I usually enjoy Studio Trigger's shows, but BNA left me mostly cold. To me, the main problem is that it tries to tackle too many real world problems at once (racism, inequality, human and animal trafficking, drug abuse, terrorism, religion and cults' influence on people, unethical science etc.) without really expanding on any of them since the series is a mere 12 episode long, and also half of it is occupied by the usual cool and flashy Trigger fights and battles (plus a comedy episode that feels really out of place with the rest). Also the metaphors don't really work in making Anima City into a parallel to the real world, with the result that it comes off as a dumb anime version of Zootopia. And the "shocking twist" ending is quite stupid and looks like they just wanted to wrap all the dangling subplots up and call it a day. The characters also are fairly bland and generic, with Michiru being the usual ditzy but plucky and headstrong Trigger tomboy heroine, but without ever having Akko or Ryuko's charm (also she just stops caring about her main goal, turning human again, halfway through the show), Shirou being the typical mysterious brooding loner we've seen a thousand times already, and the Big Bad as the Nazi-esque genocidal whackjob who feels everyone else is beneath them.
It's not a terrible anime, the animations and soundtrack are cool as expected of Trigger and it has some nice ideas every now and then, but for the rest it is forgettable and kind of convoluted in parts. With Cyberpunk Edgerunners Trigger has shown that they are able to make a cool-looking show that can deal with serious themes at the same time, so with BNA they probably did not know who the target audience was going to be, dealing with themes that are too serious for kids but in a way that makes it too dumb and unrealistic for adults.
Trigger's weakest show so far
I usually enjoy Studio Trigger's shows, but BNA left me mostly cold. To me, the main problem is that it tries to tackle too many real world problems at once (racism, inequality, human and animal trafficking, drug abuse, terrorism, religion and cults' influence on people, unethical science etc.) without really expanding on any of them since the series is a mere 12 episode long, and also half of it is occupied by the usual cool and flashy Trigger fights and battles (plus a comedy episode that feels really out of place with the rest). Also the metaphors don't really work in making Anima City into a parallel to the real world, with the result that it comes off as a dumb anime version of Zootopia. And the "shocking twist" ending is quite stupid and looks like they just wanted to wrap all the dangling subplots up and call it a day. The characters also are fairly bland and generic, with Michiru being the usual ditzy but plucky and headstrong Trigger tomboy heroine, but without ever having Akko or Ryuko's charm (also she just stops caring about her main goal, turning human again, halfway through the show), Shirou being the typical mysterious brooding loner we've seen a thousand times already, and the Big Bad as the Nazi-esque genocidal whackjob who feels everyone else is beneath them. It's not a terrible anime, the animations and soundtrack are cool as expected of Trigger and it has some nice ideas every now and then, but for the rest it is forgettable and kind of convoluted in parts. With Cyberpunk Edgerunners Trigger has shown that they are able to make a cool-looking show that can deal with serious themes at the same time, so with BNA they probably did not know who the target audience was going to be, dealing with themes that are too serious for kids but in a way that makes it too dumb and unrealistic for adults.