In a world powered by advanced technology, crime and action sweep through the archipelagic nation of cremona. Chief among the major players is "Killer B" - a serial killer who has thrown the city into chaos. The stories of Koku, the protagonist, Keith, a legendary investigator of the Royal Investigation Service, and a mysterious criminal organization intertwine on the path to reach their objectives. A wide variety of unforgettable characters surround them on the journey, as they attempt to stop a chain of horrific crimes in this suspense drama.
Kazuto Nakazawa is directing this. He directed those cartoon parts of Kill Bill. Production IG is producing it. They also produced those cartoon parts of Kill Bill. Hmmmm. Kill Bill. Killer B. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Hurr hurr. Nakazawa also designed characters for Tales of Legendia. A bad game. B for bad. Hmmmmm. And he was the animation director on Kuroko's Basket. B for basket. I see, I see.
Kakegurui was excellent. Had me pick up the manga again because of it. Production I.G means insta watch from me as far as this show is concerned. It looks really good.
Watched first episode and so far it's ok. Animation is pretty solid, especially during the fight scene which is expected from Production IG. Will definitely binge it later today since it's only 12 episodes. Also the dub is pretty good.
This show is kinda nuts. I watched two episodes and then fell asleep before I started the third one, but it's totally not what some of the trailers suggested. It's not a serious murder mystery thriller at all, but rather a crazy animu-wacky fantasy-action thing with quite a bit of random comedy. Doesn't even take place in any sort of real world but some made up European country. In the first episode alone there are transforming super mutants, a boy Sephiroth, a stealth mobile tank destroying everything on a highway, etc.
This show is kinda nuts. I watched two episodes and then fell asleep before I started the third one, but it's totally not what some of the trailers suggested. It's not a serious murder mystery thriller at all, but rather a crazy animu-wacky fantasy-action thing with quite a bit of random comedy. Doesn't even take place in any sort of real world but some made up European country. In the first episode alone there are transforming super mutants, a boy Sephiroth, a stealth mobile tank destroying everything on a highway, etc.
Finished episode 3. I think it's actually.... not bad? It would be a pretty terrible show if it's about a bunch of serious investigators solving a "case" which turns out to have people with special powers, but it seems to be more like an action packed show about criminal investigations which are all diversions for a bunch of super mutants who have this hidden conspiracy plan that involves drawing out this kid who is is a super duper mega mutant who turned away from them. I'm guessing all of their powers have to do with some experiment that happened a while ago, maybe even related to some secret in the kingdom or royal family, because while it seems like a normal modern European country, the show can't stop mentioning the royalty in every other throwaway line. It's pretty weird.
This turned out vastly better than I expected after the first two episodes, which had an ugly redneck rampaging with a tank through a city and a clown skateboarding off the sides of buildings. Also to clarify, as just because something turns out better than expected doesn't necessarily mean it turned out good, yes I think the show turned out good. The first episode is by far the worst, due to a number of directorial decisions, such as the character designs for the episodic villains. The first episode had a hillbilly who probably didn't know what the word dentist meant and episode 2 and 3 had some designs which telegraphed obviously psychotic characters. That's actually a larger problem with the series in that the character designs aren't good for the characters outside of the protagonists and a couple of the villains. Too many of the antagonists are either too obviously identified as villains just from their character designs, which is a problem in a mystery show, and others feel exaggerated in the sense they don't resemble real people and are just cartoonish in nature. The female designs were solid though as while both Lily and the blonde IT chick are both cute/sexy, it never comes across as forced. I don't think the clown motif does the show any favors but in hindsight I can see why it was used as it ties into a larger theme about the organization
pretty much being a joke to the higher ups, who are using a bunch of idiotic kids and nutjobs for their own personal gain.
There are different types of first episodes, some immediately throw you into the thick of it as a way of grabbing the audience's attention via action and this was one of those. It didn't do a good job of establishing the characters and along with that, there were stupid setpieces such as the tank wrecking the city. So no, I wasn't feeling the series after the first episode. The poor editing didn't help matters either as it made things more chaotic than they necessarily had to be. The second and third episode were much better introductions to the characters and there also being an actual case. I would say if you didn't like the first episode then I would give it until episode 3, which still isn't great but it's more representative of what the actual series will be about in both material and tone. The first half of the show is definitely rougher in the sense that the Moby Dick Organization (I forgot exactly what they're called in the show but the insane clown posse) is more prominent and their antics distract from the real heart of the show. Their material does tie in later in a meaningful way but they're just so over the top that I couldn't help rolling my eyes in a number of scenes.
