Waking up in a strange bedroom in a dream world, teenager Haruto Tsukishiro finds a strange app on his phone. When he activates the program, an odd woman appears and tries to drag him to her realm. Luckily, a mysterious, white-haired girl severs their connection and helps him escape, revealing that the woman is a witch; however, their conversation is cut short. As Haruto enters the realm again, he meets an anthropomorphic, talking cat named Katsumi Kanzaki. While the witch's minions pursue them, the white-haired girl opens a door for them to escape.
After their ordeal, Haruto describes their savior—which only he can see—and Katsumi, the leading authority on dream world research, realizes that she must be "Lily," a being that resurfaces repeatedly across multiple dreamscapes. Hoping to leave the dream world through a blue door, they enter the witch's realm once again. Finding themselves in peril, Lily reveals the truth to Haruto: witches suffer from "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome," a coma-like sleep state induced by torment in their real world lives. Thus, they cannot wake until they are defeated in the dream world.
After finally defeating the witch and locating the blue door, Haruto and Katsumi say their farewells, promising to meet up in the real world. However, when Haruto exits through the door, he awakens in the dream world bedroom once more. Seeking answers, Haruto and Katsumi try to uncover the mysteries of the witches, Lily, and Haruto's own inability to leave the dream world.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Neurochitin
People say 18if is like a box of chocolates: there are both good and bad parts and you won't know which one it is until you try. While I agree, I would rather compare it to an expensive box of luxury chocolates: all the flavours are exotic combinations, with ones such as broccoli-mango or truffle-chili. Initially you are turned off because you can't imagine these crazy combinations can possibly be good, but once you try some it becomes clear that they taste much better than they sound. Of course, there will always be some you dislike, but overall it's undeniable that a lot of well-placedeffort and experience has been put into them, and that they're certainly worth the expensive price. (Not that the price part applies to this anime.)
18if is a mostly episodic series, where each¹ episode is directed by a different director. The first 10 episodes are fully episodic; you can watch them in any order if you want, or skip episodes you don't like. The last three episodes consist of a short continuous arc that explains questions raised during the first 10 episodes. Note that if you skipped episodes before, you won't understand the references to these specific episodes.
The premise for the episodic episodes is as follows: In every episode there is a different witch, representing a real-world person with Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, and Haruto and Katsumi have to help the witch get back to the real world. In addition, every episode (more or less) showcases some kind of real-world issue that serves as a theme for the episode — ranging from classic themes such as the idol industry to obscure ones such as Cambodian history. I thought all of these stories were quite interesting, but given the nature of the show there will probably be ones you won't like.
Apart from the director of each episode, there is also Kouji Morimoto — known for staff roles in Majo no Takkyuubin/Kiki's Delivery Service and Akira, for example — as the co-director in every episode². This combination leads to the anime being overall very well directed, despite the fact that the episodic directors tend to be relatively obscure.
The music in the show is overall very good too; of particular note is the OP song which I would consider excellent, combined with the unique OP visuals. The ED is different each episode, with the songs being of varying quality. The ED visuals are usually just simple credit rolls with flashbacks to the episode, over varying backgrounds, but the rest of the show's visuals are engaging enough that a flashy ED animation doesn't feel necessary.
The animation quality is hit-and-miss, but it's always at least alright, with some episodes being exceptionally well animated (episode 7 comes to mind). I haven't played the source game, but the anime is strange enough that if someone told me this was adapted from a puzzle game I would just assume they're joking, so I wouldn't expect it to be a very close adaptation. If you've played the game and got a similar feel as what I'm describing, then you probably know what you're in for.
Overall it's difficult to give the show one single score because it varies so much, but I enjoyed it enough that I feel a 9 is adequate, and there are certainly some 10 elements in my opinion.
¹: Episodes 1 and 2 were directed by the same director, but otherwise this applies.
²: One episode was exclusively directed by him.
Fircoal
When I saw the first episode of 18if it felt like the show would turn out just like how I predicted when I first saw it. Terrible. But outside of that episode, there was a strong episodic story that lurked deep in it. 18if used multiple directors and it used them well. Each episode had its own style to it and its own way of expressing itself. Interesting ideas were brought out in each of these episodes and they all had a good message to say about people. At its heart, 18if is about accepting the things that happen in life and getting over thethings that bring us down. As each girl has a different affliction there is a different moral that one can learn from each character. While the morals may be obvious I think the way that 18if communicates them can be quite powerful. The show does a good job of getting me to care about what is happening to the character even if I have no reason to care about them in the long run. Some of these episodes were very impressive, the best of the lot being Episode 7. Even if you're not that big into this show just check out Episode 7, I imagine that you can watch it stand alone and it's really worth it. It's very impressive and if it was on its own I'd give it a 9/10.
The characters are pretty good for what they are. They aren't deep but that's because they're only the focus for one episode. They don't need to be deep and they each portray their message well without it being too preachy (for the most part). The art and sound are really good when in the individualistic style but the art suffers when outside of it. Still, it always feels and sounds distinct and I think that is a plus.
In fact, that is something I could say about 18if as a whole. While it doesn't always stick its landing, it's at least always reaching out for something to grasp. And personally, I enjoy it when shows try to do creative and interesting things even if they don't succeed. And 18if certainly does try. And sometimes it succeeds. Other times it falls on its face, but more often it leaves something that is enjoyable and unique although not spectacular.
And that's good enough for me. The big hits balance out the flops and overall it's something that I enjoy and can appricate but far from the deep meaningful work it could have been. Overall I think it's worth it for those better episodes and the unique things it does. There really isn't anything like it.
