Estab-Life: Great Escape

In the distant future, the cities of Japan have been walled off and isolated from one another. Tourism and immigration are heavily controlled—if not impossible. Each region is overseen by an AI moderator that maintains its domain as it sees fit. These clusters are refined into a single ideal, with every citizen fulfilling their role in preserving the moderator's creation. But not everyone is satisfied with the narrowly focused vision of the city they were born in, and thus, they require some under-the-table help in relocating to a more appropriate cluster.

During the day, Equa, Ferres, and Martese are ordinary high school students; but at night, they act as Extractors—people who illegally smuggle civilians between the city borders. Transporting those brave enough to leave everything behind, Equa and her friends risk their lives in order to give their clients a second chance. But the dangers of extraction begin to intensify when the cluster moderators become increasingly aware of the group's actions that threaten their perfect utopias.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Equa Main

Mineuchi, Tomomi Japanese

Ulula Main

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Martese Main

Naganawa, Maria Japanese

Ferres Main

Takahashi, Rie Japanese

Alga Main

Hayami, Show Japanese

Mori, Akitoshi Producer

Komatsu, Shouta Producer

Yonemori, Hiroto Producer

Hashimoto, Hiroyuki Director

Reviews

Jun 3, 2022

SanaeK10

Recommended

My favorite genre is the "Cute Girls do Cool Things" genre, which usually has a predominantly female cast engaged in badass and over-the-top action scenarios with little to no regard for melodrama, and every season I would search high and low for a show that meets that criteria. Usually 3Hz would deliver in that regard, but while expecting a show titled "Healer Girl" to have guns-blazing action is an exercise in futility, I somehow stumbled upon Estab Life, that has absolutely everything I wanted, and then some.

Estab Life is what you would call a "multi media franchise", or in less flattering but more accurate terms, ... a "made for mobage" show. And in my experience, usually failure or high likelihood of failure mobage would generate some of the best original anime out there (see Kotobuki, Akanesasu Shoujo, and of course Kemono Friends). Estab Life is no different. Right out of the bat it is supremely confidant on its premise and themes, and is wildly imaginative in its depiction of the Tokyo clusters. I'm actually reminded quite a lot of Rolling Girls, though more restricted to a single location and with less drama.

And by imaginative, I mean, wow. Communist Penguins, Mahou Shoujo Yakuza, No-pan Theocracy, Prison Horse Races, and much more are featured in this show. And bizzarely they all make sense given the context they are set in (Fucho is famous for its prison and horse races, for example). It never feels jarring nor is there any whiplash when going from episode to episode, part of the joy is seeing what crazy situation the girls will end up in.

Equa-senpai is quite possibly my favorite MC of the season. Most of these Cute Girls do Cool Things shows would usually cast either a genki-baka type or a cool-but-silent type as their protagonists, and, while fine enough, are overly played out. Equa's personality in being a kind and easy-going onee-san type is wildly out of place, yet a very fresh take for a genre like this, and her interactions with the cast and everyone, as well as having actual shortcomings, makes her an endearing character to follow. The rest of the main cast are pretty good too, though I would have liked if each of them had their own spotlight episodes.

It's not just fun wacky comedy either, out of all the shows this season, this is the last show I'd expect to have actual heart in it, but goddammit it does, and the superb direction and music all make you feel emotional in ways I never really got for a show of this type of genre.

Special mention to the music. Fujisawa's OST, while very similar to most of his own previous works, all complement each moment so effectively and can really make you feel emotional for a scene that is otherwise farcical. Like, it's a testament to the entire soundtrack when it can make you feel genuinely sad for one of the characters despite that one predictable tragic event that you know happens actually happen.

The whole show has been a wild and fun ride, and I will eagerly await the film (I don't know why or how, but thank you Square Enix for funding weirdo projects like these) once it releases stateside.

You were the first and last friends I've ever made!

8/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Feb 11, 2023

SenpaiLuna

Recommended

Despite the show's shortcomings, it is incredibly memorable. I absolutely adore this show. The side characters and the girls in the main cast are awesome and lovable. They do lack depth tho. Also, when you encounter a part of the show which is fleshed out, the show is amazing. However, this can sometimes be the exception plus it is lacking in many parts. For instance; it can be somewhat boring at some parts and the action never makes sense and is only there for plot convenience. This often made me feel like "why didn't they just go in guns ablazing in the first place".

I ... don't know. It definitely one of a kind. Just wished it was fleshed out a little more.
Still I'll recommend you give it a try because there isn't another show like it 8.5/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Aug 3, 2022

lamaraptor

Mixed Feelings

There are good and bad elements to this show, but I ended up liking it more than I thought I would after the first few episodes. It's one of those shows that on the face of it should be really stupid. The fun kind of stupid, but still, very very dumb. It's the kind of show you can be trying to describe to a friend and realize how ridiculous that sounds on the face of it, only to realize the execution was far more mundane than the setup made it sound. For example the fact that it has a yakuza boss who wants to run ... away from crime city and become a magical girl, or the hot spring city where panties are illegal. It throws a bunch of really comedic sounding ideas at the wall, and then executes them like you're going to a business lunch and don't want to stand out too much. All of the potential is there for it to be a crazy high-concept comedy show, but it plays it straight like I'm meant to take any of this seriously.

However I found myself enjoying it anyway, if you just embrace the stupid high-concept nature of the world and focus on the character interactions you can have a good time with it. I don't think it's a very memorable show, but if you decide to watch it there are worse ways to spend your time. The 3D animation was decent and not too distracting, I've seen worse. If 3D is a turn-off for you just on the face of it then I guess stay away. Overall I'm feeling a 7/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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	Poll: Estab-Life: Great Escape Episode 3 Discussion KANLen09 - Mar 30, 2022	18 replies	by Deago »» Dec 8, 2023 10:23 PM
	Poll: Estab-Life: Great Escape Episode 1 Discussion fourberie - Mar 23, 2022	32 replies	by Deago »» Dec 3, 2023 3:18 AM
	Poll: Estab-Life: Great Escape Episode 12 Discussion KANLen09 - Jun 1, 2022	25 replies	by Stealth012 »» Sep 21, 2022 4:04 AM
	Episode... 13!? removed-user - Jun 8, 2022	3 replies	by removed-user »» Jun 9, 2022 6:10 AM
	Poll: Estab-Life: Great Escape Episode 11 Discussion KANLen09 - May 25, 2022	10 replies	by Viewland »» Jun 1, 2022 12:51 PM