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*spoiler free*
I suddenly felt the need to leave my review as well as for many people this seems to be a hit or miss.

I, too, am feeling a bit confused. It seems that, what this anime wanted to do, was give us a taste of the mobile game that is to come. That being, leaving us with an open ending and quite some confusion about what happened in the last episode.

Since the start I've really loved this anime. The animation is gorgeous, and so is its soundtrack. I got quite attached to the characters, and even though the story may be a bit cliché and ... predictable at times, I don't find that to be an issue if done well. I felt like this was the case for Takt Op. Destiny, and looked forward to the new episodes every week. The journey was truly amazing in my opinion, and I would overall rate it 8/10.

However, the last episode felt quite underwhelming. A lot of build up happened that made me a little nervous for this final episode, but it wasn't as powerful as I'd hoped it to be, and I think that is why a lot of people are upset now. It's not that the ending is *bad*, in my opinion, just... the journey itself held a lot more power. Many things near the end seemed rather vague and rushed, and some things actually took rather *unexpected* turns, I guess as to say "learn more about this in our mobile game". This part I'm a little conflicted about, since I loved every minute of this show, yet the ending leaves you with a feeling of "wait... what just happened?". That's why I'm "only" rating this show 7/10 instead of 8/10.

That being said, I still think it's truly worth watching. I don't know how to explain, but it felt somewhat soothing. And who knows, maybe the mobile game will actually be fun. I don't expect a second season, but you never know - maybe they will in a few years, depending on the game and anime's success.

Hello friends! I usually don't make any MAL reviews but for my current obsession which is everything TPN, I want to make an exception. Please bear with me as I'm not used to writing these and excuse me for any grammatical or spelling errors.

This review will not contain any big spoilers, and "compare" both my anime and some of my Manga experiences up until episode 12. (TLDR at the end)

When I found this anime, it immediately peaked my interest. Note that, at that time, I hadn't touched the Manga yet. After the first episode aired, I was sold. Why? I think it was a wonderful ... pilot episode that really combined all good things: tension, suspense, incredibly eerie atmosphere, and the mesmerizing soundtrack.

Perhaps it's not exactly right to call this anime (or Manga) horror, though. Rather: psychological horror/thriller. And this is where the Manga comes in. After watching the first 3 episodes, I figured I loved this series so much, I ended up reading the Manga and woop, before I knew it, I had finished reading vol.3 and was ahead of the anime. I quickly noticed the differences between the Manga and anime, and decided to put my reading on hold to enjoy the anime first and enjoy the Manga afterwards.

Of course, the next few episodes in the middle (let's call them mid episodes) were "known content" for me. I found myself thinking these were weaker BECAUSE I knew what was going to happen. But, after giving it some thought, I'm not so sure anymore. Here's why:

While there's definitely some horror elements, (and the anime surely managed to keep me on the edge of my seat), this story actually focuses much more on strategy, the monologues, inner thoughts... Mind games. A huge part of this story you'll spend inside the minds of the kids and their enemies, trying to predict each others' moves. This was an important difference I noticed between anime and Manga, because the anime didn't adapt this so well (I believe it's really well done in the Manga, however): they decided to change these "monologues" to eerie silences (so, where the characters are supposed to be thinking, instead it's kind of up to your own interpretation). This added towards atmosphere, but took away from the depth of the characters and story (as it's a pretty huge part). Not having these monologues sometimes would give the impression that things were progressing too fast. I think the fast pacing was a consequence of leaving out these thought processes, rather than being adapted badly. In fact, I think they did a great job on the adaptation. The expressions on their faces, the soundtrack... Even the lighting on a cloudy day. All of these details made the experience so much more intense, which I enjoyed a lot.

Moving onto the last episodes, which, again became new content as I stopped reading the Manga. Things got intense again and strategy then became action. I think this is where the anime had the strongest points. Combining that atmosphere, soundtrack, and turning things into motion... The last episode truly left me speechless. It was so intense in the best possible way it almost makes up entirely for those "weaker" episodes in the middle. A nice addition: we finally actually got to see some (touching!) backstories in these last few episodes. I thought they were going to leave them out entirely, cause they seemed to do so in the beginning. I actually think that throughout the season, the anime has become better/stronger (and maximizing the use of these stronger points).

That's why I have pretty high hopes for the Season 2 that got announced. I feel like they can definitely improve their working points, as I personally felt like they already did near the end. Phew, I don't know if any of this makes sense to you all, but this is my personal experience.


-----Recap (tldr):-----

The first 3ish episodes, along with the last 3ish episodes, were the strongest and most intense. The mid episodes felt a little weaker, as they relied much more on monologue and strategy (which is present in the Manga but not as much in the anime).


--Best points of the anime:--

soundtrack, atmosphere, expressions, tension.


--Best points of the Manga:--

the depth added to the characters by letting us explore their minds, expressions, atmosphere, art, suspense.


--Working points for the anime as Manga adaptation:--

pace and characters. Adding more backstory and thought processes would be the perfect way to do this, in my opinion. (I also think they made up for that in Episode 12.)


--My final conclusion, based on my experience and feelings only:--

10/10 for the Manga and 9/10 for the anime (as there's still room for improvement ;))


Thanks for reading - I hope this review is helpful and not too chaotic. Again, this is just my own experience. I hope yours was or will be as wonderful as mine.