Bestowed with magic from God, witches worked to guide humanity toward progress, garnering adoration and fear alike from humans. However, times have since changed. With the advancement of scientific knowledge, humans now stand on an equal footing with witches. Determined to weave their own destinies and establish supremacy over the world, the mighty Redia Empire has ordered the extermination of all witches, which may bring the era of magic to an end.
Fleeing from the decree, the famed witch Chloe and her apprentice, Adonis, seek refuge. Hot on their heels, the Empire captures the duo and mercilessly executes Chloe. Agonized by the brutal murder of his master and the callousness of humans, Adonis vows to avenge Chloe by annihilating humanity with the very magic they intend to destroy.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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jahver
I’ll be the first to admit I am an inconsistent writer. My life is a constant barrage of new tasks and distractions that keeps me from accomplishing, well, pretty much everything I set my mind to. Things get especially difficult to manage around the holiday season but here I am, back in the game, because over the past 13 or so weeks I’ve been subjected to one of the most indefensibly piss-poor, psychologically agitating pieces of “art” I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Hametsu no Whatever, Who Actually Gives a Shit About the Title of This Garbage is the rare kind of complete andutter disaster that only surfaces once every few years, whenever anime studios have to really start scraping the bottom of the barrel for content. It single-handedly snapped me out of my depressive stupor because of how eye-openingly bad it was. It even inspired me, in a way, to never produce anything on this level of quality, lest I never call myself an artist again in my life. I’ve started writing and illustrating again thanks to Hametsu, and I at least owe it or the author of the webcomic or the staff behind the adaptation a bit of thanks by trying to interpret this work of pure schizophrenia before I inevitably sink back into the oblivion of daily apathy.
Hametsu is an anime where not a single aspect of it is pleasant or inviting. It shocks you in with a bleak, cynical first episode full of rape, slavery, genocide, and just about every one of humanity’s worse vices before shifting gears and psychotically jumping between genres every single episode like an ADHD kid who managed to ingest a red skittle and keeps trying to entertain himself with whatever’s around him. We go from EXTREMELY fucking edgy revenge fantasies where characters unironically say stuff like “I don’t even feel like raping you so I’ll just kill you” that sounds more like an Anal Cunt song title than real dialogue while standing waist-deep in pools of blood rife with faux-philosophical melodrama about how “humanity is…LE BAD”, to corny shoujo shenanigans where the unbearably annoying main girl fawns over the edgelord bishounen MC and gets scared by a spider or something and turns into a chibi while silly comedic music plays. It genuinely feels like a series that was on the brink of getting axed every chapter. At a certain point I should’ve discerned that there was nothing of value on display here and moved on, but it’s hard to look away from a trainwreck.
From the very first episode, Hametsu wants you to know that this is a serious show. The comically evil and petty human emperor genocides every witch on the planet because modern technology has made magic obsolete (the emperor actually says “the fruit of our wisdom, the smartphone” is superior to fucking magic that can level cities) and sexually assaults Adonis’ mentor/love interest in front of him before shooting her in the head while thousands of people salivate like animals. Adonis is then placed into stasis (for some reason, they never really explain this brilliant little moment of bad writing) to let his hatred marinate for a few years until he’s ready to kill his way to the emperor. Want to understand the complex mechanisms at play that led to all of this happening? It’s simple, really. The queen is actually a time-traveling witch who has the power to mind control everyone on earth except for other witches, who are all female and reproduce asexually using a magic tree on the moon, and the other female MC is a reincarnation of her from the future who has the same magic power as her or something according to the author Yoruhashi’s previous work (which is untranslated so I’m doing my best to try and interpret it using what meager Japanese I know) so she decides to mind control the king and everyone under her rule into hating witches so she can wipe them all out and end any competition to her reign, and also the anti-witch technology is giving everyone super cancer.
Got all that? Good, because after Pinkshit (I’m not even going to dignify this character by calling her by name, you’ll learn why later) manages to execute a prison break by stealing the controls from a wildly out of place caricature of a transsexual, Adonis breaks out and decides that instead of killing the emperor, he’d rather cause 9/11 2 and gun down thousands of innocent people (children included) onscreen because they’re guilty by association. From there, the show descends into misery porn and over the top wangst for the next 5 or so episodes. They go to the moon, all the witches want to revive Adonis’ mentor and kill him, he summons the humans to kill them instead and revives Pinkshit (an annoying nag he’s known for all of a day), kills a guy named Yamato who wants to fuck his sister or something, burns down the magic witch tree and leaves. Is this Alpha Male behavior or blatant stupidity? Also, remember the king? The queen brainwashes him into an heroing by throwing himself off a building because he got super cancer from the anti-witch technology. He’s not important after all. What is important, however, is her becoming an Idol of all things, because it wouldn’t be a product of the absolute dregs of the anime industry in 2023 without idolshit being forced in even when it makes zero sense in-universe. Now the two are suddenly back on earth and the show takes a few episodes to devolve into a bunch of thinly-connected shoujo-lite moments where Pinkshit and Adonis are radically different characters out of nowhere and there’s an unfunny quip or silly moment every 5 seconds.
