDING AROUND" all the time.
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