This Week in Anime
A Study in Scarlet Nexus
by Nicholas Dupree & Monique Thomas,
The video game tie-in follows the Other Suppression Force, an elite team set out to defeat human-eating Others. Psychokinetic Yuito and prodigy Kasane look to enlist but things might be worse than they look.
This series is streaming on FUNimation
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.
Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.
@Lossthief
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@mouse_inhouse
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@NickyEnchilada
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@vestenet
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Nick
Nicky, after last week's trudge through the Isekai Badlands, I am seriously jonesing for something, anything, with a spark of creative flair or originality. So what better place to look than the latest anime adaptation of a video game!?
Nicky, after last week's trudge through the Isekai Badlands, I am seriously jonesing for something, anything, with a spark of creative flair or originality. So what better place to look than the latest anime adaptation of a video game!?
Nicky
Well, the bad news is that I'm probably gonna have to see if my optometrist can repair my eyes after looking directly at so many lens flairs.
The regular news is that this week we're covering Scarlet Nexus!
Well, the bad news is that I'm probably gonna have to see if my optometrist can repair my eyes after looking directly at so many lens flairs.
The regular news is that this week we're covering Scarlet Nexus!
So this is the...adaptation? I think? Of a recently released game from Bando Namcai Bandai Namco with some former creators from the Tales of series. I say "I think," because the anime and game launched more or less at the same time, which feels very presumptuous of them.
If you're here as a fan of the game: be warned that we're talking exclusively about the anime, as neither of us have played it and I really don't know too much about it. We're trying out best to judge the anime on its own merits! But since game adaptations tend to have a bad track record in anime form, I can't really say I had high expectations for this.
In a lot of ways, this show feels like Video Game: The Animation, probably in part due to being produced alongside the game. You can pretty much always tell where the story and cutscenes would stop and where gameplay segments would begin despite this being a passive medium. Hell, the fights even look like they're happening in a different universe from the rest of the show:
Love to fight monsters in The Combat Void where backgrounds are for suckers.
Love to fight monsters in The Combat Void where backgrounds are for suckers.
Yeah, most of the fights consist of all the cool moves the characters can do Just Like In The Game™. But my bigger issue with video games being turned into anime is that even with many good games, anime adaptations are still struggling to cram in concepts and story meant for a much lengthier runtime than a few episodes.
Personally, I think the issue is the other way around. Gameplay, especially for games with tons of characters, is critical to getting the audience attached to them. So when that's cut out and trimmed to a passive medium, it tends to make the cast of these shows feel thin and uninteresting. Some series can survive that well enough, but those shows don't start E-Boy McPlaneface here:
Highlight your asymmetrical bangs all you want kid, it's still not a substitute for a personality.
Highlight your asymmetrical bangs all you want kid, it's still not a substitute for a personality.
Either way, it can make an anime version feel like a poorman's attempt at a narrative. I can think of few poorer advertisements for a game than just spoiling me on the story in a way where it's impossible to build the same kind of investment, if any.
So that's a lot of less than nice things to start off with, but what exactly is this show even about? Well it's mostly about fighting weird monsters from space and the dangers of being Too Online.
Though, if I were to at least say something positive, it's that I was really glad to hear another opening song by The Oral Cigarettes. Probably the biggest highlight of the show for me.
Oh the OP and ED themes are easily the best part of this show. The Oral Cigarettes do a great job, but I especially love the guitar riffs in the ED, even if the opening chords sound like I'm about to watch an episode of Friends.
Definitely the best looking moments in the show, too. Wow, these lyrics are a mood tho.
I imagine Yuito there got sick of this world around the time it started dropping these monstrosities into his house:
Gotta say, the evil kid from Toy Story has really grown as an artist.
Gotta say, the evil kid from Toy Story has really grown as an artist.
If I saw this in my house, I would keep it.
I actually think The Others we see are pretty neat. It's a shame we never get much time to admire them though. The CG sticks out, but it just makes them feel weirder to see some PS2 enemies about.
