This review contains some spoilers.
[Plot]:
“In this world, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”
- The Red Queen Hypothesis
In this cruel world of natural selection, species must evolve faster than others to gain a favourable position in the biological chain. Those who believe in the Red Queen Hypothesis insist that humans should actively seek changes in order to rule nature. “Evol” is a special ability that only appears in a very small number of people. These few people who own Evol are called “Evolvers” and they are super-evolved humans who possess superpowers that enable them to surpass ordinary
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humans. Black Swan (B.S) is a criminal organization that conducts illegal biological experiments in order to study Evol genes to find a way to modify human genes. They are obsessed with the evolution of humanity such as converting ordinary people into Evolvers as they see it as an opportunity to change the world. They are concerned in securing the Queen, a special type of an Evolver whose genes can awaken and enhance the abilities of others.
[Characters]:
The heroine comes across a bit naïve as she is very altruistic. Her biggest flaw is that she has too much empathy, often to point where she cares more about the safety of others than herself. However, she’s a strong independent woman with her own backstory, motivations, and values. Many people call her “stupid” but they often forget that she is an inexperienced college graduate who lost her only family not so long ago. Despite this, she struggles anyways to gather information relating to her predicament: the mysteries around her father’s death, the childhood memories she cannot recall, the dark conspiracies behind B.S. She refuses to accept being protected in ignorance and would rather make the choice to always face the truth, no matter how painful it is.
What I like about the four male leads is that while they carry the specific tropes we’re used to in anime, they’re just not simply that. The boys have their own stories, special bonds with the heroine, past that is filled with layers upon layers, etc.
***Note: The character descriptions for Victor, Lucien, Gavin and Kiro are translations from the Chinese official character profiles for the game. I cherry-picked the information that best describes their characters while not spoiling too much.***
Victor is the president of the Loveland Financial Group (LFG). He is a "capitalist" who is strict and serious towards people and things. He is not a kind philanthropist and he won't waste time or money on meaningless things; his company's interests will always be the focus of his considerations. He has a cold and indifferent outward appearance, but underneath is a soft heart. However, he knows the principle of survival of the fittest better than anyone, and so he doesn't choose to help at all times. From the start, he has never been a saviour and just tries his best to help the "weak" become "strong".
Lucien is a well-educated, talented, and quiet young professor. Outwardly, he is the leading scientist in the field of neurology and extremely persistent with scientific studies, but in fact he hides unknown secrets. Although he is gentle towards people, it makes people feel that there is a sense of distance, and it is difficult to really enter his inner world. The progress of science is often accompanied by many failed experiments, and towards those failed experiments Lucien will feel regret. But at the same time, he believes that it is a kind of honour to contribute to a better future for humankind.
Gavin is an Evol agent, who recently took the initiative to be transferred to the Loveland police bureau. Acting as a special officer, he conceals his true purposes and actions. Although his personality is rebellious, stubborn, and intractable, he has his own principles of doing things and carries a strong sense of justice. He has many informant friends that belong in the grey zone, and he often breaks what's known as the rules of convention. He uses methods that don't look so "just" to achieve his goals. Because of this, there's many people who misunderstand him and feel that his actions are inappropriate.
Kiro is an idol who shines like the sun, has extraordinary charm, and is very sincere. Although outwardly he looks like a big kid, the maturity in his heart is not small. An idol's work is very busy, but he never once complains; he just tries to show his best side to the audience. In addition to his occupation as a star and performer, he also has multiple identities and a secret goal. Kiro clearly understands the ways of the world and the dark side of reality, but he always walks on the path towards the light.
[Enjoyment]:
A main criticism for this show is that it’s very fast paced and the episodes condense the lore and simplifies the events from the original game. In some episodes, the action scenes goes by in a blur and the audience doesn’t feel the tension or the emotional connection from the different revelations. Due to the constraints of the anime being only 12 episodes, a lot of the intenseness of the main story was toned down. Another criticism I have is the lack of flow and connection between these events. As a big fan of the game, I didn’t notice it as much but I feel anime-only viewers would feel a bit disjointed. But nonetheless, there are lots of twists in this anime and after a few episodes, the story goes towards a direction you wouldn’t expect, making it highly enjoyable.
Despite the criticisms, the anime sticks to the main story by not adding any nonsense fillers or fluff as you would see in traditional anime shows. I still enjoyed how the anime executed the storyline because overall, the core events of the story are well depicted. Many anime-original scenes had be added to help piece the story together and make it more clear to the newcomers. The anime director wanted this show to appeal to both fans of the game and new viewers and the show is heavily focused on the plot rather than the romance. There’s always some extra scenes after the credits so make sure you don’t miss that! Overall, this is one of the best reverse harem shows and I will also say this is the best adaptation of an otome/joseimuke game.
Sep 4, 2020
Koi to Producer: EVOL×LOVE
(Anime)
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This review contains some spoilers.
[Plot]: “In this world, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.” - The Red Queen Hypothesis In this cruel world of natural selection, species must evolve faster than others to gain a favourable position in the biological chain. Those who believe in the Red Queen Hypothesis insist that humans should actively seek changes in order to rule nature. “Evol” is a special ability that only appears in a very small number of people. These few people who own Evol are called “Evolvers” and they are super-evolved humans who possess superpowers that enable them to surpass ordinary ... |
