TL;DR Vis-à-vis the likes of Among Us and Danganronpa, Talentless Nana shines in its active plot and main character as well as its surprisingly good, interesting worldbuilding. As a standalone anime, it’s likely it will hook anyone interested in the genre, though not particularly unique or groundbreaking and with some minor, illogical gaps in part of the characters. However, as an ongoing manga series, it also has yet more to prove for anyone to definitely say it’s coherently, consistently good. Despite that, I enjoyed it a whole lot. (P.S. Don’t read any wikia character pages, please.)

Talentless Nana is often likened to the games Among Us and Danganronpa, understandably so when its very premise is about killing others and not getting caught. Instead of the classic whodunnit, we have the reverse: we follow the one who did it in Talentless Nana through the lens and worldview of its protagonist, Nana Hiiragi.

I’d like to use this review to mostly contest that likening a bit and shed light on what makes Talentless Nana unique and separate despite its sometime predictability both in story and characters. (Disclaimer: It may seem like an unfair comparison, but I hope it would more or less serve as a different point of view on whether or not it’s a good show for you.)

Premise

Talentless Nana primarily takes place within the island full of the Talented, who are isolated from the rest of the Talentless world in order to hone their respective powers and defeat the ‘Enemies of Humanity’. Unbeknownst to the other Talented, one of them is an imposter: a regular, Talentless person assigned to assassinate all of them. It is an active story.

Danganronpa, in all of its 3 main installments, is primarily about 15-16 high school students that are the cream of the crop in their respective talents (nothing supernatural though) who are forcefully, suddenly isolated from the outside world, and the only way to escape is to kill someone and not get caught. As any of the game’s protagonists, you won’t do the killing. It’s why Danganronpa is kind of a passive story: you have to wait for someone to be motivated to kill. It’s only then that the chapter truly begins with the classic whodunnit. It’s understandable why it’s passive given that, but it’s already one thing that sets it apart.

As for the other premise being the existence of talents, the non-shounen action reading/watching person in me is merely inclined to say it’s rather cohesively well done, though perhaps not as intricate as the likes of HxH or BNHA. Each talent and its accompanying weakness is interesting, especially in this setting. What advantage or handicap will the killer and the victim experience given such weaknesses?

Worldbuilding

The synopsis of the show alone may feel weird, cheap, typical, I dunno. What sells it to me, though, is how it has little hints of the larger sociopolitical scheme present in its overall world that eventually open up further into the story—more so in the manga—and it’s exactly what interestingly sets it apart to Danganronpa especially. It’s the main driving force of the antagonists’ motivations; it creates tension between the Talented and Talentless, and it very well should since the existence of the Talented with their practically supernatural, world-breaking powers forever changed their society, how it works, and its people. It’s a concept not usually delved upon in other stories dealing with people with powers, and I daresay Talentless Nana is on the right step in tackling it.

Although the story is sometimes predictable and definitely not groundbreaking, it’s not in the same way as Danganronpa. In the latter, however (un)predictable each case becomes, you know for sure that the main character will survive and win against the big bad. It’s a game after all, so the point is to eventually win and not net a game over. You’ll only have to guess and hope who within the rest of the cast will also survive.

In Talentless Nana, however, there’s a certain degree of tension and hype that will leave you wanting to know more. In fact, it’s set up in a way that makes you want to be invested in Nana and her interactions with other characters, as well as in how smoothly her killings will go. Will she finally be caught? Will she f up somehow, or will someone f it up for her? Will something happen for her to arouse suspicion? Will something change from her original plan as she interacts with the others? What kind of twists or conflicts can I expect? The way it riles up interest is nothing unique, but hey, it works.

Characters

I think anyone can admit Danganronpa’s characters are very stereotypical anime tropes. It’s nothing bad, and I love some of them for sure, but we can also admit that some of them are only ever fleshed out in the optional Free Time Events (read: social simulation aspects of the game).

However, Talentless Nana is lacking in that regard. It has a rather big cast, though it can only focus on its more prominent characters; it has no time to delve too much into the others. It’s kind of why the lack of acknowledgement that the other characters exist feels off—from their reactions to the story to their involvement with the rest of the class, some just suddenly appear and get introduced when deemed convenient by the plot. This is very apparent in the manga as well, so I’d say this is a rather fatal flaw that the story just conveniently brushes that off as something unimportant (e.g. “too engrossed and prideful about their talents to care”) but kinda actually is.

How about the prominent characters then? I’ll focus on three that I’m invested in.

Being our main point of view in the story, Nana is rather okay. You’ll be invested in her as she actively drives the story, but it takes time for you to truly sympathize with her. It’s only then that you feel more for her, that there’s more to it to her than just her cunningness and logic. You can bet that I’m personally interested in how she further grows in the manga.

Then we have Kyoya Onodera, who is essentially the detective, foil character to Nana that makes their relationship likened to Death Note’s L and Light (not that I remember that story anyway). His quirks humanize and make him interesting a lot beyond his role in the story, though unfortunately it feels like it’s either his characterization is already done or is still getting to whatever development level Nana has gotten. To be fair, it’s understandable since he’s not the main character, but it would personally be an interesting sight given his existence as a contrast to Nana.

Last that I’ll mention is Michiru Inukai. She’s a very sweet, innocent cinnamon roll you want to protect. You know and have seen her trope multiple times, yet there’s something about the way her character is constructed that makes her lovable. It’s nothing unique, really; it’s a simple characterization that so happens to gel well with the chaos present in the story, making you invested in her despite not having so much of a central role as the other two.

Art/Music

I usually never delve upon this since I have no artistic senses, but I’d say Talentless Nana, both as an anime and manga, has pretty good, consistent art and music.

Rating

Accounting for mere personal enjoyment, I’d give it a 9/10 for being able to hook me into its premise—like any good psychological thriller. However, for a more objective review, I’d give it a 7/10 (or in this case, 75/100): some story gaps here and there, some illogical character reactions explained by convenient cop outs. As a standalone anime, I’d say it’s sufficiently enjoyable nonetheless, but the story has so much to go for that even the manga has yet to touch upon yet, so this rating may easily change as the years come by.

It’s an easy recommendation to anyone wanting some excitement brought by a psychological thriller involving killing, and the worldbuilding it has made regarding the Talented is just icing on the cake. However, I don’t think I can recommend it to people who want a consistently paced, deeper story; an intricate lore or conspiracy; and/or a more collectively intelligent cast that brings something to the table, as Talentless Nana has yet to wholly prove that.