It is the year 20XX. Earth has been assaulted by monsters known as 'the Enemy of Humanity'. In order to deal with this threat, special schools comprised of teenagers with extraordinary abilities were formed. These people, who came to be known as 'the Talented', have abilities that defy the rules of reality. Among these superpowered individuals was an outlier, someone who was sent to one of these schools despite having no innate special abilities whatsoever. This is the story of our protagonist, who attempts to defeat the Enemies of Humanity through the use of intelligence and manipulation.
~~~__MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD__~~~ img(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FGoT1ZMWJN0/maxresdefault.jpg) “So basically this anime is like Among Us X My Hero Academia! It’s really fun! You should go check it out!” - Literally everyone. Alright, I’ll be the first to admit that I took this recommendation and rolled with it. I mean, come on! Those are two things I genuinely enjoy! And let me say, the first episode got me hooked. The first episode starts off with a pretty typical plotline resembling My Hero Academia (as the short description suggests). We are introduced to the world assaulted by the monsters called the “Enemies of Humanity” and students from all around Japan with supernatural powers called “The Talented” are gathered on a deserted island to train in order to fight these “Enemies of Humanity.” Here we are introduced to our protagonist, Nanao Nakajima, who seems to be a powerless misfit on the island. He has no friends and is pretty much ignored by everyone until a beautiful young pink-haired girl named Hiiragi Nana (I see, the love interest of our protagonist) uses her own power to read his mind to realize that Nanao’s really lonely, then reaches out to him and becomes his “first friend”, and maybe one day even potentially being his girlfriend! img800(https://64.media.tumblr.com/0762b03b1c03dd7d676f0aad8726867e/71dc67a60a1726df-66/s500x750/db314033521194138f470e5da614dc98f3f03a78.gifv) Now we gotta get into quirk, I mean, power training where everyone shows off their flashy powers to everyone until suddenly, oh no! Somebody accidentally unleashed a super-duper power move and is going straight for Nana! Who can possibly save the day now?! But suddenly Deku, I mean, Nanao shows off his great quirk, I mean power, that he has the ability to cancel any power! (Wait, so we’re in the Toaru series now?!) Suddenly, Nanao is super popular with everyone because of his heroic act, and Nana blushingly asks him if she can walk with him alone! Ooooh… maybe some spicy romance will come of this?! img800(https://media1.tenor.com/images/963393baa74b7dc7f5640f8ae1b8a10a/tenor.gif?itemid=19383905) The two of them reach the cliff. The wind picks up and scenery perfectly draws out Nana’s beauty in the sunset. Her eyes sparkle, thanking him for everything he’s done for her. The two get close together, wait, are we getting the kiss already? That’s pretty quick for a shounen series! When they get closer, suddenly, Nana grabs Nanao’s back and flips him off the cliff with the only thing that leaves him from falling off the cliff is a rope dangling from the cliff fence. And thus her final words before dropping Nanao off the cliff, “it is not me who is the enemy of humanity, it is you people who are the enemy of mankind.” img(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/0c/4f/b80c4fadd8acc3725a5f0600fc86bf00.gif) The chills intensify. This is where the realization sets in that everything is flipped on its head. This is not Nanao’s story, this is the story of Hiiragi Nana on her quest to eliminate everyone off the island, the true “Enemies of Humanity.” And her power? Not a real power. She actually has no power, and all her predictions shown in the first episode were good deductive skills from small details in Nanao’s words, belongings, and expression, and therefore is called Talentless Nana. But even though this first episode was incredible by introducing its premise and its twist flawlessly, this twist is also the start of its downfall because it begs to question, “Now what?” Nana even says to herself in the next episode that she can’t hide Nanao’s disappearance for much longer. So what would any smart assassin do in this scenario? Learn everyone’s powerset before attacking anyone in particular? Wait for time to pass after everyone’s calmed down to make her next move? Maybe make a large and elaborate plan to kill everyone at the same time without anyone noticing until the final climax? No, instead, she goes on a careless killing spree. For someone as “clever” as Nana proved herself to be in the first episode, she acts VERY irrationally from here on out. Nana goes on to eliminate as many people as she can one by one by picking her targets based on the “Kill Estimate Potential Amount” on her smartphone and how deadly they are according to the numbers. She doesn’t think of the consequences of her actions, leaving large tracks behind her during these murders, and making large contradictions in her testimonies when people like Kyouya Onodera, are interrogating her. Nana doesn’t even follow up with her brilliant deductive skills to fake her mind-reading ability where she straight-up asks “what are you trying to say?” and “what are you thinking?” to other people on the island. Why would someone with mind-reading powers ask “what are you thinking” to someone? Shouldn’t they already know? img(https://media1.tenor.com/images/37429203dbf2a1432b70d7984a481c86/tenor.gif?itemid=19383788) So now that many people are gone, Nana is suspiciously away during these murders, and her alias and testimonies are contradicting each other, what do the survivors have to say? And this is where the second part of “MHA X Among Us” comes in. And just like public lobbies in Among Us, everyone is too dense and stupid to put the pieces together to realize that Nana is the real “Enemy of Humanity” and continue to remain oblivious and stick their heads in the hole. All Nana has to say is “oh the Enemy of Humanity is actually lurking this island and killing that person behind our backs” and everyone just believes her. Even Kyouya, who’s pretty much-deduced everything perfectly on his own, tosses up all his evidence and says to himself, “pft, there’s not enough evidence to accuse Nana because ‘she has no reason to murder.’” This cycle continues on and on for a couple of episodes. Nana finds someone to kill, she kills that person with an “elaborate plan” with a major hole that NANA WAS WITH THEM BEFORE THEY DIED. Why do the characters still believe that the Enemy of Humanity only appears in front of Nana and not any other students? How does this make any sense? img(https://spoilerguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/tn.jpg) The following few episodes continue to follow this formula and later becomes painfully obvious that this is just the new norm. This is probably the point where everyone just closes this series for good and labels it as “the worst anime this season” because of how everyone acts and that the story progression from here on out is illogical because of everyone’s stupidity. But I beg to differ. The series takes a break from its episodic target-of-the-week formula when Nana turns her attention to the cute, small girl Michiru Inukai who has the power to heal any physical wound with her tongue, followed by the introduction of Jin Tachibana, a previous island-dweller who has the ability to shapeshift into anything he wants and also copies its abilities. At this point in Nana’s killing spree, Jin already knows that she is the murderer. But instead of reporting Nana, he instead tries to investigate Nana’s origins and motivations because as a previous island dweller, he knows something fishy is going on because something similar to this has already happened. Everyone living on the island was eliminated, and the only reason Jin got out was that he was able to shapeshift into a bird to fly back home. But when he tried going back home to his grandma, she freaked out because she didn’t remember Jin. Something was clearly not right, and he realized that reporting the murderer would do almost nothing without figuring out who was behind the murderer herself. While Jin is out figuring out more about the island situation with the help of Nana’s confiscated smartphone, Nana continues to go out and try to eliminate Michiru. But Michiru is constantly nice to Nana, healing her wounds after her multiple accidents trying to eliminate targets and also getting away from dangerous attacks even if it costs some of her life. Nana, because of her past of her dead parents and learning to trust no one, begins to question Michiru’s motivations and doubts herself on whether or not Michiru actually knows that Nana is the murderer. img600(https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/powerlisting/images/0/09/Gimlet.gif/revision/latest?cb=20201108023010) But even with multiple opportunities to kill Michiru, Nana refuses to kill her because “she might be a great alias.” Even with that excuse, Nana learns to care for Michiru and even stays by her bedside when she is unconscious for two straight days and wasting potentially valuable time that could have gone to eliminating more Talented. When Michiru finally wakes up, Nana reluctantly stays longer with Michiru to learn why Michiru was unconscious in the first place. And all Michiru said was that she did this to herself while saving some injured cats. ”But why?”, asked Michiru, “why do you give yourself up for others?” Michiru goes into her backstory, talking about how she was constantly bullied at school for being a Talented until someone who showed up in Michiru’s life that gave her power meaning to start using it for good in the world. We later learn that the girl who “saved” Michiru and became a close friend to her was actually dying from cancer, a terminal illness that Michiru can’t heal with her ability. But the message in the back of Michiru’s mind that the girl reminds her is that “it’s like knowing that eating sweets will cut your life a little shorter. You just got to live a little and accept it!” And although the girl passed away, Michiru continues to use that as her life motto that no matter what, she would use her ability to save other people’s lives. This moment indicates the true climax of the series. Nana now knows that Michiru means no harm to Nana or anyone, a matter of fact and that her true loyalty lies with saving people around her, even at the cost of her life. As Nana begins to have an internal struggle over her ideals and mission, she begins to question the authority of the people who she is fighting for and what those kill estimate numbers really mean on the smartphone they gave her. And that, my friends, is powerful. Although most of this journey’s been a painful ride because of its base on stupid characters that lead to a relatively poor storyline, Talentless Nana manages to solidify itself with an interesting continuing premise that has potential to continue going in this direction and end up becoming a truly brilliant series. People may come and say that this series is truly garbage because of these major flaws, and I cannot overlook them. However, I will continue defending this anime for bringing up a great ending to the series and bringing up more questions about the mystery behind the government and their true agenda for the Talented. img(https://static0.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Talentless-Nana-header.jpg) So yeah, I guess I’ll go read the manga now (or wait for the second season that will probably definitely not come.)~~~~~~
