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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
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[series:3561#628] | ||||||
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(Two episodes watched): I think episode one of this show might have been better off if it hadn't included the scenes of wild combat with magical weapons. Those lowered my expectations by giving me the impression that this show would rely upon action at the expense of plot and story. That might still be true, but there was no hint within the remainder of episode one that things would wind up like that. Despite what is revealed in the synopsis above, episode one didn't really tell us all that much. All we know is that Tokyo has been converted into a sort of gigantic prison (but how do those colossal shipments of food enter the city if no one can leave it?), but we have no idea why--just that magical swordplay will come about at some point. The critical explanation of the link between them will have to wait for episode two or later. So, I was left feeling ambivalent about this show. On the one hand, there seems to be a story of sorts building with some okay characters. On the other, the show hadn't yet pitched its basic premise to us and there was no guarantee that it would be particularly good. So I decided to watch another episode, but with the proviso that it would need to make a strong case in order for me to watch a third. People can be transformed into monsters, so if you kill the monster you kill a fellow human as well--or do you? Episode two left me confused about what was going on. Some strange people applaud Chihiro as a hero, others hate him and would like to kill him; in both cases, why is unclear. Wounds that ought to kill you may vanish, and fiery red blades--of a sort--may replace your hands. But WTF is going on? This show does not tell us--or at least me--enough to give a fairly firm grip on that plot. And confused bits and pieces of a story do not stick in my memory, so I will have even less of an idea of what's going on when I watch the next episode. That's a pity, because I detected some quality within this show, like Chihiro's realistic agony over something he may have done. I can certainly empathize with him over not knowing where he stands. In general, it slightly hurt my head to watch this show, and I was not looking forward to a story that is told in such a helter-skelter manner, so I quit watching. Last updated Tuesday, October 02 2018. Created Friday, August 03 2018. | ||||||||
