(Spoiler Warning)
What do you do at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us? With a title so obnoxiously long, I'm glad the anime is just as filled to the brim with content. Initially, I was prepared for a cliche fantasy-romance anime but very quickly realised that was not what I was getting. Instead, I was gifted with a gripping character drama involving delicately written themes of love and happiness whilst mixed with thrilling action sequences as a cherry on top. With that being said, let's dive into the spectacle known as -takes a deep breath- Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka? (AKA SukaSuka).
To begin with, the anime hits the ground running with an adventurous first episode, immediately drawing you into a fresh and vibrant world. Whilst introducing our characters, we discover this setting comprised of anthropomorphic animals taking part in festivals and running lively marketplaces. This world is nothing like our own and the anime makes this very explicit to us with its fantastic and engaging worldbuilding from the very first episode.
Subsequently, we are met with a huge cast of characters of innocent and loveable personalities. This is when we are met with a shocking truth. These children being cared for are disposable weapons of destruction. This tone shift pulls you in, firmly separating this anime from a fluffy slice-of-life, and foreshadows the bleak events yet to occur. A grim, despair-inducing world is described as the people are constantly under attack by blood-thirsty beasts and the children are sacrificed for their safety. SukaSuka has a gradually unravelling mystery of what the beasts are, what the children are and why everyone lives on floating islands; this mystery is greatly intertwined with our characters and is one of the main forces of keeping the viewers' interest.
The anime also lightly touches on the discrimination of non-animal people, relating to civil tension and seamlessly moulds this imaginary world into a believable setting for the narrative. However, I would have preferred more investment into the discrimination aspect and also some unique ideas on how the world is different to ours as a result of everyone being an animal. It certainly is a well-written setting but doesn't completely establish it as distinctive to other fantasy anime.
As a whole, the worldbuilding is immersive and convincing, providing an effective backdrop for our story.
Perhaps the facet of this anime that surprised me the most was the music. This anime has one of those scores that I have to listen to outside of watching the anime while studying or just relaxing. In fact, I normally wait until I finish an anime before searching up the OST on Youtube so that I don't get recommended any spoilers regarding the anime but for this one, I couldn't hold back and had to search up the OST at episode 2 -namely: Setsunai Koigokoro (Heartbreaking Love).
The music has rather a large range of roles in the anime. Firstly, it adds a lot to the fantasy nature of the anime with dream-like, violin tracks to cover them running through the city, for example. Secondly, it plays a soothing role in calming you down, perhaps after intense plot points, and relaxes you over the visual of a peaceful night sky or sunset. And thirdly, but also most importantly, it propels the emotional weight of scenes tenfold to really pull at your heartstrings. The score invests you completely into a moment and gives you a feeling of awe at the beauty on screen. To tell the truth, it's so powerful it can even make not-so-beautiful scenes feel beautiful. For example, there is a scene when the main character gives a girl a not-so-safe-for-work back massage but the conversation before and even the event itself seems so serene because of the music alone. Additionally, the anime has many insert songs and uses them in important moments, including the climax. From this, you can tell that the studio went the extra mile to make these moments hit hard and from my experience, they were successful.
The anime looks absolutely stellar with a consistently pretty art style and aesthetic character designs. The colour palette is fresh and energetic, bringing the anime to life in every moment. There are also plenty of scenes with picturesque, cinematic, and photographic visuals due to astute artistic direction. The animation studio has done an excellent job of creating a visual spectacle and is truly a joy to look at.
The story has a very natural progression that never feels forced but instead moves along with the characters' actions. Over the episodes, we are gradually fed information about the main character's past which heavily relates to the current events and learn about the girls that are involved as well. As this information accumulates, the tension rises and the severity of the events escalates as we realise the gravity of the situation and the truth behind what is happening.
Amongst this very intense buildup, the anime still manages to fit in ample slice-of-life aspects so as to not overwhelm the viewer and for the anime to not be too heavy. However, it still maintains its powerful narrative, especially as it involves the fate of the world, prophecy and other devices to create an epic atmosphere. Eventually, this buildup converges towards an emotional climax with an impactful ending that will not leave my mind for a long time.
On the other hand, I think that the beasts could have been more developed and should have had their world-ending natures more emphasised. Within the story, there is no main antagonist or villain as the enemies just seem to be mindless alien-esque beasts with no master behind them, so there is no clear direction to funnel our anger of sacrificing the girls we care about. Also, the beasts are supposed to be a great threat to the world but the most we saw them do was destroy an island. The reaction to the island being destroyed was not very negative either so the enemies lack a sense of threat and do not do well as an object of hate. Despite this, they become much more threatening towards the end and work well in combat sequences.
Overall, this narrative had so much more in store for me than I had anticipated and I am pleased with the execution.
