(TLDR Review at the bottom. Hopefully, that helped, in advance. Thanks for reading)
This is a revamp of one of my MAL reviews. If you for some reason have a problem with AL reviews. You can go check out my MAL version, slap an upvote there if you liked this, it makes me feel better
Obligatory Dream moment note:
Spoiler, click to view
Also, according to Anilist statistics, only a small percentage of people reading this review, are actually following me. So if you ended up liking this review, consider following, it's free, you can always unfollow later. Enjoy the review :)I don't know about you, but being a student for the majority of my life, I have had my fair share of things I just can't understand about others. One example is teachers setting pointless homework. By pointless homework, I mean homework that is like your average homework, you know, you can get a few things out of it (though this is probably no longer true, probably never was). But it is only pointless because the teacher decides it would be a good idea to see the homework, and not actually do anything with it. No marking, no grading, hell, they just want to see the paper, they don't actually look at the work you have worked 1-2 hours of your life to write down. That homework like this is annoying. Very annoying. I am a chill person so rather than getting angry, I just feel very disappointed. This disappointed feeling basically sums up my view of Terror in Resonance. Terror in Resonance is a fine example of something that has good intentions but is ultimately ruined by the real attitudes that existed before the anime could even start. You are there thinking:
Terror in Resonance starts off quite well, we are introduced to these teenage terrorists, these guys have the odd names to, Nine and Twelve respectively, who cause calamity in Japan, people are confused, people are scared, the police is on their toes to catch these terrorists who call themselves Sphinx, these guys are really smart too, using science to their power to aid them in blowing stuff up. Honestly, the start is strong. But alas, we have the first mistake.
Enter Lisa Mishima.
Now I won't get into why Lisa sucks just yet, that comes on later. Episodes 1-5 are the best part of this anime. We have Death Note up in here. Relatively clever detective Shibazaki is on job using his deduction skills in tracking down these terrorists, and there is also a closer unravelling to who actually Sphinx are. But it is not that easy, the story allows Sphinx to play mind games on Shibazaki and the police forces, making for interesting sit through the different riddles Sphinx can use against the people against them and the time that ticks down until another one of Sphinx's bombs goes off. The suspense is decent, rather, it felt more intriguing than suspenseful, to be honest. You are not quite sure who will come out as the winner, but the actual process of trying to solve the riddles and scouting down Sphinx makes for a good watch. As for pacing, due to the nature of the episodes, there wasn't a real need to worry or care about pacing in this part of the story, just some highly intelligent terrorists causing havoc via mind games. At this point, we do learn more about the characters, namely, the life of Nine and Twelve and what had happened to them in the past, quite a few questions here and there not fully answered, but you get an understanding that these characters are indeed mysterious with some ulterior motive that isn't just making an entire country scared. But Lisa? What the hell. She does nothing. This is not an exaggeration. Actually, I am wrong. She does do something, she causes nothing but trouble. I am not going to lie, Lisa is a sweetheart, but good lord is she the most useless thing I've seen so far. I must add however, I was told by someone that Lisa's character is made as an "I can relate" person to mainly Twelve, as he and she both pretty much ran from their troubles. I can't say that this is explored well in this show, it is more of something you have to decipher yourself, I clearly didn't do so, because I never thought that this show was anything particularly deep. But I will add that this is one of the few benefits that she brings, no that it holds up a lot considering how the theme is played with the two. In any case, though she single-handedly messed with Twelve's character and caused Nine to just be left alone with half his value lost, Nine slowly builds into the character that is unrecognisable from who he was at the start when Lisa came along. I am not sure how and why she was associated with Nine and Twelve for as long as she was. All she ever did was act as that convenient plot device (and some comfort material) that made the extra unnecessary plot that didn't need to exist in the first place, you know, the typical damsel in distress scene. But of course, it doesn't stop there. There had to be a second mistake.
Enter Five.
The story introduces a new character, Five. With a few deduction skills, it is quite obvious that she has some relation to Nine and Twelve. So you would think that there would be some interesting backstory to fill in on the unanswered questions that were left previously, and whilst yes, to some extent, it does happen, it isn't done well and it barely answers anything when it is done. Five is a character foil. All she does is show how smart Nine really is, her relation with Twelve should be on a similar level but it is almost as if they don't have a relationship despite coming from the same background, the number of times everything became a battle between Five and Nine, with no Twelve to talk about is amazing. If anything she is more useless than Lisa, and that is saying a lot, Lisa can't do anything without having WikiHow tutorials read to her 10 times over. Five didn't need to exist, period. All Five did was whine about how she really wanted to get Nine, and what does it amount to? See for yourself, or if you are willing to click the major spoiler:
Spoiler, click to view
She shoots something, blows up, and dies. The end. Literally just that.All I will say is that it enforces how worthless Five is in the story. At this point, the story is no longer what it once was. All those mind games turn into the leftovers of the answers the audience is waiting for, all that suspense turns into a watch through what feels like a documentary. Honestly, what a letdown.
I have analyzed Lisa and Five. Other MCs starting with Nine was a very promising character, he had this feel to him that he was about to change the world, the same is with Twelve but he looks more deceptive, and whilst Nine stuck to his guns, Twelve lets the worst get the best of him, ruining his character when his interactions with Lisa grows. Shibazaki was an interesting character too, although one could see him as that one generic detective in every mystery anime ever, I don't think he is, as Sphinx causes distress in Japan, he too shares the same mind as the regular people around him, Shibazakai's job is to track down Sphinx, but he too is intrigued by them in their specific complexations that happen with every explosion they set up. He wants to understand Sphinx as they are more than just aggressive terrorists. Nine and Shibazakai were very good characters, the only ones I can respect, I can't say the same for the rest in all honesty.
Even in MAPPA's early ages, MAPPA did not disappoint. They still created great fluid animations, no complaints there. What I will say though is that the character designs look slightly plain, not in a good way too, it was a very minor issue, but it can bother nonetheless, all the characters have a very similar design with simple faces that don't look to be expanded on. It only bothers you if you are too into the somewhat weird and unique design this anime brings.
the closest thing I can find to prove what I was saying
example of fluid work I suppose
Well, as said before, it is enjoyable, up until Five comes along. The story goes from detective vs terrorists to crazy lady wishing for her way by all means. Don't get me wrong, it isn't bad, it is just disappointing, like my homework response at times. Taking into account the amount of potential it had to begin with, it's a sad fate. Though in saying this, it isn't so bad that it would be unwatchable, it is just, again, a big let down.
So, how does my pointless homework relate to Terror in Resonance?
- The actual homework = The start of the story/journey, where all the correct intentions are at
- The teacher who never gave one about it in the first place, but exists anyways = How Lisa is treated in the story and how no write gave one about her.
- Learning that the teacher will do nothing with the homework = Five and how she does nothing good for the story
- Being disappointed = Finishing the anime.
I went into Terror in Resonance expecting some crazy stuff to go down, but I was welcomed with an interesting start that led into a bad ending (having first finished it, I really liked the ending, but now looking back, it wasn't that good, was really random too, and was only good in one aspect). What can I say? Having watched Watanabe's Cowboy Bebop and being disappointed as well, I can't really say I am a fan of his, I went into this not even knowing that Watanabe directed this. Just found out after I had finished. Would I recommend this? Yes, actually I would. Only because it is one of those anime that is worth that watch for what it brings, it isn't special, but it is watchable, there are better out there though. Though I can say that at the end of the anime. You won't be mad, just disappointed.
Hey if you came all the way down here to slap a dislike because of the score. Then. That's not cool right. I mean I left a tldr lol. No need to be lazy.