Back to Phlebas's Profile Phlebas's Profile

Awesome visuals, a lot of dramatic tension, only to end on a wet fart thanks to Kyoani rewriting major plot points at the end to cause drama. Sufficient to say the ending invalidates the entire journey of the series, not only season 3 itself.

Ending spoilers inevitably ahead.

In general I'd apply the usual "ignore last X episodes" for anime original endings, but the whole season 3 is pretty much one continuous arc so that'd be difficult. As such, I recommend just pretending season 3 doesn't exist.

They not only make Kumiko's 3 year journey end up in the realization that she's just not good enough (again note, ... this is changed from the novel), but the way they do it is by Reina directly backstabbing her, and then instead of that completely destroying both Kumiko's mental state and the cohesion of the club, they just proceed like nothing that happened in episode 12 even mattered (which makes sense for storyboarding because it's actually not what happened).

Visuals: 9 - great production, obviously
Story: 1 - because endings and payoffs matter

The most captivating 'stuck in a game' story I've seen so far, and I've seen quite a few. I simply can't find anything to fault in this anime.

It's hard to believe they could keep such a breakneck pace through the whole series without it feeling rushed either. Pure bliss from the opening to the end of every episode (and what a great opening it is, by the way).

The protagonist finds himself in a new world - and a new, undead body. He brings with himself his sensibilities from his own life, but finds he no longer actually feels the moral compulsions of his previous human ... self, making his character an interesting mix of ruthless and mindful.

There's a strong focus on exploring a new and hostile world, and finding the differences between the world's "systems" and what the protagonist is used to. On the other hand, he doesn't start off weak and have to level/power up to, but instead arrives as a supreme being defying the laws of the world. That's a unique angle I don't remember seeing before in this kind of series.

The only thing that'll improve this series is a second season.

Horizon is the kind of anime I'm tempted to say isn't being made anymore, except that is evidently incorrect.
It is completely over-the-top crazy and wildly entertaining, and fails to fit in a neatly defined genre. The writing is pure genius and has carried over well into the anime which despite its complexity doesn't stop for long-winded explanations, but rather sweeps the audience away with the constant hands-on revelations about the structure of its world.

The production values from character designs to animation, voice acting and soundtrack are excellent and it's hard to believe this is a Sunrise studio production. It's fair to say that after ... their long history of B-class titles this is their crowning piece.

The series provides immense re-watch value, and my only complaint is how short a single-cour season of it feels. Luckily the source material seems very long so taking into account the highly successful sales of season 1, there is a good chance the series will continue for a long time.