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The anime for this manga had been on my radar for some time. I knew very little about it, other than it was usually compared to Kino's Journey which I enjoyed. I think I watched the entire anime within a forty-eight-hour period of starting it, and I immediately knew I had to read the manga to find out more.

So, I had already read the manga a couple times in unofficial translations by this point, so this isn't exactly my first read. I've had plenty of time to process my feelings towards this story, and there was really an extraordinary amount to process.

The first thing most ... people I know who have either seen the anime or read the manga say is it's very depressing. I'll be honest, just looking at the basic plot makes it seem like a horrifically sad and hopeless tale. Yet, I never was hit by any pity for these two girls in this hopeless situation. If anything, I envied them.

They were born into a dying and nearly dead world, in a collapsed society built in the ruins of an older collapsed society. They seem to have been separately taken in by an older man after something conceivably happened to their separate sets of parents. That was the only family/parental figure they can remember. They lose him at a very young age and are forced into the world to fend for themselves.

They are almost entirely ignorant of humanity, history, morality, and basically anything that we humans take for granted from our social constructs. So, they experience the remnants of this long dead world from an entirely fresh perspective, and it's so well executed to make it breathtaking. I was in constant awe of how effortlessly thought provoking it was. Heavy concepts were given fresh perspective from the eyes of these two unbiased observers. War, death, life, the afterlife, art, music, literature, and that's only the first ones to come to mind.

They have one simple purpose, and that's to find their way to the highest level of the multilayered ruins, hoping there's something up there. Yet, the journey comes to mean more to them than the destination. All the experiences they share together on their trek make their lives worthwhile, as unfair as their lives seem. Despite having only each other for almost the entirety of the story, they always had each other. Both of them had one ever faithful and unshakable companion to help them navigate through life.

I guess that's why I'm envious of them. The simplicity of their existence, coupled with having a person they loved deeply to get through it with, sounds nice. I suppose that's odd to say about two young girls forced to scrounge for every bit of food and water they can find, but the author herself mentioned feeling envious of them in the afterword. I guess I'm not alone, and that's one of the feelings these manga volumes gave me. I felt that as long as this story existed, and there was an author out there who could invoke these kinds of emotions in me, I'd never be alone.

There are so many powerfully emotional scenes that it's hard to even begin going into the finer details of the plot, so I'm not going to do that. I just want to say that I'm not sure if a work of fiction has ever moved me like this. Even the artwork, which I don't have much of an eye for, constantly made me want to sit and appreciate it. Every time I read this, I'm filled with a sense that everything will be okay, in the end, and that life, for all its hardships, is very much worth living.

***Spoilers***

I wonder how it came to this. Now, before we get started, I just wanted to say I'm writing this review solely as a way to grieve. I loved Boku No Hero Academia. It got me into anime. I never really got into it anime as a kid or teen. Obviously I watched Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, but that was about it. I more played the games than actually watched the show with those as well.

Now, a couple years ago my friend convinced me to watch My Hero Academia. I did so, after much whining and putting it off. ... In my mind, the entire anime medium comprised of nose bleeds and well endowed women being disrobed in ridiculous situations. I was of course, wrong.

I adored it. I cosplayed multiple characters from it, went to cons, read the manga, and bought a plethora of merchandise. I got caught up on the manga right around the remedial arc and the battle with Overhaul.

Funnily enough, immediately after is when the manga took a severe drop in quality for me. Before, I thought the character depth was solid and development was nicely paced. The story was well thought out and while a bit repetitive at times, flowed well. I loved some characters and loathed others, like you should with any good fiction.

Now, I just don't care. I don't care about any of the characters I once loved. Don't feel much of anything towards any of the characters I once loathed.

Character development is erratic. Some characters have been seemingly forgotten about. Others develop for little or no reason. The biggest example of that is Tomura Shigaraki. What has he honestly done to warrant this sudden rise to villain mastery? What in his personality causes people to follow him so devoutly? There is literally nothing about him that says main antagonist, but there he is, all of a suddenly at the head of a villain army.

The story, once very focused and heading somewhere, now jumps about with no rhyme or reason. Plot developments are seemingly added on a whim. Deku, is getting a bunch of powers All Might never received in his decades of One For All bearing. The traitor is suddenly a thing again after the author admitted he forgot about them. Endeavor just up and decides he wants to be a good dad after years of abuse and neglect. The list goes on.

It really makes me sad, to see something that once meant so much to me reduced to this. I didn't want to give it up, but I can't bring myself to care what happens anymore. It's obvious the author no longer cares about this manga, so how can he expect fans to do otherwise?

I've always been of the opinion that great works of fiction almost exclusively belong to literature. This is even more true in the realm of Science Fiction. There are some SciFi shows or movies I've seen with shades of brilliance, but none really compare to the works of the my favorite writers of the genre(Isaac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin, Frank Herbert, etc.).

Not that something has to be truly great for me to enjoy, I watch several shows and animes over and over for pure enjoyment, even if there are obvious faults. There are just so many things that seem ... to go wrong in shows and animes. Too short, too long, poor character depth or development, weak pacing, unnecessary fan service, the list goes on and on, and I very rarely find shows that don't fail in some way, even if they are otherwise wonderful.

This show not only succeeded in every aspect I look for but it excelled. I'm writing this review purely, because I want to talk about it and have no one to discuss it with.

The style had me intrigued from the word go. A space opera written in the style of a 19th century epic!? Star Wars meets War and Peace?! It didn't take me long to get a sense of the show, and I was hooked within the first few episodes.

Animation was the only thing that could have limited this show, as it's a product of the time it was made. Yet, the creators made it work, focusing on the things they could do well and finding ways to work with the things beyond their capabilities. The narrative was never limited by the limited animation, and that was a feat in itself for something so grand in scope.

For a show with so many major characters, they were all remarkably well thought out and portrayed. Every single character, from the two main protagonists, to characters who only showed up for an episode or two were fleshed out. Character development for the major characters was so well done and thorough, that it almost made it hard to remember what they were once like at the beginning of the show.

The pacing was flawless. Even the slower episodes had a purpose and drove the story forward. The universe of this anime was so large and intricate, with such a long backstory, that it seems like it'd have been impossible to build our understanding naturally over the course of the show. Yet, this was accomplished without ever making me feel bored or confused.

The fleet battles were my favorite aspect of the show, and I feel like the limited animation actually increased my enjoyment. Instead of focusing on the vivid explosions and ship design, strategy and maneuvering were the central focus. Every battle was intricate, and I was extremely happy with the frequency they occurred.

That's not to say that every other aspect of the show wasn't absolutely magnificent as well. The political intrigue, conspiracies, moral and political philosophies, dialogue, friendships, and even the handful of romances were all woven into the show masterfully.

I attempted to tell one of my clients about it(A huge Star Wars and Star Trek) buff, and when I told him that I enjoyed it more than either The Next Generation or The Empire Strikes Back(my two favorite installations of these franchises) he scoffed at me. As though an anime could hardly compare to Western Film and TV which is a shame. This is without a doubt the best show I've seen, and one of the best pieces of fiction I've had the opportunity to enjoy.