In the year 2024, the world has collapsed. Grotesque monsters lurk amongst the ruins of Japan, while
remaining people scrape together what they can to survive. Kiruko, an odd-job girl in Nakano, accepts
a mysterious woman's dying wish to take a boy named Maru to a place called Heaven.
(Source: Disney+, edited)
The theme of finding hope in a seemingly hopeless or dark world has been done before, in a slice of life way in *Girls’ Last Tour*, in a lovecraftian horror form in *Made in Abyss*, or in many other ways of which I haven’t seen before. *Tengoku Daimakyo* takes this theme, but has a sci-fi mystery backdrop to it, making it a surprisingly unique experience, and one I haven’t really experienced personally. What do we want from a sci-fi mystery show? Do we want twists and turns, dark reveals, or unpredictability? *Tengoku Daimakyo* has all of that, but it also has the one narrative technique I appreciate the most in media, which is “show, don’t tell”. This anime masterfully handles that by giving us virtually no real direction on the surface, but encourages the viewer to ponder on the events of each episode, pay attention to how the characters act, and recall past events to make a scene or reveal hit that much harder. It’s an anime that can generate a lot of discourse because it is just so mind-bending at times, and confusing, in the most wonderful of ways. It’s not exactly “unpredictable” either, but in order to get the full picture, some thinking must be done — I really appreciate that, as it makes for another level of engagement to the events of the anime. In many media, it’s the author who seems to be the one dumping the information, but in this show, it’s instead the viewers who might try to put two and two together, like a puzzle, to figure out what exactly is going on in the story. There’s no better feeling than when you put two and two together and find out your theory was indeed correct. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air from the constant info dumps in other anime, though there are still some info dumps in this show as well. To give a gist of the setting and story, it’s set in a post apocalyptic world where human civilization was destroyed, man-eating monsters are all over, laying waste to the remains of the land, and threatening the lives of the survivors. Meanwhile, there is a facility that is isolated from the rest of the world, which nurtures children in a very peaceful setting. It reminded me of *The Promised Neverland* in a way, with the Grace Field house. The two protagonists, Kiruko and Maru are seemingly looking for this place, which they call “Heaven”, and along the way they encounter many intriguing things, as tales on the inside of the nursery and outside get told. Themes around human nature, companionship, and the search for meaning can be seen in both settings, which made for great parallels and comparisons between both the children and the protagonists of the outside world. It was quite interesting seeing the stories of both the nursery and the outside world being told side by side with one another, not relying on info dumps or conventional flashback sequences to understand the lore of the world.
___Preface: This review is split into two main sections. The first part is a general review of the show in its entirety and the second is a review of one specific problematic aspect of it. If you just want a general review, only read the paragraphs in italics.___ >_Note: Due to the ambiguous nature of Haruki/Kiruko's gender and name, I will be alternating which name I refer to them as. This is because every way to refer to them felt wrong, so I am going with the option that feels the least uncomfortable._ ___ # __~~~This review contains spoilers for Heavenly Delusion.~~~__ _Heavenly Delusion is quite different from most other anime. It isn’t some abstract art piece, but it always never makes the most sense. In the first episode, we are dropped into the middle of two plotlines, or in media res, to sound pretentious. The only tenuous threads of vague world concepts link the two initially, but for the most part, it is like two different anime happening at the same time._ _In the post-apocalypse side of the story, not much time is dedicated to actual plot progression. The journey of the two leads consists mostly of a search for their respective destinations without direction as to where they are going. Maru and Haruki each spitball directions they can go towards or find out things that might vaguely be related to their goals. However, they usually end up in a story tangent unrelated to the main plot that typically lasts for an episode or two. For most of the runtime, the story feels like it is an aimless collection of side quests._ _However, the fluid nature of Heavenly Delusion’s story structure, although on paper counterintuitive, is its biggest strength. My earlier description of that structure as aimless and directionless should only be taken as complementary despite those words’ typical derogatory undertones. Rather than just being a world that acquiesces to the happenings of the plot and the development of the characters, the world is full of characters experiencing their own stories in the post-apocalypse. The self-contained stories that come into view present entirely new ecosystems existing on their own. The Japan of the 2040s feels like a place that has been lived in, rummaged, and savaged. The journey of Maru and Kiruko feels like a true adventure because of the expansive world they are traveling across._ _Ironically, by spending so much time not focusing on the main plot, when they do actually come up, they feel all the more rewarding. These side stories, as well as being good on their own, also make the drip feed of info in the main story feel more meaningful. That with the fantastic world building heavily feeds into making the main mysteries all the more enthralling._ _Heavenly Delusion doesn’t hold the viewer’s hand. It expects its audience to be willing enough to be lost in its plot. While it is acceptable to watch it in a brain-off way, letting the events of the story pass you by, the series wants you to watch it like a detective. You, as the audience member, are given an incomplete story the show expects you to put together by yourself. You are the one that has to figure out the connections between the facility of Heaven and the post-apocalyptic hell of modern Japan. The mysteries that the characters want to solve doubles with the mystery you are supposed to solve. This level of maturity that this story treats its audience with is hard to come by in anime._ _And all of that mysterious atmosphere and meticulous world-building is bundled together with amazing presentation. Even furthering the vibe of the post-apocalypse is very immersive audiovisuals. It is consistently a feast for the ears and eyes. The most standout aspect of a stellar visual and audio design has to be the backgrounds. The backgrounds are detailed to an eye-opening extent. Here are some standout backgrounds throughout various points of the show._ ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/7IPG8uD.png)~~~ ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/pHY2R1J.png)~~~ ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/CpyKPRG.png)~~~ ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/L7c6lFa.jpg)~~~ _These are all gorgeous images that can each speak for the decrepit state of the world. They can paint an emotional picture without any context of the greater show. Nothing immerses like the overgrown vines growing across the wrecked environment of normal society. Nature finding its home in abandoned environments shows how the characters live on the remains of a previous world._ _But I actually lied earlier. You see, these backgrounds aren’t from various points in the show, they are all from the first 5 minutes of Episode 1. All of those detailed backgrounds that each paint their own little story within them pass by in just a few minutes. And it isn’t like the quality of backgrounds goes down past the beginning. In a series that can have its ups and downs, the enthralling visuals and backgrounds are consistently amazing. Even during some more boring points of the story, it is still engaging just due to the high visual atmosphere._ _Heavenly Delusion is as enthralling, as it is engaging, as it is thick in atmosphere. It is rare to come across something that can so consistently impress with its mysterious story and gorgeous visuals. It is a marvel to behold that everybody should see for themselves._ ___ img(https://gameranx.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/anime-announcement.png) ___ But that isn’t the end. I wish it was, but it isn’t. Throughout my entire long-winded praise of this show, I left out one very important aspect of Heavenly Delusion. You see, I was initially planning on just leaving the review at that. Then after watching a very certain scene in the penultimate episode, this very aspect became something that can’t really be ignored. That aspect is everything surrounding Haruki’s gender. I do commend this show for attempting to portray a transgender character. Of course, it isn’t a completely clean representation of the average trans person, as Kiruko is just trapped in the body of their sister and not born in the body of a girl. But if they aren’t transgender, then they are at the very least transgender-adjacent. When Kiruko first mentions their gender to Maru, they use the line: >_“My body’s a woman’s, but in here, my mind’s a man’s.”