RebelPanda
5/10 Growing up is never easy, we all have our struggles along the way. Knowing that it will all be worth it eventually is what gives us the courage to persevere to adulthood. 18if tells the stories of multiple teenagers struggling with real-world problems in a very abstract fashion. Emotional turmoil is depicted through young women struggling to find happiness in the life they've been given; whether it be bullying, the weight of parental expectations, ostracizing, etcetera. These stories are played to resonate with the audience across 13 episodes, with varying degrees of success. The times it succeeds are rare but worthwhile indeed; even if as afull package it does not come together into a cohesive whole. Each episode of 18if has a different director and focuses on different themes; some of them are better than others but overall the show is superb at nothing and is frequently mediocre. Occasionally the art style might change from episode to episode, but it never reaches a good level of quality that could be compared to other episodic shows. If I had to label it with a genre I'd say it's a Drama, Horror, and Psychological; from time to time 18if dabbles in Romance, which felt uncomfortable to watch because each episode the protagonist tries to woo the new lady introduced. I understand that 18if is a multimedia project, but I'm writing my review solely based on the content of the 13-episode animated series. The content that fills those episodes is quite lacking so I can imagine the additional content expands the universe and further develops its characters.
The plot revolves around Haruto, a mysterious young man, and his struggle to save young women afflicted by "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome". The disease is brought on by severe emotional stress and it makes the afflicted person falls into a coma; once in the coma, the person can create an idyllic dream world as a method of escape from the harshness of reality. The concept is an interesting one indeed, the dream worlds sometimes were impressive in how they were able to describe what the afflicted character desired from life but didn't have in the real world. Only about half of the episodes develop the characters through the worlds they create, the other half just tries to weird you out as much as possible with little to no development on the characters. It felt like most of the directors didn't work together to write 18if's story cohesively, but instead, they vied to make the most memorable episode. For example; one of the better episodes takes inspiration from the genre classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street", Haruto delves into the subconscious of a girl who was mentally scarred by a horrific crime committed against her and she now kills criminals out of anger by invading their dreams. They may not have explained why she was able to kill people through her dreams, but that didn't bother me because the episode achieved its goal at deconstructing a character in an unusual way. On the flip side, there was a stink bomb of an episode where Haruto awakens in a world that resembles a children's storybook, visually and narratively, the episode has almost no relation to the main show other than the main character's name was still Haruto. There were a few episodes like this that felt like a viscous self-indulgence of a single director who appeared to have little interest in the show's narrative, which is sad considering some of the other directors put a lot of work into making episodes that contribute to the story.
The source of 18if's most perceivable issues is the fact that there is little connecting each episode until the finale. The first eleven episodes seem to be written individually from one another, so don't expect to feel much plot or character progression until the last two episodes. When the ending comes it revisits the major characters and recaps narrative highpoints in a way that I believe was meant to be satisfying… but it honestly just highlighted how messy and disjointed the story, tone, and characters are. The R+ rating comes from the conflict with the dreamers, the violence was sometimes gory; as a side note, there is a bit of profanity in episode 9 that is meant to be comedic but comes off as repulsive, thankfully it only happens just the one time. The script is usually passable, but occasionally it is so bad that it conveys a totally misguided message to the viewer. An example of this issue is in one of the more standard episodes that follow an ice skater who is pressured by her parents to succeed as a performer. The pressure she is faced with causes her to become afflicted by Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, once in a coma she creates a world where she can be a normal girl and live life without her harsh parents, which feels like an interesting and relatable escape for a suffering person. The episode is solid up until the end when Haruto arrives and tells her to go back to being an ice skater because it is her "destiny", which was appalling considering this concept betrayed the entire message of the episode and it went against her wishes. Most episodes weren't ruined by confusing writing like that one was, but the few that were misguided definitely stand out as an example of how to ruin a good short story. Many of the segments were tropey, with predictable scenarios and archetypical characters, but I was able to forgive this aspect easily because each episode brought a new theme to the table.
Even though the story is episodic there are three consistently present characters; they are Haruto, Haruto's guide/mentor a scientist who appears as a cat dressed as a detective in the dream world, and Lily, a girl who's only part of the story is to be a deus ex machina in the dream world. Sadly, the three leads rarely got development. The most interesting character of the three was the scientist who searches for a cure to the "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" for his afflicted sister. I rooted for the scientist more than the protagonist because he had actually had a motivation to be a part of the conflict; whereas Haruto was impossible to identify with, becoming a completely blank slate at the start of each episode. As I said before, the visuals vary from episode to episode but they never are at the point which I would call above average. The music is for the most part standard. A bewildering opening starts off every episode and it does a good job at preparing you for the demented scenarios that will inevitably ensue. It has a really unusual EDM style song that I liked quite a bit but I can understand if someone wouldn't appreciate its funky style. Each episode has different outro credits and none of them are outstanding.
When I reflect on the time I spent watching 18if I remember the good moments more than the bad ones. While it's a mixed experience for sure, I definitely think the turnout leans slightly more to the positive side. Taken in bite-sized chunks I could imagine someone finding a great deal of enjoyment in this series. However, I’m reviewing it as a whole completed product and it, for the most part, failed to engage me.
NylonNeko
[*Contains little to no spoilers*] I don't usually write reviews, but this time I kinda ended up having commentaries for every episode, so I thought might as well post them here. First off, the opening and the always-different endings were really fitting and good. I'm not usually a person that gives bonus points for a good soundtrack, but this time the soundtrack was either so good, or the rest was so bad that I think the OST is the best part about the whole anime. Heck, I discovered this anime from listening (and loving) to the ending of the seventh episode called "Too late" by Nene, InoriMinase.
Rating this was a pain, since there were different directors and this anime was really "artsy" to me. So my rating is going to be the average of all my ratings for each eipsode combined:
1st ep: 5/10. It's the intro right?
2nd ep: 6.5/10 Damn, nasty follow up. I usually hate splatter but this time it's necessary for the build up. MC seems to get influenced by the girls dreams "vibes". (Or maybe the directors give a shit about some consistency in his "personality"? I don't know.)
3rd ep: 6/10 Decent at least, but at least a complete opposite of the 2nd episode. Maybe it was good, but a bit too clichéd overall.
4th ep: 3/10 What seemed so promising at first ended as absolute garbage. What a shame. It's still a big problem in our society, so they had a solid base to build on. But all that build up so that MC can say 2 sentences and it's all over. I don't expect smart dialogues like Bakemonogatari or something, but please, "Ganbaru-zou" a bit more, will you? Jeez.
5th ep: 7.5/10 That one was good! I mean, everything was pretty OKish, I wish they didn't give part of the end so early in the middle away. Loved the end. Good shock.
