The theme of finding hope in a seemingly hopeless or dark world has been done before, in a slice of life way in Girls’ Last Tour, in a lovecraftian horror form in Made in Abyss, or in many other ways of which I haven’t seen before. Tengoku Daimakyo takes this theme, but has a sci-fi mystery backdrop to it, making it a surprisingly unique experience, and one I haven’t really experienced personally.

What do we want from a sci-fi mystery show? Do we want twists and turns, dark reveals, or unpredictability? Tengoku Daimakyo has all of that, but it also has the one narrative technique I appreciate the most in media, which is “show, don’t tell”. This anime masterfully handles that by giving us virtually no real direction on the surface, but encourages the viewer to ponder on the events of each episode, pay attention to how the characters act, and recall past events to make a scene or reveal hit that much harder. It’s an anime that can generate a lot of discourse because it is just so mind-bending at times, and confusing, in the most wonderful of ways. It’s not exactly “unpredictable” either, but in order to get the full picture, some thinking must be done — I really appreciate that, as it makes for another level of engagement to the events of the anime. In many media, it’s the author who seems to be the one dumping the information, but in this show, it’s instead the viewers who might try to put two and two together, like a puzzle, to figure out what exactly is going on in the story. There’s no better feeling than when you put two and two together and find out your theory was indeed correct. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air from the constant info dumps in other anime, though there are still some info dumps in this show as well.

To give a gist of the setting and story, it’s set in a post apocalyptic world where human civilization was destroyed, man-eating monsters are all over, laying waste to the remains of the land, and threatening the lives of the survivors. Meanwhile, there is a facility that is isolated from the rest of the world, which nurtures children in a very peaceful setting. It reminded me of The Promised Neverland in a way, with the Grace Field house. The two protagonists, Kiruko and Maru are seemingly looking for this place, which they call “Heaven”, and along the way they encounter many intriguing things, as tales on the inside of the nursery and outside get told. Themes around human nature, companionship, and the search for meaning can be seen in both settings, which made for great parallels and comparisons between both the children and the protagonists of the outside world. It was quite interesting seeing the stories of both the nursery and the outside world being told side by side with one another, not relying on info dumps or conventional flashback sequences to understand the lore of the world.

Not only is it very thought-provoking, it also looks and sounds incredible, with an audiovisual experience that always had me paying attention and sometimes on the edge of my seat. The directing is phenomenal in really setting the atmosphere and the eerie tone in the more important scenes, but also can change into a very light tone in more comedic scenes.

The backgrounds show us the backdrop of urban decay, rather than just flat out telling us. The soundtrack contributes to the atmosphere a lot too, as Kensuke Ushio, who composed music for anime like Chainsaw Man, A Silent Voice, and The Dangers in My Heart, did a great job yet again here to convey the occasional emotional gut punch, or to get us even more uncomfortable in a horrifying sequence. Everything about the production overall was at a very high level, and after seeing the staff behind it, I can see why. It was truly a legendary team of people producing a passion project from start to finish, with the art director Yuji Kaneko, numerous elite episode directors and storyboarders in Haruka Fujita, in which it’s her first television anime storyboard work outside of Kyoto Animation, Kai Ikarashi, who worked on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners as well as the Turning Point episode of Mushoku Tensei, and also Toshimasa Ishii, who directed 86: Eighty-Six. I would also love to shout out Hirotaka Mori, since it was his directorial debut in the anime sphere.

The characters were quite a strong part of the series as well, with Kiruko and Maru’s relationship and chemistry being the dominant highlight of the show. The dialogue between them felt natural and organic, like bros just having a great time together, rather than forcing romance into the dynamic in a contrived manner. That said, as this show has a central focus on human nature, there still remains elements of romance, but it’s more that the show tries to explore human emotions, sexuality, and gender through them. As a result, the relationship is handled in a natural and interesting fashion. They both have experienced traumas, and I have stated in my past reviews about my disdain for “sob story backstories”— but when an anime can build upon the traumatic past with developments in the present time, it can work well. In this case, it does just that, to create a coming of age narrative for the protagonists, as they tried to find meaning in this mess of a world they found themselves in. On the flip side, the children in the nursery admittedly were quite abundant and difficult to follow along at times, but with some thought, some of them still ended up being very endearing in their own ways along with the protagonists of the outside world.

Among the popular hitters like Oshi no Ko, Hell’s Paradise, and Demon Slayer, Tengoku Daimakyo has gone a bit under the radar, but I’m glad many people gave it a shot. It’s something a bit different, very thought-provoking, emotional, and something that will be quite memorable to me for quite a while. That said, while it’s one of the best anime of this season in my opinion, it’s nowhere near finished, so as the kids say, let it cook, and we may be in for another masterclass when the time comes for a sequel, which I hope we’ll get, even if it takes a while. With time, this may become a modern classic, who knows?

Till next time, see you, bye bye!