_ Lines like that draw parallels to common language surrounding gender fluidity. Given the grace as to which the story develops itself in every other aspect, it should be expected that Haruki’s gender is treated with mature understanding. Why should anything else be expected from a series that is so mature in literally every other aspect? But, that isn’t how things turn out. Instead, Heavenly Delusion depicts a truly terrible representation of a transgender character. I am going to adopt a very different tone of voice when discussing the matter of Kiruko's gender because it exists in an entirely different realm of quality compared to the rest of the show. I emphasized earlier how mature the writing was in having respect for its audience. But in this element of the plot, that respect goes completely out the window. I am not just going to talk about __THAT SCENE__ at the end of Episode 12. It is a very controversial part of the story, but this half of the review isn’t only going to be a diatribe of it. It may be somewhat obvious what my thoughts on __THAT SCENE__ are just due to how I am referring to, but we have to work toward that. Because I actually don’t have completely negative thoughts as to how it is handled. Initially, when this component of the story is introduced, it is actually done quite well. In Episode 3, the first time when the complicated gender identity of Haruki is indulged in-depth, this topic is treated with the expected level of respect. I’d go so far as to say that this episode is one of the best in the entire season. Its exploration of Kiruko’s past feels progressively emotionally visceral as it goes on. Haruki’s hallucination during the body-swapping operation and subsequent panic attack after they find out that they now are trapped in the body of their sister are stand-out moments. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/lbO4Pab.png)~~~ The whole hallucinatory sequence is so beautiful in every way, it is probably my favorite scene of the season. The pure intensity of it makes it all hard to watch, but in a good way (unlike a certain later scene). Combined with the mysterious atmosphere and detailed visual design that makes the rest of the season fantastic elevates the episode to a fantastic degree. In the first few episodes, the plot surrounding Haruki’s gender is very well written, mostly. The word ‘mostly’ is there because Kiruko’s gender fluidity is initially imbued with incestuous subtext. The very first indication of Haruki’s fuzzy gender is when they try to kiss themselves in the mirror while they are naked. With the context of the Episode 3 backstory, this scene turns from quirky to weird. Not weird with a positive connotation like the complex mystery is, but it is weird in a deeply off-putting way. This is further compounded in the third episode when Kiruko is straight-up called a siscon. It isn’t like Haruki’s feelings toward their sister being coded with incest really go anywhere. The incestuous subtext stops showing up after these small moments in the first few episodes. They are completely ignorable, as on the whole, this part of the story is still very well written. However, when taken into the larger context of the story, these moments can be seen as a bad omen. Kiruko’s gender is primarily developed through their relationship with Maru. Maru finding out about Haruki’s gender ambiguity after revealing his general attraction towards Kiruko as a girl should provide for well-thought-out, meaningful drama. The inklings of a mature romantic subplot involve Maru navigating through how much he wants Haruki’s gender to be taken into account when factoring in his feelings for them. This can be seen at the beginning of Episode 5 when he beats up a gang in a depressive state. He uses the line: >Ever had a girl you like turn out to be a guy? Can you imagine? This is a good scene to start an interesting inner conflict within one of the main characters. Sadly, this is one of the only scenes where this conflict is taken as a serious plot point. In the subsequent episodes, Maru’s attraction to Kiruko and their gender is treated with the touch of a jackhammer. Rather than being played for drama, it is played for comedy. And not in a well-written type of way, more like in the “why is this happening, get me out of here” type of way. By far the most blatant offender of this is in Episode 6 when Maru sexually assaults Haruki despite their pleas otherwise. This isn’t to say that the show’s comedy is bad on the whole. Levity should be expected in any type of dystopia. The small talk between the main duo about the many mundanities of their adventure provides for effective and efficient humor. Little diversions like the back and forth over what to name the car Juichi gave them are funny. In turn, details about the world get built out as well as the chemistry between the two leads. But it is very jarring when that briefly gets thrown out of the window to do the very groan-inducing comedy. Especially in the middle episodes of the series, there is a misplaced need to place Kiruko in sexual situations that are supposedly comedic or for Maru to feel relentlessly horny about them. This is a more systemic problem with how anime, likely written by male writers, mistreat their female characters by putting them in oddly sexual situations. That whole topic belongs in a wider discussion of how a patriarchal society like Japan treats women, but that topic can lead to such a large rabbit hole that it will take until the heat death of the universe to get to the end of it. But while this whole discussion usually dips into misogyny, in this case, it also falls into transphobia. To treat a character struggling with their gender identity as a sex object is a gross degradation. When the plot focuses on Haruki’s gender so much, it can be painful to see it kneecap itself by not treating it with the respect and maturity it deserves. But still, these problems are still _kinda_ ignorable. Yes, those scenes filled with distasteful sex jokes aren’t great, and those are a few minutes of my life I am never getting back, but they aren’t that important in the wider story. An unintentional positive benefit of an aimless story structure is that when there is a bump in the story that isn’t completely desirable, it can be skipped easily. At a certain point though, this can’t be ignored. And that point is __THAT SCENE__ at the end of Episode 12. ___ #~~~A Few Words About __THAT SCENE__~~~ It's not very good. It's bad even. Like, really, really bad. Concerns about degrading a dysphoric character into a sex object don’t really go away when there is a __RAPE SCENE__??? Even removing all aspects of Haruki’s muddy gender from the scene, is still terrible from a narrative perspective. Even if you wanted a scene where Robin rapes Haruki (which you don’t, this is just a hypothetical), then it shouldn’t be the second scene they share together after they reunite. Yes, fucked up things do happen in the post-apocalypse, but there is nothing about a post-apocalyptic hellscape that would make somebody suddenly become a predator to the person that they were a mentor for. This behavior was previously foreshadowed in Episode 3, but how it was reintroduced here is far too abrupt. It is good from a narrative perspective to have Kiruko's idealized version of their hero fall apart before their eyes, but it is if we skipped straight from the start to the conclusion of the plot point. With how it is placed in the story, it just feels shocking for the sake of it. But you can still shock an audience while still justifying the buildup for that shocking moment. The destruction of Heaven that is happening in the facility side of the story is a good example of how to properly shock the audience. Even if it is an accidental collapse of the facility, it still makes sense narrative-wise due to the childrens’ growing curiosity of the outside and the inner turmoil of the adults running it. It is staggering to see two scenes meant to be shocking back-to-back with such a vast gap in quality. And when you do take the transgender theming of Kiruko into account, this all jumps headfirst into the direction of transphobia. Robin explicitly mentions to Haruki that he is raping Kiruko and that they just have to watch. The story context for the rape is inseparable from Haruki’s genderfluidity. This level of tactlessness in this depiction is an extension of Maru’s sexual assault scene but somehow taken to an even more twisted extent. It is abominable that the only way a character can express their feelings towards Kiruko is through a sexual assault of some kind. Even if it is now an antagonistic force expressing this sentiment, the fact that this can only be expressed through the sexualization of said character is terrible. There is a potential for a nonsexual style of storytelling when it comes to dealing with how trans characters interact with others, but it is squandered so heavily. I don’t want to think about this anymore, here is another detailed background from the first few minutes of the first episode. