Tengoku Daimakyo
a review by Hyuzi
a review by Hyuzi
Warning: This review contains major spoilers and certain disturbing moments for Tengoku Daimakyo!
The worldbuilding is where it really stands out for me and it's definitely one of the strongest aspects of the whole show. It's such a mysterious and interesting world that will make you keep wanting to figure out more about it and about what happened. You start this story in a post-apocalyptic world and instead of explaining what's happening, it simply makes you find it all out for yourself, which really made me interested and so immersed into the story. I needed to know what was going on!
The second strongest aspect for me was the two parallel storylines. Usually I have mixed feelings about these because they are mostly poorly executed but Tengoku Daimakyo is different. This is the proof that it is so well-written! The story follows two timelines. One that takes place in a high-tech facility referred to as "Heaven" and the other takes place in the post-apocalyptic earth a couple years later after a disaster known as "The Great Collapse". The first timeline follows a group of children, Tokio, Kona, Mimihime, Shiro and others, in a facility that is seemingly safe and ideal, but as the story progresses you find out that it is a place that holds various mysterious and disturbing experiments. The second timeline follows Maru and Kiruko that are searching for "Heaven", trying to kill Maru's "lookalike" that is supposedly there while travelling through a devastated Japan, encountering various dangers like monsters known as Hiruko. The last episode really leaves you wondering so much. Like for example, after Tokio and Kona get closer, Tokio gets pregnant and has a baby. Could Maru be Tokio's kid? What actually are the children from that facility? Are they all Hiruko? Did Tokio transform into a Hiruko at the end? And if all these theories are correct, then what Maru is looking for isn't his lookalike, or his mother but a Hiruko? And probably even a really big and dangerous one, since it would've been the first Hiruko to appear from what I understood. Also if Tokio did transform, what happened to the baby she was holding? If Maru was really Tokio's kid then it would probably have to be the cloned baby right? But also, isn't Maru a Hiruko, if he was born from a relationship between two Hiruko? So many questions that you have to look and investigate to get the answers for. These are all questions that popped up in my mind while watching, some of these I already got my answer for and some I am still yet to find out if they are confirmed or not!
Tengoku Daimakyo also has plenty of emotional and disturbing moments, for example episode 8 which completely destroyed me. After Maru and Kiruko meet Dr. Usami, Maru gets asked by the Dr. himself to kill the patient he was treating that turned out to be the woman he loved, since she would be turning into a Hiruko sooner or later. I haven't said this yet, but Maru has a certain special ability that allows him to kill Hiruko with his touch (again, wouldn't this "special power" be something that only a Hiruko would have? Huh? Huhhhhh? ;D) and of course he feels bad for killing a human. But then, after a personal request from the woman, the scene under the blue bright sky, and Maru finally being able to do it, left me frozen and very emotional. Keep in mind, this was a new character that was literally introduced this episode. This just goes to show how well directed and made this really is. And it doesn't end there (unfortunately...). After that Dr. Usami takes her to the top of a building to watch the sky one last time, and then the final gunshot. This episode had me staring at the screen for a very long time completely in shock. The next couple episodes, specially the final 3 just kept on punching harder and harder, with reveals and plot twists that left me perplexed. (I will not talk about the rape scene, because I found it extremely disturbing and uncomfortable, specially when I loved the character so much, but yes, it does really add into the worldbuilding and setting that it wants to show to us.)
Visually, I think Production I.G absolutely cooked. Some of the strongest animation and direction I've ever seen. The same goes for the soundtrack. Don't even ask me about the OP or the ED because they have been on repeat for days. The OST really makes you this much more immersed and all of it helps make it an emotionally charged experience.
Some final thoughts before I finish this review... Apart from everything I've said, there are some things that I would've loved if they were explored on a bit more, like Kiruko's identity, Maru's lookalike and backstory and also more info about "The Great Collapse", but the manga is still ongoing so I'm expecting a lot more from this show. The OP was what made me watch this in the first place, because I saw it in a YouTube video somewhere and became instantly interested. When I began watching I already thought that I would like it alot, but I did not expect that I would love it this much and get so into it like I did. I really hope a Season 2 comes out soon and I will definitely be reading the manga for a continuation of one of my favorite animes of all time.
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