This is where the series’ two main issues become clear as day; firstly, it can’t commit to anything. The tone shifts around with little restraint in between episodes, sometimes multiple times within the span of 2 minutes. It introduces a dozen new characters every single episode and either kills them off before they can meaningfully grow or develop or blatantly writes them out of the story once the writer gets bored of whatever subplot they spawned from. Even Adonis’ revenge plot gets phased out halfway through the fucking anime. This is not how you write a compelling story; this is a teenager’s emotionally charged fanfiction you’d read on LiveJournal in 2006 where every character is based on someone from their high school.
The second glaring issue of Hametsu is how unlikeable each and every character is. I don’t think Adonis requires or deserves an in-depth explanation; he’s a one-dimensional perpetually emo dipshit with zero critical thinking skills who can’t even seem to remember his own motivation. He gets his ass kicked in every single fight and only manages to win because of his tremendous plot armor. No one ever refutes his insane rhetoric outside the other worst character, Pinkshit, who is honest to God one of the most insufferable characters ever written. She is a walking woman moment; nearly every single line of dialogue from her is her whining and crying about how Adonis shouldn’t kill the enemy combatants who are literally trying to murder and/or enslave the both of them and their entire race at any given moment. She doesn’t shed any tears for the innocent people Adonis slaughtered earlier in the show, but she’s more than willing to slap him in the face and bitch him out for defending her from the never-ending onslaught of armed soldiers and cyborgs who want nothing more than to see them hanging and literally killed off the last members of her entire fucking race a few minutes ago. Pinkshit’s even more out of touch with reality than the guy who wants to commit mass murder, and she’s supposed to be the moral high ground of the anime. Every 5 seconds she’s whining about how “we can all still live in peace!” like a braindead hippie who reduces every single complex human thought process down to the simplest possible rationalization. Sure, she may have a point, this conflict is only arbitrary and would’ve been avoided altogether if anyone in this setting wasn’t staggeringly retarded, but just because every character is a slave to their own emotions perpetuating a totally pointless and dumb as fuck battle doesn’t mean we need a character pointing out what’s already obvious every single minute they’re onscreen as if that isn’t the most annoying thing a writer can do. I’m not sure if Pinkshit’s intentionally written to be out of touch because you can never be sure of anything with this show, but if she is it shows the author has only an incredibly shallow and cursory grasp on the concept of pacifism. Writing a character who is both naïve and likeable is admittedly difficult, and Yoruhashi decides to forgo that entirely by writing Pinkshit to be so comically stupid and braindead that any sense of likeability is automatically thrown out the window whenever she opens her hole. The only thing she really excels at is rabidly simping for Adonis and taking the brunt of his abuse, because pandering to the “I can fix him!” crowd is a guaranteed way to print money.
Meanwhile, every other character in Hametsu is some kind of raving degenerate with no moral compass or a weird sex pervert. They’re all shallow, one-dimensional psychopaths. As a matter of fact I couldn’t tell you any of their names, but I can tell you what atrocities they engage in, because every character in Hametsu would feel right at home in the Dirlewanger Brigade. And the more savagery and inhumanity gets thrown in your face, the cheaper and emptier it starts to feel. There is no moral gray area here outside of Adonis; everything is presented in extremes. In Hametsu, you are either a good guy or a remorseless monster who will gladly inflict any type of suffering onto whoever you can when it’s convenient. The only in-between is Adonis, whose mass-murdering behavior gets portrayed more like a he’s just a tortured bad boy making a few mistakes rather than a victim warped into a mass murderer by his circumstances. He has no depth. If the story even bothered trying to explore his thought process and rather than trying to gloss over his atrocities, there’d be at least some semblance of humanity to him. But then his previously defined personality gets thrown out because Pinkshit’s intolerable idealism starts rubbing off on him. At the end of the day the only character I can say I thoroughly enjoyed watching onscreen was Shirousagi, the white guy with dreads and an absolutely baller hat who beats Adonis so hard he looks like he’s about to cry and gouges out Pinkshit’s eyes onscreen. What a Chad. He is exactly what he’s presented as, and in his case that’s alright because he’s a stone cold badass and the closest I came to actually rooting for a character in this entire anime. Hametsu is probably the only anime where a guy who looks like Brian Welch rips out a Mori Calliope clone’s eyes and then crushes them, so at the very least you can’t call it unoriginal.
You’d think I’d at least have something good to say about Hametsu after I spent nearly 2000 words railing on it harder than a Thailand ladyboy, maybe some words of praise for the production quality of the anime? Woefully, there is none. Yokohama Animation Lab is just about the very bottom rung in the anime studio society; almost every project of theirs is rated a 6 or below on here, and that’s probably not an accurate gauge considering how many users wantonly hand out 10s to every anime they watch. The opening animation is probably where 99% of the show’s budget went, and if I’m being truthful it’s not that bad. The song (Kieru Made by Hana Hope) is far too pretty and refined for a show like this. It almost feels dishonest; I was expecting something more like Musashi Gundoh’s infamously deranged opening, that’s a clear and present indication of exactly what you’re about to watch, but Hametsu’s opening feels like it belongs to a much more refutable anime. And on that note, I can’t bring myself to praise its extremely shitty animation and presentation. I’m not sure what I expected considering the source material was almost entirely unknown outside Japan before the anime was announced, but this anime treats drag and drop animation like a fucking Olympic sport. Every fight is a slideshow where off-model characters slowly move across still frames and jitter around. There’s a scene in episode 11 where Pinkshit drops to the ground that’s utterly weightless, and she looks completely stiff. This scene was so ridiculous looking I had to pause the episode and get a drink to steel myself into finishing it. The anime was directed by School Days director Keitarou Motonaga, a guy who is infamous in this day and age for fundamentally not understanding the source material of the projects he directs (see: Digimon Adventure tri, an incredibly pretentious borderline fanfiction-tier movie series that almost killed the franchise in terms of animated projects).