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/SWeY4Gk.jpg)~~~ It looks so cool, I like the contrast that the flowers and butterfly provide with an abandoned grassy environment behind it. I am purposely distracting myself, so let’s just end this. ___ Even after ranting at length about the horrid depiction of transgender identity and genderfluidity in the story, I can’t really put down the entire show for it. Even if I revile this one part of it, I still enjoyed my time overall. The mystery is still enthralling, the visuals are still beautiful, and the world-building is still fantastic. But it is also hard to swallow something that puts down an entire marginalized group in this way. Media like this is hard to evaluate just because the problematic aspect of it doesn’t erase what good there is. However, just because of the high quality of everything else doesn't mean that there shouldn't be an important discussion about how to do representation correctly in stories like this. Good representation of minority groups is generally a positive, and there are many anime that do representation well. But it is good to see an example of how to do it poorly, to learn from in future stories that try to go into something like this. In all, Heavenly Delusion exists in two realms of quality. In one where most of it resides, it is a magnificent spectacle that embodies everything great about anime, and in the other where one story aspect of it resides, it shits itself to the point where it represents the absolute worst of it. Because this anime exists in a murky quality bubble, I am not giving this just one score. I am giving it two. One for if you take the bungled LGBTQ+ themes into account and the other for if you don’t. I can’t decide which one to go with, so I am declaring this a choose-your-own-adventure with two paths. Choose which score you want to go with because I am indecisive. The third-to-last paragraph was a better conclusion than this one and the penultimate one where I just explained the scoring system of the review, so just pretend that is the end. Please excise the final two paragraphs of this review from your mind like Kiruko’s brain was excised from their body. ___ _Thank you for reading to the end of the review if you did. If you have any criticisms of how this review was made, you are free to message me or reply to [this activity](https://anilist.co/activity/580898404) to critique what I had to say._ _Also, please don’t like or dislike the review without reading it._ ___ ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/3prvlLa.png)~~~
#~~~**This series contains certain moments that some viewers may find disturbing, including sexual violence. Please exercise appropriate discretion.**~~~ ____ ~~~webm(https://v.animethemes.moe/TengokuDaimakyou-OP1.webm)~~~ #####~~~(Video includes audio. Be sure to unmute)~~~ *Heavenly Delusion* is a world that is more lived in rather than explained, a story in which its earliest images of urban decay and the clean pristineness of the nursery contrast like night and day, telling us everything we need to know within seconds. The former is subjected to the ravages of catastrophe and left humankind to their own devices, buildings left to rot in the overgrow of greenery and decrepit highways. The latter is so clean and saccharine with children running and playing that it feels mystifyingly sheltered, if not outright false. As far as these two places’ geography and ideology is concerned, they could not be further apart. But even so, the stories of these two locations weave together to make a fine science-fiction tapestry, visually and acoustically beautiful while delving into the darker remnants of what its world means as a breathing space and to the people within it. ~~~img550(https://i.imgur.com/ITgvzIe.png)~~~ ~~~img550(https://i.imgur.com/HsHW6h5.png)~~~ #####~~~(Even from the anime’s earliest images, we already learn everything we need to know about its setting and what it means for everyone involved. Director Mori Hirotaka accomplishes worldbuilding by association and implication, allowing its environment to be experienced rather than explained)~~~ In both settings, its characters are constantly chasing their own metaphorical rainbow. For Kiruko and Maru, they are bound together by job contract to find “Heaven,” someone who looks exactly like Maru, and two people that Kiruko knows from their past, though it becomes rather apparent that the duo’s relationship is more than merely a professional commitment. In the midst of their foraging and scavenging, they can only wonder at times of life before the catastrophe. The children in the nursery begin exhibiting behaviors foreign to their cloistered place. They indulge their new, curiosity-laden impulses either with the setting directly or with each other. Even at times where one narrative appears to be left behind and the other takes centerstage, they are constantly bound together by mysteries that thematically complement the seemingly-separate threads. In that spirit, the two stories are always moving in parallel, even if the actual number of minutes spent in each place is unequal. *Heavenly Delusion* piles mysteries on top of one another in a mesmerizingly organic and multifaceted fashion; much like its characters, it rewards its curious viewer with an answer to a burning question every once in a while, before managing to pull the wool back over the eyes and have several other mysteries crop up. By allowing their curious impulses to take over, the characters are, in essence, knocking on Heaven’s Door to see what lies beyond. It provides just enough give to whet the immediate appetite, all while having several cards still up its sleeve and ready to slam on the table with telegraphed finesse. Each new piece of information learned brings some knowledge about the world, but in order to get it, slaying the vicious Man-Eaters or trying to reconcile one’s unfamiliar feelings is a consequence or payment that needs to be made. With all the forces pressing down upon the characters in *Heavenly Delusion,* there is an inherent interplay between freedom and imprisonment involving body, mind, and soul that is constantly and amorphously shifting. Adjusting to each new situation or truth, and the characters striving for their own sense of self-signification despite them, pervades the show’s glimmers of triumph and its imposing melancholia. ~~~webm(https://imgur.com/K884pm1.mp4)~~~ ~~~webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/7f5c8276b71e7f02902106b3afb86cb8.mp4)~~~ #####~~~(Both the children in the nursery and Kiruko and Maru are subjected to strange—if not also potentially grotesque—psychosexual realizations, confusions, and occurrences. The characters are constantly thrown into situations to discover sex and sexuality both within and without)~~~ But glimmers are worth holding onto, and solace is often found in the company of the few people who really matter. As Kiruko and Maru forage through old buildings, the practical reason is obvious – they need supplies. Underlying all of that though is the desire to see just what lies waiting to be understood or uncovered, both of the world and of the other. As children actively living in the aftermath of the catastrophe that struck the world, their own curiosity fuels their relationship. They do not have all the answers (no one in their world has them, apparently), yet even so, it does not stop some of the adults they encounter from making disparaging remarks about them living the bulk of their lives long after the catastrophe initially struck. However, in the midst of all that jadedness and cynicism hurled their way, they allow themselves to wonder. That wonderment provides its own kind of spiritual and emotional refuge. It is a kind of familiarity that is born when you have been with someone for a long time, or understand someone well enough to know what they are more or less thinking to the point where you inherently trust them without necessarily saying anything. It moves beyond trust, though – it allows you to laugh and maintain your spirits in a world that seems like it is always trying to crush them, and with someone else there there with you, things don’t have to be so bad. In a sea of empty houses that have creaked floors, broken windows, and cars that stopped working long ago, actual danger does rear its ugly head from time to time. All that scavenging and foraging may have been to find supplies, but the shelter each one seeks is walking right alongside them. It will keep them safe from whatever travail or horror comes their way, giving each action-oriented encounter a smoothly-choreographed zeal, and a sincere laugh when they comedically find unused toilet paper. And when they find others who have established their own small communities in the apocalyptic wasteland willing to help, they see in them what they see in each other, just in another form. ~~~img550(https://i.imgur.com/xdfQamr.png)~~~ #####~~~(Kiruko and Maru are subjected to the dystopic structures in each new location, but have both the physical and mental wit to fight back if necessary. They are shown mercy and ruthlessness alike, yet never lose the sense of bizarre trust in each other as fellow survivors, confidants, friends, or in their bodyguard-client relationship)~~~ And for the children in the nursery, they begin to taste the “forbidden fruits” of the literal and figurative boundaries of their imaginations. You can only keep someone inside a sphere for so long before they long to wonder whether there is more than the limit of what they know. In their youthful and hormonal naivety, allowed to foster unfettered(?) and undeterred(?) by the powers that be, they likewise find solace and meaning that transcends the self and moves into something more intangibly fragile and flickering. As one of their own says, it’s a love that you’ll know is different than anything else. All the while, the viewer acknowledges the suspenseful knell that’s ready to sound, but there’s an assuredness in knowing that they, too, have found refuge and will survive with one another. Whether through Kiruko and Maru, the children in the nursery, or the many peoples and places that are seen and heard, *Heavenly Delusion* is thus a grimly communal series where the setting can be vicious and choking, violent without remorse, and difficult to stomach. And at the same time, it is capable of producing tender mercies, sincerity that stands against the specters of death waiting in the wings. Every day, the characters see and learn a little more, grow a little closer, and attempt to find what they need to find. Not every truth, person, or monster beyond Heaven’s Door is pleasant, but the feeling that they can, and will, carry on is always there. One tip for the weary – if your gun isn’t charged, run like hell. ~~~webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/fd20095d959995f3091eb274152033af.mp4)~~~