The second half is when things get real and the anime pretty much became a huge Sherlock Holmes adaptation. There are even extensive Mind Palace scenes such as the couple of images above. I didn't realize this until near the end but the entire show is largely a Sherlock vs Moriarty showdown but with chuuni superpowers thrown into the mix. You can pretty much figure out who Moriarty is early on and I was annoyed they were going to drag the reveal out but the show then did a reverse on me and
told me Keith (Sherlock in this case) knew pretty much everything from the beginning and was playing along. I was kinda annoyed they weren't being subtle about it as a number of shots spells out who the villain was relatively early but I guess that's one of the possible consequences of foreshadowing. The whole thing in the end turns out to be about money. A bunch of government fat cats are essentially using a black op to fund themselves and the country. The main villain figures this out and uses it for himself to blackmail everybody into supporting his murder sprees. This then becomes a duel between Keith and Moriarty as to both who is smarter and more resolute in their ideology.
It's surprisingly good stuff and I love how the climax is done with the film projector playing in the background.
There are two major story lines in the show, one being about the people with superpowers and the other about Keith and his Moriarty. What I loved is how the later ties into the former, in that Moriarty spells out how he was using everybody and how superpowers don't mean shit unless you have a brain to go with it. Both of the story lines though end up turning out pretty well with the superpowers side not only having some good action cuts later on (something I was worried about after the first two episodes) but solid emotional beats as well. There are still some aspects on that part of the show, mainly early on with the characters, but future revelations put a number of those initial scenes into a better context. The Sherlock side isn't exactly faultless either as I disliked how Lily was repeatedly used as either a damsel-in-distress or bait. She never came off as a competent partner to Keith despite some characters spouting lines about how capable she was. I think the show as a whole could have been better about character motivations and character work but it didn't turn out bad or anything.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out despite the rocky beginning. Oh and the ED theme rocks.
I finished it. It was pretty dumb, especially anything to do with the main plot revelations, but it was fairly entertaining. The action was nonsensical but cool, the explosions were very nice, and the overall art direction in the show is great. The story is better than I expected because I expected it to be really boring but it was just stupid and sometimes funny instead. I can't believe they actually expect to make more of this based on the stinger at the end. But if they do I'll probably watch it. Lol.
Final episode leaves a hint for a sequel. Series did seriously lack in character development by all involved. Animation and action quality is what kept the interest going, as well as the gratuitous violence.
Focusing on two totally different and opposing protagonist, a detective and a mutant, really harmed the series as a whole. Simply no chemistry between them. 24 episodes would have sufficed for a better interaction. This felt like 2 different genres meddled into one. Mutant story felt very underrepresented, despite having more characters
I didn't like Devilman all that much, so don't take my word too seriously if you did. Although to be fair, most of my problems with Devilman were with the latter half and I'm only a bit into this.
Finished the series, was great! I'm ecstatic for more Netflix anime originals if they can hit this sort of quality. Definitely superior to anything airing this (relatively weak) season. They probably could've done without some of the craziness at the beginning in a series that stays pretty grounded as far as super powers go.
It's too bad this got such a shit OP. I feel like some people who might give this a shot could be turned off by such a negative initial impression.
I'm not really sure I get the comments about a hook for a second season. Was there an after-credits scene? Netflix jumped me to a trailer.
Final episode leaves a hint for a sequel. Series did seriously lack in character development by all involved. Animation and action quality is what kept the interest going, as well as the gratuitous violence.
Focusing on two totally different and opposing protagonist, a detective and a mutant, really harmed the series as a whole. Simply no chemistry between them. 24 episodes would have sufficed for a better interaction. This felt like 2 different genres meddled into one. Mutant story felt very underrepresented, despite having more characters
Can't really agree. Not even story needs to be driven by character development. B is a mystery show first and foremost, the stage is set and you're there to witness it unfold. I think the intertwined stories are the series' strong point and that padding it out would only hurt this kind of story.
Can't really agree. Not even story needs to be driven by character development. B is a mystery show first and foremost, the stage is set and you're there to witness it unfold. I think the intertwined stories are the series' strong point and that padding it out would only hurt this kind of story.
