Mar 2, 2018
Have you ever thought to yourself: "Hey, I wonder what would it be like if someone combined Terror in Resonance with Tokyo Ghoul." ? or "What if someone combined Psycho Pass with Death Note?"
No? Well, me neither. However, it seems B: The Beginning is here to fulfil your non-existent needs...
But this isn't even exactly true either.
Story: Whilst the central story borrows many elements like that which I have mentioned, it is, with all elements combined, very different to most Anime of the genre. Although I have to say the synopsis given on MAL is very vague and misleading.
To start off with, Koku, the seemingly-angsty teen
...
character, is not the protagonist, or at least, the only protagonist. The older, ragged Keith Flick, a smart but relatable detective in the Royal Police Force, is the other, and it's this combination of two intertwining plots that make the story so much different.
Without any spoilers, there are twists and turns at various points in the story. However, some twists fall in the 'predictable' category, some seem to come from nowhere, yet, the few twists other than those definitely make up for them. The pacing is also noticeably erratic, but I didn't notice that as much.
Don't come into this show expecting a drawn-out fight each episode, nor an entire gore-fest (although gore is prevalent), nor a 100%-realistic psychological battle of wits. But trust me, the story is mostly unpredictable, actually quite complicated too, and overall, that's a major advantage. 7/10
Art/Animation: There's not much to say here. As for the art, the characters are rarely off-model nor act unrealistically, although sometimes it's intentional and for comedic effect (I also have to give attention to the attention to detail for Keith's stubble).
The animation for the fight scenes is good when it's close-up, but may be seen as lacking in the long-shots, although very rarely, I do notice bad animation that make it look like a screenshot of a character is just being moved by an invisible mouse, but those scenes are few and far-between. CG is also used for animating the cars, although it's not too bad till too much of it is used, but then again, that is not often. 7/10
Sound: Although not as good nor unique as Netflix's Devilman Crybaby OST, the soundtrack is a lot better than standard TV anime. The soundtrack isn't especially jarring, but is most of the time woven well into every scene. Tense moment? Tense soundtrack. There's one fight scene in particular early on where they use a track very, very suitable to the setting, without spoilers, which I have to give props for.
The ED is nothing special, but I like the use of English lyrics sung actually well. 8/10
Characters: This is probably the weakest area of the show. Although each and every character's face, personality and body type is very different from each-other, as expected of the studio that did Attack on Titan... In comparison to other series? Not so much.
For example, one character has black hair, and one different-coloured eye. If I gave you that description alone, you could probably think of loads of characters. Another character is a short, bald fat guy. Another is a tall guy with long blonde hair. The list goes on. I don't expect every single character to look different to any other character that came before it, but it is noticeable.
Personalities mostly suffer from being 1-dimensional. One character just seems to just follow one or two particular motives, without any particular character flaws. Another character isn't even given a backstory and is killed off without really meaning anything. No characters particularly develop as the story goes on, yet some characters, important characters, DO have more complex and well-built personalities. In all, 6/10
Overall: B The Beginning is nothing amazing. But it is nothing terrible either, and for sure, it's entertaining, and kept me hooked for the entire time I was watching. There's probably a lot more religious and ideas about life and death and humanity sprinkled in the story than I found from my first viewing, and the ending of the series is actually relatively conclusive. Sometimes things aren't explained in the series, and a lot is left for the viewer to work out, but overall, I'd give B: The Beginning a 7/10. A B Grade. After all, this is just the beginning, right...?
(This is my first review so sorry if I made any mistakes, thanks for reading!)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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