They're weird combinations of animals, plants, and architecture that don't really make sense but are at least interesting to see. They could easily have just been like, black goo creatures or something, but somebody went the extra mile and I can appreciate it.
Granted, they actually went several miles backwards when naming the things.
Granted, they actually went several miles backwards when naming the things.
Scarlet Nexus takes place in a cool cybernetic future where everyone's got hyped-up brain powers called psiionics. Yuito and his bud, Nagi, are the latest recruits for the "Other Suppression Force" (OSF), to try and fight weird pieces of modern art that get dumped on the city each day.
Also Yuito is the son of the president of their whole country, a status you might think would make him interesting. Yet, alas.
His brother, seen above, is also a high-ranking official. All that does it make people think Yuito is cool by proxy. But what sucks is that any drama that could be derived from that is told pretty flatly. It has nothing to do with his motivations to join the OSF, after all. Rather, Yuito was inspired when he was rescued by an OSF member after an Other attacked his home when he was young.
And for mysterious (read: time travel) reasons, he suspects the soldier who saved him is actually his future girlfriend, seen here with her definitely-not-doomed sister.
I swear sometimes this feels like "Tell, Don't Show" the anime. Even moments of what should be a key emotional memories only ever get a few seconds of screen time while we're otherwise fed a bunch of information and characters.
And other times we're shown this one, exact frame and line of ominous dialogue 40 times across five episodes.
I am more familiar with those red cocoon things than some of the people I work with at my day job at this point.
I am more familiar with those red cocoon things than some of the people I work with at my day job at this point.
Good foreshadowing doesn't mean hammering the audience the same exact information over and over again! We get it, it's got time travel! Kasane should honestly just start taking something to help her sleep so these reoccurring ominous prophecies stop interrupting her daily life.
I mean, her daily life seems to consist of keeping her sister from getting laid so maybe she could stand to be more distracted.
Did we mention that they're also not really blood related?
Again, this could've had the potential to be sweet, but "oh we're sisters" is only ever as deep as it goes in terms of their bond.
Again, this could've had the potential to be sweet, but "oh we're sisters" is only ever as deep as it goes in terms of their bond.
There is the skeleton of a character story here, but it's been five episodes and there's not a strip of flesh or blood on those bones yet. Especially not when Naomi was all but begging for a tragic death through all of episode two.
By the by, that look of dull surprise is about the most emotive anyone actually gets in this show, and that's her reaction to her body and psyche being ripped apart and reassembled into monster parts.
By the by, that look of dull surprise is about the most emotive anyone actually gets in this show, and that's her reaction to her body and psyche being ripped apart and reassembled into monster parts.
I don't want to say Sunrise's overall production of the show is lacking in terms of animation. Scarlet Nexus, stand-alone, has some excellent effects work. But even in episode two, the direction feels totally unambitious. The flashy stuff does nothing to aid the story when the rest of the story, especially faces, lacks the same visual impact.
Doesn't help that for whatever reason they rub Vaseline all over the camera lens during action sequences. I assume it's to better integrate the differently rendered CG rigs but it never looks right regardless.
I saw this as more a trend in modern anime where more compositing = more cinematic, but to me it always feels like so many anime have just washed-out art direction as a consequence. The characters have these really fashionable designs that should be sticking out but they get flattened under the lighting.
Anyway, back to the story. After a mission goes wrong and Naomi gets turned into whatever the fuck this is:
Some random people show up to teleport her away, and then everyone just kinda gets told to ignore it. Because despite being behind a huge, complicated conspiracy that crosses multiple time streams, the villains are also very bad at their jobs.
Some random people show up to teleport her away, and then everyone just kinda gets told to ignore it. Because despite being behind a huge, complicated conspiracy that crosses multiple time streams, the villains are also very bad at their jobs.
We're hinted pretty early on that there's a conspiracy but only because this man named checks notes Commander Karen, keeps vaguely mumbling about it and looking pissed. Also, he's sometimes known as "Brain Eater."