6th ep: 2.5/10 Again, even worse than episode 3, they have that (clichéd) but real base theme and do this really cool semi-climax (in the bathroom, that scene, I don't want to spoil, don't even know someone would read this garbage I'm writing here, jeez that's a big ass sentence to fit in parentheses) but they totally ruin the whole thing midway. As if they switched the director to his 7 y.o. son. F.
7th ep: 8/10 Beautiful. Super cool animation. Nice story. Beautiful sleeping beauty. Emotional and truly a fitting "dream". Such a cool end, revealing the stuff and atmosphere in the hospital. THAT ENDING. I LOVE.
8th ep: 7/10 Pretty good. Felt somewhat realistic. We finally get to know about the MC. About time.
9th ep: 3.5/10 OKish base theme, but execution was utter trash.
10th ep: 5/10 They really ran out of money that episode. Jeez, that animation was pretty much at most 3 different pictures a second. Also I don't know if that episode was a bit too smart or a bit too stupid for me.
11th ep: 4.5/10 And I even counted in the bonus points for this weird, cool ending song.
12th ep: 4.5/10 To be honest, I didn't think 18if would give a proper connection to everything that happened. I wanted to know what's the thing about the MC. I don't know how I feel about that "dream in a dream" thing though. Somemight call it creative.
13th ep: 5/10 But the point I want to get to is, I don't know but in the end it really feels like those anime that show that Japan love Christianty (or at least parts of the bible), so much that they need to always rip some loose pieces out of these stories and fuse them into their own. It could end well, but this time I didn't in my opinion. I consider the whole story to be mediocre to even bad.
I would recommend this to someone who cares about a fitting soundtrack and is used to watch weird stuff. If I would have to describe 18if in one sentence, though:
a.k.a. TL;DR:
"All the budget went into lavish 3D affects and good music."
Overall (average rating of all the single episode ratings): 5/10 (Wow, who'd've guessed)
I apologize for this crappy "review". It isn't really a proper one.
InfinityKiyen
+The stories is quite interesting but I will say it just a 8/10 cause some part drag it down +The art style really fittable to plot and the very main stories of this anime so call "Dream" cause everyone see things differently so the art shouldn't be the same thing cause it won't be call "dream" more like "What the creator think of the dream" so 10/10 for sure! +The sound, music and voice are surely a 10/10. I listen to the lycans every time and it never gets old because the lycan are so good! The voice really fit the characters too! So 10/10 for thatfor sure!
+It seem this show didn't have much time to show us about the characters. They seem to only just have one episode to show all that but they did manage to do that but I do think they need to do it more slowly like 2 episode to introduce one characters cause it seem one characters is like a big act of the anime. So I will gave it just 8/10
+I really enjoy in every ways. If you a kind of person who love every single anime tags then its a full recommendation to you all! So 10/10 cause I really enjoy it!
+Even though I said it like I really enjoy it but due to the lack of a little bit of stories and lack of a little bit of care for the characters so I will gave it a 9/10
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Notice I write a review after I watch the anime so due to the change of the plot so I will also do a review about every episodes! (Spoilers!)
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[spoiler="Episode1"]Episode 1: It seem they try to show us about the dream of the lonely person. I will say its a nice way to put in and if you get a reference like "Alice in the Wonderland" kinda reference. It will also made you think that this person might also be a fans of that too. Cause reminder this is "Dream" so what they dream will be related to what they wanted and what they like. It tell us that that person love dolls and wanted to make friends but then Haruto the MC came by and became her friend. So she got out from her dream cause what she wanted in her dream and put her in the coma was granted.[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode2"]Episode 2: Last time it was a witch who need a friend to play with her. Now? Its a dream about the reaper due to her emotion. She want to seek revenge and then she manage to do it within her dream witb a very dark animation for this one episode. You might think "Is this even real?" I will say you won't say any word after watch episode 13 and Haruto save her like the last one.[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode4"]Episode 3: This time they change it to the love love kinda anime. Due to this time its about the dream of their love ones but this time Haruto can't save her then she die.[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode4"]Episode 4: Its a food chibi anime now. This time is about the girl who got dumped for didn't gain weight. So she then have a dream about eating but this time she wasn't in a coma but she's sleep walking. Then Haruto save her by telling her that she doesn't have to eat anything she doesn't wanted too.[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode5"]Episode 5: This time is a dream about the girl who abandoned her reality and wish she could have another life she wanted. Haruto then wake her up by telling her face the reality.[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode6"]Episode 6: This time is a dream of the otaku. She got trapped in her dream but she think that she got reborn in the another world after she die so she then curse her friend that she though they forced her to committed a suicide. Haruto then telling her that this is all just a dream then try to wake her up.[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode7"]Episode 7: A story create within a dream then feel those story like it was real by putting you as one of the MC of that story.... The story seam to be like a realistic story of a young prince who will became a king soon after. Which that story is also within a story of that king had searching for Nene by searching her within his past. Which this is also a dream within that girls head. Now I get it why there's always the annoying "EXTRA! EXTRA!" Its that kid who have been doing that for like entirely time. Those animation may not look good but the story is really a well made which is so fit with this animation. She then woke up.
It seem this episode is about "Pol Pot" and he was General Secretary of the Communist Party of Cambogia[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode8"]Episode 8: Its a dream about a singer who can't hear anything. So she then dream about the way to talk to people like "If subs was visible." So after she finally get to talk to someone and that's Haruto she then got out from her dream.[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode9"]Episode 9: This time is a dream about an Idol but this time is also unlike any other cause she got into a coma cuse someone done something to her. She then dream about her being the hardcore idol teacher. But Haruto got there in a form of a girl. When he got found out he then got caught. The people in her dream then tell her to punish that man but because he said that he's her No.1 fans. She got solf. Then Haruto use his D power to get out of that place and tell her how like "Its a dream right?" After Haruto then help her return to reality.[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode10"]Episode 10: This time she got into a coma on her free will so she could dream and create more lycans. Then this time the cat person then talk to her as a fan of her that he will be her friend. Then like every other episode she return to reality.[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode11"]Episode 11: This time is like an explanation about the "Eve" in this anime and a little bit of Haruto but they never told us who's that red haired man that told the cat dude like "Don't believe them,"[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode12"]Episode 12: I will say its a very epic action episode. Also its a very logical action to kiss them or do other staff to that witch cause fighting her the witch with tons of military weapon is out of question cause Haruto don't have that mush of imagination of course. Since they said "Eve" need that witch be pure for her so impure her will likely end that fight.[/spoiler]
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[spoiler="Episode13"]Episode 13: It seem its like a talking episode but its still not just talk and abandoned their characters or plot but it still didn't tell us "Who's Haruto?" they just cut that out.[/spoiler]
That's why I said they need more time for the characters.