It was the year 20XX. Earth was assaulted by dark and edgy anime, bringing cynicism and grim moral commentary to the hearts of jaded viewers. To counter this threat, they published a light-hearted, wholesome anime: Talentless Nana. Follow the adventures of the kind and heroic Nanao and the lovable airhead Nana as they work tirelessly to help their friends and defend all of mankind. There is even romance in the air and comedic hijinks for good measure. Nana's cute, cheerful smile will melt the icy hearts of critics everywhere. The feel-good anime of the decade. [And this is where I give the obligatory spoiler warning. There are quite a few.] The point is: You can't trust synopses anymore. This is already the second series for which I have to say this in a review. This series is actually about good and evil. Not "the good heroes vs the evil monsters" kind but the more nuanced kind in which characters sometimes actually think about their moral decisions. We get something with visceral malice, dysfunctional conscience, effective dark comedy, heaps of deception and irony, and surprisingly interesting dialogue. How despicable actions can you carry out until your conscience kicks in? Anything and everything, or is there a limit? And what kind of strain will this place on your future interactions with people? If you keep lying repeatedly, how difficult it will be to convince someone when you are actually telling the truth? As a result, the drama is actually dramatic and the comedy is actually funny. The quality of the dialogue is also surprisingly high, especially including the protagonist's inner thoughts. It is written in a witty way, juxtaposing a facade of seemingly simple lines with more analytical, viscerally heavy-hitting dialogue that tramples on the appearances. Meanwhile, the plot is regularly throwing twists at the reader, and some of them can actually be surprising, which is not something that happens all that often. Now, some people call this series a "Death Note clone" or "Among Us + My Hero Academia," but I actually think it is something else. Those interpretations may have been effective at spreading word of this series and granting convenient titles to videos on Youtube, but they are also somewhat misleading. This series doesn't have to be Death Note or Among Us. It can be its own thing, and it is better that it is its own thing instead of trying to mimic those other options too closely. For instance, I don't think it is trying to be about outrageously complex mind games with characters somehow predicting dozens of moves ahead. It is more about the moral weight of murder, deception, manipulating public opinion, and exploiting people's weaknesses, and all the long-term consequences that come with those actions. There is actual moral tension, shifting moral alignments in a relatively believable way, a powerful sense of hatred and malice, dynamic character relationships strained by past deeds, and tons of delicious irony. The character relationships and interactions can be more dynamic than might appear at first. All of this also results in nice dark comedy that goes far beyond the norm. It blends in well with the drama and doesn't feel out of place. The dark comedy really is very delicious here. I often found myself laughing at the ironic deception, the thinly veiled threats, the outrageous juxtaposition between cheerful and dark thoughts, the dissonance between people's outward behavior and inner thoughts, and the relationships strained by what happened many episodes ago. It hasn't been marked with the comedy tag, but who cares? It fits my sense of humor better than most comedy I've seen in anime, manga, light novels, etc. There is also meta-commentary and subversion of various common tropes. Seemingly generic heroic characters end up as something different, and tropes related to generic main characters are showcased, then brutally subverted. A few of the characters eat up the vast majority of focus, development, and the best dialogue. But better a few good characters than none at all. And the characters should often be introduced more organically, longer before their main role is played out. The voice actors did a great job here, Nana's especially. I also liked many of the facial expressions, the color-coding for inner monologue, and some suitably over-the-top visual choices like non-existent wind indoors for a big mental showdown, complete with dramatic music. The opening and ending songs are catchy, the opening especially, and the lyrics for both are very fitting. By which I mean that they are nightmarish in a personal, knife-in-the-heart kind of way. Now let's discuss a topic people like to bring up: stupid and allegedly stupid decisions by the characters, especially some side characters, and whether this counts as luck, plot armor, or whatever. The answer is nuanced. Much of the alleged stupidity is actually deep ignorance, which is different, and the ignorance has been caused on purpose. It is revealed very early on. First, a general point: If you follow the full narrative, it is very clear that people irrationally believing in propaganda and other convenient lies is intentional. It is even clearer if you read the manga. "Humans don't believe the truth. They believe people." "People believe what they want to believe and hear what they want to hear." It is not a bug; it is a feature. The author is trying to make a point here, and he is not trying to hide it. Call it social commentary if you like. More about that below. If you abuse existing misinformation and other characters' motives, it isn't really plot armor. It is not as though you need additional coincidences for it, aside from the existence of the misinformation and the motives in the first place. Sure, some of the characters are legitimately too trusting or have issues with their mental health. ...Which can still sometimes be suboptimal writing, but that is different than plot armor. Not to mention, several of the events and beliefs are 1) explained in greater detail later on or 2) setups for future plot points with interesting payoffs. This doesn't apply to nearly everything, but sometimes you should be patient and try to look at the narrative as a whole. Well, let's go over some points and hope it won't turn into a full essay. [Obligatory spoiler alert again, though I will try to avoid saying the biggest spoilers outright. There will be many mid-sized spoilers though.] 1) Blaming the Enemies of Humanity In Among Us and also in Danganronpa, for instance, the players and the characters are immediately told that there are killers among them. That is the premise. Here that is not the case, and there are potential scapegoats, most notably the dreaded "Enemies of Humanity." Original name, I know. (Nice troll, author.) Anyway, these aliens conveniently happen to be invisible or be able to influence people's minds, or at least that is what many characters believe. And why is that? Because the belief has been perpetuated by decades of government propaganda, all the way down to their textbooks. Often you don't even need to suggest to them that the Enemies of Humanity are at fault; they will recite their textbooks and general knowledge and come up with the idea by themselves. This is a central part of the premise that was established immediately, and even before the events of the series, most of the characters had assumed that these aliens were already on the island, so of course that is their default explanation for problems. In the absence of strong evidence to the contrary, they will believe the alien option. Imagine a story in which the characters genuinely fight against aliens. If a few of them die, would their first assumption be blaming a human killer? No, that would be the wrong genre. Though usually the aliens are not quite as well hidden. Is it dumb to believe in government propaganda and conspiracy theories? Sure. It says something about people's poor critical reading skills. But that is only to be expected. Mankind is dumb like that. Look at the conspiracy theories tens of millions of real-life people believe in with far lesser propaganda efforts, not to mention their belief in all kinds of entities without empirical evidence. Keeping that in mind, they are mostly reasonable in not assuming that there is a grand government conspiracy out to get them. Come on, that can't be real, right? There is seemingly no evidence of it. So if that particular conspiracy happens to be real, they are walking into it blind. Good job with the brainwashing, shady government conspirators. There is a nice quote about it later on. "People believe what they want to believe and hear what they want to hear. ... How would that benefit them?" (I omitted a part there to tone down the spoilers.) Incidentally, the idea of mind-controlling aliens is also a setup for a future plot point. It has some ironic payoff that I don't want to spoil too much. 2) Suspicious alien attack Stabbed by an invisible alien? Suspicious, right? Yes, but if you have been indoctrinated into believing that invisible aliens are a thing, less so. And there was no apparent motive for the self-stabbing anyway, so figuring it out required several logical steps that indoctrinated people would not bother to take. Still, Kyoya rightfully points out that it is suspicious that it retreated after a single attack, and he isn't wrong, but let's think about it for a minute. If the best this alien can do is a relatively weak stab attack, and the building is full of super-powered humans about to rush in, retreating might not be a bad idea. Even if it is invisible, it isn't hard to guess where it is if it tries to stab people. But maybe it would opt to self-sacrifice to take out the mind-reader, probably a big threat. That would have been an interesting argument for Kyoya to make. 3) Why not reveal everything to the class the moment you learn the truth? Without evidence? That wouldn't go so well. And they lacked evidence, with the exception of Tsunekichi. (More about that below.) Second, for many of them, it would not have helped them achieve their goals. I am not going to go through each person's motives individually. 