THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

If you are like me, you'll feel attracted to stories of normal people who suddenly find themselves amidst a distressing situation where survival depends on casting aside most civilized societal norms and morals to stay alive. Or, if you're also like me, you just like the notion of anime girls with firearms.

This anime has both, but badly executed (or written?). Trying my best to avoid any spoilers, I can tell you that the character's personalities and their morals are all over the place. Yuri Honjou is a typical high school teenager who reacts somewhat as you'd expect when she is transported into the Skyscraper World (does it even have a name? I may have missed it), she is scared and confused.

However, just like a robot, she changes completely as the situation needs it. She quickly observes the "rules" and the masked people's behavior, draws a correct conclusion, gets her hand on some weapons and easily kills in cold blood any masked people who stand in her path. Instant convenient adaptation.

When she meets Mayuko Nise things get even weirder: Let’s just say this character’s actions would make anyone who has some sort of moral compass instantly hate her. She is cruel, unforgiving and edgy, probably a fan of Tanya von Degurechaff (that hair, uh? Guess morals as well lol). Yuri has a good justification to kill her on the spot, but she not only refuses it, she saves her life. Mayuko completely changes after that into a “good kawaii anime girl” from the power of kindness and friendship. Who would've guessed that murderers just need a panty shot and a hug to become a good person?

Maybe it's part of the story that the bad people and the masked people we see were good people before this strange world corrupted them, but it just feels weird. Seeing that guy who had no qualms about murdering innocent people just an episode ago suddenly being portrayed in a good light as one of the Good Guys as if he was as kind as Yuri or Kuon is honestly quite insulting. Kuon is perhaps the most adorable of the characters, and ironically, her stereotype of a carefree, gentle and pure person ends up leaving her as one of the most consistent personalities in the whole story.

The opening and ending sequences are pretty good and are likely part of the charm that kept me from dropping the show (and I guess the potential for a good story that ended up not existing). Despite the (IMO) bad writing, the character's designs are pretty damn cool, although I wished to see Yuri using other firearms instead of just revolvers and pistols, something tells me that rifles would look pretty nice on her, (doesn’t seem that far off considering one of the masked enemies had a M32A1 grenade launcher).

Sound design is okay, although the same sound effects are easily recognizable due to how often they are used, a particular “zyooon!” noise was used during rail guns firing, kicks, cannon balls, rifle shots and handgun shots and I’m only mentioning this because it can get distracting, and kinda funny.

I can’t recommend this one for anyone who wants to feel immersed in a good story with decently-written characters, Tenkuu Shinpan is a good anime to pass the time when you’re bored or when you have nothing else to watch during a snack, but it is extremely forgettable. I’d even dare say that Highschool of the Dead has better-written characters, and if you are not a fan of that one, you’ll likely not be one of Tenkuu Shinpan.

My first review on this website, I'm too lazy to write reviews for every anime I watched in my life, so starting with the ones I just recently watched seems fair.