Hametsu is a show I can’t fathom anyone taking seriously, even the people behind it. The part of my mind that’s still trying to comprehend why this even exists can only rationalize it as being some kind of avant-garde parodic work. It is one of the few anime I’ve seen that goes from comically overblown edge and misanthropy to goofy preschool humor within the span of a minute every single episode. There’s a scene in episode 3 or so where Adonis brutally kills a bunch of soldiers onscreen and within 20 seconds or so it cuts to one of the villain generals chibified and dancing around while making stupid noises. That’s basically the thesis statement of this anime. Either nobody had any idea what they were doing behind the scenes, or they knew exactly what they were doing and none of us are intelligent enough to grasp this kind of cutting-edge satire.
Either way, tl;dr: https://i.imgur.com/WYNwMyK.png
Keny0
First two episodes were like a strong 7/10, maybe even an 8. The hook is really there and you wanna see how this epic revenge story pans out. But unfortunately the overall quality and writing just falls off one cliff after another. Every. Passing. Episode. The animation gets awful the last half of the season and they essentially just keep throwing dark themed plot twists and blood fiestas in your face for the sake of it, hoping it will be enough keep the viewers interested. Sadly it doesn't, at least not for me because if you keep trying to plot twist your way out ofevery given scene, the fact that a twist is coming will even that eventually become predictable.
It's such a shame because the premise is actually good, the world seems well thought out and interesting and I somewhere genuinely like this kind of character dynamic between two main characters. One drowning in hatred and cynism, the other kind hearted and hopeful to the point of being very naive. (Almost Naruto and Sasuke'esq) With proper development I was looking forward to them eventually meeting somewhere in the middle or just one proving the other wrong. But not now when it's apparent the writing just isn't there, at ALL.
If you're not picky about well paced story or character development, writing that makes sense or animation quality, you might actually still find it enjoyable though.
Marinate1016
While not without its flaws, Hametsu no Oukoku was one of my favourite shows of Fall 2023 and the year as a whole. A really good dark fantasy story with an interesting world. But, it’s not for everyone. Many of you will have seen clips of the first episode of Hametsu on YouTube, IG or another social media platform and for good reason, it’s insane. It is one of the most infuriating and emotionally gripping premieres I’ve seen in a long time. The tragic ending sets up what promised to be one of the more entertaining revenge quests in recent anime. Does it live up tothat first episode? Well, yes and no. Hametsu does indeed follow through on giving us an MC who just goes absolutely insane and tries to kill everyone in his path which I loved. We have so many cardboard cutout MCs that you could pickup and drop into another series and not notice a thing. So it’s nice to get an MC who doesn’t subscribe to the traditional moral high ground stuff. Adonis says, you know what, you take my girl, I take your world. Sadly, that only went so far in the anime.
Adonis being the disciple of a witch as a human and not a witch himself makes for an interesting situation. While he has access to many spells that only the witches would normally, he’s still a human and has to work within those confines. He’s got some very powerful magic, but he’s limited with the extent he can use it. It’s a cool way to make him strong, but not overly powerful to the point where the story isn’t fun anymore.
The main complaint you’ll hear about the story is that what starts off as an interesting revenge story turns into a more slower “boring” fantasy story. Now, in truth, that’s not entirely wrong. After about the halfway point in the series, Adonis gets a travel companion and things slow down quite a bit. While he’s still an edge lord, there isn’t as much plot development. There’s a few episodes dedicated entirely to character relationship building, world building and dialogue. This is not a bad thing to me for a couple of reasons. 1: in a long running story, there’s always going to be lulls in the story where characters have to actually develop. Otherwise this would just be God of War where Adonis goes full Kratos killing everyone without speaking or actually thinking. Which, for some people might be appealing, but I like my stories with a little more substance at this point in life. 2:I really like Doroka and her relationship with Adonis. While her being a damsel in distress can be a little annoying but at times, she’s cute as hell and helps Adonis to see there’s more to life than just his quest for revenge. If their relationship were not in the story, it would be substantially worse off in my opinion. But if constant action is your thing and you just want pure unadulterated rage, this one isn’t for you.
Now while I do unabashedly love this show, it’s not without its flaws. My biggest issues here are the production values being pretty subpar to bad depending on the scene, and frequent use of sexual assault or sexual assault bait to create villains. I’ll clarify what I mean by that in a second. First, I’ll clarify the production value situation. There’s quite a few action scenes in this that look really bad. Like amateurish. Particularly the big fight in episodes 10-11 which is meant to be one of the more hype moments of the series, yet it’s marred by animation errors, stiff animation and more. I mean at one point, the studio doesn’t even draw Doroka consistently. She’s wearing stockings in one scene and the next she’s bare legged. Not to mention how bad Adonis looked floating through the air against the antagonist’s flying hand attacks. It’s kind of odd because the art and designs look amazing, but that was lacking.
