Just finished this anime after putting it off a few episodes in while it was airing, & I must say, it's one of the most interesting shows I've seen in a while. The unique artwork & darker plot where what pulled me in towards the end of this series, & I loved the plot twists; it's been a while since I watched an anime where I couldn't predict what was going to happen. Has anyone else seen this show, & if so, what did you think of the "interesting" storyline?
Reviving this thread.
I'm on episode 13 ATM and so far it seems to be fine. The first 7 episodes of this series were great. 8th episode was a disaster. I don't even know what was the purpose of that episode. However, 9th episode onward it seems to become a little interesting again. I'm guessing they'll probably make one or two more characters disappear by the time the series ends.
I think the 8th episode just had a "coming of age" theme to bridge the gap between them as kids and then after the time skip, but it was pretty surprising to me too. I don't want to give anything away, but with every good dark anime there has to be at least one emotional death. The anime has plenty of plot twists towards the end—let me know what you think!
I'm fine with any plot twist as long as it isn't completely ridiculous(E.g. the last 2 episodes of Evangelion). In fact it would be great if it ends up being something that I don't see coming at all(something like Satoru/Maria killing Saki towards the end/Saki becoming a Karma Demon and destroying everything). That said, if it turns out to be something like Shun coming back or Saki having to take the 'tough' decision of making her friends disappear, then I won't like it much. I just hope it doesn't have more stuff like episode 8 in the coming episodes.
I watched this back when it first aired and thought it was terrible.
Despite having a great premise, setting and first few episodes, the plot seems to become directionless after episode 5 and only manages to pull itself together during the last 2-3 episodes. For example, in the first arc there is a lot of mystery around the disappearing children, however that is soon forgotten and the story switches its focus the Monster Rats. Then the arc ends on a slight cliffhanger, only to be followed by a timeskip.
The second arc was by far the worst though, as once again the plot changes focus, and all of the character development feels rushed.
Mainly with Shun though, as one episode he is a normal boy, and in the next episode he is suddenly dark, mysterious and distant.
It would have been a lot better if they had used the previous arc to slowly develop the characters instead of leaving it all until right before they become relevant.
The third and final arc was the best, and it manages to tie up a few loose ends. Despite this, the arc isn't good enough to make up for the terrible pacing and direction that runs rampant throughout the rest of the show.
Altogether the show was a great disapointment for me, as I had been looking forward to it for a while and my expectations were high.
Has anyone read the source material? I'm interested if it suffers from similar problems or if just the adaption is bad.
OK, I finished this today.
And it was EPIC.
The first arc was great. The whole mystery surrounding the fallen empires, the False Minoshiro, loss of Cantus, etc. gave an amazing start to this series. The character set didn't seem too good at that point but the setting was pretty solid and I expected it to turn into something much better later on. However, I was a little concerned seeing its low ranking(comparatively) on ANN and MAL. Then episode 8 showed me why. That episode was a disaster IMO. I mean, why did they need to show all that? Ok, it showed how different adolescence had become in future but why make it that disgusting? But I decided to go ahead with the series and indeed my choice was right. The next arc was a little slow TBH, with Squealer getting introduced again and Shun's memories getting erased. But this was the arc when the characters slowly became 'likable'. And what followed this arc was absolutely amazing. The last arc was certainly the best. I certainly didn't see that revolt coming. And from there the series became a lot more interesting. The part where they re-introduced Shun seemed a little cliched but I'm glad they didn't spend too much time on it and didn't fully revive him either. The final episode was also great. And I liked how the series concluded. Overall, it was an amazing series and certainly one of the better anime I have watched.