4) Just ask her to read your mind It happens multiple times during the series, and there are plausible ways out of them. And there apparently are convenient limitations to her mind-reading ability. Nana states that she cannot reliably focus on specific thoughts or parse very specific pieces of information from them, including particular strings of letters or numbers such as passwords. Also, the presence of many people creates background noise that can cover the target's thoughts. And it is not as though the students are constantly badgering each other to show off their powers. Even with a mind-reader it is natural to primarily try to have a normal conversation. Would you really ask them to focus on your thoughts instead of talking? Then they might find out things that you don't want them to, and it would be considered rude regardless. 5) Precognitive photos Tsunekichi had strong empirical reasons to trust the accuracy of the photos. He had tried to defy them before, but it had never worked. What was dumb was not anticipating what was done with the photos, though it was true that the tampered material had not been handed over voluntarily, which made it seem more plausible. The way his character was written, it seems that his fatalism had turned him so passive and uncaring of anything that he could barely be bothered to take any measures to protect himself. He is someone who had given up on actively living his life for the most part. So I guess you can substitute stupidity for mental illness. By the way, here is a possible interpretation of how the photos work: It seems clear that the predictions made by the photos take into consideration how the characters react to those photos. Tsunekichi was refusing to head to the murder scene before the photos were tampered with, and that happened because of the existence of the initial photos. Nothing that happens to fulfill the photos ever seems to violate normal laws of physics. The conditions just happen to be right for the outcomes. So the events had to progress roughly the way they did because otherwise the pictures would not have come true, and they had to come true. The events played out as they did because the characters are who they are. It is not as though we should assume that people have metaphysical free wills. Their actions are predictable, at least by some superpowers that can make normally impossible calculations. If Tsunekichi was the kind of person who would reveal the information to the class or would figure out that the fake photo was fake, he likely would not have got the photos in the first place because then the existence of the photos likely would have prevented those events, and he only gets photos that come true. He could have got a different set of incriminating photos though. If this is the case, what actually ruined Tsunekichi was his fatalism because that is what lead him to behave as he did. Tl;dr: It is all about causality and determinism. (Let's not get into a quantum mechanics fight in this context, please.) 6) Mind-reading the spirits of the deceased "But that is not how mind-reading works!" Well, how does mind-reading work in real life then? Let alone in this fictional world? Yeah, I thought so. Also, they were already doing necromancy in the same room; speaking to the spirit of the corpse is only a few more steps beyond that. Some talents can be broad and multi-purpose, developing into slightly different directions than what you'd initially expect. This seems especially apparent after reading the manga further. That doesn't mean that the ability can't be too convenient in that particular situation. That applies to many other talents though, including the necromancy that was literally going on in the same room. This isn't about tactics, but I did find the irony pretty funny. It is adding insult to injury: first the person gets killed, and then people are pretending to speak on behalf of his spirit. 7) No autopsy Tsunekichi was running around telling everyone about the girlfriend thing, so her being the victim of blackmail, assault, etc. was very plausible, most of which was actually true. If she had killed him, it would have probably been by stabbing or blunt trauma, but there were no signs of those. And in that case, she would have openly admitted to self-defence. (The method of killing was the reason against that option.) 8) No zombie "autopsy" People were crept out by the necromancy and allegedly Tsunekichi's suffering on top of that. The decision comes down to how willing they are to torture Tsunekichi's soul to maybe learn about the Enemies of Humanity. I could see them not caring about him and going through with it anyway, so it is reasonable to argue that it was out of character for some of them. You can call it dumb if you like, or being too kind-hearted. It is not ruthlessly efficient, for sure. Maybe Kyoya would have liked to go through with it anyway, but the others would have dragged him out of the room if necessary. 9) Letting a captive free in exchange for help Letting another character free in exchange for letting them use their talent to "speak" to their loved one beyond the grave. That isn't plot armor though, more like emotionally manipulating people by abusing their romantic feelings and state of mind. First of all, she was not planning to kill her captive at that point anyway, and only decided on that later. Exposing everything to the class wouldn't work because of the lack of evidence. She should have taken more precautions though. Barricading the door, for instance. Though it was plausible, given the state of mind of the person in question. But still, barricade the door. Then they probably would have had to talk their way out of it. 10) "Barricading" in a shed The point of the plan is that it wears the opponent down and makes her easier to find while also lowering the chance of her exposing anything to the class. (Not that she had any evidence, and it would have run contrary to her motive anyway.) The time of sunrise was not a deus ex machina because it is easily predictable. The real problem was whether sunlight would deactivate the zombies. Even though it was very likely that sunlight had some effect, judging by the time of day a particular zombie appeared in school, it was not certain that all zombies are equally affected, and furthermore it was possible that the sunlight worked on the zombies too slowly. If they immediately went on a full assault, maybe there would have been enough time to get something done. There was the threat of a hypothetical trap, but still. 11) Blindly following the leader Yes, it is dumb to blindly follow charismatic leaders, but that is what people do. They follow their Great Leaders and trust their words. Look around and read the news. People are actually pretty dumb in that sense. 12) Not seeing through facades in general Yes, it is dumb to let yourself be too easily influenced by a nice smile, kind demeanor, and convenient words. People are dumb like that. Well, I suppose realism isn't everything in fiction though. Narratively, many of the scenes are supposed to be about emotional manipulation instead of foolproof game-theoretical solutions. And you don't really see the latter pretty much anywhere in fiction; you pretty much only get impossible predictions and unlikely coincidences, with a few exceptions. There is of course room for improvement in the manipulation department too, though it was still very amusing to see. 13) Too often near the victims Well, three times as far as most characters think. Still, it creates more suspicion, as mentioned several times and especially addressed during the events of episodes 4 and 8. Not to mention that being the leader puts her in contact with more people, which makes her a likely witness. This was stated multiple times. 14) Michiru is gullible and trusts her friends too much Literally canon. Even the narrative openly acknowledges it. It was done on purpose because it is used in a few later plot points. In the case of the incriminating photo, there is also the additional point that based on earlier photos, it seemed that they could indeed be inaccurate. It still should have rung alarm bells though. 15) Why not call the phone instead of a body search? Sounds and other alerts can be turned off, you know. It might be worth a shot though because it is not like there is any downside to it, even if the chances of it working are low. 16) Why don't they simply have the military level the island? Explained in episode 2. They have to know enough about the abilities first, and even if you ask them first, they won't always be honest. And an all-out assault may be too apparent, and word might get out. It is still an option if all else fails. 17) Why doesn't the school take the deaths and disapperances more seriously? Remember what the purpose of the school is. Why would they? The idea of having them stay on the island is addressed a bit more closely later on anyway. And they did halt the classes when the corpses of the victims started showing up. 18) Why don't they halt the classes the moment some people stop showing up for class? Then they would never have class because they keep skipping class anyway. 