For those who haven't watched it yet, I put all the spoilers between spoiler tags, like this: *spoiler* Here is a spoiler: Dumbledore dies. */spoiler*.
My expectations were high after all the good ratings and recommendations. I was told by friends that it was a darker anime, and after watching the first few episodes, now knowing what kind of world the anime revolves around, I was zealous about it. But unfortunately I was disappointed.
The sound was marvellous, and I think that all those reviews point that out. It's because it isn't just good, nor great, nor awesome. It's wonderful. I'm not even going into detail, because it's ineffable.
Unlike most people in the reviews, I personally enjoyed the design and animation. It was simple, but appropriate. It made the darker moments look darker to me. Like the shaky camera in some moments in Breaking Bad. Little spoiler here: *spoiler* The flashback of the boy who became a karma demon and went on a killing spree in a city, which I guess was Tokyo, was beautiful to look at. And I'm talking about people exploding, blood splattering. It looked neat, and set the tone for me. I was caught.*/spoiler*
But then came the letdown: the plot itself. It was disappointing. The narrative, as well as some twists were really great, but what killed it for me was that they jumped forward in time exactly when it started to become interesting. What a hoax. The main problem is for me, that it seemed like three short story arcs, linked together by some details. In all seriousness, they should have omitted the queerats and focus on the group of five people struggling in this dystopian world, *spoiler* while Shun becomes a Fiend or Karma Demon. Maybe they would be exiled for prying to much into business that isn't theirs, or similar. */spoiler*
The character development may be what suffered most from this sudden jumps. I wasn't really attached to any of the characters, maybe a bit to Satoru, who for me was the most interesting character.
*spoiler* Another thing that bugged me was, for instance, how Maria and Mamoru died. They left the civilisation, and then at some point, twenty years later, we are told that they are actually dead, and that it wasn't pretence. Maybe that was emblematic of how the government in the town is run, that so many secrets are kept. But in the end, I felt hoaxed again.*/spoiler*
Separately, the three story arcs were good though, so it's not like the plot was bad. It was good, but I think that it's a shame that they didn't exploit the anime's full potential.
Tl;dr: Wonderful sound, great animation and design, three good story arcs, but poorly connected overall plot. Could easily have been a masterpiece. Wasn't one in my opinion. Still worth to watch. I rate it 8.5/10.
My expectations were high after all the good ratings and recommendations. I was told by friends that it was a darker anime, and after watching the first few episodes, now knowing what kind of world the anime revolves around, I was zealous about it. But unfortunately I was disappointed.
The sound was marvellous, and I think that all those reviews point that out. It's because it isn't just good, nor great, nor awesome. It's wonderful. I'm not even going into detail, because it's ineffable.
Unlike most people in the reviews, I personally enjoyed the design and animation. It was simple, but appropriate. It made the darker moments look darker to me. Like the shaky camera in some moments in Breaking Bad. Little spoiler here: *spoiler* The flashback of the boy who became a karma demon and went on a killing spree in a city, which I guess was Tokyo, was beautiful to look at. And I'm talking about people exploding, blood splattering. It looked neat, and set the tone for me. I was caught.*/spoiler*
But then came the letdown: the plot itself. It was disappointing. The narrative, as well as some twists were really great, but what killed it for me was that they jumped forward in time exactly when it started to become interesting. What a hoax. The main problem is for me, that it seemed like three short story arcs, linked together by some details. In all seriousness, they should have omitted the queerats and focus on the group of five people struggling in this dystopian world, *spoiler* while Shun becomes a Fiend or Karma Demon. Maybe they would be exiled for prying to much into business that isn't theirs, or similar. */spoiler*
The character development may be what suffered most from this sudden jumps. I wasn't really attached to any of the characters, maybe a bit to Satoru, who for me was the most interesting character.
*spoiler* Another thing that bugged me was, for instance, how Maria and Mamoru died. They left the civilisation, and then at some point, twenty years later, we are told that they are actually dead, and that it wasn't pretence. Maybe that was emblematic of how the government in the town is run, that so many secrets are kept. But in the end, I felt hoaxed again.*/spoiler*
Separately, the three story arcs were good though, so it's not like the plot was bad. It was good, but I think that it's a shame that they didn't exploit the anime's full potential.
Tl;dr: Wonderful sound, great animation and design, three good story arcs, but poorly connected overall plot. Could easily have been a masterpiece. Wasn't one in my opinion. Still worth to watch. I rate it 8.5/10.