Mushikago no Cagaster

I'm sure you've heard the expression never judge a book by it's cover, but that's what I intended to do when I first glanced at this anime on Netflix. From the screenshots alone I thought I wouldn't enjoy the animation and art style and was going to skip watching this, but I decided I had enough free time and started episode one. Next thing I knew, I was hooked.

The story starts off slow in the beginning, so you have to be willing to wait a few episodes in before it begins to get interesting.

The fight scenes, between the bugs and humans aren't as ... intense as you would expect, but the sound and voice acting is top notch and helps the scenes flow smoothely.

The is a wide variety of characters, but overall the development of Ilie, Kidow, and the rest had me emotional and guessing what would happen next after each episode. Overall I believe you would be able to rewatch this anime several times and discover something new.

I would recommend this anime to anyone who is willing to try something new, and hopefully you too will discover this gem of an anime on Netflix.

First impressions are crucial to how we make decisions. It’s therefore no secret as to why many will choose to avoid watching this show. It’s true that it leaves a lot to be desired visually, but there are positives underneath its rather unattractive surface.

Set in a barren post-apocalyptic future where most of the population has transformed into giant CGI monstrosities in the form of insects. The remaining population struggle to survive in fortified, self-governed cities. Where the people live in constant fear of their neighbour or loved one turning into an insect-like form and devouring them. To stop the insectification from spreading, there are exterminators ... who take care of the pests. One such exterminator is Kidou. A young man with a troubled past who found his purpose by fighting the insects. That is until he gets the task to escort a young girl back to her mother, somewhere in the dangerous wasteland.

The setting is the show's most prominent characteristic and the first half is used to develop it. It dragged a bit but the second half became more enjoyable because of it. The insects are set-up as a real threat to the people, and they are taken with the seriousness they should. However, there are a couple of things that tells you otherwise. For example, in the first half we spend most of the time in a city that’s protected by a massive wall. But since most of the insects fly, it’s pretty much useless. Some parts like this could've been better explained, although with only twelve episodes of runtime I’d say they did well enough. By the end it’s wrapt up nicely and the characters are well realized.

Kidou is a man who pushes people away from him to not grow attached. As his job could mean having to potentially kill a person close to him. Almost his whole life has gone towards his exterminator mission, which has taken its toll on him. But it starts to change with the arrival of Illie, the girl he decides to help. She felt like a very shallow love interest in the beginning. But she helps Kidou grow as a person, and is a crucial part of the second half and her backstory is one of the show’s most engaging parts. They both have a certain level of depth to them that sadly the rest of the characters don’t have. But since most of them have very little contribution to the story, it’s understandable.

The soundtrack didn't stick out much and it's contribution wasn't all that memorable either. The voice performances on the other hand tuned out to be of higher quality. Kana Hanazawa especially knocked it out of the park in the role of Ilie. Some other were a bit tacky in their line delivery, but not to a distracting extent.

All in all I found it to be serviceable. Largely because I have a soft spot for settings like this. But also due the main leads, who were more engaging than I expected going in. The visuals are this show’s biggest downfall with the robotic and stiff movements, making it hard to recommend. Thankfully the first episode will give you a good idea as to what you can expect going forward. If you don't like the first episode then you should skip the rest.

Now if you would like something better with a similar premise then watch Nausicaä. If you for some reason would like to watch something shittier then watch Island of Giant Insects.

Story: Just another Epidemic apocalyptic cliche story, cities trying to survive because a mysterious disease affected humanity, while there's an edgy main character and another main character that loves the first one, who is shrouded my a mysterious past related to the disease. 5/10

Art: The famous Netflix CGI, even tho not the worse CGI out there, still terrible. 3/10

Sound: Fairly good, probably the thing I most enjoyed, good sound track. 7/10

Characters: They are just pretty much lifeless, bad animation, cliche and mostly annoying. The only character that made me give two points instead of a round 0 is Maria. Oh, points for not having overly ... sexualized woman as well, the only one that fits this criteria, should be sexualized, as she was a prostitute. Good job. But they are still bad. Did I say they are bad?

Enjoyment: Well, I do like the genre, so I just kinda watched to the end and enjoyed more than I should. 5/10

Overall: Pretty bad, but still a more-or-less OK for people that like the genre, if you don't, just don't waste your time.

Spoilers alert:

Am I the only one who got really annoyed by the fact that a 20 years old guy and a 14 years old girl ended up in a romantic relationship? I know it's a post-apocalyptic scenario, so "theoretically" they don't follow the same ethnics than our society but what the hell man, it just don't add anything to the stories at all, what the hell man