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Alright, a warning: this review will involve minor spoilers, if you want to go in fresh, then I would stop reading this now, but I would argue that this spoiler will help you have a better idea of what you're getting into and will probably help you enjoy it if you choose to watch.

TL;DR Shuumatsu is an anime that tries to do a few things at once and doesn't quite succeed at any of it. While none of the elements are critical failures at an objective level, they contradict each other and create problems. If you are looking for a fluffy show with bright colours ... and a happy story then you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a more action oriented fantasy about struggle then you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a full tragedy then you will be disappointed. I think the best chance one has of enjoying this is to only be in the moment with this show. Ignore the artwork, ignore what other people say what it's about, ignore your expectations and just accept it moment by moment. If you can accomplish that, then you can enjoy this. I think that's how other people did.

I didn't.

From here on are spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.


We get our set up: Willem, the male protagonist, is a lone survivor of the human race in a distant post-apocalyptic fantasy setting. While humans are long extinct and the surface of the world inhabited by apocalyptic doom monsters, the world is still inhabited by beast-races and fantasy races that live on flying islands above the surface. Unfortunately, doom monsters still rise from the surface to attack the islands. To defend themselves, the beast races must use the legendary swords left behind by the Brave Heroes of the human race and the ONLY ones who can wield these swords are young girls called leprechauns which are kept by the military as living weapons.


Oh, and the girls finish off the monsters by blowing themselves up using the swords.

Yeah.

Willem then becomes these girls' caretaker and what follows is a sombre story filled with pops of daily life and harsh battles as we get to know the girls and one by one come to lose them...

...is what you'd think. Instead what we get is a slice of life story. Willem takes care of the younger girls, supports the older girls, cleans, bakes and gets flirted with by the oldest leprechaun and female lead, Ctholly. He also tunes the swords properly. As it turns out he is actually one of the Brave Heroes that used the legendary swords in the past and thus knows how to use them without destroying the wielder. He teaches the girls how to use them as well as fight and the story turns into one of triumph over the odds, peppered with slice of life moments...

...is what you'd think. Instead, we get both of those. Sort of. The result is both bizarre and largely unsatisfying. We get long scenes and stretches of multiple episodes with characters baking and cleaning happily, punctuated by battles that take place either entirely offscreen or only appear for 30 seconds at a time. However, the build up to these battles paints them as though they were major conflicts that would define the series, creating disappointment when one actually gets to them and they are both short and have no lasting impact. The series drips in tragic foreshadowing and time and again it seems as if we're going to to lose one of the characters either to battle, accident, side effect of military maintenance, or degradation of the mind. Yet each time, everyone comes out fine. Not just fine, but perfectly healthy and happy. This happens repeatedly throughout the show: They'll foreshadow a loss or tragedy and constantly have the characters be completely uninhibited. After a time, all the tension loses its charm. Yet, at the same time it keeps the dread in the background so enjoying the slice of life scenes to their fullest becomes tainted.

In short, it's a show that keeps promising that if you just watch a liiiiiittle more, something big is going to happen, and then it almost never does. This is compounded by the fact that when serious situations occur, people don't treat them as they should. Willem has a complex about saving people. At the same time, another character is - without going into too many details - struck ill. There is a ticking clock counting down on the character until the illness progresses so much that the character is destroyed. There is one item that Willem thinks of that can halt this process. He figures out where it is but instead of he and the character attempting to get it as soon as possible, they encounter a roadblock...and then they all proceed to wait patiently for the roadblock to pass and have a cute Christmas celebration.

That's it.

No one attempts to think of another solution. No one really chomps at the bit. Nothing. It gives the audience a mixed message: Is this a big deal or not? It becomes hard to tell, which means it becomes hard to engage with the major events of the plot. This happens repeatedly and then compounds until, by the time episode 12 rolls around and things DO become tragic, any investment in the show has a good chance of being long since evaporated.

Finally, in terms of pacing, the entire thing feels chaotic, with cute scenes of baking, cleaning or ecchi massages coming during tense build ups to life and death situations. As I said, the effect is bizarre.


Of course, your mileage will vary.

Story gets a 3/10. The elements are THERE to make it good but they are put together so chaotically that all of the shows themes and powerful elements end up muted and confused. Sometimes even agitating.

Art gets a 7/10. It was pretty, but not in any fashion that set it apart from most modern bright shows.

Sound gets a 7/10. The music often fades into the background but can sometimes enhance a scene very well. The use of Scarborough Fair is excellent both times it is used and the OP is not my cup of tea for the most part. Oddly enough, the OP is a good summary of the show: For the most part it is this J-Poppy song but for a brief period it just ROCKS OUT which is kinda like how the show has a tiny bursts of action floating in this endless soup of other stuff.

Characters gets a 6/10. Over the course of the show I felt that they had the bones of good characters but I only felt I got to know them in the latter parts of episode 12, and by then it was far too late. I feel that if more time had been spent on diving into the characters, their pasts and their actions rather than the slice of life stuff earlier, then the characters would have been better realized. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

Enjoyment gets a 1/10. This show made me very salty (yeah, I know) and I was agitated for most of the time I watched it passed a certain point. Essentially nothing happened for the longest period of time. That was the problem. It kept hinting that something would happen, only for the story to continue plodding along with no urgency or changes.