scrybaby
Though I found 18if entertaining enough to finish in entirety, I probably wouldn't recommend it to a friend. The art is the most memorable feature, with episode ten being my personal favorite. Each episode varies in style, something that I genuinely and thoroughly enjoyed. In terms of characters, I felt there was a lack of depth - even to our main, Haruto, in spite of having had plenty of time to flesh him out for the viewers. In fact, there were some major inconsistencies to his personality. Each of the witches' seemed to develop a near blind infatuation for him which, as a woman, I found particularlyannoying.
The story itself was rather anticlimactic. Understanding though I am of the world having been dreamt up (anything can happen in a dream, right?), I still felt that some of the occurrences were a bit of stretch - like the writers were grasping for a way to wrap it all up.
Ultimately, it was just okay. The idea is good, in theory, but art alone isn't enough to make a show satisfying.
OtakuJKP
Anything can happen. It's a dream. One minute you're on a date, the next you're in some type of fairy tale world. The concept of 18if is interesting. People are stuck in their dreams and the main character, Haruto Tsukishiro, has to find a way to help them. In a way, the dreams are sort of like delusions. The "witches" - who are the people stuck in those dreams - only want to see what they want to see and it prevents them from seeing the way things are. (Up until the main character shows up anyway) But the show also makes you wonder, "What's thedifference between right and wrong? Who decides what choice you make is the right one?" It's hard to say how often this happens in the show but it's a bit self-aware. The way each episode comes to a conclusion feels weird at times. Some where you'd expect a bit more defiance instead of acceptance and others are just regular responses. I'd also like to point out that it goes by the villain of the week format which, personally, feels mundane.
At times, the story doesn't feel concise making you wonder if the story made any progress or if it was some dream that didn't have an effect on the overall story because it's a dream - anything could've happened and dreams aren't supposed to make sense sometimes right?
Furthermore, the show has presentation issues. As I said before, it's hard to tell what matters and what doesn't. It has some type of conceptual, philosophical idealism, and social commentary included with this which is awesome but it's hard to resonate when it tries to include so much topics that the show loses a sense of direction throwing you off course on what the hell you're watching. Point is, it tries to be everything. Not that it's a bad thing but it's hard to tell on how I should feel about an anime when there's already enough going on.
With a show like this, it's hard not to talk about the way it looks. Take it in a positive or negative way, but almost every episode looks different. It turned weird, it turned funky, it turned ugly, and it became gory at times. Personally, it became a bit of a turn off but you can't judge a book by its cover all the time.
Overall, to reiterate what I said, the show's concept was interesting but there was something about it that was not drawing me in. That being the one dimensional way of storyline and characters - how things were written off - and a lack of emotional investment. If I can't tell how I should feel, I wouldn't say the show did a good job in making me feel invested due to too much happening and not being concise enough. It's a very unconventional anime and an okay story. I enjoyed the show for what it is.
RaiseYourChicken
There's 3 things this anime has: -different art style ( didn't dislike it or love it) -good sound -The capacity to make you want to kill yourself trying to understand why you're still watching it Just, don't watch it, for your own sake, it's one of the worse 24 minutes per ep anime I ever saw, I watched it cause I was bored and ended up even more bored so had to write this to feel a little more alive You are left in the dark to what are all those different stories till the end, maybe I wanted to know what was going on, but the finale is justbad and the true reason behind it all is horrible
adeeda
So I started watching 18if because I heard it was artsy and had a different director for each episode. And while there are 11 episode directors for this 13-episode show—and there are even some episodes that could be considered . . . good?—this show is ultimately very, very bad. Note: review contains very minor spoilers. TL;DR: Anime sourced from sh*tty mobile game is also sh*tty, but episodes 3, 7, and 10 are worth watching alone if the show’s premise tickles your fancy. 18if could have been good. There’s some real heart tucked deep down inside, and it tries to address big, relatable issues that real people face: bullying,disability, death, eating disorders—you get the idea. The problems with 18if arise when you consider how poor quality much of it is. It feels like every aspect of the show suffers in some respect, so much so that it’s irredeemably bad in my eyes.
The most obvious place to start is the animation. It starts out passable, with some interesting perspective shots and camera movements in episode 1. Some episodes are fine; I didn’t have much to complain about through episode 3, for example. At that point, it would be a solid 6 out of 10, maybe higher (episode 3 is pretty good-looking). On the other hand, many later episodes reuse things often and have very little animation overall. Off-model characters and weird movements are common in the latter half of the show. The long and short of it is there are simply no real outstanding pieces of animation to be found.
Art goes hand-in-hand with animation, and similarly, the art style suffers in many episodes of 18if. 10 of 13 episodes look pretty similar to each other, with some differing color palettes thrown in here and there. It doesn’t look awful, but it’s simple and bland. It gets the job done. I was probably just expecting more. However, episodes 3, 7, and 10 provide different experiences that contrast the comparatively boring rest of the show. 3 just looks good: it provides a more traditionally good-looking, modern anime style, and it does it well. 7 is probably the wackiest for anime: the main cast are in entirely different bodies, and it sort of looks like 3D crayon models, but it's good and colorful and bright. 10 is more dreamlike in style, and is in fact the most dreamlike episode by far, which is good for a show purporting to be about dreams. It has some interesting animation going on, and is easily my favorite episode. So overall, 3 episodes of 18if make the other 10 look pretty bad.