19) Why don't the students take more action? The moment victims start appearing, they increasingly go hide in their rooms. Gathering everyone in one place or trying to leave the island would be problematic too. That said, some of them are not barricading in hard enough, and you can see the result. On the other hand, isolating too much can make it easier to be picked off one by one, especially if there really is an alien menace or a third-party killer around. They could set up a system for keeping tabs on each other in some organized way, not that it would be foolproof. If you try to move around in groups, people will be reluctant to do so if they can't trust the other members. This is even more of a problem if there really are mind-controlling aliens who can influence people with weak psyches. Then people really would bunker down in their rooms, whether it is rational or not. Giving Nana some kind of security escort would have been a good idea though. 20) Just go look for the aliens By wandering in the woods in small groups? Or burning down the woods altogether? I suppose they could do so, not that it would help much against invisible aliens. They could also attack spam in a systematic way and see if they manage to land lucky hits. I think barricading in their rooms is the more likely action they would take though. 21) Should have done more research This is a great idea, actually. The schemes would have been more effective if they had done much more research into the characters' abilities beforehand. And they probably should have. The downside is that it gives the enemies more time to organize, as was about to happen, but it probably would have been worth it anyway. 22) How about not revealing that you are a mind-reader and leaving the talent question open? Not a terrible idea because several students do that. It comes with its pros and cons though. It makes you appear more suspicious because people will be cautious of your unknown ability. Though mind-reading is already quite powerful in its own way. Not revealing it also removes the chance to tell people the helpful "info" that mind-reading brings. And if mind-reading is only your fallback option, people will be upset that they only learned about it afterwards. 23) The schemes are too simple Simple schemes are actually more effective. Why would you want your schemes to be so complex that you need multiple flowcharts? In real life, you can't predict other people's actions with arbitrary precision. The kinds of schemes that rely on outrageous predictions against astronomical odds will probably fail. Of course, there are many works of fiction (including quite a few anime, manga, light novels, visual novels, etc.) in which characters carry out such predictions and are lauded as geniuses. But they are not actually geniuses because the works do not present the actual means to carry out those predictions. Here the plans are plausible to construct. Here the narrative at least presents plausible and semi-plausible explanations for the events instead of the usual completely arbitrary impossible predictions and very unlikely coincidences. I would rather take flawed human reasoning than the kind of reasoning that is impossible for anyone except the omniscient. Yes, I prefer characters to be fallible humans than perfect (or "perfect") god-like entities. Anyway, in summary, Talentless Nana is a wholesome anime for light-hearted fun. Would recommend.
Talentless Nana gave everything that 2020 was meant to be, a great psychological/thriller anime built with a fantastic plot that never disappointed, the story is about a trauma suffering kid who is manipulated to kill talented people who have specials abilities that defy the rules of reality in this review I will be giving my thoughts on the plot, characters, animation, sound and lastly enjoyment. As always make sure to check out my other reviews and follow me on Anilist and discord if you want to debate about the opinions and thought that I gave in this review. Discord: Chungu5#1753 __Plot __ Talentless Nana is a story about a young girl tasked to kill talented human being’s whist attending these specials school and not getting caught, kinda like among us except its 1v30 and the crewmates have special abilities. These talented human beings are gifted abilities that defy the rules of reality and are considered enemies of humanity by the humans (humans with no abilities), the talented and their families are conned to enrol their children into these special school which is placed on an island that is isolated by humanity. The main character Nana is perceived to be very skilled and very cunning which is fuelled by her desire to kill the talented humans, the story doesn’t disappoint in developing characters and showcasing the skills and kills that take place with every little detail explained with logical thinking behind it, one killing that truly fascinated me was the killing of Tsunekichi Hatadaira, Hatadarias ability is that he can print images up to and including 5 images that depict the future which cannot be changed, this fascinated me because Nana was able to manipulate the images that Hatadaira printed while he was asleep then replace them so that Hatadaira would believe that he had won which unfortunately led to his downfall as Hatadaira character and including most talented students is that they are unbelievably cocky and arrogant in their abilities. This is just one of the many masterclasses the story gave us in Talentless Nana. __Characters __ Nana was written immaculately they way she dealt with accusation struggle and meticulously slide her way out of bad scenarios throughout the series was impeccable not only that but as the story went on we began to see glimpse after glimpse of Nana's back story which had not been mention at all, the way her character started to break down when she finally said her back story to Michiru truly showed another side to her, not once did she break down or lose control when killing her target nor once did she began to doubt her self if these killings were meaningful, but at that moment we began to see a slow but steady shift of Nana character from being this imposter like character to now being this neo crewmate it was truly amazing. On the other hand, the story did an amazing job of fueling her anger, every episode she would plan/kill one of her fellow students and the audience will be left in awe and confused to not knowing what her motives were but as the episodes and development went on it became clear who the catalyst for Nana was and the constant anger that she had. img(https://64.media.tumblr.com/8929d90db259273b25bbc4fed195766c/31cf7219ef6d3bfd-3e/s400x600/0802ea69f2323bd05d3fb1551e4521df32d6deda.gifv) __Animation __ Not much can be said about the animation it was not terrible but at the same time, it was not unique. This may be because this animation is not entirely relied upon cool battles and action but more dialogue and psychological aspects, however, the art and character styles do a great job of perceiving fear throughout the show, those large eyeballs and dead bodies do give an accurate representation of the fear and thriller genre that is trying to be expressed in this piece of work while also maintaining this lovely dovey type of aura some of the characters give, all in all, the characters may not look the best but when fear and shock is experience the art of the characters is a sight to be seen. img(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/0c/4f/b80c4fadd8acc3725a5f0600fc86bf00.gif) __Sound__ The opening gives us a sinister vibe while also trying to show fear and danger that is to be seen in the upcoming episode whereas the ending always gives the audience hope that the talented will find out the killer and always leaves Nana in a sticky situation, this amazed me because both openings and endings both are juxtapositions to each other they both counter each other spreading different messages at different parts of the episode. __Enjoyment __ This show was truly an amazing show to watch, looking back at 2020 this anime does stand out with the rise of among us and the countless Talentless Nana references said while playing, it was truly great and worth picking up this series. The countless times I was left on my heels wanting to watch next weeks episode but couldn’t because I was watching it weekly truly hurt a lot, this alone is enough for me to know that I truly enjoyed this show. __Overall __ I would highly recommend people picking up this series as the thill, the dialogue and psychological warfare is immaculate. Talentless Nana truly showed what an anime adaptation of among us would look like and frankly it did not disappoint. I thank you guys for spending time reading my review make sure to check out my other reviews on Akudama drive and Haikyu as always if you want to debate or just want to talk add me on anilist or Discord. I also recently created a discord server for people to post their reviews on seasonal and just normal anime/manga so if you want to join feel free to join. Discord: Chungu5#1753
_________________ ~~~__[Munou na Nana: A Review]()__~~~ _________________ Munou na Nana (or, if you didn't pick it up from context, Talentless Nana) centres around a girl called Nana (who I didn't realise was the protagonist until a couple of episodes in) attempting to deceive a group of superpowered teenagers into thinking she is one of them in order to murder them all. There's plenty of interesting subplots and there's enough cliffhangers to rival Dover, but there's a few problems that I would like to get into. As I implied in the title, this series feels like something of a watered-down Death Note to me. There's plenty to like if you enjoyed Death Note, but it's nowhere near as good. If you've got this far without having watched the series first, I should probably warn you that there's spoilers ahead. _________________ ~~~__Ratings: [18/25]()__~~~ _________________ __Premise: [4/5]()__ The concept of a school full of superpowered teenagers is nothing rare these days (my favourite example being [Toaru Majutsu no Index](https://anilist.co/anime/4654/A-Certain-Magical-Index/), but this particular series probably more resembles [Boku no Hero Academia](https://anilist.co/anime/21459/My-Hero-Academia/)), but I don't think there's many series involving a powerless girl attempting to use nothing but ingenuity and wit to murder all of them in cold blood. Ignoring the relatively generic setting, it's a very cool concept. __Story: [3/5]()__ Munou na Nana relies heavily on cliifhangers to keep the viewer interested. This isn't exactly a bad thing, as it does get you wondering what's going to happen next week (for about ten minutes after watching, anyway), but it gets to the point where you can expect