Reviews for Establishment in Life

After 4 episodes I am really enjoying the show. Forget the low this show has currently because "scores don't equate to quality" at the end of the day. Plot: So far it has an interesting premise which I am enticed in. The show takes a unique concept of A.I Fiction and I'm already loving the setting of Japan. It takes place in a fictional and "demonically altered" version of Tokyo, run by artificial intelligence. This city is divisive with harsh laws, more specifically, prohibiting people to come and go as they please. Helping locals escape from the city are the Nigashiya group, who upon request find variousways to avoid the law enforcers alike to successfully carry out their aforementioned goal.

Characters:

Characters are very well made in design and give off a distinct personality and goal.

Sound:

Still pretty good within the theme of the story. Gives off a creative beat drop as well of A.I destruction.

Enjoyment:

Really enjoy this show for what it is and what it's specifically trying to portray.

Overall: After 4 episodes think the show is somewhere like an 8/10. Say what you want about the show. It may not have great animation or plot device but at least it gives off a unique presence that will further develop into the future.

If you decided to scroll down and read this review, you're probably someone who genuinely might love this show. This show really isn't for everyone, as the average user score probably let on. The whole thing is in CGI like the poster indicates, and on top of that this show is quite the weird one. But. I implore you, if you think there's even a chance you can get past those concerns, please give this show a try. Just a couple episodes. Because, based on the five episodes I've seen, this is a real diamond in the rough. Most CGI showsthat air each season are either garbage or nothing special. This is largely due to the relative inexperience of their creators - most are made by newer studios and personnel who just entered the business. Estab-Life is made by a more experienced crew, and it shows. It's directed by the same director as GochiUsa, and the script was written by the original creator of Full Metal Panic. It also has the creator of Code Geass in a planning role. All this points to quite a bit of promise in this production.

Of course, even talented people could make a poor product, but fortunately that's not the case here. Make what you will of the visuals - what you see on the promotional material is what you're going to get, same with the designs (though I should point out that this CGI is pretty high quality compared to the usual fare). Even if those leave you unimpressed, however, the real strength of this show lies in the writing and direction, which combine create a show that is, at its core, just really funny and really weird in all the best ways.

The writing is as bizarre as the synopsis would have you believe. It's fairly episodic in nature, with each episode being a new weird-ass adventure. The scenarios this show delves into are strange and make hardly any sense - and are also endlessly creative. The writers make good use of these wild situations, making each one quite memorable in its own way. But it's clearly been written with enough foresight for the plot to still build upon itself - a seemingly throwaway joke in one episode will be referenced and further developed in the next, for example.

The characters benefit greatly from this as well. Even though I rather enjoyed the first episode over all, I left it feeling like most of the characters were one-note. And while that might be true in a sense, they still have plenty of depth, it just comes from the unique and hilarious ways the characters express their defining traits.

Hopefully I highlighted what I found so appealing about this show in this review, and hopefully I convinced you to give it the time of day. I have it at an 8 currently largely due to how, while I overall quite love this show, must admit that the silliness goes a bit overboard at times, to the point that it's a tad distracting: this, along with the visual issues inherent to fully CGI shows, led me to that score. However, I'm genuinely considering upping this to a 9 depending on how the rest of this season turns out. Thanks for taking the time to read this, if you do decide to check this one out I really hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

My favorite genre is the "Cute Girls do Cool Things" genre, which usually has a predominantly female cast engaged in badass and over-the-top action scenarios with little to no regard for melodrama, and every season I would search high and low for a show that meets that criteria. Usually 3Hz would deliver in that regard, but while expecting a show titled "Healer Girl" to have guns-blazing action is an exercise in futility, I somehow stumbled upon Estab Life, that has absolutely everything I wanted, and then some. Estab Life is what you would call a "multi media franchise", or in less flattering but more accurate terms,a "made for mobage" show. And in my experience, usually failure or high likelihood of failure mobage would generate some of the best original anime out there (see Kotobuki, Akanesasu Shoujo, and of course Kemono Friends). Estab Life is no different. Right out of the bat it is supremely confidant on its premise and themes, and is wildly imaginative in its depiction of the Tokyo clusters. I'm actually reminded quite a lot of Rolling Girls, though more restricted to a single location and with less drama.