The main driving force for the series, however, is certainly the characters. The cast comprises of a few main characters and then a large array of children. Normally, having such a large cast of characters would be overwhelming and hard for the viewer to care about them all. However, this anime takes a bit of a shortcut here. Other than the main characters, the people we are meant to care about are children. This means that we don't need to like them or warm up to them as much as other characters as we all have a natural desire to protect them immediately. Having horrible things done to children is an effective tool to make viewers emotionally invested (as bad as that sounds). This can be seen in other anime like Made in Abyss and Grave of the Fireflies, for example. Very early on, we see a child fall off a cliff and learn that their lives are at stake, so we are immediately concerned. Even among the main characters, they are all young. Forcing such young people into life-or-death situations really keeps you on the edge of your seat and gets you to care about the outcome.
The anime also, as aforementioned, invests in slice-of-life aspects and comedy. This emphasises the characters as simple human beings, just like ourselves, which contrasts the terrible things happening to them for a very heart-wrenching effect. A warm sense of community is built among the characters as they care for one another and value each other as family. Small interactions such as brushing their teeth together, eating together and playing outside really cultivate this sense of unity and belonging for all the children and adults in the storehouse. Unlike many other anime, this anime invests in the relationship between side characters as much as their relationship with the main character.
The dialogue is also meticulously written. As the characters grow closer, you can noticeably see them becoming more comfortable with what they say, such as more sarcastic and snarky comments being made and more moments of vulnerability. Among many of the conversations, there is a subtle subtext acknowledging the harsh situation they are in. For example, the children never explicitly fish for pity or address the unforgiving nature of being sacrificial pawns and instead shroud it with a veil of nonchalance. The comedy is also well-scripted. I particularly liked the scene when Chtholly came back from battle alive and whilst Willem is hugging her, the others are casually discussing how surprised they are whilst Chtholly is freaking out and embarrassed, with all the dialogue overlapping each other.
The main characters are also rather complicated and their developments are woven into the themes of the show very well. For example, Ithea is a girl who puts on a persona of energy and exuberance but underneath the surface, she is very socially aware, supportive and struggles with her identity. Ithea revealed that she had suppressive emotions and even suicidal thoughts at a point. By Chtholly reassuring her that she is accepted and belongs with them, she overcomes these feelings and this adds so much to the depth of her character.
Chtholly eventually begins to forget her memories and struggles with her identity and mortality. She questions whether she is still herself if she can no longer remember those she loves. However, she is constantly reminded of what she has in the present and develops an optimistic perspective. She sees all of her emotions of sadness, frustration and regret as proof that she is alive and is herself. This reflection of her situation and resolve to live in the present rather than dwell on the past or worry about the future is a fantastic development from her worrying about dying or her hair turning red, powerfully conveying the message of coping with struggle and moving forward. She is also pulled out of her initial acceptance of death as unavoidable and begins to value living through her love for Willem. Her experiences with him and her love for him give her purpose and allow her to find happiness.
Our protagonist, Willem, is definitely not a cookie-cutter protagonist. Despite previously reaching the peak of what effort can achieve, he claims to have saved no one. This carries with him, leading him to put his life on the line to save others as a means to make something of his life and out of guilt. On top of this, this guilt gives him conflicting feelings of love towards the heroine, believing he could be displacing his feelings of those he lost and using her as a substitute. Willem's purposelessness develops into him finding meaning through his connection with others. Also, generally speaking, he is a charismatic screen presence and reads between the lines, distinguishing himself from other cliche protagonists.
In regards to the characters, outside of the child cast, the other side characters are rather underdeveloped. We are introduced to the Great Sage and Lillia, his companions and Eboncandle, his arch-nemesis but we do not learn much aside from that. We know that Lillia loved him and sacrificed herself for that cause but know nothing else about their relationship and barely saw them interact. To have such a seemingly important character be given such little attention is definitely one of my gripes.
I would say that the main theme is happiness. All of the characters have their own struggles and there is a wide range of themes attributed to them but most of them can all be associated with happiness. Chtholly asks Rhan, "What do you think finding happiness is all about?" to which Rhan explains that everyone has different definitions of happiness. She also mentions that some people do not know what brings them happiness. But what is important is to "listen to your heart's advice". Rhan's answer can be seen in many cases throughout the anime. Ithea finds happiness in realises she is accepted and belongs, Rhan strives for the truth and finds happiness in that and Nygglatho finds happiness in those she loves being happiness - for example, she prioritises Chtholly's happiness by supporting her romance instead of her own and finds fulfilment in looking after the children. Moreover, Willem finds happiness in saving people and in those he loves and Chtholly finds happiness in realising her love for Willem and knowing that he promises to love her back, so much so that she says she's the "happiest girl in the world". SukaSuka conveys the message that happiness comes in many forms and is unique to us all. Searching for what makes us happy, or realising (as Rhan says) that we were "blessed all along" is what is important and what we should strive for.
SukaSuka pulls you in with its alluring fantasy setting and vibrant presentation but keeps you invested with brilliantly crafted writing and thought-provoking questions. To be honest, I'm very surprised an anime like this has evaded me for so long considering it has so much I like about anime. Although I have some qualms and it was rather short, it is still an unforgettable emotional experience that will resonate with me for a while. 9/10.
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