the music, world building, concept, art, and vibes of this show are SO cool but there are just too many weird scenes where children are sexualized for me to fully enjoy it. remove all of that and it's a nearly perfect anime. i can truly see myself getting immersed into this world and so many episodes had me anxious to find out what was going to happen next, but some of the more serious scenes get ruined by goofy character design or lack of commitment to how miserable or fucked up they are, usually followed by a cutaway or a savior to help ease the tension almost instantly. the other deal-breaker was just how often these children are sexualized. horror is meant to be uncomfortable, but it gets there through really strange and weird ways. i found myself being more horrified by the choices of the writers and animators than of the actual meat and bones (pun kinda intended).

i can see myself picking up season 2 of this, maybe even watching the film, but i can almost promise that if it has the same level of weird scenes and overt sexualization, i'll drop it. it really hurts to see an anime that's so close to being perfect and new and interesting dragged down by the author's weird (for lack of a better word) fetish.

i'm hopeful that the creation of this manga/anime brings light to how fun and exciting the exploration of the unknown is, and how, hopefully somebody in the future, can more tactfully write a really cool and horrific story about it. i'm so interested in where this story goes and the inter-weavings of the fantastical world that's been created, but would like to see it done more respectfully and with the same level of creativity and perhaps an even deeper level of horror and consequence for actions.

i hope this review doesn't seem too rambley or whiney, because it's my first one i'm writing for an anime and my first anime i've watched in quite a while, but as an avid horror fan it does make exciting seeing something like this pop up. i don't want it to sound like i'm being too harsh, but rather critical of something that i truly believe to be in bad taste and that the show (and probably manga) could shed and still retain its wonderful uniqueness and beauty. i did really enjoy everything that i wasn't critical of and even the bits of horror that didn't "get me" were still enjoyable to an extent. i by no means hated this show and can't wait to see more like it.

thanks for reading if u did, and hopefully this review doesn't deter you from checking this show out if the concept piques your interest like it did mine. it's definitely worth a watch, and maybe you'll get something out of it that i couldn't. i found this because of its shining reviews and i just wanted to throw mine in the hat as well.