them at the end of every episode and you can be pretty secure in the fact that the story you're watching will absolutely not have a satisfactory ending within the episode. Another thing that gets pretty tiring is Nana's plot armour. It makes sense that, against a group of teenagers with (largely) relatively average mental capacities, a girl like Nana would have a level of protection set up against most of the Talenteds' potential actions, but there's some stuff at which I've rolled my eyes at just how contrived some stuff is. Especially when she worms her way out of Kyoya's grasp despite the latter having nearly solid proof of her misdeeds. I do have to say that there are quite a few twists and turns that I didn't expect; the appearance of the shapeshifting dude was certainly unexpected, for example. In my opinion, this doesn't completely nullify my above complaints, but it's easy to forget about them when something unprecedented and, frankly, awesome happens. __Music: [3/5]()__ The insert music in the series is _alright_. It's a little generic in places, but it's in no way bad, and [Yasuhara Takanashi](https://anilist.co/staff/100070/Yasuharu-Takanashi) (who also worked on Naruto Shippuden and Fairy Tail, among others) did a pretty good job of underscoring certain moments and adding extra drama. The opening is definitely listenable, and made its way into my playlist, but like the score, it's nothing special. Relatively normal as openings go, with a pretty talented woman belting out some good vocals over a hard-rock background, but there's nothing about it that makes it any better than that for any other series. I only remember listening to the ED once, and I don't remember liking it very much. A lot softer than the OP, which may be some peoples' thing (and definitely fits well for an ending) for sure. Again, though, nothing too special. __Execution: [4/5]()__ I like what's been done with the execution of the series. The voice acting is great - albeit nothing that will go down in the ages - with [Rumi Ookubo](https://anilist.co/staff/107041/Rumi-Ookubo) (who's built a fairly impressive repertoire with roles such as Fate's Astolfo and Nona from Death Parade) able to switch perfectly between Nana's bubbly, 'outside' personality and her cold, dark inner self, and [Mai Nakahara](https://anilist.co/staff/95031/Mai-Nakahara) giving Michiru Inukai her cutesy, airheaded personality with a voice so rhythmic that I could swear her lines were done with a metronome. The animation is generally solid; the style is a little childish compared to the subject matter, but if that's the artist's style, I can't argue. However, there are some extremely out-of-place moments. One that comes to mind is in Episode 10, when Nana collapses into the water; her smile is probably meant to look cool (and I can see how it might have been intended as such) but it just looks so weird, and it's enough to ruin one's immersion in the series. __Enjoyment: [4/5]()__ For me, this was an incredibly fun series to watch. It keeps a good level of tension throughout, and knows when to ease it off for some comedic or emotional scenes. I enjoyed it very much in the same way that I enjoyed Death Note; seeing Nana and Kyoya act friendly and helpful to each other is quite reminiscent of the dynamic between Light and L. But that might be what drops my score for this from a 5 to a 4; while I watched it, I couldn't help but compare the two shows throughout, and having watched Death Note first, this series feels like a somewhat disappointing tribute. ______________ ~~~__Favourite Character: [Kyoya Onodera]()__~~~ ______________ ~~~ img220(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/69ULtQqL6hk/maxresdefault.jpg) img220(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/db/f6/b1/dbf6b10a1888debc89c4ad4af6568997.png) ~~~ There are plenty of interesting characters who pop up in this series, bringing with them a host of Talents and personalities. But none of them are able to stick around as long as Kyoya. He's consistently a force able to counter and sometimes outsmart Nana, while maintaining an extraordinarily human side of himself through his desire to understand and befriend his fellow students. His Talent isn't that exciting or unique, but the rest of his character certainly is. __________________ ~~~__Favourite Scene: [The Murder of Nanao Nakajima]()__ __________________ youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgHr8gslSTk)~~~ This scene was truly chilling to me. Before this, Nana was just a sweet girl with a heart of gold and a major problem related to her Talent. But it was this scene that reminded everybody watching what the true nature of this show is, as well as Nana's uncanny ability to manipulate and deceive those around her. Truly a brilliant start to the series. __________________ ~~~__Summary__~~~ __________________ One thing I wanted to mention was how the series handles Nana's character development. At first, I thought it wasn't a great move leaving it so late into the series (as we recently saw from [Kamisama ni Natta Hi](https://anilist.co/anime/118419/The-Day-I-Became-a-God/), attempting to squeeze as much as possible into the last few episodes truly doesn't go well), but as I thought more about it, I think it works, as it puts us in a similar position to the Talenteds watching her. As her classmates see her carefully-constructed facade slowly crumbles away (particularly in front of Kyoya and Michiru), we see increasingly significant pieces of her youth and her backstory, giving us a reason as to why she's doing it while reflecting the progression of the actual story. It also dedicates more time in the first few episodes to Nana's struggle against Kyoya and the inventive ways in which she carries out her murders. Altogether, I would recommend this series to anyone looking for an exciting time without many strings attached. It does a decent job of creating attachments to the new characters introduced practically every episode, although it can feel a little overwhelming trying to remember who's who. Nana's plot armour is a consistent issue, but when you watch this series, it's usually the case that you're having enough fun to ignore that. I think that the series could be renewed for a second season (like many others, I want to find out what happens to Nana, Michiru, and the rest but I simply do not want to read the manga) and could definitely benefit from some fine-tuning in the animation department.
~~~__Among Us x Shounen__~~~ ___ No matter who you are, there's something for everyone in this show. Powers, drama, murder, it has it all. And better yet, it''s set up like among us with shounen aspects which makes it all the more worth watching. If you'd like to explore this tongue-twister of a series blind, feel free to skip to the __Tl:Dr__. Otherwise, let us dive into this interesting story. ~~~__Twisted Wonder__~~~ _____ Munou na Nana follows Nana, a girl sent to an island full of "talented" kids with the task to kill them but she has to do it all undetected. Talenteds come in all shapes and sizes and their powers could do almost everything, but all with a price. Nana is also tasked with playing the role of a talented as to stay under the radar and out of the suspicions of her peers. She comes across and your normal, happy-go-lucky girl but is hiding her skilled prowess and cunning skills of deception which she uses to achieve her goal but everything that glitters ain't gold. ~~~__The Talented and The Talentless Imposter__~~~ ___ At first glance, all characters remind you of popular shounen anime like MHA, One Piece, Fairy Tail, etc. All the way down to their powers and mannerisms, there's no shortage of similarities between this and them. Especially since most of the side characters are just that- side characters. But, I will say, Nana's whole role in this story throws a plot twist unlike anything seen in most shounen or even any other genre. Her aforementioned prowess makes her character flourish and to see how brilliantly she was written could almost bring tears to your eyes. To see her interact with each character to lure them into a trap or to throw them off her scent is phenomenal and reminds you of playing Among Us. A game of cat and mouse, survival of the fittest but the predator is supposedly weaker than the prey which just makes Nana and the talenteds so interesting. Unfortunately, the character development that we see within Nana is definitely a slow burn, making it harder to piece it all together until the very end but that's something a possible season two could fix and expand on; especially with the evolution of her character and the organization who sent her. ~~~__Dark Tones Make a Decent Thriller__~~~ ___ In some of the recent seasonal anime, the animation has either been really good or really bad. So where does this show fall? things that make a good horror/psychological/thriller anime are dark colors, dark tones and messages, and of course- murder. _Munou na Nana_ is a prime example of what it is like to show these elements and present them well enough for the animation to be considered good. While this is not the best of these genres that I'm sure most people have seen, it is really good and does better than most anime that attempt to do the same thing. Every moment in the show is greatly accompanied with the appropriate colors and tones for the situation and while it doesn't necessarily add to the characters actions to make you scared or afraid, it still adds to the effect of the story and makes for a decent show to watch overall. ~~~__Tl;Dr__~~~ ___ I really enjoyed this show. Every episode had a different plot twist with both more questions and answers that added to the interest of the story. I really enjoyed the antics of Nana and Kyoya, the constant back and forth they had was fun to watch and the way things ended make for a possible second season arising. This was a really good series and while it does have many troupes that can turn people off, I encourage you to just keep going, keep watching and it will surprise you. Take the show for what it is, Among Us at its core with drama and shounen tendencies. Enjoy the ride! __~8.5/10__ ___ Aaannnnd we're done! I hope you enjoyed this one, this was a series I wasn't expecting to enjoy as much as I do but I hope it gave you some insight. Thank you for reading and I hope you consider checking out my other [reviews](https://anilist.co/user/SaJewise/reviews).