And by imaginative, I mean, wow. Communist Penguins, Mahou Shoujo Yakuza, No-pan Theocracy, Prison Horse Races, and much more are featured in this show. And bizzarely they all make sense given the context they are set in (Fucho is famous for its prison and horse races, for example). It never feels jarring nor is there any whiplash when going from episode to episode, part of the joy is seeing what crazy situation the girls will end up in.

Equa-senpai is quite possibly my favorite MC of the season. Most of these Cute Girls do Cool Things shows would usually cast either a genki-baka type or a cool-but-silent type as their protagonists, and, while fine enough, are overly played out. Equa's personality in being a kind and easy-going onee-san type is wildly out of place, yet a very fresh take for a genre like this, and her interactions with the cast and everyone, as well as having actual shortcomings, makes her an endearing character to follow. The rest of the main cast are pretty good too, though I would have liked if each of them had their own spotlight episodes.

It's not just fun wacky comedy either, out of all the shows this season, this is the last show I'd expect to have actual heart in it, but goddammit it does, and the superb direction and music all make you feel emotional in ways I never really got for a show of this type of genre.

Special mention to the music. Fujisawa's OST, while very similar to most of his own previous works, all complement each moment so effectively and can really make you feel emotional for a scene that is otherwise farcical. Like, it's a testament to the entire soundtrack when it can make you feel genuinely sad for one of the characters despite that one predictable tragic event that you know happens actually happen.

The whole show has been a wild and fun ride, and I will eagerly await the film (I don't know why or how, but thank you Square Enix for funding weirdo projects like these) once it releases stateside.

You were the first and last friends I've ever made!

8/10

I feel like the story is a bit repetitive, except episode 7, which is just the main extractors being on the end of making their cafe more populated. The CGI, of the background and characters feel absolutely gorgeous and it almost feels like it isn't. the CGI character arts seems to be done in a way, where it's pleasing to look at and it generally could be simple to draw fanart of the characters. The characters aren't overly CGI like most of the CGI animes, example Saint Seiya, Legend of Sanctuary or heck even Tesla Note. If you look closely at the Art and thecharacters, you will actually discover that they are drawn in a way it to match an anime where it isn't like any ordinary anime that you choose to enjoy and love.

the CGI in this anime probably is 2D.5. given how it pops without it being 3D. I honestly hope that the CGI animes in the upcoming future would take the CGI from Estab-Life to animate more than True CGI. which tends to turn out a mess.

The sound quality is great. okay even. I am enjoying this anime, even though it will end up being so underrated and under the radar of fans enjoyment and impressions.

Overall thoughts. I like the appeal of the CGI character Arts, and despite the story itself being repetitive. It'll be on my top recommendations, for me to try it out and to see if they indeed like it. or dislike it who knows?

I saw this was a current airing anime and of course turned to MAL to assess whether it was worth watching. The score was low 5.78... but three reviews giving it 8/10 piqued my interest, all said it was great and their reviews all rang true to me so I decided I'd give it a shot. The cover art was colorful and endeared me just looking at it, it was obvious that this pulled no punches in the art department and shortly after watching an episode that was truly made clear. The animation itself it not that great being a 2.5D sort of 3D affair,but you soon get used to it.. the actual art itself was beautiful, the character designs, the background art.. they look great. The characters themselves are endearing, the story and the voice acting (English in my case) won me over.. I don't think I've had an anime make me laugh so much in recent times, this is a very tongue in cheek series, everyone is having fun here and I love it. All I can say is that if you are a "man of culture" you will enjoy this. It has style, it has humor it has feels.. color me impressed. THIS truly is an underrated show and I thank Machine_of_Ice, NomineMalum & IdolwhisperTM for bringing it to my attention, you truely are cultured in the way of anime and I salute you for your reviews that fly in the face of public criticism. Now I'll go back to watching the show.. 10 episodes in and it's still pretty good, unfortunately the whacky humor of earlier episodes hasn't carried forward so that's unfortunate, I still enjoy watching it.

