Shoumetsu Toshi

Title:Shoumetsu Toshi
AFTERLOST: Where I End and You Begin
消滅都市
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Madhouse
HANAZAWA Kana
SUGITA Tomokazu
Three years ago, a city of 100,000 people was devastated by a poorly understood calamity. All but one of the people at the place--now known as 'Lost'--vanished and have never been found. The sole survivor, a girl named Yuki, is now of the utmost value to a shady but powerful organization known as 'The Agency'. After she is rescued from it a guy named Takuya with a motor scooter is hired to convey her back to Lost since a cryptic message suggests that her father may still be alive there.

12 episodes
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 7 7 7 6 4 4 Ggultra2764 [series:3685#1552]
(Watch-/ Avoid+)

Apparently based on a mobile game, After Lost certainly gives off the impression that it was trying to cram as much of its story from its source material into a 12-episode anime with characters largely being nothing but archetypes, the plot seemingly missing some details regarding elements of its sci-fi lore, and rather subpar animation for a series emphasizing battles between those with paranormal powers. Maybe with a longer episode run and better animation, this may have been at least somewhat decent. But as it is, After Lost is largely rather forgettable fare that seems to largely exist as a promotion for its mobile game.

Last updated Saturday, July 23 2022. Created Saturday, July 23 2022.
Watch Stretch [series:3685#628]
(All episodes watched):

While not exactly a novel premise, episode one of this show left me modestly interested and optimistic. There were lots of standardized touches, like a helicopter gunship, a mysterious evil organization, a chubby computer geek friend, amnesia, magic (or psychics?), etc. It seemed that the story was being told in such a way that it had some plausibility, and despite the weird stuff I could more-or-less keep track of what was going on, the two protagonists seemed like semi-interesting people, and there was a touch of genuine humor (at least at one point). Plus the episode ends with a cliffhanger that I needed an answer to. But in episode two the answer wasn't all that remarkable--in fact, it was confusing and I struggle to understand why certain people did what they did. Was a certain person a traitor? The basic problem, both at this point and throughout the show, was that it seemed that we were only being given bits and pieces of the story and they were not timed or arranged very well to help us draw the correct and necessary conclusions. Some sort of bizarre psychic/magic power, called Tama-shi, is employed by certain characters. What is it? What are the rules by which it operates? There are no answers. 'Gravitational waves' may have something to do with it, but I quickly got the feeling that it was unlikely that they would ever be explained. We learn that several of the good guys once worked for the nefarious Agency, but defected, apparently because they became disturbed by what it was doing with children. The storytellers seem to be tempting us with little snippets of information but aren't telling us enough to really make sense of it all, and that is frustrating. The result was that I felt I was just understanding the bare bones of the plot while missing lots of fine details. Feeling that you may be falling farther and farther behind is liable to correspondingly make you feel little inclination to remember what has already happened (which only makes the problem worse). Whereas at the end of episode one I was optimistic about this show, at the end of episode two my thinking was that maybe I wouldn't watch it after all.

As it happens I did continue watching, in part because Spring 2019 was a meager season and there wasn't much else to watch. The main characters admit that they, too, have little idea what Tama-Shi is (I was glad to hear that I wasn't the only person feeling that way), but Yuki has an idea. Her theory is partly intriguing and partly confusing--something about people's regrets about mistakes they have made leading to alternate timelines, or something like that. Takuya, Yuki and 'Geek' finds themselves in a strange time loop within Lost (I think) in which they encounter a well known Idol group. If I understood correctly, an event which occurred a good while ago re-occurs, leading to the notion of time loops and alternate realities. I got the feeling that maybe it was being hinted to us that all those people who vanished within Lost might in fact have gone off on their own trips through alternate reality, but it turned out that I was reading too much into this relatively simple plot. This show was a strange mix of intrigue with confusion and disjointment. In the end, would a believable and enjoyable tale be told using these concepts, or would things just remain muddled and frustrating?