Following up on the near sexual assault point, there’s several times in the show where villains rip the clothes off female characters for seemingly no other reason other than humiliating them. I mean we as the audience don’t even get to see any semblance of an anime tiddy during these scenes, so it just begs the question what was even the point? It’s always been one of my pet peeves when SA or stuff similar to that is used to make viewers dislike a villain. I think it’s cheap and overdone. From what I’ve heard this is somewhat of a recurring theme in the manga too, which I own but have not yet read, so keep that in mind. It’s not a massive deal, but it did irk me a little.
My overall experience with Hametsu was positive. It’s not a show for everyone, it does at times feel like an edgy teenager is writing it, but I like edgy. It’s enjoyable to me and opens up some cool possibilities with storytelling. While we only briefly touched the surface of it in the anime, I believe this world and its characters have a lot of potential. It’s really only a matter of how far the author’s mind lets him go. I look forward to finding out.
Hametsu gets 8, out of 10.
KANLen09
The Kingdoms of Ruin - Extreme hatred built on nonsense logic that perverses the idea of justice, but it being "so bad it's good" to play the bad guy and get some mind-numbing satisfaction due to it being over-the-top edgy? I highly question the "novel" concept. When was the last time we had an extremely over-the-top gory and violent series filled with extreme hatred to the point of nepotism? For many, the classic series of Lynn Okamoto's Elfen Lied would come to mind, being the Summer 2004 anime that would, for one, grow to be infamous for its violent mess of gore, cruelty, and nudity. Evenafter 20 years, its effect on AniManga can still be felt for millennia as a cult favourite, inspiring many others like Ryukishi07's Higurashi franchise and Sakae Esuno's Mirai Nikki a.k.a Future Diary to name a few.
Well, for one prolific author who goes by the name of yoruhashi, he/she thought otherwise to create something that would capture the attention of those reading the one and only work that would get people riled up in a frenzy: Hametsu no Oukoku a.k.a The Kingdoms of Ruin. The work that is unapologetic to its vulgar themes of gore and violence will definitely make one feel VERY uncomfortable and disgusted from its premise alone, from the typical war between entities to pure genocide. Side note: This is actually the sequel to the unknown prequel series "The Kingdom of Caliburn", in which some of the characters in this series had more prominent roles there, which spans 175 chapters. How does both series link to each other? Read on to find out.
In a dystopian world where God created humans and witches, the latter were more advanced thanks to their magic, which is used to help people and maintain prosperity between the two entities. However, with the rapid advance in technology akin to the Industrial Revolution, the human Redia Empire took control and immediately declared that the witches were rendered obsolete, ordering the assassination of all witches with no plea for mercy. And for one such witch by the name of Chloe, she raised a human apprentice by the name of Adonis, who is still taught the old world's tradition that humans and witches live together in harmony. But the reality could not be farther from the truth, for soon Adonis learned about the Empire's ruthless killings of witches, Chloe included, as she is stripped and humiliated before the humans before meeting her cruel death. That sent Adonis into a rage, and with the magic that he learned from Chloe, the capture by the Redia Empire unleashed his rage, though it would not take until sometime in the future that someone would coincidentally get him to escape from the Empire to enter a revenge party against humanity.
You can already tell that everything about this show is not meant to be likeable. From the outset, the characters are all either a bunch of pure-hearted and naïve, or set for disaster with their heart-filled egos, trying to fulfil what's best for the people and for themselves. Let's start with Adonis, the pure-hearted human who still wishes for reconciliation between humans and witches; that objective was long gone with the public execution of his teacher Chloe. With his magic pen, which was the last gift given from her, that is the human apprentice's only tool to invoke magic against anyone who is in direct conflict with his interests. The revenge-filled heart has no remorse or any hope because reality is shoved in your face, and that's Adonis's reason for living — to ensure that he only gets the last laugh. Needless to say, there will be at least a comrade alongside him who wants to make her own live count as well, and that is the witch Doroka. Like young Adonis before his world thinking was tarnished, Doroka is nothing more than just the typical witch, sold for the Redia Empire's slavery and got saved due to perchance, only to unconsciously release Adonis from his stranglehold. But her character development is definitely one of the most bizarre I have seen in anime this far, going from the kind-nurtured girl to one who has no conception of reality, even in the face of cruelty, and Adonis acting as the antithesis of the world. It's certainly frustrating to see Doroka act the way she does, always being the damsel-in-distress for Adonis to save her, apart from being a burden just by her presence alone.
That said, apart from the other human profiles ranging from the Redia Empire's nobility to the side profiles of the witches, the most prominent from the Empire's leader of Emperor Goethe to the Queen's helper of Shirousagi (whose relationship is the most "show, don't tell" subtlest of all), the link between both Caliburn and Ruins is quite the fascination and interest that while this is just side cheddar as opposed to Ruins, nonetheless, here it is, and take this information as you will about Doroka:
In every universe, there will always be a Witch of Love, and a Witch Disciple (like Chloe/Doroka and Adonis). And in the Kingdom of Caliburn, Dorothea and Alfred have to defeat the Queen (which is another Witch of Love from a different timeline). Unfortunately, they were defeated, and she cut Alfred's head to revive her Witch Disciple (her lover in that timeline). That is also the reason for Dorothea to come to the timeline of The Kingdom of Ruin; the purpose is to revive Alfred in her timeline by killing Adonis, but I guess there are requirements that are not mentioned anywhere because she could have killed him long ago. Basically, it is a cycle. The Witch of Love from this timeline will lose her lover and eventually go to another timeline to save him.