(This is only preliminary because MAL made a mistake on the data for this. Oh well.) The closemindedness of not watching something because it's CGI is childish and immature. I enjoyed the so bad it's good content of Tesla Note, and the charm of Rusted Armors. Sure, websites like MAL score this a 5, but who would take MAL scores seriously? Relying on MAL scores is like relying on waves of underage Shonen anime viewers to tell you what to like. Still, no one watched Estab Life. At least, that's what it felt like to me. Though the CGI is choppy and makes some characters looklike they are made out of plastic, this series does have some elements that make it shine, and it managed to connect and be memorable to me. This promotes a gacha game, which worried me, as this did have some issues in the end.

The biggest talent of this series is it's absurd and very hilarious comedy. It's over the top, and ridiculous in execution, though it worked wonderfully, and I was laughing nonstop. The last few episodes do get serious, and even though it worked, they didn't come close to the quality of the fun and funny episodic ones. There isn't much plot here anyways.

The story is about a cast of loveable characters who help people from different clusters escape their miserable lives. An anime that is actually blatantly about escapism without really trying to give a hopeful message in the end. These clusters are connected by an underground train system and are experiments to see what type of societies work, and which don't. A failed cluster will be completely erased if the population declines. You can expect anthropomorphic dogs, communist penguins, slave laboring prisons, old men wanting to become magical girls, religions were wearing underwear is considered a heresy, and other creative and outrageous ideas such as the cast at some point trying to assassinate a prison ward.

Equa is the central member of the cast who was given amazing powers that let her see the future. She is usually in such a good mood it's a bit creepy at times. Martese is a perverted pile of goo that took the shape of a little girl and is completely obsessed with Equa. These are the only two that are ever given development. Other than that, there's Ulla, an anthropomorphic dog that was hilarious given the voice talent of Miki Shinichirou, even though all he does is bark in the series. Alga is a small robot that is cruelly honest and extreme in his ways to the point he's an accidental comedian. Last there is Ferres, a sharp shooter who is often insecure, moody, and shy about it all. A problem with this series is that most of these characters do not get developed at all or explained where they came from or how they came to be. The music is overall forgettable, and the series doesn't do much for me when it deviates from it's clever and outstanding comedy. When the stakes run high, those action packed scenes are often laughable as the cast gets sprayed by bullets that never seem to hit.

As a mostly episodic series, there wasn't a single one of those plotless episodes I didn't enjoy because the comedy is that well done. Ironically, it's the plot focused episodes I didn't enjoy too much. There is still a film for this that will come out some day that will be directed and written by Goro Taniguchi of Code Geass fame for those that want more. Until then, I'll have fond memories of how much this series made me laugh.

Are we at Peak Anime? I think we must be at Peak Anime. There's certainly a glut of it - an inexhaustible supply of anime so cheaply-made that it seems not to matter that hardly anybody watches it. I'm the kind of person who looks at something nobody has watched and says to herself, "I should watch this." Not because I expect it to be good. As a learning experience. I think you can learn a lot about the world we live in by looking at its ephemera, at the products we take for granted. Estab-Life was apparently created topromote a mobile game that never actually got released. It was made on the cheap, even by the standards of the notoriously parsimonious anime industry. The thing about the anime industry, though, is that... human beings are fundamentally creative. We all have stories we want to tell. We can be passionately devoted to telling those stories, any chance we get. Sometimes, the trade-off to getting paid peanuts is that you get to tell the stories you want to tell. Getting on TV? Getting a platform? One takes what one can get. Humans are willing to sacrifice a lot in pursuit of our dreams, in pursuit of a life where we can find meaning and fulfillment.

Which, it happens, is the basic theme of Estab-Life. This series tells stories of people who want to run away from their lives, even though the _title of every episode_ says that you _can't_ run away from whatever the episode's subject is trying to run away from. Schoolwork. Democracy. Destiny. Control. All of these things, the episode titles say, are things you can't run away from. And then the stories show people doing exactly that, with the help of the series' main cast, the Extractors. One by one the things you can't run away from are eliminated, until at the end there's only one thing left that the characters can't run away from: Themselves.