That middle-aged Organization XIII member is the best character in this show in my opinion, entirely because his name makes our heroes sound like put-upon retail cashiers whenever they fight him.
"Karen, Why Would You Do This?"
They were out of his preferred brand of almond milk, so he had to betray the military and stage a coup.
This also involved ripping the sky a new one, engulfing everything in its path, and letting the girls out on the town!
You go ladies!
You go ladies!
Also somebody brainwashed Yuito's best friend into betraying him. Still not sure if that's Karen's fault or the government's though.
I think Karen implies it was supposed to be the government's decision, given that it's revealed that the OSF runs some sort of experiments and how urgently their chief told them to forget about the whole thing with Naomi? Or is that just a lie? I'm not sure anyone really knows what's going on ever, so why should I? One of their ranks even does a heel-turn and he's confused about it!
I've known these people for like five minutes, tops.
The only character I kind of like is Arashi mostly because she's cute and she sleeps and that's all I need in a character.
She has a memorable personality, which is more than you can say for anyone else here.
There's like several other OSF members we can't even cover cuz they don't really contribute anything other than to live their one-note existences.
My 2nd favorite is this guy who just...leaves? In the middle of a fight?? And we have yet to see him again??? Good on him I guess.
Anyway their commander, who we never knew anything about, dies. Half the team gets sucked up into the sky anus, and Nagi just walks off in the chaos with no explanation. We also haven't seen him again, either. Can you tell the scripting of this plot is a little uneven?
Anyway their commander, who we never knew anything about, dies. Half the team gets sucked up into the sky anus, and Nagi just walks off in the chaos with no explanation. We also haven't seen him again, either. Can you tell the scripting of this plot is a little uneven?
I wouldn't mind some of these things if I actually had time to care! But instead I have to eat all this plot information about how some characters don't age or whatever. It really makes me miss 86 because that show felt really underrated for being able to humanize the larger cast just efficiently enough to make you sad about the casualties.
86 also had like, actual characters and themes it wanted to focus on and flesh out. Here it's just plot twists and exposition to carry us to the next awkward fight scene. Like hey, turns out the characters who flew up the Temporal Butthole landed in some distant future, complete with a way cooler looking Yuito. You can tell it's him because he still dyes his hair like he did in high school.
Yeah, with all that I'm not even sure where to fit in the time travel stuff. I guess it must be related to Yuito's family? He briefly got to travel to the Red Zone to receive More Questions, before it spat them out.
The Time Space Continuum really needs a new HDMI cable.
But there's no time to find one, because Karen has unleashed his evil plan and is taking over the government, by hijacking the brainwaves and telling everyone they suck for never being able to log off Twitter.
But there's no time to find one, because Karen has unleashed his evil plan and is taking over the government, by hijacking the brainwaves and telling everyone they suck for never being able to log off Twitter.
And just when Yuito think's "Oh, maybe I should CALL MY DAD?!" in order to get some real answers in the face of all these burning questions and shocking accusations, he finds his father Murrburr'd. By his not!girlfriend no less!
Sorry man, we gotta fill like seven more episodes so we can't actually explain things now.
Man and I thought Netflix Anime™ moved too fast without laying enough groundwork, but Scarlet Nexus is this season's anime that is constantly trying to make fetch happen while also constantly putting me to sleep.
It's about the closest I've ever seen an anime come to just feeling like a YouTube compilation of all the cutscenes in Bloodborne, but with none of the cool worldbuilding or interesting aesthetic. I have to imagine the game is better, just by virtue of interactivity forcing you to pay attention.
Yeah, just as I am only judging the anime by itself, I wouldn't use this as a marker of the game because at least it could still be fun. Even some of my favorite games still get terrible anime adaptations! TBH people looking forward to the game should just avoid this.
I've heard the combat is fun, and if game consoles ever stop being endangered maybe I'll try it out—I do honestly dig the battle hoodie aesthetics on everyone's battle forms. But as for the anime? I'm joining Arashi.
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