Tengoku Daimakyou (Heavenly Delusion) puts the viewer in the midst of a world ravaged by a mysterious apocalypse. The show doesn't feed the viewer exposition about the world with a spoon. Instead, the viewer is left to pick up the pieces scattered by the storytelling and figure out what is going on by themselves.

While the mysterious monsters called Man-eaters pose a terrifying threat, and the adventure in search for the place called Heaven by Maru and Kiruko is engrossing, this show deals with many existential issues at the core of human experience and identity: gender, sexuality, family, survival.

A character forms a new identity after an incident has them find themselves in a body of a gender different than the one they identified themself with prior; another character must deal with their ambiguous feelings toward the holder of that new identity; young teenagers who have never been taught anything at all about sexuality have to figure out the brand new feelings for each other that start growing inside them; people find themselves going to great lengths for the idea they had of someone who used to be very close to them, but that now, for some reason or another, show themselves to be completely different from their ideal, and much more toxic/dangerous.

Meanwhile, some of the classic post-apocalyptic themes are also well explored in this universe, in that sometimes the monsters aren't the ones to be most feared, but rather other people are. Some will go to great lengths for the sake of their own survival and prosperity, often showing prejudice and negligence towards those they do not care about.

The show will constantly keep you guessing whether a character that is being introduced is someone to be trusted or someone to be afraid of. Every character is three-dimensional and behaves in a very human way. There are no categorically evil villains or perfectly good heroes. There are only people who perform good or bad actions based on their values and circumstances, sometimes even being lead to doing atrocities in the name of the greater good.

The production value of the show is exceedingly high, with beautiful animation that will sometimes make the viewer forget that they are witnessing a doomed world. The scenery often leaves one breathless, and there is much attention to detail in every frame that is also part of the story telling. Each character will express emotions through their body language that are worthy of the deep existential problems they are facing.

The season ends in the middle of the grand adventure with some mysteries clarified while many others are left to be solved. The viewer is left eager for season 2 to be released in order to witness the conclusion of this work of art.