Sakugan

The "Labyrinth" is an expansive space deep underground where humans live in clusters known as "colonies." Over the years, the surface has become a distant memory—even perhaps only a fantasy to those who have never experienced its wonders.

Making sure humanity survives the harsh conditions of the underground, a colony's citizens can take on a variety of specialized jobs. These include "Workers," who mine precious ore to fuel the colonies, and "Markers," who journey into the Labyrinth's surprisingly lush environment to bring back information that eases navigation. However, humanity also faces a threat to its existence—creatures called "kaijuu" whose sizes range from that of a small child to an enormous building, and are hostile to any human they see. Moreover, kaijuu that are large enough can force their way into the colonies, further increasing their threat level.

Memenpu is a nine-year-old college graduate whose inventions have greatly benefitted the Workers in her local colony. Recently, however, she has been dreaming of a place with a neverending ceiling not bound by bedrock. These aspirations fuel her desire to become a Marker and explore the Labyrinth's vast unknown in search of such a fantastical place. Despite her father Gagumber's vehement disagreement, a certain incident with the kaijuu jumpstarts a dangerous yet exciting adventure that will surely alter humanity's course forever.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Memenpu Main

Amane, Kanon Japanese

Gagumber Main

Touchi, Hiroki Japanese

Zackletu Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Yuri Main

Toyonaga, Toshiyuki Japanese

Rufus Supporting

Midorikawa, Hikaru Japanese

Fidelio Supporting

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Boss Supporting

Koyama, Tsuyoshi Japanese

Sina Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Muuro Supporting

Watada, Misaki Japanese

Merooro Supporting

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Cao, Cong Producer

Takano, Kenichi Producer

Takeyama, Shigeto Producer

Horikoshi, Masaru Producer

Reviews

Jan 6, 2022

botaz

Recommended

Characters:
Let us start strong, the characters, each of them are unique, have different personalities traits and flaws. They all represent something in the world. Most of them have certain values they try to fullfill. Voice acting is great and makes them seem like real people.
9/10.

Art:
The art is absolutely amazing, everything look alive and the art style is great. The only flaw, but that can be said about most of Mecha animes, are mech's themselves or maybe i just don't udnerstand how they should look like. I was in love in the art and it was one of the main reason for me to watch ... the anime. Fight animations aren't as good but, we don't see a lot of that.
9/10.

Sound:
The sound track is great it's not the best since it's repetetive, but over all it is enjoyable in it's moments. The voice acting is top tier, feels like characters are very much alive. The sounds of enviroment and other are also pretty good, some combat sounds could be better but there is not a lot of it.
8/10.

Story:
This is sadly the worst part of this anime, it just doesn't present the story in the right way, feels to chaotic, not logical at times, lacking some parts of it, it just feels like they tried to push to much of it in those 12 episodes and had to cut it a lot, thus we get this mess of a story that doesn't explain anything well, and feels like skips all kind of stuff. Also we get a filler episode at least i feel like it, your typical OVA episode on the unhabitted island.

So that is what's all bad about the story, what is good tho? The characters make the story itself much better with their strong presence and how great of a job voice actors did. The comedy part is pretty much in it and is the main point of what is good about the anime and what is holding it's score from falling down for me.
3/10.

Overall enjoyment and score for the anime.
For me it was enjoyable to watch but, the story was lacking, even tho the characters made up for it, in my case. It still felt good to watch, but not for the story rather what will characters do next.
Enjoyment: 8/10 Overall 7/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by botaz (8)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Aug 26, 2024

CaptainSalty

Mixed Feelings

I really got into Sakugan in its first half especially following the episode about Yuri. However it loses its steam in the second half and has a few things where I scratch my head at the plot holes I can so quite obviously see in front of me. The characters just shrug stuff off because the show doesn't have time to build upon these things. Making lots of tension and conflict feel off. However the premise and world is wonderful and feels fresh. I couldn't help but feel immersed for the first half which felt naturally paced and executed. Characters are super likeable and enjoyable ... to watch with their very apparent flaws conflicting with each other to create realistic tension and conflict. The world was pretty unique and interesting but sadly the writing of the show needed lots of improvement with how it shows off the second half of the show. It was more than likely due to the fact that they just didn't have enough time to really develop the story, needing at least double the amount of episodes to get the story to a satisfying conclusion. What we are left with is not only plot holes out the wazoo, but uninteresting conflicts that start out with fine premises but are weighed down by needing to lead to some kind of conclusion with the very little time it has left. Sakugan is a perfect example of a great idea that was going somewhere great, but doesn't have the time to really tell it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by CaptainSalty (79)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Dec 24, 2024

andiabrudan

Not Recommended

Oy, Hollywood, you dropped this garbage on your way to the d̶u̶m̶p̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ cinema.