Les _super-héros_.. Vu comme un fantasme chez beaucoup de personne qui est souvent reliée au respect,
au sens du devoir ou encore comme dirais un homme : Un grand pouvoir implique de grande
responsabilité..
__Mais__ que se passe t-il quand nos héros sont simplement considéré comme des dangers public ?
Et bien _Munou na Nana_ va nous compter ce qui pourrait arriver..
___~~~L'éradication des prodiges~~~___
L'histoire va suivre un groupe de classe qu'on surnomme ''prodige'' qui sont regrouper sur une petite
ile pour combattre : L'ennemi de l'humanité.
ils sont représenter par des créatures effrayantes avec diverse capacité. On va suivre Nakajima, un
étudiant qui ne possède pas de pouvoir : Mais arrive 2 nouveaux élèves __Onodera Kyoya__, un garçons
Mystérieux et froid qui ne souhaite pas dévoiler son pouvoir, puis __Nana Hiiragi __
qui a comme pouvoir de lire dans les pensées et le prouve assez ''facilement''.
Elle va se lier d'amitié avec Nakajima qui dévoile que son pouvoir est de contrer les pouvoirs des
autres il a une capacité de dirigé le groupe !
Mais Nakajima ce fais tuer par Nana : Elle est ici pour tuer tout le monde car l'ennemi de l'humanité
ce sont eux ! Elle possède aucun pouvoir elle a fais preuve de son propre pouvoir : La logique.
L'histoire commence de manière cliché et embêtante on ne va pas se le cacher entre des personnages
fortement inspirée de ___Boku no hero___ avec des comportement endormissement.. Mais le fais qu'on va
se concentrer sur Nana et Kyoya va rendre l'histoire bien meilleur. Entre les stratagème utilise par
Nana pour tuer, s'innocenter, manipuler on a une bonne trame mais il y a un problème ici pour moi :
Nana a évoquer le fait de sa lecture dans les pensée mais elle est maligne et va mettre en avant La
Logique pour créer son pouvoir. Le fais que ce sont des Lycéen peux intelligent permet a Nana de se
sortir de la premiers situation car je serais le premier a la tester sur son pouvoir il y a beaucoup
de contre comme une pensée précise mais bon.
Mise a part celui le combat commence contre Kyoya et Nana et cela donne un bon anime ou chaque erreur
pour Nana est cruciale. La naïveté des jeunes prodiges va permettre a Nana de se battre et même contre
les plus intelligent.
___~~~Un massacre mais a quelle prix ?~~~___
Nana décime chaque élève par le biais d'une organisation qui ''représente'' les Humains sans pouvoirs.
Cependant, il faut comprendre comment Nana est venue a devenir comme cela.
J'ai eu peur d’avoir aucune explication a ce niveau mais la fin nous a permis de mieux comprendre la
noirceur de notre personnage : Nana est une personne qui a perdu toute ses émotions suite a
l'assassinat de ses deux parents a cause d'un prodige.. Le problème est que cela est du a son
inattention a fermer sa fenêtre a clé. Sa culpabilité grandissante va lui poussé sous la tutelled'un
instructeur sévère a devenir impitoyable et enfouir sa tristesse SAUF quelle va rencontre durant sa
mission d'extermination Michiru Inukai. Une gentille fille qui a comme pouvoir de faire disparaitre
les blessures avec sa langue. Cella ci va être souvent avec Nana MAIS elle ne tourne en aucun cas
autour d'elle ce qui est très positif car l'anime aurait pus tourner autour du fais que une fille
puisse ramener Nana a la raison.
Vers les derniers épisode, Nana s'ouvre plus envers Michiru et celle ci dévoile son passé sans rentrer
dans les détail croustillant : Michiru évoque que Nana n'a rien fait de mal concernant c'est parent en
expliquant pourquoi ( je vous incite a aller voir ;) ) Ce qui va bloquer notre anti-héros car elle
devient amie avec l'ennemie mais elle se rends compte de la bienveillance de cette personne c'est la
première fois quelle reçoit cela..
~!L'anime se termine par la mort de celle ci car Nana a décidé de la sauver contre son agresseur!~ (
on constate que un élève commence a vouloir prendre le dessus.. et je pense que ce ne sera pas le
dernier..) ce qui suit une scène très touchante de l'amélioration du pouvoir de son amie car Nana
mourrait, et celle ci avait comme contrepartie de pouvoir de voir son espérance de vie baisser a
chaque utilisation.. Vous imaginez bien que cette fille en abusais car sa bonté est trop grande.
Nana c'est fais une amie au prix de la perdre. Cela vaut-il le coup de continuer ? Sa haine va prendre
le dessus envers l'ignorance, l'arrogance des prodiges ou bien va t-elle essayer de les diriger vers
le bon chemin ?
~~~___Un design caractérisant l’atmosphère de Talentless Nana___ ~~~
Bridge, le studio animant l'anime ( Fairy Tail 2014) a sut créer de vrai passage qui montre l'horreur
dans cette anime. Il y a peu de scène gore mais la représentation de certain personnages fait froid
dans le dos ou montre un élément déclencheur
~~~___Ost plutôt Mystérieuse ? Douce ? ou pourquoi pas les deux ?___~~~
J'ai apprécié les ost présent dans cette œuvre : On avait un coté mystérieux avec l'ost si dessous qui
alimente bien des scènes ou Nana est dans une impasse ce qui donne un bon coté.
youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IGGIrjLUvc)
Ou encore celle ci qui change totalement de registre et nous rends compatissante envers Nana qui a
massacré des Innocents :youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIhxS8qJ5WU)
Petit point a rajouté est que l'ending pourrait faire office de opening et vice versa.
~~~___Une tueuse impitoyable au cœur vide___~~~
Munou na Nana a été une très bonne surprise : Au fur a mesure que les épisodes avance j'ai beaucoup
aimé les personnages principales j'ai encore plus accroché dans le personnage de Nana avec la fin de
l'anime car son personnage est si intéressant et torture aussi il faut l'avouer. Cependant c'est un
choix risquée d'utiliser les super-héros en premier ligne. Mais je trouve que le paris est bien
réussit malgré que certaine personnage aurait pus être mieux approfondis ou étudié. J'attends avec
impatience une suite pour me faire un avis total mais il vaut le détour !