Former Date A Live director Keitarou Motonaga may not have the best track record when it comes to directing shows (see studio A-CAT shows of Winter 2021's Soukou Musume Senki a.k.a LBX Girls, and Winter 2022's Kenja no Deshi wo Nanoru Kenja a.k.a She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man), but for par of the course, he has done the adaptation justice with the minimum of his resources, the most glaring aspect being the rather subpar production by Yokohama Animation Lab. Despite all of the issues, from censorship to iffy animation, partially faulted by the manga's depiction of its violent nature, it looks decent to a palpable degree...provided that you can bear through the anime's repulsive nature.
The music itself is easily the best part of the anime, given its depressive nature akin to a genocide state that sees deaths as common influxes of daily life. Most particularly, Hana Hope's OP has the mystical feeling of hope at the beginning until it hits the chorus, where everything just drops the ball to full-on melancholic misery. And Who-Ya Extended's ED song "Prayer", I just could not think of a better song to express all of the regret and rage that Adonis felt while losing Chloe, then pursuing revenge as his full-time job to eradicate humanity, or anyone that does not lean to his philosophy. I for sure did not think that the ED song would become one of my favourite songs of this season, because depressive songs, ironically enough, make for banger songs (listen to Enen no Shouboutai's Season 1, 1st Cour's ED song of Keina Suda's veil as a great example). Latom.
At the end of the day, you and I both know that Hametsu no Oukoku a.k.a The Kingdoms of Ruin is a trash/garbage-tier shit anime/series, let's not kid ourselves. But I'd like to think that for as much as Elfen Lied had done the same to break my heart and soul watching something as gut-wrenching, this show has surprisingly done the same for me.
You can treat my review like a bludgeoning troll, but to me, experiencing this show has been a sorrowful, but engrossing, yet "entertaining" ride like a Highway to Hell...or appropriately, a Crimson Skies of the High Road to Revenge's memory burn that I will never, EVER, forget.
elanimeunderdog
Im still confused as to why they did 12 episodes instead of doing a movie. I wasted my time on this anime. First episode was like damn! From the second to the tenth episode it just went donwhill, and when the climax arrives in the final two episodes I just wanted it to end. We get animes like this because Chat GPT is out. The story did not make sense. A bunch of scenes put out together and call it an anime. I have to comment about the art to make this review, but it makes me more angry that I have to writeabout this poor anime.
Review Checklist
Art: Ok
Characters: Cringey
Story: Chat GPT wrote it
If you watch good anime please do yourself a favor and skip this.
Eddarks
Just don't listen to the comments of babies who can't see a bit of blood, it's because of these people that animes have become increasingly childish and sometimes even spoil masterpieces with childishness. In short, this anime is not a 10/10, but it has a well-developed plot, the characters have an interesting chemistry and you feel like continuing to watch and moving forward to see how the work unfolds. For those who like less cliché anime, it's a good choice and I would really like to see a second season. for me this anime easily get a 07/10 or more.
ReZistar
Easily the worst anime I've sat through. This series is just flat out soulless in both its story and production. Storywise there isn't anything at all. The fuckass MC wants to commit genocide for a reason that is fucking petty as hell given he didn't give a shit about the main problem that led to that reason in the first place. The main girl is an insufferable pacifist that honestly comes off as a genocide apologist, especially given a scenario that happens during ep 5-7. Not one other character is likable or memorable, mostly due to being killed off minutes after their introduction. And don'tget me started on the world building that boils down to repetitive misogyny.
As for the anime's production it's somehow worse. The animation (especially in the later half) is a slideshow that rivals SDS S2+, multiple animation errors that went unchecked, many of the brutal scenes from the manga are heavily censored or are hardly given any impact, the use of cliffhangers were hit or miss, and too much budget was spent on getting A-list VAs on the project (one even had to get replaced mid-production). They didn't even try to make this anime look presentable. And the worst part? It aired in Fall 2023 amidst the best seasonal lineup that year, against other edgy revenge plot anime like Ragna Crimson (watch that instead since at least that isn't a burning landfill) as well.
I'd say to not bother watching this atrocity but no, please watch it in full so you'll have an idea on what qualifies as a 1/10 anime.
RealityChanges
This is a hidden gem that many people are missing out on. I know there many people in the community that hates everything about this anime but I don't think it deserve all the hate its getting. Yes the show is nothing special compared to the other great anime out there but thats the whole purpose of adapting this for the season. I think the anime did a fantastic job on the story imo I was hooked the whole time. I'm able to see the mc develop throughout the anime even if its a little for others. The anime has a lot of gore asadonis gets busy throughout the anime for Chloe. Theres going to be parts that dosen't right with people or think this is boring. Me on the otherhand think there wasen't any bad parts about the anime and will be continuing from the manga. This anime was not meant to be the best in the season but to leave a impact showing that it is there to be watched and enjoyed.(I enjoyed it) No anime is going to be perfect even your favorite anime thats why skip over those parts to enjoys the bigger picture of what is entertaining us.