Now seems as good a place as any to start talking about the plot. In short, it’s bollocks. It doesn’t make sense; it’s contrived. Episodes 1 through 10 are episodic stories focusing on a different girl’s dream world she’s stuck in, and how our main character Haruto gets them out. Each girl has a problem in the real world, and that manifests somehow in the dream, and Haruto helps them get over it. If that were all, that’d be fine and dandy; you could leave the nitty-gritty details to your imagination, it’d be a weird dream anime, I would rate it a 5 or 6, and I wouldn’t be here writing this review. That’s not all, though. 18if also tries to tie all of these stories together and put together its world with rules that support it. The problem is that it’s shoddily done. Details about Haruto’s power to enter dreams are forgotten about; some girls manifest different unexplained powers that affect the real world; the dream professor can do a lot of unexplained things because he’s “been researching the dream world;” an evil antagonist group is introduced but then doesn’t do anything; a ghost shows up in real life and is ultimately unexplained; and there’s a giant world-ending plot twist that is solved by friendship. I could go into more detail, but MAL technically doesn’t want spoilers in reviews and this is probably too long already. From what I can tell, the overarching plot was made up on the spot to try to fit everything together and force a conclusion in the final 3 episodes. To play devil’s advocate is to justify these issues with something akin to dream logic, and I guess I can’t argue with that, except to say that “dream logic” is the laziest excuse I can think of to explain away your entire show.
What I imagine people enjoyed the most about 18if are its episodic themes/morals, like the episode on “doing what you’re good at,” or the episode about revenge, or the two episodes about bullying. I’m here to say that while the subject matter is serious and does affect real-life people in real ways, the way each episode covers each subject is rather simple and straightforward, with no room for nuance. It doesn’t help that Haruto usually has some hand in solving the problem, as if it can’t be solved alone. I just can’t help but feel like the creators wanted some mature issues in their narrative, so they just added each issue and resolved it in one episode no matter what. Examples of note include bulimia, trauma, disability, two instances of bullying, and three instances of self-harm. To me, it cheapens these issues somewhat, especially because they are solved in the dream world, not in reality.
Looking at the characters, nobody really stands out above the rest. Lily is secretive, the professor is more annoying than he is funny, and each girl has her simple motivation(s) and issue(s). I can easily point out which two are below par, however. First, the antagonists are stupidly simple and poorly written, with almost no motivation. This is the group I mentioned earlier, who are introduced in episode 11 and end up being completely irrelevant. Second, our main boy Haruto is simply inconsistent. Often, in order to help the girl of the episode, he is altruistic; he’ll hang out with her, try to work out her problems, and generally be friendly. Other times, he’s apathetic and is just there because he has to be. The most jarring example for me was between episodes 2 and 3, when Haruto goes from assisting one girl with a violent crime to sitting on a bench nervously with another girl. Additionally, it feels like most of the girls have some level of attraction to him, and in at least 2 cases there are romantic undertones between them. He just doesn’t feel like his own character, but instead like a stand-in for the character traits required for each episode.
The sound design in 18if is passable most of the time. I’m not a huge fan of the OP (I expected more music after the drop, but nope, turns out that was just the end of the song), but each of the 13 EDs is fine. All the voice acting is acceptable, I’m not going to be picky about sound effects in dreams, and any incidental music went unnoticed. That is, until episode 12, when there’s supposed to be a prominent vocal track from one of the characters which is drowned out by gunfire, other characters, AND the instrumental part of the song. Also her lips didn’t sync properly. Aside from that, sound was pretty average overall.
I think everything else I want to say doesn’t really fit together, so here’s some miscellaneous topics I still wanted to cover. I somehow got through all of that review without mentioning the clusterf*ck that is episode 9, so I guess I’ll just say that episode 9 is comically bad, and might be worth a watch because of that? I also tracked down and played the mobile game that this show is based on, and let me tell you, it is the most garbage Puzzles and Dragons (PAD) clone I’ve ever played. Not only does it not innovate much beyond the basics of PAD, it also has poor translations, is buggy, gives very little free stuff to the player, and doesn’t even have any cool looking units (in my opinion, I guess).
To sum up: 18if is, for the most part, poorly made. I would call it Very Bad, so according to MAL adjectives, that means 3/10. However, if you’re intrigued by the show’s potential, I highly recommend watching episodes 3, 7, and 10 as stand-alone stories. They are pretty and interesting by themselves, and would easily score between 6 and 8 individually. Just don’t think episode 9 is the same beast. Because it isn’t. It has the dick-genie.
Tyrannicswine117
Warning possible Spoilers From time to time, I do like a good mystery anime ranging from Death Note, Another, Death Parade, When They Cry or even Hyouka. However 18if is one of those mystery anime's that looks like it has no idea what it wants to be. Story (4/10) The story concentrates on Haruto Tsukishiro, who wakes up in a mysterious room and encounters a witch, defeating the witch he realises he is in the dreamworld and must save other people, who have become witches in this weird reality. The gist of the story for the most part, is Haruto trying to save different female characters who have becomewitches, with a bit of help from other characters in the real world. I will admit, it was interesting to see how each witch was saved from the dreamworld, however getting to the end of each episode was just a brain messing fu*kfest because I had no idea what was going on most of the time, from what I could gather each of the witches had a sort of problem that they had in the real world, so they went into a process known as sleeping beauty syndrome, which took them into the dreamworld, until Haruto came along to help them out.
Other than that I didn't have a clue what the end goal was meant to be, which is something a story needs to have and this didn't have that, the final episodes concentrated on defeating the final witch.
Yet somehow the final episode became incredibly lackluster, mainly because all the female characters had one big discussion about how good life is and then Haruto who out of everyone there that wanted to get out of the dreamworld, ends up dying in real life, this astounded the hell out of me because it basically meant that the whole show was practically pointless, although I will give it credit for ending the show in a way I wasn't expecting.
Characters (5/10)
The characters could've definitely been improved, because every character except one, bored the hell out of me.......well mostly.
Haruto is probably the blandest, yet most random character of the whole show, mainly because I couldn't tell what his prime personality feature was, sure he wanted to help the witches, but there were points that made me question "Why would he do this", for example why did he help one of the witches kill people from the real world or why did he end up in arguments with Katsumi that didn't seem necessary, Haruto's character was definitely an odd one and didn't seem like he was planned out too well.