There's a great deal of subtlety in the show, in the way it portrays its characters, particularly the leads. The main lead, Equa, stands out because she _doesn't_ want to run away. She does what she does because she's genuinely happy with her work, because she's living her values to their fullest. She's forthright and clear that this is _why_ she helps people run away - because she wants other people to have the same opportunity she's had. I'm genuinely surprised at just how much I _liked_ Equa. This is a lady whose personality is that she's irrepressibly cheerful, upbeat, and compassionate. She's an amazing person, everybody loves her, and for most of the show she's functionally invincible because she has plot armor that's not _literal_, but is so blatant that calling it "metaphorical" seems like a stretch. Characters like this normally annoy me.

Here, though? First, while the story is one about human smugglers in a dystopia, for the most part it isn't _nearly_ as serious as that description implies. Their clients are a yakuza boss who wants to become a magical girl, penguins who want to escape the Stasi. Equa is loveable first, because she takes these characters completely seriously. She's utterly sincere about things that other people would raise a cocked eyebrow at. She's not kind because the plot demands it, she's kind because that's the fundamental basis of her character.

In fact, her kindness isn't seen as completely good. She's not always right. Most notably, she gets the rest of the team shot at a lot, which is pretty convenient given that the show is an action comedy and therefore a certain amount of action is called for. Everyone around her loves her, everyone around her works to protect her, because even _with_ the plot armor, she constantly puts other people before herself, she constantly puts herself in harm's way for others. The trick the show pulls, though, is it does the same thing Equa does - she's important, but she doesn't ever center herself. It focuses on the other characters, their personalities, their stories, and you learn about Equa by how she treats _other people_. She avoids talking about herself. She turns the focus back onto other people, and it works because that's the most important thing about her, not her history, not her backstory, but her deep, principled _compassion_.

That's all you need, really, for a great series, in my opinion. Compelling characters with strong, realistic motivations. Well, maybe I'd ask for a little more than that in a show this cheap-looking. The animation here isn't what I'd call garbage-tier, but it's largely not very visually impressive. It's not going to make a lot of sakuga rolls. In general the show tries to show, not tell, but with a budget this limited there's only so much you can show. Even though I grew up on "classic" Doctor Who, even though I can accept green bubblewrap as convincing body horror, I wouldn't be bothering to tell you about this show if it was simply a good story with strong characters.

No, what puts this show over the top is that this show is also _very queer_. The three main characters in this series are also a sapphic love triangle. How sapphic? You know Birdie Wing, the girls' golf anime from this season where one constantly has the sense watching it that the two leads are going to start making out at any second? This show is more sapphic than that. It also happens to feature some of the best trans representation I've seen in anime. Admittedly that's a pretty low bar, but the show _sails_ over it with ease simply by having the lead character state the obvious - that there's nothing wrong with a yakuza boss wanting to be a magical girl. It repeatedly features tropes that anime has done very, very badly in the past, and generally does them well. I wasn't happy about the implicit fat-shaming in one of the episodes, but that's about the worst objection I can make to anything in this show.

But WAIT, there's MORE. The show is clearly, obviously set in a dystopia that, uh, shares some distinct similarities with dystopian situations other people might be familiar with. Do I personally know what it's like to leave everything behind in search of a life where I can be happy with myself, with who I am? Absolutely, and I'm far from alone in this. The show starts out by centering the joy of being able to do that, of having someone who will give you an opportunity for that better life. The thing about this world, though, is that everything comes with a cost. Equa's blithe pursuit of her values eventually does get the Extractors into trouble. At some point in the series, she does something that seriously threatens the entire structure of the society she lives in, the society that turns a blind eye to the Extractors' criminal activities. She does this without a second though, because it's the Right Thing to Do. There are consequences to this.

So the show, having succeeded thoroughly at lighthearted episodic comedy, takes a sudden turn for the dramatic. It works. Not only does it work, this turn builds naturally and organically on the framework the show has already built. Not only was the Extractors' world always a dystopia, but the ridiculous, lighthearted things they did in the earlier episodes are shown to have real consequences. It does all this, and then, at the end, it sticks the landing. The last episode does have a big old exposition dump, but it also has the best action and design work of the show. That's still not a ton, but I certainly wasn't expecting to, at any point, find myself saying "Wow, that actually looks pretty cool" about anything in the show. More importantly, over the last few episodes of the show it absolutely reveals itself as a thoughtful and heartfelt meditation on not just life under dystopia, but the nature of dystopia itself, on what it means to truly escape from a tyranny of not just people, but of systems, systems designed with all the best intentions in the world. Not only do I think the ending doesn't cop out at all, I think it goes beyond even a lot of anime that I love. Estab-Life celebrates diversity, but at the same time does not shy away from acknowledging how difficult it is for people who don't have the same values or the same experiences to practice diversity as a central value, the way Equa does. It's enough, in this world, to point out the glaring and obvious problems we face, but Estab-Life served to reinforce my genuine hope and belief - belief that a better world is possible and that it is within our grasp, and that sometimes, the best way we can do that is by leaving behind the things that no longer serve us.

