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KOWLOON packs so much plot into every episode that its standout characters end up drowning in the narrative tide — yet the few moments of genuine connection still sparkle beneath the chaos.
Story - 5.5/10 'KOWLOON' has been one of the worst experiences I've had with the mystery genre... Most of the issues arise in the first half of the series with some of them staying for the whole series while others get progressively better as the narrative unfolds. First off, this series is supposed to be a romance, even if the main story of the series is this really convoluted mystery. The romance side of things only holds true for a quarter of the season, with some slight hints from time to time later on, which I did not appreciate. The romance in the initial episodes was genuinely great, the dynamics were good and it felt realistic and very grounded, and it stayed that way even when it became overshadowed by the mystery plotline. But having it be so overshadowed that in the second half you barely see any signs of romance was a poor choice. I would mostly fault the pacing for this, it was really fast and disorienting... even in the sci-fi mystery, there were a lot of elements that felt heavily forgotten or even unexplained. And that goes right into my second issue... the convoluted narrative around the mystery plotline. Following a incredibly fast-paced adaptation, there were many elements that in the starting episodes felt completely foreign, with facts about them being left unexplained for more than half a season. All of those were connected to the overly complex sci-fi style of this series... I feel like it really tried to build a good sci-fi universe, yet it overcomplicated a lot of stuff... There are moments when they unveil something from the past that wasn't explained making for the story to start and shape up, yet not even an episode later you are thrown for a loop by having exception to the rules being applied, making for a really confusing story. Also, this series just follows way to many characters... that, combined with the complexion of the story, that is not even well executed, cause a multitude of problems when you actually try to piece stuff together and try to enjoy this series.My main problem here is that, the base story is not even bad, towards the end, whenever you are actually able to make sense of everything, it is rewarding and you do realize that there are a lot of elements that do make sense and actually have meaning, even if for the weird rule exceptions or other narrative choices that don't make sense... the story is good, so that's why I'm genuinely disappointed in how poorly this was executed for more than half the season. This series is also a catfish, or so I felt like it was... It draws you in with great romance and really nice animation for episode one, even having some slight mystery added, not much but there... and then you are thrown into episode two, where visual quality drops significantly, the mystery plot already starts to shape in bad ways, the romance still stays strong here though... that only falls half way through.
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One thing I found really well executed in this series though, was the concept of 'identity crisis'. This concept is easily the highlight of the show, being present in almost all characters realistically... some more than others. Our main example of identity crisis and personality disorder is Reiko, the build-up around those concepts is really well thought out and progressed... starting with just a personality disorder that slowly descends into a heavy identity crisis, it is truly amazing how well this is handled both narrative wise and connected to her character... It covers a lot of basis, getting progressively more and more in depth and creating an atmosphere around her that is truly frightening. The healing aspect is also really well progressed through all the madness around, showing strong character development and attitude. I did mention that she is not the only character experiencing this, that is true, almost all of the characters in this series experience this, more or less depending on their coping mechanisms... Reiko is by far the most in depth and heavily plot related, but Youmei is also a well covered character, as well as Xiaohei, although he is covered less due to his late appearance and reveals.
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Characters - 8/10 For me the characters kind off resembled the narrative in a way... some started really poorly and annoying, but became more relevant, acceptable or even outstanding the more the cloud of confusion around the plot faded. In this boat I would put characters like Miyuki, which firstly I found completely horrible in terms of personality and just felt like an awkward character around the beginning... but later on with more stuff uncovered from both their backstory and their thought process, they became a lot more grounded, less awkward, quite an intelligent character with a heavy background. I still found the choices of following him throughout the story somewhat unnecessary in the grand scheme of things, but he did also add some value even for my dislike in the approach around his narrative value. Tao is one of the characters that to me had way more impact than I would've expected him to have, his reasoning is pretty mediocre which made me assume he would have a lot less relevance, yet he managed to have quite a great amount of implications around the whole series even for his oddly basic existence.Yulong, is by far one of the weirdest appearances in this series, be that the overly weird introduction that he had, where I felt like he was a weird character that was designed to have a quirk just so he can be remembered in the story, or be that the actual depth this guy had, the intelligence and influence across the board. He did lose his quirk pretty fast, which I feel like was the best choice, but why even have it at all... Xiaohei, was one of the more intriguing takes... both of them. The whole narrative around Xiaohei was really interesting and tackled the concept of identity crisis in a different way than we get to see with both Reiko and Youmei. Their arc was really short yet managed to capture this concept really well, in their story there is also present one of the previously stated 'exception' in the rules, which did take from the value of their arc, yet it still felt well covered and nicely spaced in the story, being towards the end also helped it not being overshadowed and lost in the confusion from the early writing.
#####The main cast for this series is really well done from a character development standpoint, both Reiko and Youmei are constantly covered across the narrative, making for some rewarding progression and characters that are even from a base interesting enough to capture your attention. My main point towards both of this characters is the identity crisis element, but even outside of that, the thought process and overall self discovery that both of them go through is impressive... Youmei's background is quite dramatic and builds well combined with the world-building elements which was great... her being bound by regret and how that plays out really elevates her character. Kudou was probably the least covered the whole series, outside of the ending episodes, which I will say made sense in the overarching plot, but felt somewhat vague, which I did not like that much, a lot of what he does and everything around him is covered in fog, making him a difficult character to analyze. Also, his development across the majority of the series is stale, an element that builds on the narrative as well, but it just feels way too boring, making for a underwhelming character.
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Visuals - 8/10 Visually the series is inspired by older anime styles, having character designs reminiscent of late 90s early 2000s, good animation and pretty well detailed environment and world-building in general. My biggest issue with the animation was the clickbait type performance the series pulled in the first episode, showcasing really outstanding visuals, that ultimately were really lowered for the whole rest of the series, and while I still find the series great overall in animation, it felt in poor taste to showcase that level of animation knowing it wouldn’t be maintained throughout... and, I don't even feel like it would've been that hard of a thing to do, by that I mean the visually stunning lighting and details whenever a relevant moment happened... it wasn't even like a permanent thing, it was a moment specific style that could've really elevated other moments in the series. 
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Closing Notes Overall, this series has a great premise and a really rewarding late second half, but it does fumble horribly in the execution for the majority of the time, which is a real issue. We have a casting of characters that is really impressively written in general, even with their bad moments, they easily outshine the more the plot unveils and makes sense... The pacing of this series ruins those characters as well as the decently well written sci-fi mystery element of this series. Outside of that we also have the poor choices of overshadowing the romance of this series which bring a really great dynamic and a beautifully realistic approach. I honestly feel like if this wasn't rushed and followed maybe two / three seasons, I would've been an amazing series, that, and keeping the romance alive... I can't stress enough how well the romance was done, and what potential it had... I'm really disappointed with how this series was executed, it had a lot of promise and fumbled over pacing... Enjoyment Level - 7.3/10 Favorite Characters - Reiko Kujirai & Youmei Favorite Episode - Episode 1
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