Katsumi Kanazaki is a scientist from the real world, who helps Haruto in his quest to escape from it, Katsumi is definitely the best character of the show, his serious yet joyful and playful nature make him a very likeable character and a good source of comedic entertainment, although I would've liked a bit more concentration on his character instead of just being a helper to Haruto.
Lily is the main female character......well in some way, because Lily doesn't actually do all that much as a character until the end and even then it's still not much, she tends to pop up from time to time to help out Haruto, but she tends to be more of a nuisance than actual help.
The other characters, which consist of the witches that Haruto saves, are a mixed bunch really, some I liked because their situation in the real world seemed very relatable, however most of them I didn't really care about.
Art (8/10)
The most surprising and best part of 18if was the artstyle, I loved how each episode was different, some were really colourful to screw with you're mind, but were also very pretty to look at, while others had a different style altogether, for example episode 7 looked like it was from a child's story book or something and definitely stood out compared to other episodes, but episodes 3 and 10 had something too, episode 3 may have looked normal, but it didn't have any colours which indicated the feelings the witch was having, while episode 10 looked like it better drawn compared to other episodes, so 18if gets very good marks from me for trying to look different.
Sound (5/10)
I didn't really like the op, it just couldn't make me like it for some reason, however the ed is a different story, because they actually tried to make the music for the ed's fit the way the episode went, so I have to give some points there.
Extras:
The mystery element is the only part worth mentioning here and it doesn't do very well for the most part, it did well with making me think how these girls lives are affecting them, but the mystery of the whole show just didn't make any sense and I couldn't wrap my head around this, hell even right now I don't have a clue with what happened, honestly I have no idea what this show was building up to and the outcome we got could've been much better.
Enjoyment (5/10)
Overall (5/10)
Overall this was a mixed show for me, great artstyle and some of the characters were actually likeable, but the majority of the characters, the soundtrack and op, along with the whole story itself just wasn't that good, so take it from me and find other mystery anime's because there are a bunch that are more interesting and well thought out than this.
Akumo-sama
ENG-The story is good and bad at the same time. The main idea, the subject of this story is good, however, there are too many inconsistencies in the scenario. These inconsistencies unbalance the story. On the artistic side, it's not bad, it's just passable. The animation sometimes has problems, although even so, some episodes are really beautiful visually. Episode 7 was really fantastic from an artistic point of view. In my opinion, the sound effects and voices were good. The opening is pretty basic, neither very bad nor very good, just like the ending. The characters are bad. I mean, they are interesting, but lack development. It's alittle frustrating.
If I personally liked this anime, it is thanks to the story that is different from those of the more "classic" anime.
FR-L'histoire est bonne et mauvaise à la fois. L'idée principale, le sujet de cette histoire est bon, cependant, il y a trop d'incohérences dans le scénario. Ces incohérences déséquilibre l'histoire.
Sur le plan artistique, ce n'est pas mauvais, c'est juste passable. L'animation a de temps en temps des problèmes, même si malgré ça, certains épisodes sont vraiment magnifiques visuellement. L'épisode 7 était vraiment fantastique d'un point de vu artistique.
Selon moi, les effets sonores et les voix étaient bonnes. L'opening est assez basique, ni très mauvaise, ni très bonne, tout comme l'ending.
Les personnages sont mauvais. Je veux dire, ils sont intéressants, mais manquent de développement. Cela frustre un peu.
Si j'ai personnellement aimé cet animé, c'est grâce à l'histoire qui se différencie de celles des animés plus "classiques".
Suissuia
I've found this anime pretty boring, and I didn't like it at all. The first episode seemed pretty good, and I really hoped for an interesting story. They showed a lot of things that seemed like an interesting story-line. And then, in the next chapters, the story was completely left behind to focus just in showing different characters, which I couldn't relate to because they just appeared for one episode.The drawing style changed tremendously from episode to episode, just like the protagonist's personality. Each episode seemed like from a completely different anime. Lily, one character that seemed really important in the first chapters, doesn't even appearin most of them.
All the plot is developed in the last four episodes, when they suddenly remembered that an anime episode's are supposed to be correlated. The plot comes from nowhere, is rushed and lefts a lot of questions unanswered. New characters and a whole organization are introduced, but the reason why they are there in the first place is never explained.
Finally, the anime ends with an open ending in which absolutely nothing is explained, and it only leaves more questions.
SuckataGinVodka
Not shitty, but not the best either I can tell from the earlier episodes, this anime was made by acid trip. The episode explains the trip they're having. Art is excellent. Color play, LSD trips i've never done before (i'm not on any when finishing this) Impressed. MC is kinda interesting. A special-condition everyman. You don't find it too often. But he's too complacent, too laidback, it kills the interest. The others were too aloof, too scripted. The MC wins at the end of the day so they're following the text all too well. Story, cliche. Good guy wins. Theme is interesting but when you know the ending there'snot enough thrill to watch. Like others have phrased it, boring.
Music is different tho. Different ED each episodes. And the music is great too! Kudos for the score director. Lovin' it. OP and fx is not killin the vibe either.
For me, this anime had bigger potential than Kana Hanazawa debuting JAV, but its dead due to lack of quality in, most of all, stories depth.
Afterall, for an anime talking about dreams orchestrated on Acid feeling with good music is a fucking epic combo.
Budget well spent.
LegendAqua
18if is an anime adaptation based on those Candy Crush match three mobile puzzle games but that little tidbit isn't much to talk about as 18if has the unique trait of being those animes where a new director helms nearly every episode, akin to Mayoi Neko Overrun but in a fantasy setting instead of a romantic comedy. 18if has Haruto Tsukishiro voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki who wakes up in a dream world and is stuck in this plain of existence and each episode he helps a witches wake up from "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" . Plain and simple. Each episode focuses on the witch in question and asto how they got into the situation they got themselves in, mainly through bullying, personal trauma or a traumatic incident that lead them down becoming witches, now each witch and therefore each episode has their own "genre" as it were from moe, romance, drama, idol and freakin' psychological horror and gore. 18if's main strengths comes into the witches and their plight and though 18if mainly focuses an episodic format, looking into each of the witches and their own isolated backstories were some fo the highlights of the anime overall. Specifically Nene voiced by Inori Minase was great both in the art style used as well as the metaphorical story it was telling, Kayo Sugisaki voiced by Nao Tamura just with her personality, backstory and her episode in general. Mana Hayashida voiced by Yuu Shimamura probably has the most mood whiplashing episode in the anime quite blatantly because of it being psychological horror without the censors while Hanako Sumitomo voiced by Shiho Nanba was probably the most confusing episode out there especially with how her episode ended. However this is the "sum of it's parts" LA was talking about...how about the "whole" or the major plot set within the rather episodic format.
