|
|
||||||||||
| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
|
[series:4386#628] | ||||||
|
(Seven episodes watched): Episode one basically sets up this strange situation that Will is in and introduces us to the four main characters without going any farther. Thus it does a good job of creating the classic 'question we must have an answer for', which is exactly what episode one of a new show is supposed to do. Why do these three undeads serve Will so loyally? We learn that each of them was once human as well, but 'powerful emotions' caused them to make bargains with the God of the undead. Is this some sort of penance for a wrong they once committed? But the impression I get from the OP and ED sequences is that these three may not be around for long, and Will will set out on his own once he grows up. I guess that's when we will learn if this is a really neat show or not. Will (now nearing his 'coming of age' at 15) is definitely being trained and educated to a very high standard, but for what purpose remains a mystery. It gets to the point where he is expected to pass tests that could easily kill him if he fails, but still no one will say why. It almost seems as if Blood and Gus want him to fail and die, which takes a realistic toll on his mind. In episode three we finally learn how Will wound up with his three bizarre caretakers: They had to make a pact with the God of the dead to seal a terrifying demon lord away underneath the deserted city nearby; and they rescued Will, who as an infant was going to be offered as a human sacrifice to release the demon lord. That was an OK explanation, I guess, but didn't exactly thrill me. It seems that the absolute top priority is keeping this villain sealed away, and if I had been Gus, Blood or Mary I would have trained Will to spend his life helping do that. Yet he is setting out on some sort of quest for some reason which I either missed or was never revealed. He's given a potent magical sword, 'Overload' (or something), though again I'd think the best use for such a thing would be to help defend the seal. There has been little mention of Will's previous life in Japan, and I sort of wonder why that angle was included in this series at all. Will comes clean about his past life to Blood, Mary and Gus in episode four. He undergoes a sort of crisis of confidence when it looks like his current life will accomplish little more than his last one did, but as often happens a little pep talk quickly brings him back to normal, and then some. The God of the Undead comes looking for Will's three mentors, and offers a tempting deal to Will himself, but gets turned down (good thing Will hadn't already left with that fabulous sword). I thought the part where Will pledges himself to the Goddess of Light instead was sort of neat. Seeing an anime protagonist make religious vows like these is unusual; usually they just want to 'level-up' or something like that. Even Gods can be defeated and (temporarily) killed by mortals in this world, and just that happens in episode five, which seems to end the first arc of this show. Will has reached adulthood and is about to set out on his own, and I remained curious about what that would entail. There's a happy ending for Blood and Mary and we get a little surprise about just what their relationship to Will was, if I understood things correctly (but aren't Blood and Mary supposed to be something like 200 years old?). Well, I was eager to see where Will's quest would lead him as he ventured out on his own, but episode six was disappointing. Basically, Will meets Menel, a half-elf, who joins him as he hunts down demons. But Menel didn't strike me as all that interesting a character; he's gruff and well, that's about it. I was annoyed by the way dead demons vaporize into thin air like they would in a video game--isn't this show even going to try to convince us that this alternate reality might conceivably exist? And is Will's quest nothing more than demon hunting? The thought occurred to me that maybe this show isn't nearly as good as I had come to believe during the first arc. Episode seven may well determine whether I keep watching or not. In it, Menel and Will become good friends, but I didn't really see why Menel would change his attitude so drastically just because he sees that Will is a good fighter, knows useful spells and does good deeds. He still seems shallow and uninteresting to me. Last updated Saturday, December 04 2021. Created Tuesday, October 12 2021. | ||||||||