Overall 4/10. It had good moments and good ideas, but put together in such a fashion that only served to weaken them.

And there's Shuumatsu. It had the makings of a great tragedy. It had the makings of an post-apocalyptic action fantasy. It had the makings of a sweet romance and it had the makings of a cute slice of life. However, by doing all of these elements at once and put together so chaotically? I found it weakened them all.

That being said, if you stick to it and ignore ANY expectations you have and just enjoy it by a scene by scene basis until you get to the end? You might have a good time.

I didn't, but I hope you do.

If you don't want spoilers, I would stop reading this now, as a very minor one lies in this review. However, I would argue that the spoiler helps greatly with the enjoyment you'd get out of this show.

TL;DR: If you like unintentionally funny and have a good knowledge of tropes, you can probably enjoy this a fair bit. The characters have some incredible stupidity going on, which can actually end up being charming. Eventually, it can grow on you as well. If you don't like that stuff? It won't have much to offer you.

Cerberus is not a great show, it's not even a good ... show.

It is, however, a hilarious show.

Now I'll be up front. If you're looking for a good story, with good production values, excellent characters, world building, deep meaning, and original twists then....

None of that is to be found here. (Maybe check out Re:Zero instead)

Cerberus uses a pretty much by the numbers hero's journey comboed with a revenge story, makes use of pretty stereotypical character archetypes without much thought as to development or characterization, has quite a generic fantasy world (with an odd fascination with crystals) and tropes and twists pulled right out of all kinds of other fantasy and mystical shows. It's not original, and quite frankly I can't argue with most of the reasons people give it a 3-5.

However, in exact opposite to other reviews, I think the show actually has a very weak first episode and gets better from there.

So you start off in the first episode with a generic, sneering edgy protagonist who seems like he's going to be overpowered and played up like a badass. He's got a giant sword, the camera actually focuses on his glinting sorta-jewelry and people are reluctant to pick fights with him/are intimidated by his presence. In other words, a typical power fantasy.

And oddly enough, if you like those type of power fantasy protagonists then you should stop watching Cerberus *immediately*.


By the next episode, it's revealed that the main character is actually *incredibly* incompetent. He barely can wield his sword right, he loses to slimes all the time during training and he can't keep his shit together for five minutes. Yet, beautifully, he still keeps CLAIMING to be a badass. He does this for a good portion of the series, and all the other characters recognize the immediate discrepancy between his bark and his bite.


Headed up by this clumsy asshole, the party consists of a greedy, whiny lizard dude, a sneaky titty-cat girl, a put-upon blue-haired conan (who serves as the protagonist's mentor), a straight-man boy thief, and a wandering moron with a female voice actress so bored that the character sounds like she's on tranquilizers for the whole shebang (or maybe the VA was).

These fools are the only ones that can stop The Villain(tm) and his quasi-competent raging shithead loli sidekick.

Hilarity ensues.

The show seems to waffle between taking itself seriously thus generating humour from the incompetent flailing of the protagonist as he tries to stumble his way through the (honestly not that challenging) plot, or seeming to know damn well what it is and having the other characters point out and make fun of the protagonist's nearly endless flaws. If you're ready to laugh right along with and at the show, and if you get a perverse kick out of crappy tropes, you'll like this. It's one of those so bad it's good things...for a while.

See, what the show accidentally does with all the character's incompetence is successfully make him the underdog, which makes it kinda easy to root for him. The other thing is that the characters, while generic, aren't really bad people either. As one of my friends said, that means that the protagonist might grow on you like some kinda purple haired fungus, and his companions as well.

Suddenly, you're into the story and realize you're actually engaged with Seisen Cerberus of all things.

Of course, your mileage will vary.

So:

Story gets 6/10 for being competent enough, though tropey, to hold itself together. It's servicable as a vehicle for the comedy. If you're actually looking to take it seriously, however this would be a 3/10 as there are little to no surprises here.

Art 6/10, it's serviceable with some generic designs and a weird crystal aesthetic. Nothing offensive, but nothing too pretty either.

Sound 6/10. It does its job, and the voice acting is okay for the most part although Saraato (the wandering moron)'s VA's performance is so phoned in that it comes out on the other end as hilarious and AMAZING. If you're actually taking that seriously though, a 4/10 would be more accurate.

Character 7/10. Tropes! Tropes! Tropes! However, the endearing hilarity and odd ability for them to grow on you makes this a weak 7.

Enjoyment. 9/10 I loved this. It was hilarious, and by the end I found I was satisfied with the simple story. This is my own experience, though, so I can't really speak for anyone else.

Overall 7/10. It was good due to its comedy, both intentional and unintentional.


That's Cerberus for you, barely competent enough to get by while being hilarious unintentionally, much like its characters. But, like its characters, you might find it grows on you by the end.