Terror in Resonance is an original, thriller anime produced by studio MAPPA. Created and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, the famous director of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo.
Terror in Resonance can be considered studio MAPPA's first major project.. or at least their first worth talking about.
Following two teenage boys Nine & Twelve, intelligent terrorists with unknown backgrounds, start bombing major buildings and causing mayhem across Tokyo. As the panic quickly rises, they challenge the Tokyo police force to a battle of wits.
The series has a strong first 5 episodes, having a vibe to that of Death Note, as the main protagonists are not heroes but also not immorally evil only targeting a series of empty but connected buildings. They pull off their terrorism without the cost of life and then make funny youtube videos mocking the police. The episodes were great, intriguing, and suspenseful, combined with some beautiful animation and a good art style. While the music personally isn't my cup of tea, it is good overall.
The series nose dives in quality when the character Five gets introduced. The story suddenly shifts from an intriguing cat-and-mouse battle, between the terrorists and the police force, to a not-so-intriguing "battle" against a revengefully bitchy scizo evil character.
Suddenly the terrorists become the bomb-defusing squad, trying to stop the insane revengeful woman from causing explosions that would cause massacres. Five is characterized as lonely, revengeful, and obsessive with outsmarting Nine, but she never amounts to anything and ends up just becoming an eye sore of an antagonist that changes the direction of the story into something less interesting.
But my biggest gripe with the story leads to the main female character Lisa, who is one of the worst female characters I have seen in anime. Her characterization is that of a bullied, psychologically damaged high school girl.
While her actions and personality may be accurate to what a real person would do in her situation, except much more idiotic. Her significance and character development are almost non-existent. Serving as a romantic interest for Twelve and a plot device that can be used by kidnappers to corner the protagonists. She as a character holds no value for me as the audience, and the show would've been much better without her. As the screen time wasted on her could have been used for the better.
You honestly can't take this character seriously. When she can't even follow the simplest of instructions set by the protagonists, such as: not answering the door to strangers.. in their safe house.. when you're a wanted criminal no less.. then fucking up so bad that her entire apartment complex literally explodes.
Terror in Resonance is an anime with a strong first half and a second half so bleeeh you'll be impressed. The story shift was for the worse, and while the last episode and ending did improve the quality, the damage was already done.