Trigger warning for suicide and sexual assault. We are absolutely starved of high-budget sci-fi thrillers, which is why the community latches onto any that come along. Heavenly Delusion seemed like it would break that unfortunate trend. This story takes place in a dystopian future where the civilization has been left in ruins. Mysteriously, a group of children has remained shielded from the desolation surrounding them nestled within an isolated facility, similar to a boarding school. Tokio, a young girl among them, threatens to disturb the tranquil life when she begins questioning the nature of their home. Amidst Tokio's inner turmoil, a fellow student reveals that two individuals, one bearing a striking resemblance to her, will emerge from the outside to deliver them salvation. In a parallel narrative, we encounter Maru, a boy who is the spitting image of Tokio, traversing the desolated landscapes of Japan alongside Kiruko, his determined companion. Two-thirds of the anime's runtime follow their quests, intertwining two goals: Kiruko's relentless pursuit of both the elusive doctor who conducted an operation on her and the fabled paradise known as Heaven. A profound twist surfaces as Maru possesses an extraordinary ability: His touch becomes a lethal force against the man-eating monsters, grotesque creatures literally known as man-eaters. Man-eaters manifest as enigmatic creatures with animalistic features, resembling ordinary animals but imbued with extraordinary abilities and characteristics. The designs of these monsters are captivating and unique, animated uncannily, showcasing an intriguing blend of aesthetics. While the anime provides limited insight into the origins and reasons for their existence, these formidable entities ruthlessly assault and consume human beings. Due to their resistance to conventional means. The most engaging part of the show is seeing Maru and Kiruko traveling through the ruins of Tokyo. You get a sense of the fallen civilization. Their confrontations with man-eaters are both terrifying and thrilling. However, the fights should've been more strategizing on how they take down the monsters. Too often, it's just, let's figure out how the monster attacks, only for them to use brute force to kill it. In anime like this one, you can predict the heroes will come out on top; I wanted the HOW they win to be a little unpredictable. Regardless of the low stakes, the action choreography is fantastic! Production I.G. went all out with the sakuga. I don't know who they outsourced these scenes too, but they need them on more projects! The fight scenes are pretty brief because drama is the show's focus, but goddamn, they're a marvel to behold. Before returning to Heavenly Delusion's positive aspects, I need to mention one problematic and pernicious part. Or, the "anime bullshit," as they call it. I was initially intrigued by the sci-fi transgender themes the anime introduces; however, as the show continued, it seemed only to be a vehicle for raunchy humor and fan service. There is nothing wrong with either of those, and the show balances the tone nicely. However, I was disappointed at the missed opportunity to develop its unique themes. Kiruko was a fairly well developed character, and he had plenty of growth. However, it was incredibly uncomfortable how he felt attraction towards his sister, even kissing himself in the mirror, which shows his incestuous sexual interest. This scene and others (including one disturbing sexual assault) perpetuate a long-time transphobic belief. Speaking of incest, why the hell was Haru so attracted to Kiruko? Despite referring to her as his sister, he was blatantly in love with her—jumping at the opportunity to kiss and fondle her. One of the most controversial scenes of HBO's animated calamity "Velma" featured a character kissing someone going through a panic attack to wake her up. Maru does that same thing to Kiruko in this series, and none of you said a goddamn thing. It’s worth mentioning that neither episodes containing sensitive material, sexual assault or suicide, contained a forewarning. Ok, my next gripe. I said there would only be one, but bear with me. As mentioned, about 25%-50% of the episodes occur in an orphanage-like compound where researchers and robots raise the kids. There are many characters in this side plot, but they lack personality or many distinguishable traits. There needed to be more character development, even for the central character Tokio. By the end of the season, these characters grew slightly, but even up until the open-ended finale they were merely reacting to their surrounds rather than playing an active role in their story. Most of the storyline is about the kids' relationships with one another, both romantic and sexual. Other than the rudimentary "loss of innocence" theme, I couldn't quite put my finger on the message or purpose. Though some have compared this plotline to The Promised Neverland, it has more in common with Darling in The Franxx, without silly sex mechas or bigotry. The early parts of the story require A LOT of suspension of disbelief. Good luck! Some of the technology, contrived character choices, and medical miracles are very hard to take seriously. Some of the deaths were hilariously dumb. Not all of them were funny, some even heartfelt, but it's difficult not to roll your eyes at the absolute stupidity of some characters. From ignoring help from others to thinking it's a fantastic idea to wander into an empty space with a bloodthirsty monster alone. Occasionally, their I.Q. is on par with a baby. If they had the common sense of a doorknob, they could've avoided these tragic deaths… At least those characters provided unintentional humor amidst the chaos—too bad they were the punchline. Heavely Delusion presents a dystopian world filled with potential and captivating elements. The animation and action sequences are genuinely thrilling, showcasing the skill and talent of the production team. However, the show needed to catch up in its writing. The missed opportunity to explore the thought-provoking transgender themes meaningfully is disappointing. The low stakes and uncomfortable scenes, including incestuous undertones, kept the lead characters from growing until the distressing last arc. Furthermore, the side plot in the compound lacked character development and failed to deliver a clear purpose. The overreliance on suspension of disbelief, uninteresting characters, and poorly written script lowered the overall enjoyment value. Despite some unintentional humor and moments of brilliance, Heavenly Delusion ultimately failed to reach its full potential.
Tengoku Daimakyou (Heavenly Delusion) puts the viewer in the midst of a world ravaged by a mysterious apocalypse. The show doesn't feed the viewer exposition about the world with a spoon. Instead, the viewer is left to pick up the pieces scattered by the storytelling and figure out what is going on by themselves. While the mysterious monsters called Man-eaters pose a terrifying threat, and the adventure in search for the place called Heaven by Maru and Kiruko is engrossing, this show deals with many existential issues at the core of human experience and identity: gender, sexuality, family, survival. A character forms a new identity after an incident has them find themselves in a body of a gender different than the one they identified themself with prior; another character must deal with their ambiguous feelings toward the holder of that new identity; young teenagers who have never been taught anything at all about sexuality have to figure out the brand new feelings for each other that start growing inside them; people find themselves going to great lengths for the idea they had of someone who used to be very close to them, but that now, for some reason or another, show themselves to be completely different from their ideal, and much more toxic/dangerous. Meanwhile, some of the classic post-apocalyptic themes are also well explored in this universe, in that sometimes the monsters aren't the ones to be most feared, but rather other people are. Some will go to great lengths for the sake of their own survival and prosperity, often showing prejudice and negligence towards those they do not care about. The show will constantly keep you guessing whether a character that is being introduced is someone to be trusted or someone to be afraid of. Every character is three-dimensional and behaves in a very human way. There are no categorically evil villains or perfectly good heroes. There are only people who perform good or bad actions based on their values and circumstances, sometimes even being lead to doing atrocities in the name of the greater good. The production value of the show is exceedingly high, with beautiful animation that will sometimes make the viewer forget that they are witnessing a doomed world. The scenery often leaves one breathless, and there is much attention to detail in every frame that is also part of the story telling. Each character will express emotions through their body language that are worthy of the deep existential problems they are facing. The season ends in the middle of the grand adventure with some mysteries clarified while many others are left to be solved. The viewer is left eager for season 2 to be released in order to witness the conclusion of this work of art.