Well to say the major plot doesn't show itself not until the last 2 episodes, resolving Katsumi Kanzaki voiced by Takehito Koyasu (wait he wa- IT WAS DIO!!!!) trying to find his little sister who also succumbed to the Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, who this "Eve" is and how she links with the mysterious girl Lily voiced by Kaori Nazuka who tags along in Haruto and Katsumi's adventures into witches dreams and the matter of our main protagonist Haruto himself. The entire ordeal with Katsumi and him finding his sister is resolved quite nicely and all and though the final episode tackling Eve and Lily was handled..."ok"...the biggest and most troubling problem comes in with haruto himself, due to 18if covering soo much and developing the witches themselves which the anime did a VERY good job in doing, that counterbalances Haruto giving us little to work with once his major plotline comes into play as we have little to relate to him besides him being friendly with the witches and that he's a bit of loner..that's it really and adaptation-wise it's quite obvious he's the player character thus he won't have a personality outside his preset but translating that into anime...is what you get quite honestly and the finale DOES NOT HELP at all where pretty much the "sums of it's parts" aka. the witches deals with the greater major plotline of Eve for Haruto.
In terms of animation done by Gonzo, well due the constant shifting of directors for each episode we get a wide range of animation and style. LA might as well get the most interesting points starting with Episode 7 that LA aforementioned where it has a 3DCGI look to it making it almost look like a kids show BUT it was probably the most impressive episode along with Episode 3 with it's atmosphere alone and finally Episode 2 being the most bloody. Gonzo delivered what the directors gave and boy it's a buffet of differing animation styles which was also a high point of the anime.
Voice casting wise, LA enjoyed most of the main cast performances, from Nao Touyama, Ai Kakuma, Aya Endou, Misato Fukuen, Kaori Nazuka and Azumi Asakura but LA will honestly HAVE to give the MVP to Nao Tamura as Kayo just her episode alone and how Nao performed was heartbreaking and executed great. Some playing against the type or voice actors LA didn't expect in their roles such as again Dio as Katsumi but Emi Nitta as Misaki. 18if for LA felt like there were some meta-joking casting at play what with Emi Nitta and Nao Touyama voicing idols again, Inori Minase known for her moe vocals twisted in her role and Misato Fukuen playing an extremely shy girl...just LA?
18if is one of those animes where the individual episode you like in question has more merit towards it than the greater whole. LA thinks of it as trying to hold a sack but as episode goes on you take one randomly shaped block...soon enough the sack will be too heavy to carry and your BOUND to drop a few and that's kinda how LA feels like the experience to 18if, it's NOT helped by our main protagonist who doesn't develop much and when he does get his time to shine, the BLOCKS are more interesting than he is. But seriously LA really liked how each episode did take a different spin on things looking at each new witch and looking into their backstory etc. but looking at 18if as a whole, it was ambitious yes from it's animation changes every episode and each episode having their own little story to tell but it's downplayed but the greater scope of the anime which comes out as a second thought and those little stories desperately trying to link the greater scope and half-hardheartedly doing so and finally giving us a main protagonist which we cannot relate to as he is underdeveloped and unrelatable in comparison to the witches.
18if is one of those rare cases of where the sums of it's parts weighs more than it's whole....is that bad?..of course not but 18if was ambitious if anything...
angelsreview
There are a lot of different anime out there; most of them coming out now are generic slice of life anime. But every once in a while, we get an anime that fascinates me, makes me think, and has some rather interesting art styles to accompany it. Today, that anime is 18if. Now, I don’t know much about this anime’s origin. In the credits at the very beginning, it talks about a game that I never played let alone heard of but the wiki called it ’18: Kimi to Tsunagaru Puzzle’. Now since I never knew the game, nor seen it, I cannot say thisshow is strongly or loosely based on that game. For those who played it, you will have to just see if it’s close.
The story follows Haruto Tsukishiro, a young boy trapped within the world of dreams and the scientist who meets him there, Katsumi Kanzaki. Throughout the show, Haruto meets with many different people known as witches within their own little dream worlds. Most of the time he seems to just stumble on them or are lead there by a girl he can only see named Lily. For the most part, the stories seem as though they are episodic in nature, with him traveling from one to the next without a connection but I do sugjest you watch them all the way through in order as there is a underlining story. That’s all I can say on the matter without getting too much into spoilers.
Sadly, because I am trying to stay out of spoilers, this also means that my breakdown on the characters personalities and such can’t be done. The characters feel like they have no personality until we find out these spoilers so trust me when I say that you should still try to watch this all the way through even if the first few episodes are not to your liking. This was the same problem I had where I watched about 3 episodes and didn’t really want to pick up the show again as it felt like I was getting a headache trying to understand it. But I did finish it and I do not fully regret that desission.
The animation is stunning, and yet also confusing. As per a dreamworld, we have many strange surreal backgrounds and odd concepts to pull apart within each dream. Some things you could miss with a blink of an eye and have to watch the show again just to pick it apart. I have my theories but most of those could end up as spoilers for the witches so I would rather not go into them at this moment. One of the biggest concepts though is this strange feeling of time, as seen in almost every episode by the clockwork world outside Haruto’s ‘prison’. I also give props to the designers for adding in a matrix reference using the red and blue doors as a way of entering and exiting the dream worlds. Sadly, there are times were Gonzo has its normal animation derps, one happens through the whole episode in fact but I have a feeling it works within the dreamworld… the problem is when it flows into the real world that I sort of cringed at.
