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[series:4656#628] | ||||||
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(Four episodes watched): I was sure that it was Shagrua, the hero, who had come to modern day Japan, but no, it appears to be the Corpse God. People transporting from a sword & sorcery world to Japan is the reverse of the standard isekai series to begin with, but this makes things even more novel. Why was a teenager assassinated by a hired killer? Who are the 'Retrievers'? What will the Corpse God/Polka Shinoyama do next? As evil as he seems at first glance, he makes a cryptic remark about how he would like to live in peace. Will he be a sort of anti-hero? Will Shagrua come looking for him as well? This show does a good job of leaving me with questions that I would like answers to. There's a little joke at the end about Polka (why was that name chosen?) trying to revive Misaki Sakimiya, who is the female assassin who killed and tried to re-kill him. Maybe he still will; she appears at least twice in the ED sequence. At any rate, I'm intrigued by this show; it seems to have a sophisticated plot and I'm eager for more. Episode two clarifies things somewhat: the Corpse God was a 'necromancer', who indeed only wanted to be left at peace but was forced into military service due to his terrifying abilities. So, yes, an anti-hero of sorts. That's unusual. In case there was any doubt that Polka is really a good person he rescues some children from a fire, which seemed a little corny to me. He revives Misaki who will no doubt assist him from here on. She was more insane than evil so I don't hate her all that much. Her goofiness is kind of annoying, however; I'm not sure it was a good idea to inject comedy into this story. One remaining question: who are these people who Misaki had been working for? Are they yakuza, or vigilantes, or what? In episode three we learn that some sort of division of the police that deals with 'borderline occult' cases exists; that would suggest that maybe Polka isn't the first to make the jump to this world. Or maybe a form of magic exists here as well. But something was bothering me about this show. Maybe it was the incongrous mix of weak comedy and horror (placing the original Polka's 'soul' in a silly shark-shaped doll made me groan). Or the feeble attempt to make this special division of the police, and the weirdos it fights, seem 'cool' when they didn't strike me that way. Or a sense of having little idea where the plot is going--is Lisa's group the good guys? Can the police be trusted? What is the main conflict? But most likely the problem is that the characters, including Polka himself, don't intrigue me. My father recently mentioned a claim he had read that our brains are wired to seek to learn from other people's experiences--not from stories themselves, but from how people react and develop amid them. That made a good deal of sense, because I quickly lose interest in shows with uninteresting characters. And DMDP seems to be falling into that trap. Last updated Thursday, June 01 2023. Created Sunday, April 23 2023. | ||||||||