In the earlier episodes of the show, characters repeatedly question why the characters' clients would want to leave. Why would a powerful mafia boss want to run away? Why would a celebrated, elite troup of ballet performers want to run away? Why would a high priestess want to run away from a land where she's the voice of the local Goddess? Why would an otaku want to run away Akibahara? Maybe, the show suggests, the characters aren't running away, but walking away - walking away from the same land, a land Ursula K. Leguin called "Omelas".

Estab-Life is a genuinely great show. I'd give it a 9/10 if it'd had a budget of more than about 500 yen per episode. You should watch it.

Communist Penguin Ex Machina. Coming out the end of all the CGI anime sludge that 2021 diarrhoea-ed out of its ass and then moulded into some of the worse/hilariously bad shows I’ve seen in a while, Esatab-Life: Great Escape has been a surprising breath of fresh air from all the stink. That’s not to say that this show doesn’t have its stink to it. The CGI can look a bit janky and the sound design can feel distractingly off, especially in the first couple of episodes, but the production is consistently at a good level, the character models and background elements are all cohesive and theactual story delivers a wide variety of fun, wacky, escape of the week scenarios accompanied with a jazz soundtrack when the inevitable shoot out starts between the Extractors and the security drones.

The Extractors in question are a group of heroines, a samurai dog and a sassy robot who help clients escape their life in a “cluster”, a city made to suit a political, cultural or religious ideal so they can find happiness and build a new life in another cluster.

These people can vary from a yakuza boss wanting to flee so he can become the magical girl he has always dreamed of becoming in a cluster dedicated to magical girls or a group of free-speech ballet penguins wanting to escape their communist penguin overseers. The concepts are always a bit too ridiculous, but they never lack creativity.

A lot of the concepts of the world aren’t explained all that well, such as how there are talking animals, demi-humans and magic in what is supposed to be post-apocalyptic Japan, but it doesn’t really need to nor did it bother me all that much as a viewer. The Extractor Martese is a demi-human slime with a loud personality whilst Ferres is a level-headed, but easily socially fluster mage gunner. Holding the group together is Equa, an always positive moe blob and leader of the group with her mysterious powers that serve to get them out of trouble in a pinch.

As much as I have praised the show I can’t quite say that it’s good. I do like the main characters, but there are times when they can get a bit annoying. Martese in particular attempts to be endearing, but backfires most of the time as she comes off as more of a pest. Some of the episodes in the middle of the season are just plain dull and are skippable which is a shame plus some of the political implications in some episodes are... interesting... I'll leave it at that.

I get that there is a stigma over CGI anime, believe me, I get it, but don’t let the MAL 5/10 rating (as of the time of writing) fool you into thinking this show is bad. It’s not. It’s at the very least a silly fun time. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and you'll barely notice any of the stink once you get used to the smell.

6/10 It’s Okay *Thumbs Up*

1 word. Masterpiece. This show is f***ing stupid. Like REALLY stupid! Thats 95% of the enjoyment. Its basically about a dystopian Japan that was divided into city states or "clusters" each of which has a different government structure and all of which ban citizens from traveling to other clusters. The MC and pals are "extractors" who help people start over in a new cluster. With a plot like this they COULD tell a super mature and realistic story about how restricting freedom of movement can cause societal issues and comparing the different governments of the clusters to show the best and worst of society, thankfullythats not what they did. They took a risk by turning the plot into 1 big joke while still having the characters take it seriously and it worked out very well for the entertainment value of the show.