The music is actually rather catchy, and the title song is one I have to look for at some point being one of my favorites called ‘Red Doors’. Its not like you would be able to pick some of the background songs out, but both the opening and closing songs are rather interesting and fun. The English voice actors did a pretty nice job matching the personalities of the characters, but sadly Haruto felt slightly bland. I don’t think that was the voice actor’s fault, I think it was just how the character was supposed to be. I have to say my favorite was J. Michael Tatum as the scientist whose avatar looks like the Baron from ‘The Cat Returns’. Cat with a top hat and one of my favorite voice actors, big win for me.
To give my final thoughts, it’s kind of hard to do that. I do like the show, but it is rather hard to get into at first. It has some very dark stuff that can become heavy depending on the experiences of those watching the show. It covered a wide range of things as well so I can’t pin down just one in particular that can be triggering. If you’re overly stressed out by certain triggers, you should really be careful watching this.
Yemi_Hikari
Disappointing? The only reason I stuck to the end was because I liked the main character and wanted to find out what happened to him, but the ending left a sour feeling in the pit of my stomach, meaning I find it hard to recommend the series on that aspect alone, particularly when I as a viewer found myself asking why. Nothing regarding the plot makes sense, but the series feels so much like someone took concept from Angel Beats, Little Busters or some other similar Anime series and spat it back out without thinking about what draws viewers to these series. It's just not there,and one might say that's a twist - but when you throw away the draw of the genre, is that really a twist? I don't think so.
The artwork in one regard I'll admit works - the changing of art styles, yet the person in charge did nothing towards picking the right style for each dream world making each fall flat. In fact, the characters themselves are flat until one gets to their plight, and parts end up left out. For example, the first episode is about a girl who makes everything cute,but acts like a spoiled brat to get her way, yet this is the exact opposite of her real life character. Which might work, if it weren't for the fact we're simply told things about her. Later episodes - let's just say they get worse, but plot wise they make less and less sense regarding motives.
Yes, I get the argument that dreams themselves don't make sense and weird thing can happen, but I think this is used as an excuse to excuse anything and everything, because there is still a limit to how bizarre one's dreams will get. It doesn't really try to be anything.
AppleDangani
18IF ANIME REVIEW - 11-27-2018 OVERALL: 7.6 PLOT: 9 Have you ever try to write something you think is very interesting? Like you know that it really have that sense and concept which can hook the audience? At first, this series is kinda strange, and confusing. The first episode will make you question its entirety. Is it good? Is it worth the time to watch? But along the story, you'll find the things that the author wanted to tell. You'll find that its plot is kind of a whole other level. This anime shows different kind of stories that tackles about living, how different people are, their status,their goals, their desire, manifest in their mind and bring it into another world which we all really know of. I really feel that there's a deeper meaning the creator of this story wanted to tell his viewer, how precious life is, how vulnerable people can be, how emotions work. This anime just need some serious consideration to really see a whole new perspective into it.
CHARACTERS: 9
Though most of the characters have only a minimal roles as its only per episode, the author did bring their purpose to this anime. The author show how every characters have their own emotions, their own lonesomeness, their pain and hatred towards the real world. This characters do not need a high level of development, they only just need to portray the life the creator wanted them to show us, and they did. They give us the meaning of what living in our world is. The main character is somewhere between fine and cool. He is just a normal person and that's what makes him human. But there's really something on him that feels off. Like he is kind of a pyscho character, it feels like he has a different meaning of what being a human is in his own way.
SOUND AND ANIMATION: 7
Most of anime that came from a game is awesome. The animation is out of this world. However, this is not the case on this series. The creation of this one is kind of sluggish. The faces and expressions of the characters is, most of the time, a joke. There are scenario on which the characters are really good, but on the whole, the animation of it is completely a waste. Additionally, some of the dubbings are not properly persuasive. That is why even if the scenario is kind of sad, you really just can't feel any loneliness at all. The fact that it was created last 2017 is a shock. If only it has been created a little more good, with a more delicate and careful touch on it, I think it will really add up the points they can gain.
ENJOYMENT: 7
I can't say I did not enjoy this one, because I somewhat did. I really love the part where the story shows how human mind works and how realistic the stories are. The declining part of enjoyment is the animation of it, as well as loopholes that will make you ask why. This anime is not really droppable, but it is also not something I would go tell people to see. Watch at your own risks.
ENDING: 6
This story leaves the viewer too many questions unsaid. What actually happen to the protagonist? Why is he the one who can see the others nightmare? Why is he called brother? And others. There are questions that did not answer by this series even it has already ended. Also, the result of how the antagonist has changed is kinda lame and it has an aura of "just needed to finish this anime." Though the balance between men and women, and the reason of the antagonist is a really good concept for me.
Ilisle
This anime depicts the various faces of life : love,hate,revenge,bullying and more. Each episode could be considered a story of it's own, of the 11 first episodes, there is no need to follow them in order. The story has a decent story line but it is not the focus. The highlight of this show is the difference between each of the episodes. It is a breeze for me, different from those action anime. I have really enjoyed the intro to the anime, very interesting style it has. It has drawn me to watch curiously wondering what it would be. I also liked the fact that each ending changed,I was really surprised of this and it hooked me to finish the whole 24mins.
The characters are different from each others, their person are well drawn.But some may not like that the characters are dumped and only reused at the end of the story.However this is something that I liked as this anime touches a bit of every aspect of the human nature.
In the end , I can only say that I have really enjoyed watching the whole 13 episodes. It has brought to me inspiration and a different view of life.
!!!Warning, this serie is unadvised to those who are searching something intense,mysterious or bloody to watch!!!
Also those who like to use "edge" to describe the grim truth of life
(personnal thought) just leaving this here... don't come to talk about this with me, i will just ignore you as it would be a waste of my time.
siriuswrites
This anime was a weird one. Most people dropped this series early on, not me. Lel. I saw potential. Every episode was done by a different director, so each episode presented a different approach in telling the story. Every week was a different experience. It was fun and unique. I really like how the series ended. It was unexpected but good. Though I still have some questions left, I’m not that disappointed that they were not answered. Dunno why. Hhhhmmmm… I think its part of the charm of the series, I guess. You just let it be. It’s an anime after all, anything can happen. XD This animeis definitely not for everyone. But I do recommend this to people who likes to watch unique animes and people who likes to watch something different for a change.
