My review could be summarized in the following sentence: PLOT, WHERE ARE YOU? This episode was a… surprise, since it proved that time is relative and 24 minutes can feel like an eternity. Usually I’m not bitter, but this was more than I could handle! Is there someone in charge for the screenplay? I wanna know who to blame.

Plot

So, AFTERLOST is already on its fifth episode and I’m still standing here trying to figure out what happened in the first one… Dear person who reads this, I’m sorry to disappoint you but I don’t have many clues as to what the heck occurred here. Thus, I will stick with the basics: The magician we got introduced to (lol) in the previous episode is cooperating with the Agency and leads our main boring group to a trap. His motives seem pure though, since he tries to get in touch with his long-lost brother, who happens to be a mastermind thief. Meanwhile, Yumi is dumb and flat as always and tries to talk with Souma, who hates her and wants her dead. The only thing I found interesting in this episode is that Ryoko truly died and we didn’t get trolled! So wrong. Alluring characters who add up to the scenario die, while the dull ones get to live and spread the monotony…

Episode Highlights

The spoiled: We got a chance to discover more about Yumi’s and Souma’s past and we learned that Souma was a spoiled, selfish brat! Their mother’s loss surely played a part in this, but still, his behavior was more self-centered than it should. Instead of helping and supporting Yumi he made her suffer even more.

The magician: So, the magician happens to be a truly magician, since he has superpowers similar to Yumi’s. It was not unpredictable, but his ‘hakuna matata’ demonstration in the van caught me off guard.

Copy-paste: Ryoko and Yumiko, Takuya and Akira weren’t enough. So, we got a new doppelganger duo, Tsubasa and Taiyo. It’s starting to be a tradition, and no further commentary for this is needed…

Comments

The two previous episodes were a glimpse of hope in AFTERLOST’s chaos, but this episode decided to follow the same pattern as the ones in the series beginning. Too many new faces, not a single proper explanation is given and vapid action is present as always. All these elements combined, create a horrible episode. Bad and forced dialogs, still no character development and poor animation. The voice acting managed to save the day -up to a point- but this series’s boat sunk. If you want to get people interesting in the characters or the anime overall, it’s essential to create arcs that explain things. For example, if the magician’s backstory was explained in 2-3 episodes instead of this mess of information we got, it would be far more exciting to watch his attempts. The same thing applies to Ryoko too.

After finishing the anime I will give the mobile game a try, in order to find out what happened and for what reason. In the series, every development feels really unsatisfying and tiring. On the other hand -and on the bright side- I’m feeling a guilty pleasure while watching all those trashy mysterious episodes that doesn’t make any sense. It’s like a brain puzzle. So, here’s something positive for AFTERLOST!

‘A small crack can destroy everything’

The quality twist never came, alongside with the backstories we were all waiting for. Though, AFTERLOST hit a nerve, and it became kind of addicting. Try to sit with your friends, watch it and attempt to predict what happens next. What do you think?

Don’t forget to check the rest of our Spring 2019 reviews. AFTERLOST is also part of our weekly anime previews.

Shoumetsu Toshi (AFTERLOST)

Spring 2019 | Anime Info | Simulcast