TL;DR Vis-à-vis the likes of Among Us and Danganronpa, Talentless Nana shines in its active plot and main character as well as its surprisingly good, interesting worldbuilding. As a standalone anime, it’s likely it will hook anyone interested in the genre, though not particularly unique or groundbreaking and with some minor, illogical gaps in part of the characters. However, as an ongoing manga series, it also has yet more to prove for anyone to definitely say it’s coherently, consistently good. Despite that, I enjoyed it a whole lot. (P.S. Don’t read any wikia character pages, please.) --- Talentless Nana is often likened to the games Among Us and Danganronpa, understandably so when its very premise is about killing others and not getting caught. Instead of the classic whodunnit, we have the reverse: we follow the one who did it in Talentless Nana through the lens and worldview of its protagonist, Nana Hiiragi. I’d like to use this review to mostly contest that likening a bit and shed light on what makes Talentless Nana unique and separate despite its sometime predictability both in story and characters. (Disclaimer: It may seem like an unfair comparison, but I hope it would more or less serve as a different point of view on whether or not it’s a good show for you.) --- __Premise __ Talentless Nana primarily takes place within the island full of the Talented, who are isolated from the rest of the Talentless world in order to hone their respective powers and defeat the ‘Enemies of Humanity’. Unbeknownst to the other Talented, one of them is an imposter: a regular, Talentless person assigned to assassinate all of them. It is an active story. Danganronpa, in all of its 3 main installments, is primarily about 15-16 high school students that are the cream of the crop in their respective talents (nothing supernatural though) who are forcefully, suddenly isolated from the outside world, and the only way to escape is to kill someone and not get caught. As any of the game’s protagonists, you won’t do the killing. It’s why Danganronpa is kind of a passive story: you have to wait for someone to be motivated to kill. It’s only then that the chapter truly begins with the classic whodunnit. It’s understandable why it’s passive given that, but it’s already one thing that sets it apart. As for the other premise being the existence of talents, the non-shounen action reading/watching person in me is merely inclined to say it’s rather cohesively well done, though perhaps not as intricate as the likes of HxH or BNHA. Each talent and its accompanying weakness is interesting, especially in this setting. What advantage or handicap will the killer and the victim experience given such weaknesses? --- __Worldbuilding__ The synopsis of the show alone may feel weird, cheap, typical, I dunno. What sells it to me, though, is how it has little hints of the larger sociopolitical scheme present in its overall world that eventually open up further into the story—more so in the manga—and it’s exactly what interestingly sets it apart to Danganronpa especially. It’s the main driving force of the antagonists’ motivations; it creates tension between the Talented and Talentless, and it very well should since the existence of the Talented with their practically supernatural, world-breaking powers forever changed their society, how it works, and its people. It’s a concept not usually delved upon in other stories dealing with people with powers, and I daresay Talentless Nana is on the right step in tackling it. Although the story is sometimes predictable and definitely not groundbreaking, it’s not in the same way as Danganronpa. In the latter, however (un)predictable each case becomes, you know for sure that the main character will survive and win against the big bad. It’s a game after all, so the point is to eventually win and not net a game over. You’ll only have to guess and hope who within the rest of the cast will also survive. In Talentless Nana, however, there’s a certain degree of tension and hype that will leave you wanting to know more. In fact, it’s set up in a way that makes you want to be invested in Nana and her interactions with other characters, as well as in how smoothly her killings will go. Will she finally be caught? Will she f up somehow, or will someone f it up for her? Will something happen for her to arouse suspicion? Will something change from her original plan as she interacts with the others? What kind of twists or conflicts can I expect? The way it riles up interest is nothing unique, but hey, it works. --- __Characters__ I think anyone can admit Danganronpa’s characters are very stereotypical anime tropes. It’s nothing bad, and I love some of them for sure, but we can also admit that some of them are only ever fleshed out in the optional Free Time Events (read: social simulation aspects of the game). However, Talentless Nana is lacking in that regard. It has a rather big cast, though it can only focus on its more prominent characters; it has no time to delve too much into the others. It’s kind of why the lack of acknowledgement that the other characters exist feels off—from their reactions to the story to their involvement with the rest of the class, some just suddenly appear and get introduced when deemed convenient by the plot. This is very apparent in the manga as well, so I’d say this is a rather fatal flaw that the story just conveniently brushes that off as something unimportant (e.g. “too engrossed and prideful about their talents to care”) but kinda actually is. How about the prominent characters then? I’ll focus on three that I’m invested in. Being our main point of view in the story, Nana is rather okay. You’ll be invested in her as she actively drives the story, but it takes time for you to truly sympathize with her. It’s only then that you feel more for her, that there’s more to it to her than just her cunningness and logic. You can bet that I’m personally interested in how she further grows in the manga. Then we have Kyoya Onodera, who is essentially the detective, foil character to Nana that makes their relationship likened to Death Note’s L and Light (not that I remember that story anyway). His quirks humanize and make him interesting a lot beyond his role in the story, though unfortunately it feels like it’s either his characterization is already done or is still getting to whatever development level Nana has gotten. To be fair, it’s understandable since he’s not the main character, but it would personally be an interesting sight given his existence as a contrast to Nana. Last that I’ll mention is Michiru Inukai. She’s a very sweet, innocent cinnamon roll you want to protect. You know and have seen her trope multiple times, yet there’s something about the way her character is constructed that makes her lovable. It’s nothing unique, really; it’s a simple characterization that so happens to gel well with the chaos present in the story, making you invested in her despite not having so much of a central role as the other two. --- __Art/Music__ I usually never delve upon this since I have no artistic senses, but I’d say Talentless Nana, both as an anime and manga, has pretty good, consistent art and music. --- __Rating__ Accounting for mere personal enjoyment, I’d give it a 9/10 for being able to hook me into its premise—like any good psychological thriller. However, for a more objective review, I’d give it a 7/10 (or in this case, 75/100): some story gaps here and there, some illogical character reactions explained by convenient cop outs. As a standalone anime, I’d say it’s sufficiently enjoyable nonetheless, but the story has so much to go for that even the manga has yet to touch upon yet, so this rating may easily change as the years come by. It’s an easy recommendation to anyone wanting some excitement brought by a psychological thriller involving killing, and the worldbuilding it has made regarding the Talented is just icing on the cake. However, I don’t think I can recommend it to people who want a consistently paced, deeper story; an intricate lore or conspiracy; and/or a more *collectively* intelligent cast that brings something to the table, as Talentless Nana has yet to wholly prove that.