Sakugan must be the worst anime I've seen this year, and I've seen some big stinkers. Don't let the budget fool you, this thing is the equivalent of "The Acolyte" or "Madame Web". Good for it that it came out in 2021, cause it would be thorn to shreds today. To shreds, I say.

Where do I even begin with this? I guess we have to address the elephant in the room, so we'll start with the characters.
- Memenpu is one of the most unlikeable protagonists I've ever seen. Arrogant, dumb, extremely ... annoying and a Marry Sue to boot. I haven't seen a "Childcare" themed anime waste so much potential since Usagi Drop.
If you're expecting any heartfelt moments between father and daughter here, you're knocking at the wrong door. Memenpu will literally ruin every moment she is on screen.
There will be times where you're going to say "this is the perfect moment for some good old domestic violence". I swear the show is actively baiting that feeling out of viewers with how Memenpu is acting, but it delivers 0 slaps across the little rat's face (or gigantic forehead).

- The father, Gagumber, I nominate for worst father of the year. At least it's realistic how little he cares about Memenpu, despite the show drilling into your skull the complete opposite. Honestly, he's just there to entertain the audience and act like a plausible plot point on why Memenpu is allowed to do whatever she wants at 9 years old. He's nothing more than a pet on Memenpu's leash.

- Yuri. Who the hell even is this guy? He kind of just drops in one episode and sticks around like a pesky thistle.

- Zackletu. Ah, Zackletu. Honestly, I can't even write anything here because it would just probably be every swear word in the dictionary stringed together. The story of Zackletu isn't something that can be defined with words; it has to be experienced. Like a nausea, vertigo and migraine at the same time. The one thing I can say is that episode 8 must be the stinkiest turd ever crafted by a human mind.

The rest of the supporting characters aren't even worth mentioning as they're unidimensional and just help the story move along.

Speaking of the story, it's bland. If I had to summarize it as a food, I'd say oatmeal.
It's a shame, really. The setting almost gives you Made in Abyss vibes. And with a Father-daughter theme? *mhua* Chef's kiss. Easily could top the charts. But it's all so bland.
- There is no monster variety. The monster you see in episode 1 is the same as you'll see across the entire show.
- There is nothing to the world. We travel from city to city and most of the plot will happen within the confines of a city or another. I think there's a total of like 2-3 episodes that happen outside and even then it's bland.
- The world setting is poorly crafted. We're supposed to be underground, in a strange world, but this is literally just Earth environments with a cobblestone skyblock. You got a forest, a desert, a frozen biome, all exactly as you would expect them on the surface... just underground. Compare this to MiA where, when you hear Riko say "Whoa!" you know you're going to see something strange beyond human comprehension.

The animation is quite good. I wish we'd give this kind of budget to stories that deserve it. The CGI is, unfortunately, quite in your face. If it's a monster or a mech, it's going to be CGI. But I'll say it's not the lowest quality; maybe one or two ranks above it. The overall colors are nice and bright, the characters are all animated properly and the fight scenes would be ok if they weren't badly choreographed.

In conclusion, this anime gets Memenpu/10 points from me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by andiabrudan (11)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

2020s Mecha

by Fortress_Maximus

38 Entries · 11 Restacks

Crunchyroll Latin American Dubs (Part 2)

by saintseba

50 Entries · 2 Restacks

Everything is a lie

by RokkanShojo

50 Entries · 574 Restacks

Fall 2021 Simulcast List [Update 12/26]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of anime acquired for simulcast release during the Fall 2021 season. Anime series licensed for home video relea...read more

Sep 24, 2021 5:12 PM by Snow | Discuss (109 comments)

Fall 2021 Preview

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of Fall 2021 titles with an accompanying promotional video (PV), commercial (CM), or trailer. This post will be...read more

Sep 15, 2021 4:05 PM by Snow | Discuss (23 comments)

	Original novel by Nekotaro Inui Nameless_Nemesis - Oct 24	1 replies	by bibisebi »» Oct 25, 10:58 PM
	Poll: Sakugan Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Nov 25, 2021	51 replies	by Talamare »» Jun 17, 10:20 PM
	Poll: Sakugan Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Dec 23, 2021	67 replies	by RioAl »» Nov 3, 2023 11:27 PM
	Poll: Sakugan Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Aug 5, 2021	113 replies	by Destroyer31 »» Oct 27, 2023 8:09 AM
	Will there be a second season? LovelyTekki - Dec 27, 2021	5 replies	by Ionliosite2 »» Mar 13, 2023 12:36 PM