Heavenly Delusion è l'adattamento animato dell'omonimo manga di [Masakazu Ishiguro](https://anilist.co/staff/98490/Masakazu-Ishiguro), composto da 13 episodi e prodotto dallo studio d'animazione Production I.G., uno degli studi più grandi e prolifici in Giappone. Tra le opere a cui lo studio ha lavorato spiccano particolarmente Haikyuu, Ghost in the Shell o Psycho-Pass. Per quanto riguarda lo Staff, abbiamo al timone il Director [Hirotaka Mori](https://anilist.co/staff/144208/Hirotaka-Mori), che di fatto con Heavenly Delusion segna il suo primo lavoro ufficiale da Director di un'intera serie. Prima di questa produzione, infatti, alla regia ha sempre avuto esperienze come Episode Director, o Assistant Director. La Series Composition e la sceneggiatura sono state curate da [Makoto Fukami](https://anilist.co/staff/99169/Makoto-Fukami), il responsabile della maggior parte delle sceneggiature di Psycho-Pass. Per quanto riguarda l'Art Direction, c'è Yuuji Kaneko con un gran bel curriculum che si estende fino ad anime dalla grande impronta artistica come Madoka Magica, Kill la Kill, Ousama Ranking e più recentemente Trigun Stampede. Altra posizione di rilevo da non sottovalutare è quella del Direttore della Fotografia. Kentarou Waki è colui che se ne occupa in quest'anime, ed è davvero bravo. Precedentemente ha lavorato prevalentemente a produzioni di Gundam, ma anche fatto un bel po' di cose per le ultime stagioni di Sword Art Online e ha anche collaborato a Lycoris Recoil. Ultima persona dello staff di cui vi voglio parlare, è il compositore, ovvero Kensuke Ushio. Il composer dietro opere come Chainsaw Man, Devilman Crybaby, Ping Pong the Animation e probabilmente il più conosciuto A Silent Voice. Abbiamo dunque capito che tra staff e cast, il talento non manca. Perciò vorrei ora analizzare nello specifico l'anime, passando sia per il lato narrativo e dunque per la storia e i personaggi, ma anche sul lato tecnico. # Lato Narrativo Nonostante la produzione più che solida di Heavenly Delusion, non c'è dubbio che la componente più interessante dell'anime sia proprio la sua scrittura. La trama è intrigante, misteriosa e contornata da uno stile di worldbuilding che adoro. I personaggi con le loro emozioni e storie non solo rimangono facilmente simpatici allo spettatore, ma la loro storia viene raccontata nel giusto modo e con il giusto pacing da farci empatizzare con loro e farci affezionare. Voglio parlarvi prima dei personaggi. Partendo ovviamente da Maru e Haruki, i due protagonisti. Maru è un ragazzo di 15 anni che ha come obbiettivo quello di raggiungere un certo "Paradiso", e l'unico indizio che ha a disposizione è un certo logo su una strana pistola che spara dei raggi laser potentissimi. Fisicamente sembra essere molto forte in quanto dimostra in più di una volta di saper fare a botte come si deve, e se la cava più che bene anche in situazioni dove è in svantaggio numerico. Oltre ad essere abile nel combattimento, ha anche un particolare potere che gli permette di annientare i mostri mangiauomini che occupano il mondo devastato e post-apocalittico di Heavenly Delusion. Infatti, a patto che riesca ad avvicinarsi senza pericolo ad un mangiauomini, è in grado di ucciderlo tramite il "Tocco Maru", ovvero questo suo potere che gli permette di "entrare" dentro il mostro tramite quella che sembra essere una proiezione astratta della sua mente, e schiacciare il cuore del nemico. Kiruko, o per meglio dire, Haruki, è un ragazzo che dopo un terribile incidente è rimasto intrappolato nel corpo della sua sorellona. Il suo sospetto è che il Dottore che conosceva quando era ragazzo, abbia trapiantato il suo cervello nel corpo della sorella. L'obiettivo di Kiruko è dunque quello di trovare questo dottore, e un vecchio amico, Robin Inazaki. Si è trovata con Maru perché le è stato chiesto di fargli da guardia del corpo finché non avessero raggiunto questo "Paradiso". Il rapporto che si viene a creare tra Maru e Kiruko è semplicemente stupendo. Maru infatti è innamorato di Kiruko e farebbe di tutto per proteggerla, e non riesce a digerire il fatto che in realtà dentro Kiruko ci sia un ragazzo come lui. Ma in un momento davvero bello nell'ultimo episodio, Maru realizza che anche se non si sarebbe innamorato di Haruki come uomo, la persona di cui si è innamorato è chi ha davanti. Non Kiruko, non Haruki, ma semplicemente la persona che continua a chiamare sorellona che lo sta accompagnando nel suo viaggio. Oltre a Maru e Kiruko abbiamo un intero cast di ragazzini che invece vive in uno strano orfanotrofio High-Tech, che si deduce essere il "Paradiso" di cui si parla tanto. Il personaggio più importante di tutti in questo ambiente è senza dubbio Tokio, una ragazza di cui vediamo la grande evoluzione psicologica durante la serie, crescita personale come adolescente, ma soprattutto come donna, quando infine partorisce i suoi due gemelli. La storia di Heavenly Delusion si alterna molto tra le vicende che accadono nel mondo esterno, seguendo i protagonisti Maru e Kiruko, ma vediamo molto spesso anche le vicende che accadono in questo orfanotrofio. I vari intrecci e misteri si vanno comunque ad evolvere bene, e il worldbuilding non ci viene spiattellato in faccia con gli odiosi spiegoni, ma scopriamo poco a poco sempre qualcosa di nuovo man mano che proseguiamo con la storia. # Lato Tecnico Chi ha un occhio più attento, avrà probabilmente capito sin dal primo episodio che la produzione di Heavenly Delusion aveva effettivamente una marcia in più rispetto ad altre opere dello stesso genere. Come mi piace tanto ricordarvi in praticamente ogni mio video dove parlo di anime, la fonte principale della maggior parte dei problemi di produzione è l'organizzazione del lavoro, che spesso deve far fronte a date di scadenza molto ristrette e delle corte finestre di tempo per dare possibilità agli animatori di fare come si deve il loro lavoro. Non era dunque scontato che la serie si sarebbe mantenuta sulla qualità che ha dimostrato fino alla fine. Ma una cosa che probabilmente ha giovato tantissimo alla produzione di Heavenly Delusion, è che la sua messa in onda è stata in realtà rimandata di un intero anno. Rinvii del genere sono rari, e nonostante possano essere di importanza fondamentale per dare più respiro a chi lavora all'anime e dargli il giusto tempo per fare il proprio lavoro al meglio, non è sempre detto che rimandare l'uscita di qualcosa sia abbastanza per assicurarsi che uscirà un buon lavoro. Heavenly Delusion è stata una produzione fortunata non solo per questa finestra di tempo più ampia per la produzione, ma soprattutto per le conoscenze formate sia dal Director Mori, che dall'animation producer Ohira. Portare infatti talenti del calibro di Kaneko all'Art Direction, Waki sulla fotografia e Ushio per la colonna sonora, non è affatto cosa da poco. Il mio personalissimo voto per Heavenly Delusion è un 9 onesto. Va premiata l'incredibile capacità di produzione del team, con tutto l'impegno che c'è stato messo. Personalmente non ho trovato neanche un difetto nel pacing e anzi, penso che sia stato fatto un egregio lavoro nel mandare avanti due trame parallele durante gli episodi senza mai annoiare. Però è comprensibile che qualcuno potrebbe apprezzare più un lato della serie rispetto ad un altro, e dunque potrebbe avere qualche lamentela sul ritmo narrativo. C'è stato anche un bel trattamento per quel riguarda il riarrangiamento delle scene che nel manga, ad esempio, hanno appunto un ritmo differente vista la diversa natura del medium.