Story: 10/10

The plot is interesting on its own regardless of execution. While I adore the direction they went with it it does make me curious what a more serious take on the plot would look like. Episode 3 when Equa was interrogated and they reveal that everything about her is either fabricated or indeterminable that REALLY got me hooked! Whats this girl's past and how is it that they weren't even able to narrow down whether she is or is not a human (or what she is for that matter). Regardless love the plot

Characters: 100/10

The characters are the main draw of this show. I'm 5 episodes in and every single character thus far has been incredibly likable and interesting in their own ways. Equa is a plank of wood but in a good way. She's basically a yes man thrust into the position of a leader and is always needlessly optimistic regardless of whats going on. Martes is a complete psychopath. The reveal that she is a slime was interesting by itself early on, but then episode 4 they reveal "the congress of Martes", AKA 100 mini versions of her in conflict over what she does. It was pure lunacy and a very good parody of real life politics. Feles is a magical girl former yakuza and full tsundere, need I say much more? Meanwhile wolf guy is basically Kenny from south park cus he practically dies off early on every episode.

Animation: 10/10

YES THE ANIMATION IS BAD! THATS WHY ITS SO GOOD! A show like this plain and simple would not work with traditional animation. You can do it but half the impact is this animation style. If the show was actually trying to tell a serious story then yes this animation wouldnt be good but its a slice of life comedy masquerading as a serious story. The animation tells you right off the bat not to take the plot seriously.

Music/OP/ED: ?/10

I wont give a hard score to the music. The OP and ED are skippable and forgettable and same with the music. It just doesnt stick out as anything good or bad so I dont feel comfortable giving it a score.

Voice Acting: 8/10

How in gods name did this filler anime get a dub? A descent dub at that. The actors themselves are great, my biggest complaint is that the lip sync can be off at times.

Alt Anime Recommendations:

OreTwi AKA Ore Twintail Ni Narimasu. Its the only other show I've seen able to pull off taking a plot 100% seriously while half the joke being how stupid the execution of the plot is.

There are good and bad elements to this show, but I ended up liking it more than I thought I would after the first few episodes. It's one of those shows that on the face of it should be really stupid. The fun kind of stupid, but still, very very dumb. It's the kind of show you can be trying to describe to a friend and realize how ridiculous that sounds on the face of it, only to realize the execution was far more mundane than the setup made it sound. For example the fact that it has a yakuza boss who wants to runaway from crime city and become a magical girl, or the hot spring city where panties are illegal. It throws a bunch of really comedic sounding ideas at the wall, and then executes them like you're going to a business lunch and don't want to stand out too much. All of the potential is there for it to be a crazy high-concept comedy show, but it plays it straight like I'm meant to take any of this seriously.

However I found myself enjoying it anyway, if you just embrace the stupid high-concept nature of the world and focus on the character interactions you can have a good time with it. I don't think it's a very memorable show, but if you decide to watch it there are worse ways to spend your time. The 3D animation was decent and not too distracting, I've seen worse. If 3D is a turn-off for you just on the face of it then I guess stay away. Overall I'm feeling a 7/10

*NOTE: This may contain spoilers* Foreword: ------------- The story is much better then what the rating claim, yes there are issues but it should be higher ranked then it is right now (currently 6.53). I would even dare to say this is a hidden diamond that might be completely misjudged because of modern American politics. I will explain what I mean by this. The whole extraction team idea started to be well known during World War 2, with people trying to get the Jewish population to safety and allied pilots back home to fight another day. It didn't matter whether you were male or female, you could be onone of the teams to counter the Germans. However for the Cold War era this changed to East and West Germany where people wanted to leave East Germany to get to the West Germany side. There are countless famous stories of how people did this. Even by water, air, digging tunnels and by land using various ways. Even to this day it still happens if we look to Ukraine, again the Russians trying to target everyone that tries to flee and poses an easy target.

This anime is most likely based on that and it actually did a amazing job at it even if you add in the typical anime additions to spice up the story a bit further. This would actually be a very realistic way of how to perform such extractions, you plan, you do what you need to do and finish the job. I really can't praise Polygon Pictures enough for a job very well done in that respect.

Story:

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You get thrown in the deep end with the story never really explaining things until the last episode and only doing so to a very minor level. Which is a shame, but this can't be ignored. Another flaw is that even the episodes are not really explained in enough detail either. This leading to the 'wait, why is this a thing?' and 'why is this happening?'.

