BlackCatLef

3S review no.18 (short, simple and sweet/salty/spicy)

Oh boy, where do I start with this… You see this show is great but it is also terible, there are some great stuff about it, and some terrible. The worst part about it is… Toei.

So, story, there is a city, somehow it is connected to other worlds, some holes/rifts open, monsters come out and kidnap/kill people. An organization is formed, they use some technology to manage the rifts to open only near their headquarters and have their soldiers deal with whatever comes out from them. That’s all nice and dandy, and it is handled ok, but you see you really just have to accept what you learn at the first episode, that even though these rifts appear only in that city, and the first time they appeared lots of people died or got kidnapped, THEY DID NOT EVACUATE the city to simply use it as military base, instead people casually continue to live there. Also, you know, the typical shounen fact that optimal soldiers vary from adolescents to really young adults. So on one hand, you get this nice and complex world building of the dark universe with multiple worlds that travel inside of it and can be connected to one another and to the city and on the other hand you just have to accept this stupid unbelievable premise that people just casually continue to live there beacuse teens are protecting them. This premise is necessary for the plot, and the plot does work great because of it, but still it is stupid and you just have to go with it. It is great and both terrible at the same time.

Same goes for the power system. See, the organization developed weapons by analyzing and researching the alien technology (the extraterrestrials are called “neighbors” in the show), created those tools than when you activate them your physical body is replaced by one that is made out of tirion (that’s like the power in the show, think of it like chakra or something, every person has tirion even though people didn’t know it or used before the invasion), and they use a wide range of weapons and accessories or perks consuming their tirion, it is a nice power system, not very complex, straight forward and it doesn’t really matter if you have a lot of it, as long as you can use it properly. Among the different types of weapons there are some good for close combat, for medium range and snipers for long rage. So this show does involve tactics and strategy, it does involve snipers, something that you don’t see quite often, and people don’t beat their opponents by shouting loudly or getting power ups for no reason. Yet, there is a recall button lets say, that when they press it they return safely to their headquarters, so there is not any real tension since there is not much of a threat if they just can fuck off any time. So you get this fine power system and fighting tactics, yet they cannot really die so all the tension is artificial except some rare occasions, great and terrible at the same time again. Plot is very intriguing at times but pace isn’t great, most of the times it is really slow and ofc it is riddled with fillers cause you know… Toei happens. So you see, you really wanna follow the story and find out what happens and how it happens but then again fillers, sluggish pace at times and fake tension really kill your mojo.

There is a large and interesting cast of characters. Not all of them are great, but none of them are terrible. MC is a really rare specimen. You see, he is weak compared to others, he might be mentally strong, but he is weak, plain out weak. You watch the show waiting for the typical shounen moment where all of a sudden he is gonna become broken because of some stupid thing, some random ability, some random power up, some realization of some short, yet that moment never comes. He starts weak and stays weak. He simply becomes stronger bit by bit by experience and training, but he still remains weak compared to the others. And it is not that he is a mastermind or anything compensating for his weak fighting skills, he is just a little smart, he is working hard and has his heart on the right place. What a specimen right? Second leading character is well done, has an interesting background and his relationship with the MC and the rest of the cast does make things happen for the story. Third leading character, Chika is whatever I guess, she has a busted amount of tirion for whatever reason but at least she is not annoying or anything or a fan servicing loli even though she is a young girl. There is some power balance between the members of the organization, you know the important ones and when it is introduced it is kind of intriguing and you expect some characters with motives and such, but later on they kind of forget about it, and stuff get taken more lightly than they should, you kind of get the message when they hold a meeting and the MC is in the room for NO actual reason yet noone points that out and just let him stay there. There is another interesting character with a busted ability that lets him see the possible outcomes of the future, he is your typical guy that always has some ulterior motives and pulls the strings from the backgrounds, but like even someone mentions this in the show at some point when someone asks where is he, the answer is he is probably somewhere pulling strings, also in the mid episode images (where you get character profiles) it says that his hobby is to pull strings, so the whole thing is not taken really seriously and undermines itself. There is potential in the characters, interesting character relationships and dynamique, some great stuff yet everything is held down because most things are taken lightly. Great and terrible at the same time.

Animation is terrible, it is cheap, lazy and it shows, Toei showing off what a lazy money sucking corporation it is once again. Like cheap and lazy power point presentation isn’t enough, let’s throw some terrible cgi monsters on top of that. Art style is fine, it’s not over the top and it doesn’t really try to impress you, like in the first episode when MC uses his trigger for the first time and transforms, you like expect to get something cool but no, he just fuckin changes into his training suit like he is about to start jogging. It is not a show that tries to impress you with flashy staff, and that’s another reason it is not really appealing to average viewer, throw in Toei’s magic on top of that and you get something really lame visually-wise.

Sound is very good. While the director is insignificant (his best work is Outlaw star which ain’t that bad of a show but guess what, direction is one of it’s main issues), character designers are insignificant, the composer is a competent man that has been making music for anime for a very very long time. Ofc not every work of his can be extraordinary, but even his average work does have some quality. The tracks might not be memorable, but they are nice, they work great with whatever is happening and with the overall atmosphere of the show. Some of the openings are nice as well. Voice acting is great, you get a bunch of talented and recognizable voices doing a great job, even for minor characters. Also you get to hear one of the most amazing and recognizable voices that ever blessed the world of anime, the voice of Keiji Fujiwara, embrace every second of it cause you won’t be hearing in the future unfortunately. Rest in peace man, your voice will be missed.

So is it worth watch? Well, that is very hard question to answer, this show has as many upsides as downsides. It’s one of those rare times that I can’t give you a definitive answer. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to someone that can bypass crappy animation, fillers, its slow pace at times, well to someone who can bypass the fact that Toei fuck it up basically. If you just overlook these stuff and accept the goofy fact that people decided to stay in the city then you get a good story, solid power system and tactics, good characters (and the difficult yet successful task to juggle between so many of them) and nice sound overall. I really hoped for a different studio to take over its sequel. I really believe if this show had amazing production values people would go crazy over it, the potential is definitely there. If you can’t stand shitty animation, stay away from this show. But know this, there is more to this show than what meets the eye, it’s way better than many other shounen that have received much more success.