Mystery was far too superficially handled to make up for it. Considering the production values and the gratuitous violence, I expected something like Moryo no Hako or Boogiepop Phantom. Not the directors forte probably. Action scenes were much better handled.
I have no idea what this "etc." is supposed to encompass given the rest of the list, lol. Effectively communicates "to this is a anime-ass anime," at least.
Watched two episodes and most of the third before giving up. Hated it. Honestly I am usually more forgiving but this show somehow really annoys me. Stupid hacking with multiple keyboards(and pedals!), stupid fights on trains and some super-detective who derives shit from his magical mathematical formulas. Ughh
Yeah Netflix fucked me over with the trailer for that hilariously bad looking TV series of the Japanese girls in the horror mansion.
As to B the Beginning I enjoyed it. I don't think it was anywhere near as great as Devilman which will likely rank high in the top 10, but maybe if the rest of this year is a bust then B could possibly have a chance of ranking but it isn't likely. Visuals were top notch. Story felt like a Rollercoaster of quality.
Biggest problem I had with the show is that the two plots (and the two casts) didn't really work together all that well. They clashed both in their designs and in the way they tried to tie the knot to present them as one show. I feel that with a bit of rewriting we could have had two decent/above average mystery thriller and supernatural battle Anime but instead we got this. I'd give it a 7/10 generously as I do feel that when the crime thriller was leading the charge the show was really great. The other plot never quite clicked with me.
I appreciate that the ending wasn't
a depressing/sad ending since the rest of the show was so grim one could swear it would end badly but no. Both of the main pairings survived the whole ordeal
The sequel set up at the end is interesting because I can't imagine this is going to do particularly good for Netflix in terms of viewers so it's unlikely they fund a second season. Unless they had funded for 24 episodes from the get go as they've done before.
the supernatural aspect will always be there, the crime anime eventually takes a bit of priority in terms of screen time but it's not ever OVERWHELMING compared to the other.
I just finished the series. I don't really think the teaser or two I saw were accurate indications of the show's overall focus.
The show feels like a case of style over substance to me. Outside of a few too many editing cuts in Episode 1, I think the show was well made from a technical perspective in terms of direction, action, and music. However, I think the writing is easily the show's weakest point. I only felt invested in about 2 to 3 characters by the end of the show, and there were parts of solving the mystery storyline that felt a bit nonsensical to me. I probably wouldn't have minded the storyline as much if I had ended up caring about more of the characters, though.
All that said, I still enjoyed the show overall and I think the English dub is solid given the material the voice actors had to work with.
Watched two episodes and most of the third before giving up. Hated it. Honestly I am usually more forgiving but this show somehow really annoys me. Stupid hacking with multiple keyboards(and pedals!), stupid fights on trains and some super-detective who derives shit from his magical mathematical formulas. Ughh
Sounds like you're further in than 3episodes or you didn't watch it in order. Anyways the pedals are anxiety pedals. People that play the piano and use their handles outside of that activity still find themselves using their feet randomly. Some people get push pedals for exercise because of it.
I watched the first episode and I didn't really like it. Seems to be all over the place thematically and the flow of the story is super irritating. Villains(?) all kinda look like Coldsteel the hedgehog...
Does it get better or is it like that the entire season?
The whole series felt like the writers threw shit at a wall and wrote about whatever stuck, even if it didn't make a hell of a lot of sense when they put it together. There's asspull twists galore with the after credits scene of the final episode probably being the biggest, essentially contradicting one of the major plotpoints that the writers had just reiterated on a few minutes earlier. In spite of all this, I was entertained throughout and don't regret watching the show one bit.
I watched the first episode and I didn't really like it. Seems to be all over the place thematically and the flow of the story is super irritating. Villains(?) all kinda look like Coldsteel the hedgehog...
Does it get better or is it like that the entire season?
Crybaby has been the outlier in these threads, for better or for worse.
For what it's worth I saw the first 3 episodes of this last night, since I didn't see any of the pre-release material I was kind of expecting something a bit more grounded and serious (What with that premise and title), and definitely not superpower conspiracies and a plot that's pretty wacky but also stupidly entertaining. The action's actually great too, even if it veers completely into anime craziness.
Looking forward to the rest of this (even if it looks like it has all the signs of a classic trainwreck).
