I will preface this review by saying that episode 1 was a masterpiece, easily 100/100 and one of the best episodes of any anime I’ve ever seen. It perfectly introduced the world, the themes and the concept. This paired with a brilliant OST and a heart-breaking story made it basically the perfect episode, so I had extremely high hopes for this series coming off of episode 1.

I thought that the drop in quality and enjoyment was pretty much instant. The moment I got into episode 2 I didn’t like the setting or characters as much, but it was still solid and I enjoyed it quite a lot, even if it was no longer an anime of the year contender or even a contender for one of my all-time favourites, as I thought after episode 1.

The next sad scene was sad but not nearly as much as the ending of episode 1, and the second arc ended pretty soon after it started and it didn’t overstay it’s welcome.

The third arc was originally my least favourite but once it finished it grew on me and I consider it the second best arc now. The pacing was pretty slow and not much was going on but in retrospect it was cosy and devastating when it needed to be.

The fourth arc was another drop in enjoyment and quality. The animation got worse, the characters got barely any screentime or development, I didn’t even know their names, so this time around the deaths made me feel nothing. It stuck the landing pretty well at the end of the arc, but overall it was pretty forgettable and I wasn’t invested in it at all except for Fushi’s personal struggles.

I might say that one bad arc doesn’t make the rest of the series lower scored, but when that arc is over a third of the entire series then there is a problem.

Hayase as a villain was… fine I guess. She wasn’t hugely captivating but I didn’t think she was awful. She was certainly more interesting than the Nokkers, which I grew pretty tired of as the series went on since they were just inevitable and had no personality or anything interesting about them. They were just something that Fushi had to deal with when they came.

The characters weren’t a particularly strong point overall. I only really liked and got invested in Fushi and Gugu since we saw their growth from the very start and they are generally likeable. The ways Fushi used his abilities were creative and the early fight scenes were actually very good, such as the first Nokker fight. Fushi never felt too overpowered but he was never completely outmatched by his opponents. With both Gugu and Fushi it is great to see them gradually becoming who they grow to be, and the events that shape them as a person, so I grew attached to them a lot more than the other characters.

Finally, the last episode was a good way to end it, even if it felt a little too fast paced overall. If it were made up of 2 episodes it could have been even more emotionally painful, for example if Pioran losing her sense of who she is was explored better.

Overall, even though it peaked in its first episode I enjoyed the rest of the series and I will be watching season 2 as it relelases.