The animation is alright but its enough to get through 12 episdoes
charcters are very good and enjoyable to watch
world building is better than I thought as it adds many different areas to be traveled throughout the anime
Not the best anime but for underrated anime this is peak
IzanaSolos
I don't usually write many reviews, but I had to share my thoughts on this anime. "Hametsu no Oukoku," or "The Kingdoms of Ruin" – even the name, unrelated as it is to the anime, feels overly edgy. It ticks all the boxes of what makes an edgy anime, featuring a protagonist with black hair and red eyes. Let me be upfront: I just don't think this anime is good, and if you're over 18, chances are you'll agree with me. Let me quickly break down the basic plot. God creates humanity, realizes it was a mistake, then creates witches and shares his powers with themto help humans, and they agree. However, when humans no longer need their help, they decide to purge all the witches. Here comes our edgy main character, Adonis, a human who despises his own race for their treatment of witches. Chloe, the witch training him, tries to change his perspective, but they get captured by humans using teleportation before she can say much. Apparently, we've become so advanced as a human race that we've mastered physical transfer technology, something even the witches, with the power of God, can't use. I know, right? The witches, who have the power of God, can't do something us humans can. Things unfold, and Adonis embarks on his emo arc.
You probably understand the show's central theme by now: humanity is portrayed as a big mess, and not a single human has ever stopped to think that mistreating the beings who once saved us might not be the way to go. But at least it gives Adonis a target for his resentment. Then there's Doroka, our deuteragonist, who is the complete opposite of Adonis. Witnessing two women fighting over bread, she doesn't advocate violence; instead, she selflessly gives away her own loaf to prevent another girl from being chosen as a slave.
The animation is surprisingly well-done for what seems like a trash anime with no substantial story. Though in the later episodes in does start to go down. I'm genuinely impressed by the quality of the animation, arguably the only redeeming aspect of the show—filled with intense, bloody scenes that's always on the screen. Here's a game for you: watch episodes 1-5 and count the amount of blood you see. Trust me, it'll be a lot. The funny part is that the show doesn't even attempt to establish a convincing power system. Adonis's magical abilities involve just thinking of whatever nonsense he wants, and it happens. Everyone else shouts random ability names, presumably to make it look cooler. The show doesn't try to conceal its primary target audience: a group of kids with short attention spans, likely influenced by TikTok. And you know what? I'm not above exploiting that audience either—use those attention spans all you want; it works. I'm just saying, if you're not in the right mindset going into this anime, you'll probably hate it. But if you are, you might just love it.
MAL gave this show around a 6.6, and I can tell you it's going to drop down HEAVILY after this review, but I give it a 6.
Saronin_Jayhart
I regret sticking with it till the end... I'm just glad it's over so I can wash my hands of it and forget it exists. It keeps stringing you along with a few amazingly well written scenes (some for the edge Lords and some for the misanthropic cynics) making you hope that it would get better as it goes, but nope, it's a train wreck that doesn't know what it wants to be. Feels like each episode had a different premise so it failed to deliver on every promise that it made including the revenge plot that it opens with. The main character failed to take advantageof his powers and his intelligence was nerfed after the first half of the first episode, therefore he is the most underpowered main character in revenge plot history.
The author probably had a fetish for guro and beating women too. My eyes feel violated. I wish I could undo the last 5 hours of my life.
Story: WTF/10
Music: 7/10
Plot: Massacre/10
Characters: 5/10
Worldbuilding: 8/10
Enjoyment: 2-8/10(varies by episode)
Rainy_Rabbit
This is hours of my life that I'm not getting back. I know its my fault (I have to finish a show once I start unless its too many miles long to manage.) The Kingdoms of Ruin is by far one of the WORST anime I have ever seen. To begin with, aside from one person in the entire story, EVERYONE is trash. Main guy: genocidal angst monster who wants vengeance because shitty people did shitty things. While I sympathize with his reasons, wanting to kill everyone is an extreme overreaction. Main girl: dumb bubblegum simp. Main guy literally threatens to kill her at leastonce an episode and she still follows him like a little lost puppy. Her back story that could have been interesting is just washed under the rug. Everyone hates me because of my powers? Oh well, let me just spend all of my existence screaming the main guys name and stalking him. Villain: so overly attached to her boyfriend that she'd go to another world and ruin it just to get him back. Women whose sole motivation is the man in their lives seldom make actually good villains. Side characters: Literally just bad people with bad motivations. One character in this story is actually decent, and she gets horrifically murdered in the first episode.
Then we get to the story: boy wants revenge for the murder of his mentor. Okay, we've done that before successfully in other properties. Though the boy who wants revenge doesn't usually want to kill everyone indiscriminately.... Honestly the show feels more like how much blood can we spill JUST because we can. There is an episode where people are standing in blood up to their calves. Its violence just for the sake of being violent, which I guess if that's your thing, then this is the show for you.
Overall, I will give ONE episode some actual value, but even that episode is kind of uncomfortable. One episode acknowledges the hubris of man and technology with sex robots. That is the ONLY episode in the show that might be worth something for having a decent message to it. But it feels so detached from the rest of the show that I can't even use it to boost this from anything other than a 1 Rating.
There are thousands of other anime out there. Please don't waste your time on this one.
