Name: my hatred for this anime
Item: SWORDGAI The Animation
Rating: 25
Author: Chrispyness

my hatred for this anime · Waifora

#But why though
That was the thought that perpetuated in my head as I sat down and watch the entirety of this series. At first my anime friend circle commented on how dreadful and cliched they was. I thought them to be dramatic. Evidently, it was not until after the second episode that the commentary was warranted. That I found myself to be on the same page as them. Like our edgy protagonist, I forged ahead; gave this a fair go. Yet at its conclusion, I was left asking “But why, though”?

Well, it all starts with the writing. I am going to metaphorize the abysmal writing style as a rollercoaster. Except that the rollercoaster gives you whiplash to the point of concussion. At times the writing will venture in one direction then out of the blue: PLOT CHANGE! It is almost as if the writers' scarce repository of ideas seemed to deplete faster than my patience with this anime; they must throw in SOMETHING to prevent stagnation otherwise I was going to be put into a cold sleep.
So what the hell have they done? Or rather, what they have not done.

They have not explained anything properly. Example is the character writing. Half the cast do not be in the story but they threw them in there anyway because why the hell not? I mean, they just looked at some outdated criteria for a good anime and ticked them off like a checklist. One such criteria is having a lot of characters. That is what supposedly makes a good anime right? Lots of characters! But the problem with that was I had no care for half of them. Because they have not explained them well enough for me to care. If that was not egregious enough, they keep throwing in new characters halfway through the series, leaving me wondering "But why, though"!
SPOILERS

Spoiler, click to view

Another Example is the plot development. In the thirteenth episode, we see our dark brooding protagonist actually engaging in a lovely time with Sayaka at his home. I felt lovely, I felt good, I felt that this is going somewhere nice. Then all of sudden, he walks out of the house in the middle of the night, goes to the tallest tower, rips his cursed arm off and jumps off the building face down. Attempted suicide. Even though they could've chosen I dunno "lose conscience due to major blood loss", or simply have just walk out and not return - any other thing. They went with the cliched jumping off the building. Because we Macross Plus apparently.

The production is.... "but why though" kind of bad. Animation for me is in three parts:

Storyboarding
The animation itself.
Sound Design.

AND THEY ALL VEXED ME. Storyboarding wasted too much time showcasing stuff. The Animation made me feel I was back in 2010 and the Sound Design is just... empty.

I do not recommend this anime.