Tengoku Daimakyou has a lot going for it - it follows a clear line through the mysteries it presents, and follows that line with likable enough characters, great pacing, and interesting post-apocalyptic set pieces. I very much wanted to like it, but even from the first episode, the signs of trouble are there. Of course, it's promptly revealed that our main character, dancing around naked for no clear reason is, in fact, of age, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and moved on. This was a mistake. Someone, perhaps someones, influential in this show has a serious problem with misogyny, pedophilia, toxic masculinity, and a dubious understanding of consent. These are, of course, standard for the medium, and so it's put upon any serious artist to avoid them, not only for the obvious and compelling moral motivation, but beacuse it makes shitty art, you know? And these problems bleed into the show quite heavily. Really, given the obscure nature of its messaging, these themes easily overpower anything productive that might have been going on. Rather than thinking about... human nature? I don't know, the main point of the show is that shooting things and having sex are really fucking cool. Consent isn't cool, what are you being such a dweeb for? Make the kids more suggestive. These are the themes of the show, as far as I could tell. This all culminates in the climax of the series, or as it seems for now, the climax of the first cour. Yes, good news, it's all downhill. I'm remaining vague here, but the show's treatment of Kiruko is so utterly, so utterly, utterly dissatisfying, from a "normal" human perspective. Naturally, we get to resolve some of their character moments to close out the series and... oh. Oh my god. By the end of the 11th episode, I was despondent, and by the middle of the final episode, I was considering dropping it, rather than resolve the final ten minutes. I'm inclined here to resolve the rest of the review screaming "fuck you" to whatever shortener made those decisions. To introduce so many interesting elements, only to wrap them up for the time being in your shitty male power fantasy. Male power fantasies, plural, in fact. You have two fun, diverging plotlines and that's what you're going to wrap it up on? Again, fuck you. Because really, it was mostly tolerable until the end of episode 11; my score was going to be decent before that, of course with the many caveats, but this is a site for anime fans, so that's nothing new. But now I'm left disdainful that they didn't wrap it up in one season, because I'll probably check out the next one, too. Maybe tone down the abhorrent stuff, you know? It's not too late to come back. Like, just consult one person who isn't a man, and you're on your way. Anyway, if you do have that tolerance and you're interested, listen to any alarm bells. It will not get better. On to season 2! Fuck you.
__This review contains spoilers. Read at your own discretion.__ Heavenly Delusion has a lot of interesting, and partly also very good stuff. But overall it feels like a melting pot of a lot of ideas, hints, and mysteries, without a clear direction and needed focus. I think storytelling is more intellectual when it can actually convey what it wants to while you watch it, letting the viewer piece things together themselves but also knowing what to emphasize and what not. And maybe I’m a stupid viewer but Tengoku was a show which didn’t feel intelligent in that regard because it relies too much on subtleties. This maybe is a broader discussion about how you approach media in general, but I don’t like having to rely on forum threads just to understand the important aspects of the story. For instance, I didn’t get first that Mimihime is the girl who died in episode 8, even though that’s a crucial piece of information. And while Tengoku does offer a lot of material to dissect and analyze (I won’t deny that) I think it’s not particularly good at bringing all the important details to the viewer’s attention so you don’t simply feel confused while watching the show. Little details and easter eggs are supposed to be extra for those who want to delve deeper, they aren’t supposed to be crucial to whether you understand what you see or not. It's also notable that this season ended on an unsatisfying note, leaving a lot of mysteries and strongly teased plot points open. I also think that despite handling some more sensitive topics and not being that bad at it (such as Haruki being in Kiruko’s body) the series is surprisingly tasteless and insensitive at times with the fanservice. The inclusion of rape in the last two episodes is obviously the biggest offender here. But even with a kinda loose and more confusing mystery going on, the series overall is still good. I think some stuff this series dealt with is interesting, it utilizes its premise well and the main characters are likable and grew on me. And while it is only one episode, episode 8 really grabbed me emotionally and made me tear up. It has good horror segments in various forms and production-wise it’s obviously very high quality, with the music and backgrounds creating a unique atmosphere that fits the show and makes it stand out, complemented with splendid photography and very consistently strong character and action animation. It is generally quite nuts how much high-profile staff worked on this show, and I'm not sure if S2 (if we get it) will be able to reproduce this kind of quality - Probably not. img100%(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fwl0ZxUWAAEufDN?format=jpg&name=medium)
Heavy Spoilers God this show sucks. My first thought was that it wasn't too bad, the story was interesting and I liked the world. Then every episode is just kept getting worse and worse slightly until the big downfall of the last 2 episodes. Over all the fight scenes were okay, they were short and didn't have too much strategy but it had decent animation. A lot of the story got interesting but then took a strange turn for the worse in little ways that I thought were inconsistent or dumb. The characters were alright, nothing too interesting to me, the story around the characters is what made them interesting not the characters themselves. The animation is very inconsistent, sometimes it's smooth, other times it's very choppy/low-FPS, then randomly they will change the art style even when it doesn't make much sense. All of these things got exhasterbated by the last two episodes. ------HEAVY SPOILERS------ ------Last 2 Episodes----- 1. They don't show half of the rapist being punished which why have the build up of making the audience have sympathy for her if you don't give a good pay off for it. 2. She protects him from being killed even after being raped for 2 days straight and all the manipulation even when they were at the orphanage, and it's allowing him to do that to other children since he's still alive and has great influence over that village. 3. He says that he'll kill the man if he sees him again but why stop in the first place then?... It seems like he stopped for her but it looks like her response of not wanting him dead isn't going to change so he's basically just saying that in the future he's going to ignore her feelings and kill him to fulfill his personal wishes. 4. He pronounces his love for her after she's been raped for 2 days straight, why would anyone want to think about love and relationship after going through so much turmoil, a normal person in reality would just want to be comforted in the way that they personally want. And a lot of the time rape victims don't even want to be touched since it brings those bad memories back. 5. He doesn't save her before going through that disgusting situation since he doesn't and he also doesn't kill him then it just seems like everyone is just giving their approval for him being a rapist. 6. She just lets all of her guard down, letting him take her clothes and not even suspect anything or run away when he calls her to walk down the hall naked. She was able to beat up and escape from so many Maneaters and bandits but can't handle one person, basically just gutting her character and turning her into a helpless person when the whole season has been about her being strong, smart, resourceful and competent especially the constant comparison of competency to her friend and him constantly saying that she's better than him in so many ways. 7. I'm still confused by the same questions when I started this show and they aren't even explaining most of them just so they can prepare for a second season which is stupid. 8. I would've given this show a solid 5 or 6 out of 10 if it wasn't for these last two episodes.