LuckyMucky
The anime started good with the boy having tragic accident in front of his eyes, all good. Now the real problem is when 10 years later he gets out he doesn't have anything on mind but destruction and I am not saying anything about he shouldn't do this but when they showed us that he played simulation over and over in his mind, I knew he clearly misunderstood human technology because there could be an advancement made in that 10 year time period. But he somehow manages even though he is ultimately saved by a witch. Now irony is how the f she(the witch) gota soldier suit or uniform even if she gets it from corpse it should be blood stained and does she even know how weild these guns but NO, our author made sure she can do that. Well the point here I am trying to make is "The Protagonist" should have gathered some intel and not just blindly attacking a city, how will he even survive that? Well plot armour is there so don't worry. I HATE these plot armour. Well whatever, after this we have yuki and theta lying on the ground because of radioactive exposure from DAM and the king was suffering from the same disease and named it "incurable" then how the f*** yuki recovered in the last episode and director theta didn't, I thought they were preserving the body of yuki, which means that the author prioritize yuki more, even though she is vice director and more dead than theta. WTF, and if they had this recovery or cure to that radioactive disease then why didn't they let their narcissistic king of theirs have it. The anime has lot of flaws if you watch it sensibly and logically but it had good fighting scene. A big no for me to vouch for Season 2, because I will continue to find flaws and not enjoy it.
I like Vinland Saga so don't tell me that I don't like violence and all that shit. I needed a violent anime not this crap.
Javamaster
Let's not beat around the bush - this anime is bad. It tries desperately to fill a very particular niche and it fails miserably. Instead of writing a 40,000 word essay on how awful this anime is, I'll just briefly list a number of reasons why you should not watch this anime. Let's not waste anymore time and get started: The characters. Arguably the weakest part of this anime. They are super one-dimensional. Only one word circulates our bland protagonist's mind - revenge. He is single-minded and that's his entire gimmick. Or so we were led to believe, until he meets a purple-haired witch and begins toslowly change, which is an amazing plot development. Or so we were led to believe, until he reinforces his revenge plotline. Or so we were led to believe, because he develops feelings for said witch. Or so we... you get the gist. The character is a jumbled mess.
The purpled witch is annoying, loud, obnoxious, dumb and naive. Her only role in this anime is to be the protagonist's chick and even then she's pretty bad at it.
The remainder of the cast (if we can even call it a cast) is pretty much forgettable. Main villain, another main villain, the villain of the arc, the villain of the second arc, and so on.
Humanity. Yes, humanity as a character. Humanity is terrible. Horrible. Evil. Perverted. Sadistic. Every single bad quality one can attribute to an individual is present in this iteration of humanity and, honestly, I agree - they should be destroyed. The sooner they're gone, the sooner this trainwreck of an anime can end. Please let it end.
The witches. Don't want to mention too much but they're no better. Bland characters, little to no development and insignificant in the grand scheme. Basically a device to move the plot forward.
Visuals.
They're ok, I guess.
Soundtrack.
Is there a soundtrack in this anime? I couldn't tell. Between all the cringe I experience, I forgot to notice there is even sound in this anime. That's how forgettable it is.
Plot.
It tries to have a plot. God, it tries so hard. All the tries in the world. It tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end, it doesn't even matter. Try hard, try harder, try hardest.
Overall, don't waste your time with this anime like I have. Go outside, meet friends, visit your parents, talk to your relatives, do sports, play games. Do literally anything else other than watch this abomination.
OnlyOneZueiro
The Kingdoms of Ruin is an ambitious anime, but amateurish in its execution. Its premise carries the potential for an epic saga, but the lack of character development, the uneven pacing, and the excessive reliance on plot devices prevent it from taking off. The anime starts from a fascinating conflict: magic versus science. Witches are persecuted after being considered obsolete by the technological advancement of the Redia Empire. The revenge of Adonis, the protagonist, after the execution of his mentor Chloe, is the narrative engine. The idea of exploring themes such as revenge, scientific ethics and emotional duality (represented by the relationship between Adonis and Doroka)is solid.
However, the execution is inconsistent. The script introduces intriguing elements that are either abandoned or barely explored. The feeling is that the work does not know how to prioritize its own elements, leaving narrative threads loose and creating a chaotic atmosphere. Essential episodes (like Chloe's execution) are impactful, but others drag on without purpose or resolve conflicts abruptly. This disorganization causes the narrative to oscillate between blood, fast-paced action and disconnected contemplative moments, damaging immersion.
Adonis is a problematic anti-hero protagonist. His anger is justified by the loss of Chloe, but his lack of development makes him monotonous: he is aggressive even towards allies like Doroka, without showing evolution or reflection. Critics point out that he "goes from anti-hero to belligerent" without gaining empathy. Doroka, despite having a tragic backstory, is reduced to an object of constant suffering, without any agency of her own. Her magic is underutilized, and her dynamic with Adonis only gains relevance at the end of the season, making her a passive element. Secondary characters are even more forgotten, serving only as disposable pieces in the plot.
Magic, which should be the strong point of the work, is another significant problem. Anime treats it as a super-flexible resource, something to "magically" solve all difficulties so that an event simply occurs, despite the odds. See, magic is meant to be supernatural, but here it always conveniently adapts to the needs of the script without clear rules. Adonis, for example, can enlarge bullets to gigantic proportions without any consistent explanation. This also extends to technology: tech from Redia Empire, although central to the conflict, is not detailed, appearing more like a plot device to justify the persecution of witches. This undermines the credibility of the anime universe, giving the impression that events are guided by convenience rather than internal logic.
Despite its flaws, The Kingdoms of Ruin has merits. The action scenes are well-choreographed, with graphic violence and impressive magic designs. Chloe's execution and the introduction of Dorothea Grethe are memorable, hinting at an expanded universe that could shine in a second season. Another strong point, a personal favorite, is that the plot avoids clichés, keeping the viewer curious, even if for the WRONG reasons.
