This anime is as beautiful as it is rushed. You start watching for the mystery and stay for the beauty, going through a roller coaster of emotions that will inevitably crush your heart at full speed in the end.
Story (4/5) and characters (3/5)
The story starts off at a normal pace, slowly introducing the characters and their personalities. Their motivations stay a mystery for a great part of
...
This anime is as beautiful as it is rushed. You start watching for the mystery and stay for the beauty, going through a roller coaster of emotions that will inevitably crush your heart at full speed in the end.
Story (4/5) and characters (3/5)
The story starts off at a normal pace, slowly introducing the characters and their personalities. Their motivations stay a mystery for a great part of the series, which is one of the main reasons you simply can't stop watching.
But then come some issues with pacing and character development: 11 episodes were definitely not enough to bring this beautiful story to its full potential. Despite these issues, the plot never becomes completely predictable.
Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide
One example of this is five: her background is never fully explained, and her death seemed incredibly rushed. She feels more like a plot device to advance the story and give you a feeling of tragedy than a fully developed character. Even her involvement with the FBI seems like a huge stretch.
Lisa herself is often just "the tragic girl who becomes the main characters' weakness", through much of the series. It would've been nice to see them develop a relationship at a less rushed, more convincing pace, and see more of her development.
Twelve and Nine were as well developed as their screentime allowed them to be - both mysterious and relatable in unexplainable ways yet with distinct personalities, there are enough clues to show you they're not average schoolchildren, but neither are they heartless terrorists - so why are they doing this?
Art (4/5) Sound (5/5)
The art is beautiful. While it's often not particularly exceptional (though definitely well done), it surprises you during scenes in which characters are reflecting about their actions or showing their feelings. The same can be said about the music - instead of merely instrumental pieces, there's often songs with lyrics that fit perfectly with the art and plot, which was somewhat unexpected.
The art style was interesting, since it often showed characters somewhat detached from the static, considerably more realistic background. However, it didn't feel like "bad animation", since it fit perfectly with the vibe of the series - run down surroundings instead of perfect houses, blurry, warm toned backgrounds when it was hot, always dreamy, rarely colourful. When the art escaped these parameters (those night scenes!), you *knew* something important was going on.
Both the opening and ending are very fitting, but the ending song Dare ka, umi wo is a tragic, melancholic masterpiece. It kept pulling me into the next chapter because I couldn't stop listening to it.
Overall, I wish these series had been a bit longer and better developed, it certainly deserved a few extra chapters to add more character development. However, it still managed to create a beautiful atmosphere of inevitable tragedy you can't keep your eyes away from, and for that, it gets 4 stars.
RSS