Heavenly Delusion offers the viewer a window into a world that is painfully close to our own. Sure, the buildings are in ruins, and there are man-eating monsters on the loose, but those aspects are ultimately secondary to the main focus of the show, the people. The world may have ended, but humanity has ultimately learned nothing. The show is split into two parts, post-apocalyptic Japan with our main characters of Maru and Kiruko, and Heaven, the "safe"-haven which our protagonists are searching for. We switch between these two perspectives throughout. The post-apocalyptic sections allowing us to learn more about how the world has changed and getting to know our main characters as they adventure through ruined cityscapes and deserted countryside, encountering threats of the Human and Monstrous variety as they go. The Heaven sections in contrast allow us a view into a protected bubble, a science experiment that doubles as an orphanage, a world untouched by the tragedy of the apocalypse, it is through heaven that the majority of the mystery stems as we are drip fed crucial clues as to the nature of the world. These two sections are interwoven in such a way as to keep the audience captivated and hungering for more. The interactions between Maru and Kiruko and the various people they encounter pull us in to this dark and dangerous world, a world in which peace becomes suffering at the drop of the hat. The world of Heavenly Delusion is not a kind world, it is an uncaring world that lulls you into a false sense of security before shattering those delusions wholesale, it is a world in which people are desperate to hold onto any semblance of the world they knew, it is unfortunate then that it is also a world in which refusing to let go of those delusions will get you killed, or worse. From a technical perspective the animation quality is top-notch, the character interactions are compelling and believable, the music and sound design fit well (although the ending can be a bit jarring with its upbeat nature). Fight scenes are fluid and everything has a certain weight to it, a punch to the face feels visceral. I'd also like to pull special attention to the design of the "man-eaters", the monsters that our duo routinely encounter and have to deal with, each monster is it's own horrific creation with vastly differing abilities and designs, twisted entities that should have never existed. The monsters are a constant threat and knowing that one could show up at any moment to ruin our main duos day, and the days of anyone else who happens to be close by, adds on to the already significant tension of traversing the post apocalypse. In my humble opinion Heavenly Delusion is a brilliant show. It left me nearly apoplectic with rage while also hungry for more. So if a deep multi layered mystery in a world filled with tragedy sounds fun to you, I wholeheartedly recommend it. Just don't say I didn't warn you.
Incredibile come questo anime per cui non avevo aspettative più di tanto alte, sia diventato uno dei miei preferiti di sempre! Una trama che riesce a prenderti in modo incredibile, l’alone di mistero che rimane per tutta la durata della serie, lo storytelling di due mondi contemporaneamente davvero geniale, vibes alla AoT e TPN che mi hanno fatto amare questo prodotto, mondi post apocalittici, regia incredibile, animazioni e grafica in generale assurdi, con picchi di animazione fluidissimi, musiche azzeccate e perfette per la serie, colori e mood grafico perfetti. Questo è stato heavenly delusion, un anime che riesce perfettamente a combinare ogni cosa per essere un prodotto incredibile! img220(https://otakuusamagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/tengoku-daimakyo1.jpeg) img220(https://www.spieltimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Heavenly-Delusion-Episode-8-Release-Date-Where-to-watch-and-More-3.png) Lo stile grafico davvero particolare ma curato in ogni minimo dettaglio, dai design dei personaggi agli sfondi, alle pure animazioni, di una fluidità incredibile, penso che un apparato visivo di questo livello sia veramente raro da trovare in un nuovo anime! Perfetta e funzionale all’opera anche la regia. Il cast è abbastanza ricco soprattuto dalla parte dell’ orfanotrofio. I colpi di scena e i misteri che pian piano diventano sempre più grandi riescono a tenere lo spettatore attaccato allo schermo senza annoiare un minimo, anzi penso di avere seguito poche volte una storia così ardentemente e col fiato sospeso. Parlando del mostruoso episodio 10, forse il mio preferito della serie insieme all’8! Questo decimo episodio ha uno stile di animazione è una regia incredibili, la fluidità dei movimenti, gli effetti speciali, i singoli disegni, era tutto perfetto un episodio clamoroso sotto il punto di vista tecnico, perché più che altro serviva a questo, visto che non porta avanti la trama. Forse la cosa che più mi è piaciuta di Heavenly delusion è il fare teorie su teorie alla fine di ogni episodio, cercare di capire cosa sarebbe successo nei prossimi e così via, perché questo anime lascia piccoli indizi all’interno delle puntate in modo che se lo spettatore sta un minimo attento può intuire e teorizzare cosa succederà dopo. Il comparto musicale anche fa il suo, anche se non l'ho trovato sensazionale si adatta bene alla serie. youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir08xj0g4Dw&pp=ygUZdGVuZ29rdSBkYWltYWt5b3Ugb3BlbmluZw%3D%3Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir08xj0g4Dw&pp=ygUZdGVuZ29rdSBkYWltYWt5b3Ugb3BlbmluZw%3D%3D) In conclusione, questa è stata una serie incredibile, una serie come se ne vedono poche ad oggi, una serie che tiene lo spettatore a guardare ansiosamente le puntate! Come già detto teorizzare settimana per settimana me lo ha fatto amare ancora di più, se lo avessi visto tutto insieme forse non lo avrei apprezzato così tanto, questa è diventata sicuramente una delle mie serie animate preferite, quindi se non la avete ancora recuperata, correte!
When you go through so many shows during a seasonal it's no surprise that you find yourself in front of something unexpectedly great. I wasn't sure what I was getting at before starting Tengoku Daimakyou. The name under the studio and the talented art director + episode directors and storyboarders was already a sign of confidence that I was about to experience something possibly good, but didn't know how good it could be. When the end of the product makes me want to binge it in just a day or two it's a clear sign that it exceeded my expectations. Needless to say... I was impressed. ~~~img600(https://i.imgur.com/iqfkn6c.jpg)~~~ The series is set in a post apocalyptic world, the civilization is ruined, people roam the streets with the risk of being faced with a man-eating monster. We witness two separate stories: a group of children who are isolated in a facility; meanwhile two survivors, Maru and Kiruko, are searching for a special place called Heaven. Along with their adventures we get to know many backstories relating to the origins of the apocalypse and how the characters end up to their devastating situations. With great ideas that would lead into a excellent sci-fi series the one thing essential to make it work is a good direction. Creating hard explorations feeling intense and believable in a hostile world as well as making you care about the protagonists in whatever set-up their in. I believe this anime succeeded in both categories. It has a good mix of comedic moments, horror, mystery, romance and drama fitting nearly wonderfully in 13 episodes. None of them feel forced with maybe the romance (between Maru and Kiruko) as the only exception, many people seem to not being into it and I can understand a little, for me it wasn't bothering, it might actually be one of the highlights of the cast. The drama in particular surprised me more then I would imagine, it wasn't utilized much until the second half, once the more serious moments happened I was very convinced, the final scene from episode 8 was when it hit the best, it was satisfying. Like other world building series, Girls Last Tour just to name it, Tengoku Daimakyou goes on a more episodic structure, mainly with the duo, they go in different locations and meet with strange individuals, and getting more knowledge of their world with dark reveals. The kids in the facility reminds more to The Promised Neverland (for what I can tell... I haven't seen Neverland), the poor fellas struggles with trauma and find a way to escape from their prison. The two side stories go very well in parallel, my favorite tho would be the one about the duo. While I believe the facility part didn't have the best execution possible I think it had some very intriguing elements and some of the most interesting ideas. ~~~img600(https://i.imgur.com/wEKM4DS.jpg)~~~ For this type of work the concept and ideas are good enough to carry the show and making a fun popcorn entertainment but the cast of characters deserves a decent enough praise! Is it the most advanced or well written cast of characters ever? No, barely even close, but it works good enough for me. Obviously Maru and Kiruko are the two highlights, their relationship feels legit and not cheese or forced. They go fine with each other like brothers, they're either having fun together or help each other out in complicated situations. The dialogues between the two feels natural and they exchange many facts in common. Seeing more of then in (possible) feature seasons would be very appreciated. Now we go to what is probably my