This show was an experience. And not the good kind. I didn't expect it to be as good as Akatsuki no Yona but it tried to do WAY too much in too little time which seems to be a trend with most anime originals I watched this year not named odd taxi. But I was already wary from the first trailer so I guess it's fine
I absolutely cannot help but adore handsome 2D boysIt had good ideas, but really bad focus and they managed to make all the ideas crash into one another instead of help each.
The idea of the final episode COULD have been incredibly cool, but it was never explored or built upon so it comes out of nowhere and the writer has to stack the deck not to make the easy and normal choice a no brainer. And it STILL is the easy and safe choice even after the writer stacks the deck with unnecessary tragedy so not even getting points for originality or bravery.
Even Fena knows that she didn't see enough or get enough agency during most of the journey to make giving her that choice make any sense.
Man. I sure hated the last few episodes. Basically everything that happens after they find Eden is a pile of nonsense. But to just focus on one detail:
The island rising out of the water as they approach, and then the island is noticeably not waterlogged at all when they're exploring it. That's just a failure of imagination and set design. Like either actually think about what these environs would look like if they spent most of their time underwater, or go all in on the reverse angle and make it clear that it's supposed to be supernaturally dry. Like maybe the path through the forest is marked by a trail of inexplicably-burning torches, which transition into those magic blue light once they get to the city; kind us a sense of both history and eeriness.
Or maybe there's a more middle of the road approach. Maybe we have waterlogged, rotting wood casually standing beside pristine trees. Make the water damage tapers off as they get closer to the core of the island. Maybe the island is covered in coral reefs, miraculously still living above the surface.
There's a lot that could've been done. But they did none of it, because the plot point about the island rising from the ocean ceased to exist after the scene itself.
Honestly I thought that was completely obvious from the beginning. Given that we see the island rise up out of the ocean but everything is pristine once they get on land more than enough "weirdness be happening" sign. Anything else would be labouring the point.
I liked this show. :) Uuuntil the last episode, that is. That was just bizarre. :S x_x I still stand by my quoting that funny line from Linkara. I kept expecting one of the characters to look at the screen and say "No, we don't get this either, folks. Just lie back and think of England."
I liked the characters, I liked the atmosphere, I liked the art style, and the music, and even even most of the tender moments and all of the more casual moments.
But this show did not take the time to tell the story they wanted to tell. It really feels like the plot was something they thought of at the last minute to justify all the other elements of the show. Which is kind of like 14 year old me worlding-building and making character sheets for a setting that I hadn't really thought of a story for yet.
Yeah, I'd agree this is a fairly good show with a fairly disappointing last episode. A lot of exposition for new concepts that don't go anywhere and stakes that don't actually exist. That said, the story of the season got a relatively satisfactory conclusion (I do think Abel went out in too sympathetic a way) in the previous episode, so I'm more or less okay.
Really, what they probably should've done was had last episode be the cliffhanger for a second season, and then have the content of the last episode be spread out over a second season.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Oct 25th 2021 at 7:59:58 AM
The biggest fault of this show is how unfocused it often felt; I legitimately could not tell you what the plot is by the end of this series. That might be due to the creators not working with the time they were given. They essentially tried to do too much in 12 episodes and it felt like nothing had any time to breathe.
A little too ambitious for its own good.
Which is a shame, because I loved the characters....ok, I loved Fena and Yukimaru, but that's fine because they're the leads. They're just likable enough without it being overbearing, and hey, it's a romance that doesn't make me roll my eyes into my skull. Everyone else just kind of ranged from ok to forgettable.
Two major things that could have fixed this show for me: 1) A simpler plot if we're only dealing with 12 episodes. There's only but so much you can pack in that amount of time and I think it would have been better served on something simpler. Otherwise, this needed a second cour to really pace things. 2) Cut down on the characters. I wasn't kidding when I said most of the cast were forgettable outside of the leads, a smaller and more focused cast would be preferred to me. As it stands, outside of the leads, almost everyone only has one or two traits that aren't that memorable.
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.I basically agree with what everyone else said.
This really needed to be a 24 episode anime. I would have loved to see the adventures with the crew padded out so everyone got some proper focus, and so the ending felt like it had more gravitas.
Also the ending itself was pretty bad. Just on a personal level I can't stand the arbitrary memory loss trope.
I do hope that if it gets a second season, they get 24 episodes and actually work with the episodes they have along with trying to fix the problems. I could see a lot of potential in Fena getting used to her new situation like everything about what she learned at the start or seeing the others be expanded upon.
Check out Rogues Gallery Transplant: The Game

It does make me think Shitan is in love with Yukimaru and just trying to find some excuse to hate Fena.
Like the thought that Yukimaru could just...be in love with her never crossed his mind at all. One has to has to wonder if Shitan saw Yukimaru essentially proposing to her.
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.