Yet if you look past that, and keep in mind what I mentioned before regarding how realistic the extraction of people is even in anime style, I think this is a very good story and I really do hope there will be more to come. A new season would be very welcome in my eyes.

I did find it rather odd that episode 5 seems to suggest fan service, but doesn't give any really. However with the story and humor added I think it will be well within the acceptable limits. I won't spoil what is happening in this episode, you will have to see for yourself.

Graphics:

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While over all it really does look good, you will see it's CGI and specially in the first few episodes where it actually messes up the animations quite badly. This is probably why people don't rate it higher. However later in the episode list this is a pretty rare issue which means the team tried their best to give a amazing show. Which in graphics is actually a treat for the eyes and I can't stress that enough. Yes, CGI for anime is still in the very early stages of development. Every studio that attempts this will need to learn how to apply this properly and let's be fair, with anime you don't really have the same problems as IRL actors and sets. Anime CGI is very much at the starting point and for something to turn out this good, specially the last episode, you need to study hard and try your utmost best to get things done.

So yes, you will find bad issues regarding the graphics if it comes to the CGI part. However with a story that is actually this good and characters that are not obnoxious or bad in general I think we need to give it a pass. I do however wish to ask the studio to put things in the oven a little longer so it can mature properly. Finishing touches are really well worth it.

Sound:

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The sound is good, however with the mix of CGI you might expect a better idea for sound. Make explosions for example use the bass to really give that blast effect. Really mostly small details that could have been better but are a bit disappointed as it wasn't taken care of properly.

Characters:

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Over all the characters are fairly decent flashed out, however the disappointing part is that the characters don't really get a background story. Except for Equa who seems to get it at the very last episode. And Ferres in one of the early episodes, but in a very vague way. All others seem to be left in the dust even if stated to be 'main characters' which is the disappointing part.

Why is Alga, the robot, a selfish stubborn pain in the rear for example?

Why is Martese a slime girl and why is it so hard to use her abilities?

Why is Uila, the only beast person, on the team and where did he come from?

Questions like these do keep popping up in your mind, specially with Alga and Uila not being much use most of the time. At least not in a clear distinct way other then Uila being akatana wielder and seems to be strong, while Alga mostly complains and is selfish without really doing much other then being a hacker.

In a larger perspective, the only one that is really powerful throughout the series seems to be Ferres. Martese being only really usable in the last episode near the ending where she suddenly 'found' a hammer that makes her OP. But loses it at the very end.

Final word:

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I actually very much enjoyed this anime and find it disappointing that people rate it so low as it deserves so much more. The story is pretty good, art/graphics is good even with the CGI flaws, characters are decent and this anime gives pleasure in watching it. I would be honored to see more of this anime!

Despite the show's shortcomings, it is incredibly memorable. I absolutely adore this show. The side characters and the girls in the main cast are awesome and lovable. They do lack depth tho. Also, when you encounter a part of the show which is fleshed out, the show is amazing. However, this can sometimes be the exception plus it is lacking in many parts. For instance; it can be somewhat boring at some parts and the action never makes sense and is only there for plot convenience. This often made me feel like "why didn't they just go in guns ablazing in the first place". Idon't know. It definitely one of a kind. Just wished it was fleshed out a little more.

Still I'll recommend you give it a try because there isn't another show like it 8.5/10

Saying this show subverted my expectations is an understatement. “Then why is it so middle of your list then?” Because I wish it had gotten more episodes, but we will be forever stuck with 12. It’s a shame that this series is largely ignored due to a variety of reasons that almost turned me off from watching it. For starters the show is CG, yikes. But after watching the first episode, I was surprised how decent it looked and how natural it felt. It wasn’t anything bad like Berserk or Ex-Arm, nor was it on a level like HnK or Beastars. Its CG worked verywell for the show it was, it did not detract my enjoyment of the show like I thought it would. Secondly, it’s a Gacha advert. Many anime adaptations of pre-existing or soon to be made gacha games are usually pretty forgettable. Takt.OP from a while ago comes to mind. But once again I didn’t get any impression of an “epic secret cameo” being shoved in my face for the sake of commercializing the upcoming Estab-Life game. And lastly there’s a furry in the main cast. With all those strikes going against it, why do I like it so much?

