The art of mystery is always a tough thing to achieve perfectly. It’s one thing to be suspenseful, a bit scary, and leave viewers at the edge of their seat, but to have the story done without convolutions or questionable points is what’s difficult. This show looks great, and is pretty good in showing off its brutal moments, but has its share of questionable moments that took away a little from the immersion. For the most part, this show was pretty good, but as it went on, it kept losing steam towards the finish and sputtered to an ending that probably could have been better.

My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20

STORY: 17.5/25

The story at first, was very engaging, and Episode 1 was a great hook to the series. The mystery of how Ushio met her demise before Shinpei’s arrival to the island was a good setup for the story. The investigation of the Shadows was interesting and had its share of suspenseful and horror elements that had me on the edge of my seat, and those themes were executed to near perfection. However, as the show went forward, while it did maintain a good chunk of its quality, I don’t know whether I could call this show too long, or too rushed. There’s a lot of dialogue and meandering, while the advancement of the main plot points went by in a flash when it decided to advance. In my opinion, for the most part, I think that it probably should have been in the realm of 30+ episodes to really flesh everything out.

To compare the first and second cour of this show, both cours had its share of elements that were intriguing, and backstories that were a little emotional/messed up. Towards the end of the second cour, I could see the rather obvious contrivances rearing their ugly head, but it’s not bad to the point of me hating what happened at the end. Throughout the story, I could draw elements of Re:Zero, or Higurashi, though the comedy was ridiculous sometimes, perhaps comparable to something like Jojo’s, because those tonal shifts between action and comedy were so abrupt sometimes that it felt like that.

All in all, this had an intriguing story at first, that started to lose me more and more towards the end, which was to be expected, though perhaps doing this show in a split cour format would have kept my attention a bit more.

ART: 9.2/10

The animation was pretty good throughout, with its vibrant, yet dark undertones, and great sakuga in the fight scenes.

MUSIC: 9.2/10

The OP and ED in the first half of the show were very creative, and I enjoyed those two a lot, and the OP and ED in the latter half felt more “normal”, but had some emotional weight in the final episodes. The soundtrack throughout matched well with the show.

CHARACTERS: 15.5/20

Believe it or not, I was never wholly invested in the characters, because their overall development wasn’t that strong, but every character had their share of good moments. Shinpei is a decent protagonist, not the dumbest you can imagine in stories like this, as he tries to decipher mysteries and control his powers, but still makes questionable decisions, like telling the villains too much information, for example. He’s quite the dumb one at the beginning, but I’m glad he developed a sense of awareness and became a much more likeable protagonist near the end. Ushio was a strong character, but she was also the character who contributed to the most tonal shifts due to her bubbly personality, leave it to her to make a joke in a tense moment. Won’t spoil much more about the characters, but Mio, Haine, Shide, Hizuru, and others all had their moments of emotional weight and badassery to impress me.

ENJOYMENT: 13.2/15

I enjoyed this a lot, but my enjoyment did fall off a little throughout the series.

THEMATIC EXECUTION: 16.3/20

The horror and suspense elements were done rather well, as the eerieness and quietness of some scenes really had the edge of your seat, as the show waits for the perfect moment to cut that silence. The nightmare fuel wasn’t cut, and there was a lot of vivid imagery for sure, which is always welcome. There were some themes that were unnecessary, like some of the comedy, and the shots of fan service as well.

OVERALL: 80.9/100

A quality show that I believe most people would enjoy, which is why it really was a shame that this show was locked behind Disney jail, which limited a lot of the discussion that could have been intriguing. It has its share of convolutions and shock factor that didn’t feel very strong, but if you’re looking for an action and mystery series, this one would be a decent one to pick.