I enjoyed my time with this show. After being recommended to it from a friend of mine, I decided to go ahead and watch it a couple weeks after it finished. Suffice to say, I think I've enjoyed my time with Mekakucity Actors.
The way the story is set up works really well. Some episodes can take place before others, and then other episodes can take place at the same time as another episode from another character's perspective. It works really well, and also it doesn't directly tell you this either; you, the viewer, has to figure out when this episode took place at. The moment you do, you'll realize how well this show is able to piece together a story.
The story however falls apart when I have to mention the show's biggest fault, and that's focus. This show can never pay attention to anything that is important to the plot. I won't spoil it, but I will say that there is a character who is extremely important and practically central to the plot, but yet doesn't gets little to no screen time. There's also something very major that I'll just say to every viewer going in: WATCH EVERY SINGLE EPISODE ALWAYS TO THE VERY END. Don't stop when the credits start, because you'll be completely missing something about a "story of a monster". While this may seem weird, this is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT.
If that doesn't tell you why focus entirely and utterly fails, then I don't know what does.
I also wasn't a major fan of the animation. It definitely wasn't bad and has some moments of its own that impressed me. For example, all the scenes that take place at sunset. Also it's more "abstract" moments really shine (The Land of Stop Signs, anyone?). However, with nice looking moments, also comes some really awkward character animations and poor backgrounds and details. Compared to SHAFT's other animes, such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica, it's a huge step down.
Also the music wasn't 10/10 amazing either. Mekakucity Actors is based off a series of vocaloid songs called "Kagerou Project" and "Kagerou Days". Songs from Kagerou Project will play in their respective episodes, and they sound great. They fit the mood when they start playing, and just work perfectly. However, the more quiet, ambient, background-y music aren't really all that great. There's really nothing all that memorable about them. They aren't terrible, but they aren't great either.
To be honest, I think all of these issues come from how rushed this series was. SHAFT had to rush and condense this series into 12 episodes, and it really shows. This anime was not made to be a short 12 episode series. At the very least, it needed possibly 3-4 episodes more to further explain important story information and also further develop the characters it ignores.
Mekakucity Actors is worth a watch if you don't have anything else to watch. It's not that great of an anime to be putting aside other things to watch (unless you're watching garbage for fun), even if you're a serious fan of the Kagerou Project. Put it to the bottom of your list of things to watch, it'll be there when the time comes.
Review by DeletedBlockedParent2014-07-17T06:40:40Z
I enjoyed my time with this show. After being recommended to it from a friend of mine, I decided to go ahead and watch it a couple weeks after it finished. Suffice to say, I think I've enjoyed my time with Mekakucity Actors.
The way the story is set up works really well. Some episodes can take place before others, and then other episodes can take place at the same time as another episode from another character's perspective. It works really well, and also it doesn't directly tell you this either; you, the viewer, has to figure out when this episode took place at. The moment you do, you'll realize how well this show is able to piece together a story.
The story however falls apart when I have to mention the show's biggest fault, and that's focus. This show can never pay attention to anything that is important to the plot. I won't spoil it, but I will say that there is a character who is extremely important and practically central to the plot, but yet doesn't gets little to no screen time. There's also something very major that I'll just say to every viewer going in: WATCH EVERY SINGLE EPISODE ALWAYS TO THE VERY END. Don't stop when the credits start, because you'll be completely missing something about a "story of a monster". While this may seem weird, this is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT.
If that doesn't tell you why focus entirely and utterly fails, then I don't know what does.
I also wasn't a major fan of the animation. It definitely wasn't bad and has some moments of its own that impressed me. For example, all the scenes that take place at sunset. Also it's more "abstract" moments really shine (The Land of Stop Signs, anyone?). However, with nice looking moments, also comes some really awkward character animations and poor backgrounds and details. Compared to SHAFT's other animes, such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica, it's a huge step down.
Also the music wasn't 10/10 amazing either. Mekakucity Actors is based off a series of vocaloid songs called "Kagerou Project" and "Kagerou Days". Songs from Kagerou Project will play in their respective episodes, and they sound great. They fit the mood when they start playing, and just work perfectly. However, the more quiet, ambient, background-y music aren't really all that great. There's really nothing all that memorable about them. They aren't terrible, but they aren't great either.
To be honest, I think all of these issues come from how rushed this series was. SHAFT had to rush and condense this series into 12 episodes, and it really shows. This anime was not made to be a short 12 episode series. At the very least, it needed possibly 3-4 episodes more to further explain important story information and also further develop the characters it ignores.
Mekakucity Actors is worth a watch if you don't have anything else to watch. It's not that great of an anime to be putting aside other things to watch (unless you're watching garbage for fun), even if you're a serious fan of the Kagerou Project. Put it to the bottom of your list of things to watch, it'll be there when the time comes.