Simply put, it’s fun. Yeah, I know it’s rare to hear someone say that as a legitimate reason for enjoying a show or any form of media these days without forced nuances or a deeper analysis. But truly, I was engaged with the silly action, character interactions, the world and the clusters we’re introduced to. Also the story as well, since we’re given very little to work with in terms of story at the start and it doesn’t start elaborating on the story until much later into the series. But firstly a brief synopsis. We follow Equa, Martes, Felles, Alga, and Ulula, who are extractors. The mission of an extractor is simple, someone does a silly dance as a code for wanting to escape their current life, uploads it to the internet and from then on, it’s up to the extractors to give them an escape into another cluster(world) where they can enjoy life again.

A simple concept set in an odd world, or several should I say. Clusters are these areas contained in their own bubble/ecosystem, each have their own unique set of rules, population, and ways of living. Though once you’ve been born into one cluster, it’s impossible to leave yours(prison cluster exempt), that’s where the extractors come in and do just that. Long story short, clusters exist because there came a point where humans could no longer survive and prosper. So they created an AI that birthed a new era of humanity that spliced human living attributes to animals, robots, and everything else in between, each given their own cluster to flourish in. Weird concept, but trust me it works somehow.

What makes this show for me is the main trio we follow and how they tackle each situation they’re in. In fact, a good bunch of the issues they run into aren’t a fault of the cluster’s resistance towards extractors, but turmoil they have with each other, or something personal going ary within themselves. Equa is a kind and compassionate leader. Too kind in fact, the creators made her so kind to make it off putting. I think they failed in that regard since I don’t think she was as scary as she was fake. Feles is the straight man, usually the one who’d rather be at home then putting her life on the line extracting others. It’s probably due to her down to earth nature, but she was my favorite. Finally there’s Martes, a slime who takes on the form of a cute girl. She is obsessed with Equa and will lash out at anyone getting too close with her, namely Feles. Her character grew on me, at first she was annoying but after seeing her actually care for Feles-san I too started caring for her as well. Oh, and there’s Alga and Ulala, a robot and a furry respectively. They don’t add too much to the story, but round out the cast. I preferred Alga since his inclusion felt more warranted than Ulala’s, being a robot of course.

The show tricked me, not only in managing to be rather enjoyable, but also because of the twists the story takes. I started this series thinking it’d be no more than a cluster/weirdo they have to extract of the week, but about halfway through it shows its true colors. After an episode where they have to extract a preacher from a cluster where you’re not allowed to wear underwear, we see Equa’s emotion dimmer than her usual up-beat self. Odd, we then get an episode of the team handling a situation without Equa, due to an illness that came over her and another one about her cafe that she runs, aka, their HQ. But then we reach the best and most emotionally heavy episode where they have to extract a butler who loathes serving this bratty young girl. And with that episode, I'll just say that I was not expecting these kind of feels from this kind of show. It’s a great episode because we really come across some spectacular character development for the character the episode focuses on.

I got into detail about that episode because it exemplifies everything I love about the show. The characters, the world, the unpredictability, and the drama of it all. As for what I didn’t like about the show, well although the CG didn’t bother me personally, I could imagine it being much more successful had it gone 2D. There are moments where we see clones, twins, and reskins. Even the final episode has the master Manager taking on the form of the rich girl (Cindrillion) despite not being her. I chalk this up to artistic merit and don’t knock it for this reason, she’s rather cute anyways. As I mentioned earlier, I felt that Alga and especially Ulala were unnecessary. It doesn’t help that we learn hardly anything about either of them aside from what I’ve already mentioned about them. At least Alga can talk and provide interesting banter with the main trio on occasion, Ulala just grunts and barks. Very forgettable and I’m sure a furry also detracted some viewers from picking it up. The score is nothing to write home about either, and everything else from a presentation standpoint is just serviceable. Though some of the backgrounds and locations are nice to look at, such as the prison or panda clusters.

So in short, what makes this series so good is how much it does right despite having so many strikes going against it. I found the characters, situations, designs, story, dialogue, and voice acting all fun to invest my time into. I might just say this is my AOTS, and if this anime has taught me anything, it’s that you should not judge a book by its cover.