favorite aspect of Tengoku Daimakyou: the aesthetics, production value, and art direction. Y'all don't need an explanation as to why this anime has a creative look to it... but I'm gonna explain anyway! The visuals/backgrounds are very wide and detailed showing a lot of urban decay, there's a big sense of scale put in the abandoned cities. The character design is unique, the expression the characters can get during the comedic moments are very expressive and cartoonish and they definitely remind me of the old school Gainax/Trigger, it wouldn't be surprising if some of their people did work on a few episodes, it gives a lot of personality to the protagonists. That also goes for the radical designs for the monsters. The color palette fits very well with the scenery and the atmosphere. The action scenes are very well composed and well shot. Kensuke Ushio (who worked in other popular projects such as Chainsaw Man) was the composer for the soundtrack and he did a very good job at setting the general tone for the serious moments. ~~~img600(https://i.imgur.com/WLK5iRs.jpg) img600(https://i.imgur.com/Gw9b2KC.jpg)~~~ One thing I need to add briefly in my review, Tengoku Daimakyou deals with problematic damage unfortunately common in human nature. Don't want to go in details but it's a lot more violent and disturbing that it seems. Not everybody is gonna get easy shot on it, it might be very bothering for certain individuals. The way it handles such heavy themes I think it was done alright, but because of it there were quite many complains about what happened in the last episode, and I would agree that the last episode didn't give the greatest ending (mostly due to how fastly paced it was more then anything) but personally it wasn't that big of an issue, I can recommend it to people who don't get easily upset. To summon up my thoughts real quick, is this series flawed? Yes of course, especially when it won't appeal to everybody. But there's genuinely a lot I can love about. It works as something you want to be engaged from it, some interesting characters didn't have enough screen time, I still want to see more of the runaway children, the last few episode had pacing issues but overall I have nothing but compliments. I'm glad someone is giving it a try, it is well deserved. It shows that Production I.G can still give amazing production value with exciting stories and an impressive narration. The world building aspect alone is worth a watch! ~~~img600(https://i.imgur.com/hAbkQHR.jpg)~~~
*Warning; Spoilers ahead, I REALLY think u should watch it blind* Whilst I was really hoping this would be a 13 ep contained story, I'm happy that there's likely to be a second season though. As far as general style goes it was pretty good and as far as the later episodes go, a nice change of pace with the alternating art directions. From a writing point and especially an execution standpoint the show is near perfect. The way many deaths and uncomfortable scenes become a generally common occurrence and yet still manage to be shocking each and every time shows how well placed everything is. A favourite point of mine in the show would be the story of Dr Yanagi, at first he's shown to be a cruel person only in it for his personal gain as he was described from the group of white coats as well how said white coats described the person he was trying to keep alive compared to how he acted with his patients as well as the reasons and methods for keeping that person alive (I especially liked how gruesome both the phrasing and the imagery when the white coat said they were 'hacked to pieces' when in reality it was nowhere near that bad. As the story is far from over there are a lot of questions left unanswered so I've got a few theories that I want to write down so when the next season comes out I can see if I was correct about them, some are borderline confirmed but not outright stated to be true so they're being written down anyways. 1- The Man Eaters are either the spawn of or are the children from the facility, if they come from the children the Tokio doin whatever she was doing or the disease of the first kid may have become the start of the Man Eaters. 2- The girl with the sunglasses became the man eater that shows you your worst nightmare. 3- Shiro becomes Dr Yanagi and Mimihime is the person trying to be kept alive (if that's the case then the person wanting to see the sky for the last time is pretty cool nod to how big Mimihime saw the sky to be when she first escaped. 4- Anzu is the one who ends up taking in Maru and showing how to kill Man Eaters. 5- Pretty obviously Maru is Tokio's other child. 6- If all Man Eaters come from Tokio's meltdown then that explains why Maru (her son) is the only one capable of killing Man Eaters (as apparently stated by his mentor), he might be able to do this as he would technically be a Man Eater himself and therefore can absorb the part of Man Eaters that keeps them alive, this would also explain how he's able to do the MaruTouch to humans as well. 6- The children were being raised in the facility not only as experiments to be immortal but also to maybe become like genetically engineered soldiers of some kind potentially explaining why a prototype weapon (the KiruBeam) was in the facility in the first place. I'm aware the last theory is a bit of a stretch but it's the only explanation I could think of for the existence of the KiruBeam. Also thinking about it now the chance the person trying to be kept alive is Mimihime is very very high as it was said she had the disease that makes people into Man Eaters yet we're yet to see a known human with that disease. Edit: I might be lying cause I don't remember if the patients of Dr. Yanagi had had their amputations done as a means of preventing the spread of the Man Eater disease or if they were generally injured and went to him for treatment/ prosthetics (Seeing as the first prosthetic he made on a whim for sum random guy rather than a disease patient seemingly.
# Um show que mostra como a liberdade criativa por parte dos artistas e animadores presentes pode vir á agregar pra uma adaptação; produção DO CARALHO! Tengoku Daimakyou (Heavenly Delusion) é uma adaptação do mangá de mesmo nome feito por Masakazu Ishiguro, sendo essa a obra de maior notoriedade do autor até então. O mesmo também é autor de Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, que recebeu uma adaptação pra anime em 2010. Foi adaptado pelo estúdio Production I.G (Shingeki no Kyojin, Haikyuu!!, FLCL...) tendo como diretor Hirotaka Mori, que já atuou como diretor de Erased (Boku dake ga Inai Mach) e assistente de direção em Dragon Ball Z: Batalha dos Deuses. youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuAcdIqcanA) O anime se passa em um mundo pós-apocalíptico, onde o planeta foi assolado por uma calamidade ainda não precisamente revelada de como se sucedeu e possui dois focos de atenção onde a narrativa se estende, sendo um deles uma dupla de jovens que procura um "Paraíso" - um lugar seguro em meio ao caos provocado pela calamidade - e outro onde é uma espécie de "domo" onde crianças são mantidas em segurança do mundo exterior já devastado. Ambos os focos possuem propostas diferentes, sendo o primeiro mais voltado para cenas de ação e investigação ativa enquanto o segundo apresenta um ritmo mais compassado, misterioso e com bem menos (ou quase nenhuma) cenas de ação ou combate. Em questão da produção, vale a pena destacar que não são muitas as obras audiovisuais (ainda mais animações) que conseguem apresentar dois focos diferentes de narrativa de forma que se mantenha coerente em seu andamento, entretanto, Tengoku Daimakyou consegue sim apresentar os dois focos principais da história de forma coesa e cativante, de forma que dá a sensação que os dois focos irão se entrelaçar quando menos se esperar. Não só isso, mas a produção como um todo é um espetáculo de composições bem trabalhadas, que apelam diretamente pra a liberdade criativa dos animadores de animarem de forma mais livre e individual, fugindo ocasionalmente dos designs base dos personagens de uma forma que não só agrega no apelo humorístico em cenas descontraídas, como conecta o público pra cenas de teor artístico, como na abertura. youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpfmzHxm9-Q) Apesar disso, não é só na animação que o anime e se sobressai. As composições gerais das cenas, sejam elas estáticas ou não-visuais, ainda realçam qualidade excepcional tanto das escolhas do diretor que em suas cores e design de personagem, como na trilha sonora composta por Kensuke Ushio (Koe no Katachi, Chainsaw Man, Devilman Crybaby) que te inserem de forma estimulante á o contexto que se insere. youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF7ew3w1E9o&list=OLAK5uy_kZdXbcNwsUR2tXTJ8H1NKQXWRpx5z6w9M&index=6) Tengoku Daimakyou se revelou como uma produção ambiciosa e única, que exibe composições executadas com maestria por uma equipe muito bem capacitada. Dou destaque ao animador [Weilin Zhang ](https://twitter.com/i/status/1721993543982710993) que possui diversos clipes que dão muita identidade á adaptação e que casou de forma excepcional á obra! Vale ressaltar, entretanto, que por se tratar de um seinen, não agrade a todos os públicos, contendo cenas de teor mais adulto como nudez, violência explícita, conteúdo sexual e outros relacionados. Pro público que não se afeta com isso, vale super a pena ver e eu espero ansiosamente a próxima temporada! youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5VH9676ojA)