I only watched this anime after it finished airing to watch it in chronological order, so I won't touch that part which I definitely consider the most insane of this adaptation, as watching this in any order but the actual one will be beyond confusing. As for the series itself, I have to say this thing annoys me.
Sally, the main character, is a hypocrite. She wants peace between humans and oni and yet she kills oni without much of an issue but never does the same to humans. She's insufferable, her super cheery personality makes her very hard to watch when EVERYTHING ELSE AROUND HER shows why she shouldn't be cheery, she's completely blind to the issues around and just wants to stick her morals to everyone else. And speaking of those morals, she only has them because of what's basically a bet, so even her motivation for them is shallow.
All the other members of the main cast are much more bearable than her, but rather suffer from just being there with very little in terms of development or even personality. Onis are a mixed bag, because while some are more interesting like Todoroki and the vampire, most of the ones the series focus on are either insufferable (the nun) or change their personalities on a dime to make it impossible to know how are you even supposed to approach to them (Sumeragi).
Another thing that's a negative is how the series handles death. I don't want to enter much in spoiler territory, but let's just say they're all a huge anticlimax. EVERY SINGLE DEATH just happens, no build up, they just kill characters by the dozens with everyone just moving on shortly after, and if you don't move on, you're killed too. It makes sense with the nameless mooks, but when characters you had been building up for many chapters just die and are ignored, ESPECIALLY those that do without the main cast even knowing, just kills off any kind of importance for side characters since they can just die and no one will care.
Let's just say this simply: Mikoto carries the entire show. He's the only character we see having real development, has an actual backstory, has a set personality with clear goals that don't change and make perfect sense with his past, and he's a very conflicted person due to the clash between his personality and powers. Despite the cast list above listing him as part of the main cast, HE'S NOT, he spends many episodes without appearing and goes on his journey completely aside from Sally. And you know what? THOSE are the best part of the whole series, with his interesting dynamic with his dog and how he advances on his goal. I have no idea why the show isn't about him.
In short, Mikoto is the single good thing out of this show, he's great and should be the sole focus of the story, he's the only reason I'm not giving this show a lower score, and the episode focused only on him is the best in the whole series and I'm offended there aren't more of those. So, watch it if you can stand Sally, otherwise, Mikoto will be the only thing you'll enjoy.
Thank you for reading.
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