So I just finished the first episode of Zankyou no Terror (Terror in Resonance) and uh…whoa. I have to admit that the first time I read the description of this anime, I wasn’t very interested. But I figured, why not? And checked it out.
What I found certainly wasn’t what I wasn’t expecting. What caught my eye in practically the first few seconds of the anime was the vividly beautiful animation. The movements are so smooth and eye-popping, I have to say it’s the best part of this anime. The art is spectacular as well. Cinematic eye candy~
‘
However, I’m not a fan of quite a few things. Let’s start off with characters.
The characters in this show are all rather dry and/or cliche so far, but hey. It’s the first episode after all. (I still have hope they’ll develop into deeper and more interesting characters as the story progresses.)
When I see hisami, (Twelve) all I can see is a mix of Suzaku Kururugi and hatchin Morenos ( .3.)
Boy, are there cliches. The happy-go-lucky guy with a secretly dark personality, the stoic, glasses-wearing, calculating, anti-social guy, and the quiet, submissive girl. Characters I’ve seen in many, many, many other anime.
He got the seat next to the window in the back? Didn’t see that coming.
Meeting on the rooftop during lunchtime? When does that ever happen to protagonists?
Well, regardless of all these overused cliches, Zankyou no Terror brings something entirely new to the table. Terrorists. Wait, what?
That’s right, the protagonists are terrorists! No doubt they’re going to bring up some dark past to justify it, but I’m still a sucker for anti-heroes.
I’m not so sure how to feel about Lisa quite yet. (Well, obviously. Its the first episode.) Ultimately, I feel like she was incorporated into this rather forcefully. There was something off about her even being there in the first place, but whatever. That’s just how I feel right now. Her character can head off in any direction and I hope she takes a “flying leap” into some strong development.
The soundtrack is definitely far from being a favorite of mine. I have this weird quirk where I have to listen to the opening and ending of an anime at least once, completely. But with Zankyou no Terror, I was tempted to just skip. Which is what I’ll be doing from now on.
Regardless of everything I’ve mentioned, it doesn’t really take away from the anime. Sure, the characters aren’t very strong, but this is just the first episode. Also, there wasn’t any fan service to be seen, which I’m pleasantly surprised to find. The story and concept is very interesting to me which is what’s keeping me to looking forward to more.
All in all, Zankyou no Terror is definitely something I’ll be checking out every week and hopefully be writing a review about in the future. 🙂
And the “Highlight of the Episode” award goes to…
Art and Animation!
I’ll be looking at episode 2 next week.
Amp's Anime Reviews 
You admit that it’s wrongheaded to describe characters as cliche or weak based on viewing one episode of a series, but then you do so several times. Some archetypes are more common than others, but all characters fall into archetypes regardless of their level of character development.
LikeLike