~~~__The following review will contain spoilers for *Talentless Nana*. Please do not read further if you do not want to have details spoiled for you.__~~~ ___ ~!img660(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/994559859859136592/1016802780423389335/talentlessnana.png)!~ This above freeze-frame happens five seconds into the first episode of *Talentless Nana*. And it's at this moment that the series effectively cuts off its own legs. Famed British director Alfred Hitchcock is rightfully considered one of film’s greatest figures in suspense. Part of the reason for this was his thorough understanding of suspense versus shock. A scene that he loved using as an example was this: two people are sitting at a dinner table, when suddenly a bomb goes off. You get a few seconds of intense shock. Now, try the scene again, but reveal to the audience that during that dinnertime conversation, a bomb will go off in five minutes. It’s a small change, but one that makes a world of difference in experiencing a scene, as the suspense towards the timer reaching zero ticks away. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it comes almost word-for-word from the video script I wrote for when I reviewed Shiki. The point to emphasize is that there is a distinct difference between what the audience knows and what the characters know. By feeding the audience just enough information to keep them aware of what’s happening, it allows a scene to crackle with nervous anticipation even if the characters themselves are blissfully unaware of anything wrong. Mysteries and thrillers are perhaps the genres most conventionally-suited to suspense – the entire conceit of these types of stories is that there is a particularly significant event that has happened, leading to a large series of unknowns that the characters must confront. The ability to reason out which mysteries are solved and others that still need to be addressed as the narrative continues is one of the driving forces, as revelations can bring twists and recontextualizations can cause you or the characters to realize that something vital was missed initially. Depending on the route that a story wants to take, it can rely on setting further atmosphere to heighten a mystery or thriller’s sense of escalation, or go for raw visceral affect and let the adrenaline take command. But there’s a danger here – simply feeding the audience the necessary information is not enough; revealing too much, or revealing it at the wrong time, is lethal for a story’s sense of drama. ____ It’s with these last distinctions that *Talentless Nana* stumbles. A psychological thriller released by studio Bridge in Fall 2020 based on Loose Boy and Furuya Irio’s manga, the series immediately makes the mistake of revealing too much within the first five seconds. Before the series has any real chance to build its suspense, we are immediately spoiled to a main character’s mission via her cellphone, commanding her to kill all the enemies of mankind on the island. As the episode progresses and we “get to know” the class dynamic, and the story’s world concerning the students called The Talented and the “enemies of mankind,” the episode pulls of its first twist by killing one of its red herring main characters in the final seconds. The show’s framing sets up this moment to be absolutely shocking, that it’s such a twist and revelation that Nana is actually a killer out to destroy the real “enemies of humanity,” which are The Talented. The problem is that, as stated before, we are already tipped off early that Nana’s real mission was to kill the “enemies of mankind,” and given the sheer extent to which she goes to try and ingratiate herself to the red herring main character, it likewise reveals too much to the audience both narratively and character-wise. There is little build-up or payoff for a character whose façade could be read within the first few minutes of getting to know her. The secondary impact of the moment is that it conveys that we shouldn’t get too attached to anyone since Nana will try to kill them, regardless of their backstories or their personalities. As Nana’s kill count gradually rises, some of the more-endearing characters are killed off early, which leaves several of the more-incorrigible characters behind in the middle and at the end. Therefore, the other characters often don’t leave us much room to want to see them survive in a time where the tensions should be at their most-heightened. The fact that some of the students are actually terrible people reads as an attempt to fix the flaw that the narrative had not properly justified why the government deems their lives forfeit in a tangible fashion beyond the theoretical. So rather than have the question of “Will she even kill the kind characters” as one of the cliffhanger hooks, it instead opts for a more-dismissive “Alright, who’s next?” So, even if kind characters do remain, the sense of danger looming over them due to Nana’s mission means that their fate is more or less a foregone conclusion in one way or another. And remember, Nana’s mission from her higher-ups is predicated on the theory that the Talented __might__ become troublesome and dangerous later on, since the infodump we get implies that in the past, the Talented grew out of control and needed to be reined in. As much hubris and ego as the students have with their powers, they haven’t actually done anything wrong yet that we can glean, at least initially. In large part because of the main twist being spoiled in the first five seconds of the anime, *Talentless Nana* presents its overall scenario in a functionally out-of-order manner, pulling the roots out from underneath before the story can properly get planted. Killing your kind character early under the auspice of world peace, and relying on that for shock value resonance, leads to an incongruous attempt to argue that the ends justify the means. With all of this in mind, the narrative pushes the audience to root for Nana’s attempts to kill, with justification for that finally coming after some time has already elapsed and we get her backstory. In having the revelation about Nana’s past come up, and at such a late hour of the show, it is in itself far too late to justify why she is carrying out the murders in the first place. That’s not to say that the justification is not sensible, but rather that it’s another case of mistiming the important details. Nana’s life is rooted in tragedy, but anger, resentment, and orders, even regarding The Talented, does not by default make her previous actions compelling either sympathetically or dramaturgically. And that’s not getting into the show’s tendency to introduce random new characters at the drop of a hat with only the tiniest bit of reasoning for their inclusion. *Talentless Nana* seems to mis-prioritize the scope of how large the cast itself should be. With so many classmates on the island, there was already enough of a character roster that the show could have used to develop its in-universe mystery. Instead, by having more individuals arrive later in the game, it throws additional wrenches into an already-stumbling machine. The effect is that the current mystery narrative framework is in and of itself not engaging enough to warrant a full 13-episode run, so it has to dogpile more information into the fold to artificially pad the suspense. There’s one other approach to consider with this series – that it’s not meant to be “suspenseful” in the sense of mystery, but in the exhilaration of watching Nana 5D chess her way out of suspicion. But that’s built on the foundation that most of the other characters, besides Kyouya, are not that bright. Even in the instances where Nana is cornered by circumstantial evidence pointing to her as the killer, or when other students manage to get dirt on her somehow, it always comes across as hollow. I can understand an argument that the kids are only in high school and the state’s propaganda about “enemies of humanity” could lead to indoctrination and thus limiting their ways of interpreting their situation. However, Nana’s intellect is so stacked against everyone else that there’s no real tension. The other students are often too drunk on their own hubris or unable to wonder why there are no security cameras around to watch over them 24/7 to supposedly “protect them” despite the government labeling them as dangers to society. This could, on some level, be ascribed to Nana being the main character, so she naturally is given some degree of protection from those who could stop her, even in the midst of her mistakes. And yet, I never felt that Nana was sincerely threatened at any point for much of the story. It’s mostly set up for her to be nigh-untouchable. This, I think, is ultimately why *Talentless Nana* doesn’t work. The reveal in the first five seconds, the end of the first episode, and the sheer disparity between Nana’s intellect and everyone she’s trying to murder over the rest of the series, all make for a rather toothless thriller. Ironically, in revealing Nana to have the fangs early, the bites left behind was little more than an itch. __________ *Talentless Nana* manages to capsize its own potential for twists, suspense, and whatnot early on, leaving much of what happens later with little impact. Although Nana managing to outwit her classmates does provide a source of amusement, it is rather slight since the formulaic approach causes attempts to shock or amaze feel limp in their wake, and the rest of the cast being so underdeveloped can’t contribute to the sense that they should be rescued. The show takes it upon itself to do so much of the heavy lifting at the cost of it not leaving much in the way of intrigue. With surprises thrown in that come too often at the last-minute and quite a bit of loose ends left unaddressed, it’s a thriller that doesn’t thrill. I know that the manga continues the story from where it left off in the anime, but the tension of what could possibly happen next simply isn’t there for me.
Wow. What an incredible Anime. Some minor spoilers Ahead, scroll to the bottom for a Spoiler Free Summary. But otherwise don't read if you want to feel the full swerve of episode 1 trust. I honestly couldn't have had a bigger swerve of a first episode in all of anime. That was so unexpected. I seriously just kept getting more and more engaged as the series went on. Imagine Among Us and Anime combined into a season of 13 episodes. This NEEDS to have a second season because it was just so well done. Aside from my thoughts, I will rate it according to Soundtrack, art, story, and general enjoyability and combine it all into a final rating. Soundtrack (20/25): The Opening and Ending songs are pretty forgettable. What's ironic about that is the OST that plays DURING the anime is top-notch. I repeatedly found myself bopping along to the soundtrack or getting within the feels of the anime. It was very good and played the tone and mood perfectly. If it wasn't for the completely forgettable Opening and Ending I would've rated this a perfect 25/25. Art (22/25): The art was very well done and had a somewhat generic animation style, but that helped bring in the contrast of the MC's characterization and how she is absolutely bonkers and a murderer, I loved the animation, it was smooth, clean, and had great backgrounds and places. It's literally like an Amongus map that has semi-convenient plot locations like episode 13 but also repeated ones that pop up from prior episodes, so it is worth watching out for. Plot (24/ 25): I want to give it a 25 so badly, but unfortunately, I have to admit that the side characters are legit dumb as rocks. The only 3 characters who have IQs above 10 are NaNa, Kyouya, Tachibana, and MAYBE the villain in episodes 12 and 13. Everyone else is legit the dumbest mf on planet Earth. Although the plot explains why they act the bratty way and whatnot because they have talents, it's still hard to see how they're THIS dumb, at some point you've got to smarten up because mf around you are DYING AND DEAD. It's still great to see how all this plays out, and I am dying for season 2, but so far this season has had a very coherent plot, and does well-making things connect from episode to episode. Enjoyability (25/25): I thoroughly enjoyed this anime. The plot, the swerves, and the twists. They're so well done your brain will be like a rope trying to figure it all out. And the best part is that it all makes sense. Wouldn't say on Attack On Titan tier plot relevance, but holy shit this stuff is addicting to see play out. Thoroughly enjoyed and I probably would watch it again if season 2 comes out. Overall, this anime was thoroughly entertaining and I binged it all in one night trying to see how the MC gets caught and all the drama that's happening, and what will happen next. Will rewatch it again if season 2 comes out and I highly recommend it to everybody simply for the crazy twists and swerves this show will give you. Although it does have some absolutely brain-dead characters, seeing that is what makes it enjoyable and gives you a dilemma if the MC is a good or bad guy or conflicted.