The story expands, as we learn that Yuki has a brother, Souma, who apparently works for the Agency. I wish we had a better idea what exactly this organization is trying to accomplish, how it came to be created, how it is so large yet remains almost unknown, etc. It seems that it ran a lab to experiment on children with Tama-Shi powers under guise of an orphanage. Anyway, a dedicated police detective investigates the matter of a smaller scale Lost-like explosion (which was somehow triggered by a fight between Yuki and her brother). I sometimes wonder how dedicated characters in this show are to the cause they fight for, and how hostile different groups are to each other, because they sometimes seem to make half-assed attempts to kill or intimidate people, which makes me wonder if they are all that hostile after all. For instance, the female police detective is betrayed and apparently killed, though I was certain that she somehow would survive without permanent injury, just like Takuya had survived the attempt to execute him. It turned out that things were exactly as they appeared to be. Yet another faction (which reminds me a lot of a group from Persona 5) is added to the already complex and extensive mix, and I worried that I might not be able to keep track of them all. I was bored by the fight between Souma and a number of opponents in episode six. He just seems like a jerk who likes to cause trouble rather than someone who is fighting for an understandable cause. I'm sure they'll be back at some point, but the idols have been dropped from the story for the time being.

My interest in this show was flagging when, much to my surprise, episode nine suddenly made the series as a whole make a lot more sense and be a lot more interesting. Basically, we learn the surprising background stories of two two leaders of the Lacuna corporation and Yuki's missing father. (Spoiler): They are actually from a parallel universe, a universe in deep trouble, and somehow came to ours to try to arrange some sort of fix. The details were vague but the general premise was intriguing. I couldn't help thinking that maybe this should have been the second or third episode of the series rather than the ninth one, because the story as a whole would have made much more sense and been more entertaining. Up until now the Agency just seemed stereotypically evil, since we knew very little about it or its leaders, but now we know a good deal more and it is clear that they aren't just trying to hurt people out of greed or spite. This revelation sort of ties together all the different plot strands--the idols, Lost, Souma, the Agency, etc--which seemed confusing and disjointed previously. It didn't fix everything, but it rejuvenated my interest somewhat.

As the show nears its conclusion (I assumed--and hoped--it would be a one-season production), I couldn't help wondering why the idols had been included in the story at all; would they reappear for some reason in the last episode, and play a pivotal part? We hadn't heard much of anything about them since the first third or so of the series, and I wondered if the only reason they were included at all was because any self-respecting anime nowadays needs an idol group. Likewise, why did the phantom thieves appear? It seemed like little more than a stunt, since there is little reason to believe that they would impact the conclusion. And exactly what Lost was and why it posed a threat was never made very clear either; nor were the fantastic psychics-on-steroids powers that some characters have displayed (Yuki makes (some) sense, but why did Akira have these powers? Why would transferring from one parallel to another give a person such abilities?). It seemed that the raw materials for a good story were available, but they were employed haphazardly and stuff that wasn't needed and only distracted from the plot was being needlessly inserted. The show in general has a sort of slapdash, hastily-made feel to it.

It turns out that the phantom thieves show up briefly and lend a hand in episode eleven, and the idols make a quick cameo in episode twelve. That's better than nothing, but the very fact that it just didn't feel like they would ever show up again tells us a lot about the overall quality of this show. Takuya and Yuki take the plunge and venture into Lost, and their friends who attempt to infiltrate Lacuna's headquarters find things are not as they had expected, which was sort of intriguing (though just what was going on there is never really explained). Like the show as a whole, in the climax I sort of understood what was going on, but nowhere near completely. How does Akira appear out of thin air with his battery of virtual sub-machine guns? What do lines like "Maintaining your existence from continual mutual confirmation" mean? What, again, are 'surge particles'? Still, the turning point was kind of cool, even if I (again) didn't completely understand it (spoiler)Suzuna shot Taiyo before the final showdown, but somehow he didn't notice that he'd been critically wounded? In general this seemed like a show which had all the parts it needed to assemble a good show, but didn't quite put them together correctly. It sort of feels like a place for some important pieces couldn't be found and they were left out. As a result, the show is rough and difficult to follow. But it is not terrible by any means, and I don't really regret watching. The characters were OK, there was some intrigue, and who can walk away when an entire universe is at risk?

Last updated Wednesday, July 03 2019. Created Wednesday, April 24 2019.

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