The narrative doesn't feel particularly high-stakes or engaging, neither in its main plot nor its subplots, with a lack of hints at anything intriguing. The comedy, reminiscent of the Heisei era, can be awkward and tiresome if you are not into it. The characters aren't engaging, evoking the typical Heisei/Showa vibes of the 80s-90s, even reminding me somewhat of 'Ranma' (kinda chill but slightly frustrating). It doesn't seem as well-grounded as its concurrent Reiwa era works. Maybe this series is a manifestion of trying to appeal to nostalgia, who knows. But I'm rating it while trying to be as objective as much as possible without a pink tinted lens. Personally, I'm not a fan of this series' style of writing, which I find unengaging because: 1) it's more event-centric than character-centric, but the events are dull due to their buildup style; it plays into the typical scifi tropes and tries to remix some stuffs but it's not weird enough to me to be interesting; what shooks the characters don't really seem to shock the audience(?) 2) this type of narrative with casual interactions and less focus on characters often hints at a deep, conspiracy-like subplot, yet this series seems not to inspire that feeling; it feels casual (like dedededemon's destruction) but NOT CASUAL ENOUGH due to the stakes and the constant pain-in-the-neck tiresomeness of the MC. Feels like MagiLumiere but less fun to me; 3) generally, stories like this feel more style-over-substance, intentionally designed to be more digestible for their target audience. However... The actions ain't flashy enough to me like battle shounen-likes like Blue Locks, Kengan Asura and Rosen Garten Saga. Just not thrilling.
However, the art and drawing are outstanding. The mechanical designs and human anatomy have a raw, 'Dragon Ball Z'-like feel. The aesthetic style and environment are very appealing, offering a sense of nostalgia for older manga while incorporating modern technical finesse, with more attention to anatomy and more intricately designed machinery.
It's not a bad series for killing time, but it's far from a must-read, unless you're particularly interested in drawing and art.
I'm not a big fan of its direction, being uncertain whether it aims to be a comedy or a serious story. It feels somewhat in-between, yet its pacing and development feel generic and overdone. To get a sense of how it compares, consider works like 'Dorohedoro', which, while sharing a similar narrative style that I'm not particularly fond of — potentially convoluted and messy, not engaging enough if the aesthetics and world-building aren't compelling. 'Knights of Sidonia' also has a similar storytelling style, but I enjoyed it more due to the characterization (bunch of funny dorks each unique in their own rights), a unique and compelling plot, and off-beat humor that works when you least expect it. Speaking of anime series to compare to, the character dynamics also slightly remind me of 'Brand New Animal'.
Maybe it's intentional to have an underwhelming, low stakes feel to this series to make it casual. But it just doesn't combine well to me with the polar opposite of the stress experienced by the MC. The MC is just a wreck, constantly nervous at every interaction so even at low stakes or high stakes scenarios, it doesn't feel that much different.
If the action and fight scenes are more thrilling and high stakes feeling like something is on the line, it might be more fun to me. But because the MC has a more or less defeatism (not like not motivated but more like constantly edging and panicky --- like the series SHY) attitude, I just don't really care for the outcome of the fight lol. If you really don't like SHY, chances are you might not like this.
(-9)
(+76)
