Leviathan

An epic on the scale of Leviathan is hard to pull off in any circumstance, moreso with the limitations inherent in highly condensing three novels into twelve episodes. This first problem wasn't so apparent to me until halfway through the show, as the first part rather briskly dealt with in a way I would prefer more formulaic adventure stories take - assuming the savvy of their audience. Unfortunately, this compression really fell apart as the scope of the story expanded, leading to an overwhelming feeling that stuff just happens rather than a truly satisfying conclusion to the storylines - and the issues didn't stop there. This prevents Leviathan from having the depth it teases at the start, though it is still mostly enjoyable - especially for younger audiences.

On that point, I have to say there is a certain juvenility in the presentation of this narrative which really hampers its impact. It extends to character interactions, the way darker themes are handled, and ultimately how the pieces of the plot come together. I couldn't shake the feeling that Leviathan was holding itself back in being derived from a series of young adult novels. That sort of fiction has its place, but exploring a complicated geopolitical situation and the horror of armed conflict? I'm not sure that toning things down for that audience helps younger people at all understand what World War I was like for ordinary people - which seems to be its most important theme.

The story throws a lot of themes around with the dangling hope of a satisfying resolution for them all. Some are done decently well, some are never properly developed, and some come so out of nowhere at the end that they made me guffaw. The motifs seem almost like a who's-who of topics for all-ages animation: Duty, found family, being true to yourself, the futility of revenge... All treated with the bluntness of an ironclad broadside and very few given the time to naturally develop. Were this a story more focused on characters rather than an adventure narrative, I think some of those concepts could have hit a lot harder.

While Leviathan is pitched as having two main characters, Alek really takes the lead over Sharp. Unfortunately, this is an example of leaving the far more interesting option on the table. Alek is not without nuance and you get to see some strong development of the course of the show, but he also kinda sucks. Never do you get to see him truly do what his arc is trying to set him up for - he just charges in and gets lucky: a lot. The criticisms thrown at him throughout the story are pretty much all justified and he doesn't really make up for it with standard teen-protagonist tenacity. Sharp has a far more interesting journey and is able to overcome far greater doubts - even if like the rest of the story her parts are truncated.

The setting is worth dwelling on; for some its interest may override many of the story concerns. An alternate Earth at the onset of World War I, with technological development split between advanced mechanical and biological technology. Is it cool? Absolutely. Living airships and grungy mechs: It's a wet dream for some, brought to life beautifully by Studio Orange's 3D tech. But my concern was how this all tied back into the narrative, and that too was underwhelming. You'd expect there would be more to the prejudice against one side or the other and a grand resolution where the two beautifully merge together... Not really. This is a place where it definitely feels like the novels do better than the show with time to linger on the science behind these differing technologies. As it stands, it's more interesting as eye candy than a truly standout alternate reality.

I do also have to nitpick a bit as a history fan with some of the liberties being taken. Well beyond specifics of people and places, the attitudes of the setting are so stereotypically American. The Ottoman Empire is portrayed as a place of unbridled decadence and hierarchy - though even the unruly have-nots seeming pretty well off, all things considered. They also do not have the least bit of Islam in their character, completely scrubbing out that important cultural context. New York gets portrayed as a Jazz Age art deco paradise... Even though Jazz wasn't even popular music until post-War. The one major historical character they include is totally messed up by retroactive internet idea of who he was, having absolutely none of what made him actually interesting. And the concepts of unbridled democracy as the only conceivable solution really come off as a middle school understanding of sociology.

If there's one thing to say about Leviathan, it's that there's a lot to talk about. Some of that is negative - especially towards the end where the writing really breaks down - but as a whole there's quite a bit of fun in the globe-trotting adventure with its many twists and turns. The action is definitely on par with some of the Disney and Pixar films its competing with, even if the art is not quite to the level of Studio Orange's other productions like Beastars and Land of the Lustrous. Character expressions often make up for the lackluster dub and there's some pretty grand moments where all the production works together in harmony to portray the epic scale of the world - despite all the constraints.

Some may say there's little else sadder than seeing an epic be squandered by being underwhelming: I personally don't think so. Leviathan has an underlying quality which makes nothing it does or fails to do a disaster, it's simply just not as exciting as it may have been with time to breath and more attention to detail. Younger viewers will definitely have their imaginations stoked by the creative setting and integration with a larger history - even as it accelerates to move past them at a million miles per hour.