Well.

Just one episode has been released, and I don't know anything about the complete story, so as to whether this breaks down later or not is immaterial to me, but if you even for a second were intrigued by Shaft's other major production in the Monogatari series, this will rivet you to your seat.

The dialogue is charming and deep, with the same ADHD camera movement seen in Monogatari, but calmed down to a level that makes it easily watchable (you don't have to read paragraphs of flashed text in a split-second).

The animation fluidity is at least on par with Monogatari, but what really cranks it up is the sheer detail shown in the subjects and surroundings that was generally left out of all but the most important scenes in the aforementioned series. I have no doubt that the art/animation budget Shaft rolled out for this one increased by at least four times.

As for character interactions, if you aren't the type that gets completely sucked into the dialogue of an engaging anime, skip this show. You won't be able to keep up. The conversations are generally held at an easily understood level on the surface, but the whole point of the speaking is not for drama, but rather indirect plot and character development. If you miss just one moment, it's nearly guaranteed that you'll miss a reference to that same moment in the next. It's a compounding process that will work your brain in knots until giving you a breather every few minutes.

Yeah, and they don't give you a second chance to listen closely.

The story has yet to be expanded upon, but that's what the rest of the series is there for... And I'll be watching all of it.

Before the anime there was the manga and the songs on mekakucity actors.
It's a unique anime in my opinion. The art so far seen is very similar to the manga , I haven't finished the manga but I know where story is about to go. The characters are entertaining. Each person has their own story . From what I heard from the manga some of the characters have powers or talents? The first episode related a lot to the manga they included all the details to start the viewers wondering. I thinks this will be a memorable anime, since this anime is made by Aniplex ( creators of Puella Magi Madoka Magica) from that I can conclude this will be a dark anime. You can also search up on youtube some songs from mekakucity actors. like '' Children Record'' the most popular one I can think of. Well I can't say exactly I know the whole story yet , but I can tell that the fan support is gonna increase the popularity of this anime in a heartbeat.

Mekakucity Actors begins as a very personal tale of grief and loss, keeping a slow, but affecting pace. Or, at least, that's what I thought until I completed the final two episodes, in which I realized the show spent the majority of its run spinning its tires, and frantically struggled to complete an incredibly silly and convoluted plotline in the last moments, abandoning the methodical pace and close inspection of the characters struggles for erratic, inconsistent pacing, ham-fisted expositive dialogue, and general abandonment for the unique audio visual presentation that made those early moments so great. Don't get me wrong, studio Shaft have made just as pretty a show as one would expect, but it just cannot make up for flawed writing and planning.

Ok so I reviewed this anime in the first episode, but I suppose it's time to update the review. Sincerely, I still think the anime is good. I understand that many people simply don't enjoy the Shaft animation, but are you really going to let that stop you from the awesomeness of the series? I mean personally I think Shaft animation is perfect for this, but I guess everyone has their opinions. Secondly, I've seen A LOT of hate about how the anime has no plot and its just a bunch of little stories, but let me tell you that you're COMPLETELY wrong about that. The plot of the story is big and complex, and quite honestly, I'm not sure having a linear 12 episode anime would work for the series. The way it's been done right now is perfect. You guys need to understand that Mekaku City Actors is meant to get you confused. You won't understand what's happening at first. That's normal. You HAVE to let the story progress so that you can link what's happening with what happened. Everything will hopefully be answered by the end. So to summarize, don't hate on the series for the animation, you're robbing yourself of an awesome series. The anime is not linear. Every episode will change perspectives and dates. However everything will be connected at the end. Confusion is normal. It happened when the songs came out, it happened when the light novels came out, it happened when the manga came out, and it's happening now. Lastly just try to enjoy the show. Don't get discouraged by Shaft's randomness and the confusion it's all worth it. 5/5

The whole series goes down to focusing on curtain characters and plot lines in every episode, and then showing how that side story connects to the main story. Does it do this well? Sort of… The side plots don't really give us incite to the characters much, sometimes it did other times it didn't and focused to much on trying to seem edgy or "deep" in some sort of way or form. The whole ending seems very rushed and pretty half a$$ed if you ask me, I really wish they went more in-depth on the characters and the overall plot, if it did then I think this anime could have turned out way better.

Mekakucity Actors had so much potential to be great. It had fun and likable characters with an incredible cast of seiyuu such as Mamoru Miyano, Kana Hanazawa, Kana Asumi, Keiji Fujiwara, etc. It had an interesting premise to the story, which is based on the stories told in the vocaloid songs written by the artist Jin in his album Kagerou Project, which tells the story of the eponymous Mekakushi-dan, a group of kids who each have unique powers. It has an awesome soundtrack that provides great covers for a lot of Jin's songs (though the original Kagerou Project album is much better). It was even animated by SHAFT with Akiyuki Shinbo himself directing the series.

So what went wrong? Well first of all, the series is only one cour (12 episodes) long when it would've worked much better as 2 cours, but Aniplex only let SHAFT do one since they're greedy. Secondly, the series composition is a complete mess and it's impossible to understand the events that are occurring in the story or the significance behind them. By the time the final episode ends, the viewer is left scratching his/her head wondering "Ok, what the hell was the point of all this?" Several twists happen in the story out of nowhere with no explanation as to how or why they happen, and there are even several subplots that are built up and then quickly discarded. On top of that, the quality of the animation goes downhill very quickly. This is especially disheartening since SHAFT is known for having excellent quality animation in their productions.

It's a shame since the original album from Jin had a great story to tell but this series doesn't do it justice in the slightest. Guess Aniplex decided that Nisekoi was more profitable and decided to make SHAFT poor more of their effort into that. Overall, don't watch this series unless you wish to be horribly disappointed.

Normally, I hate writing reviews for things after only one episode unless they're obviously crap (read my other reviews). MEKAKUCITY Actors is a rare exception.
Story- 5 stars. After one episode, most anime watchers won't appreciate the depth of the story, but trust me- it's there. Deep character back stories, intertwining relationships, betrayal, supernatural elements... It's great. Hopefully the animation gives this every bit of exposure it deserves.
Sound- 5 stars. The voice acting is great, and the ambient noises you'd expect are all present and balanced. The music has become quite famous in Japan, with all the characters having unique and awesome soundtracks.
Art- 5 stars. Those familiar with Monogatari and the related series will appreciate the blends of CG and drawn visuals, and dynamic changing color schemes give each scene a distinctive feel.
This is the type of anime that will make viewers realize what it is they want from a good show. Do yourself a favor, and jump in.

This show could have been great. Being it was part of a large multimedia project known as the Kagerou Project as well as being worked on my [email protected] I had high hopes. In the end the way the characters and story developed where just rushed, confusing and just plain convoluted. I really wanted to like this series but it failed to get my attention well enough to even pay attention most times.

If you just wanted to watch something with pretty visuals and covers of vocaloid songs then feel free to check this series out. If youre looking for good story and character development, look elsewhere.