To conclude: Kingdoms of Ruin is technically amateurish. It begins with a fascinating conflict—magic versus technology in a world in ruins—and promises an epic saga about revenge, redemption, and the limits of humanity. However, it stumbles upon structural flaws: shallow characters, unbalanced rhythm and a magic that seems to serve the script more than the internal logic of the universe. Yet there is something hypnotic about its boldness. The graphic violence, dark aesthetics and unpredictability of the plot keep the viewer intrigued, even if it is to question dubious narrative choices. It's the kind of work that, despite its flaws, doesn't go unnoticed: it captivates acid fantasy fans who value raw creativity more than technical refinement. If the anime fails to deliver on its full potential, it at least leaves the door open for a more promising future. A second season, with a focus on character development and clearer rules for magic, could transform this uncut gem into something memorable. Until then, it's a recommended experience with reservations: watch it for the ambition of the concept, the striking visual direction, and the courage to be imperfect in a sea of safe formulas.
Personal Rating: 6/10 – A concept worthy of a 9/10, executed like a 5/10. It is a work that, like Adonis, carries hatred and potential in equal measure. Imperfect, but hard to ignore.
ShonerSul
Summary: Only for those who love a lot of blood and decapitating. Cruel scenes in Ep 1 was necessary to justify MC's cause for revenge. However continuing violence by both sides made it faded over and over. Many characters were designed just to be killed without enough contribution to the story. The antagonist's purpose and method were sounding, and having counterpart at MC's side is a good setting for finale. However, Queen concert in that context was really ridiculous. Opening and Ending was fine, but it could do nothing about the rating. Easily one of the worst this year, unless you're enjoying this kind of shows in orderto control your cruelty inside.
TangyAbleOrange
This went from a compelling revenge story (first 3 episodes) to a hate-watch (everything after). This is a rare show that makes you frustrated with the writing. It's very bad. It gives promises, and then breaks them. It's baffling. It's infuriating. So much so that it caused me to go here to simply write how bad and infuriating it was. The main character is set up with such potential, then it deteriorated with dumb character actions and crappy subplots. It culminates in an anticlimactic fight that has no consistent logic in how anything works and I felt no satisfaction in the payoff if it couldeven be described as a payoff. It was so contrived, illogical, and drawn out. It competes with being the most frustrating thing I've experienced in anime, right up there with Zenitsu's character from Demon Slayer. Yes, this is an emotion-driven review too. A hate-review, if you will. Because I genuinely disliked this show.
GyozaOishii
I had high-ish hopes for this anime, based on what I'd heard about the source material, a story about how violence only leads to more violence, and how forgiveness requires accepting loss, but was upset by what I saw as startling inconsistencies with the actions and spoken thoughts of the MC. At certain points he seemed to be some kind of 4-dim chess/tactical genius, but at others, his logic, was just incomprehensible. As for the FMC, she was annoying, but considerably more consistent in her character development (which they at least provided some justification for, near the end of the season), compared to MC. Ithink plenty of the "would-be-villain" characters were infinitely more interesting than the main ones. The music, particularly the OP, was easily the best thing about the series. I haven't read them myself, but I'm guessing the books are way better, so I'll just continue my journey there, as I don't have any hopes for a second season, especially after what I just sat through.
Avroraa
Hametsu no Oukoku starts off with a strong premise, introducing a main character consumed by the desire for revenge after the tragic loss of his beloved. The initial episodes (1-7) are engaging, setting the stage for a promising narrative filled with intensity and emotion. The turning point comes when the main character encounters Doroka, who imparts a lesson about the pitfalls of revenge. This development adds complexity to the storyline as the protagonist grapples with conflicting emotions. While the idea of a character evolving and questioning their motives is intriguing, the execution falls short due to poor writing, leaving viewers more annoyed than empathetic. One major flawlies in the rushed pacing of the plot. The anime attempts to cover significant ground in a short span, resulting in a lack of proper development for both characters and story arcs. This rush undermines the potential depth and impact the narrative could have had with a more measured approach.
On a positive note, the animation quality is surprisingly decent. While not groundbreaking, it manages to complement the story well and provides an enjoyable visual experience. The animation's contribution to the overall enjoyment of the series cannot be overlooked.
In conclusion, Hametsu no Oukoku presents an initially promising story with a strong start, but it falters as the main characters undergo abrupt changes and the plot feels hurried. Despite these shortcomings, the animation remains a redeeming factor, making the series still worth a watch for fans who can overlook the narrative flaws.
KISEEEEEE_201810
On the three first episodes, it was intriguing, it made the show have so much potential. But sadly, the next following episodes were so messy, and a bit rushed, especially when the show could've intoduced other characters in well paced manner, but unfortunately the show just went awry at that point. The characters were just intoduced then got killed off in the next episode, i mean yeah kinda essential for the plot to move, but those twist was just bad. I had a lot of expectations when i finished the first episode, but meh. Still finished it to the last episode because i kind of likedthe dynamic of adonis and doroka. As for the animation, the first 7 episodes were good, but as the show progressed the animation kind of slowly showed inconcistency in its artsyle.
Overall, i would not recommend this to anyone who wouldn't want to waste their time, but if u have nothing to do, go ahead and watch it.
