Just as our super wonderful Zaktaku has explained in the past few days, each of the members of the UnimeTV team exchanged anime titles that we would like reviewed. I was assigned to review ‘Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere’ or Kyōkaisen-jō no Horaizon, an anime that was released October 2011 by studio Sunrise; the same studio that gave us Cowboy Bebop, Gin Tama and Code Geass. However, I will in fact say that this show is not one that fans of the fore mentioned anime may enjoy. In fact, I know without a doubt, if you want to watch this anime, you WILL get lost at one point or another. Even when you do finally understand what the plot of this anime is, it’s already too late, the damage has already been done. I want to explain that I am not biased to Shounen, and I’m not the kind of person that only enjoys violent, gory, superpower anime. I love a great intense story. I love being able to get to know different aspects of each world that the writers create. I love being able to get to know a variety of characters. HOWEVER, with ‘Horizon’ (which is what I will shorten the title to) has too much of this going on. You know how people say ‘too much of something is bad for you?’ Well I guess Horizon didn’t get that memo and it blew up in it’s face. Let me explain why;
Plot? The flip is that?
So, according to Wikipedia, this is the basic premise of the story;
In the far future, humans abandon a devastated Earth and travel to outer space. However, due to an unknown phenomenon that prevents them from traveling into space, humanity returns to Earth only to find it inhospitable except for Japan. To accommodate the entire human population, pocket dimensions are created around Japan to house the returned populace. In order to find a way to return to outer space, the humans begin reenacting human history according to the Holy Book Testament. But in the year 1413 of the Testament Era, the nations of the pocket dimensions invade and conquer Japan, dividing the territory into feudal fiefdoms and forcing the original inhabitants of Japan to leave. It is now the year 1648 of the Testament Era, and the refugees of Japan now live in the city ship, Musashi, which constantly travels around Japan while being watched by the Testament Union, the authority that runs the re-enactment of history. However, rumors of an apocalypse and war begin to spread when the Testament stops revealing what happened after 1648. Taking advantage of this situation, Tori Aoi, head of Musashi Ariadust Academy’s Supreme Federation and President of the student council, uses this opportunity to lead his classmates and try to regain their homeland.
I will be completely honest, I got more out of that short paragraph than the actual anime had to give in 4 episodes. In the first 4 episodes, I learned that the government doesn’t allow people over the age of 18 to enter into the military of positions of political importance. I also learned that currently Japan has been broken up into various factions where people reside, except for the actual Japanese themselves. I learned that the Japanese use Shinto in their attacks/spells. I also learned that some politician girl had a sex change to inherit the family name, and that the student council president Tori Aoi likes this girl named Horizon, who was actually his childhood friend that died in an accident ten years ago but has now turned into an android. I learned ALL OF THIS after watching those first 4 episodes at least 3 times before it clicked. There is literally so much unnecessary characters, information and too much random bouts of comedy that it almost feels like its trying a bit too hard in the first 4 episodes. After episode 5, that is when shiz starts coming together. It explains that there are 8 weapons that can help change the world, but there is a mysterious 9th weapon that can utilize all 8 weapons and help bring peace. You understand that the Shinto (or the Japanese people of Musashi) are under the rule of the Testament Union (who seem to be based on a Western Catholic-like state). You then understand that Tori and his classmate will try to save Horizon who has been captured and ordered to commit suicide because she is apparently the 9th weapon that can harness all 8. I apologize if I pretty much spoiled the anime for you, but you probably would not have understood all of that in the first sitting. Which is one of the reasons why ‘Horizon’ isn’t really an anime for me. (I literally had to take notes the 3rd time through the anime, trust me, I know)
Too much of everything?
Let me make a checklist of what most people who don’t like anime, think what anime is all about;
- Mecha/Super Fighting Robots
- Superpowers
- Fighting
- Bewbs
- Perverts
- Cute cartoony characters
- Angels
- Magic
- Ninjas
- Samurai
- Explosions
- Overpowered Weapons
- Perverted Jokes
If there is anything else that I may have missed from that list, it’s probably also in ‘Horizon’. You might think that hilarious, but in this case, it’s a bit too much. ‘Horizon’ tries to get you to like each of these characters, but it just seems like there are to much of them to really get to know them. I don’t mean to offend by saying this, but I can find no way to sugar coat this, this anime is probably the worst anime to watch if you’re looking for a solid, wonderful story that doesn’t follow the all stereotypes (negative and positive, but mostly negative) associated with anime and its fandom.
It Gets Better Though
This part where I will admit that after the first 5 episodes, when things start to make sense and when we finally are introduced to a plot and conflict, it honestly does get quite interesting. The plot finally develops at a pace that its acceptable and it starts to make some sense. I won’t spoil it much more, but if you’re the type of person that tries to see the good in everything, it might be worth sticking through the first 4 obnoxious episodes. I still wouldn’t rate it as well as most of the Crunchyroll users that have given this 5 stars (if I was to give my honest opinion, who ever gives this a 5 stars, watches anime at face value and you’re everything that is wrong with the anime fandom). The fights are quite interesting (I mean the first chase scene was quite interesting, till it dragged on bit) and the characters get interesting after the first 4 episodes. but my only question is, why did it take so long? I could probably edit the first 4 episodes into 1 or 2 episodes and it would make much more sense than the shiz that was produced. It probably would have been much better if it had gotten to the plot much sooner or at least have more explanation where it was needed (e.g. the very first scene set in 1413).
Pretty Obvious What My Review Is
As you can probably guess I didn’t really enjoy this anime. My ideas with stories is, you have to sell it to me, you have to make me want to get to know more. ‘Horizon’ didn’t do this well. To those that are probably into this stuff it’s probably a wet dream come true? However for those that actually want to enjoy and understand the story and gain a desire to really understand it, you might be better off reading the light novel. I’m not sure if that is good, I haven’t read it. I’m just hoping that there was an issue with portraying the best of the light novel into the anime which is why it turned out to be so bad at the start. I will give this 2.5 out of 5 and that’s after it redeemed itself with the actual plot being evident.
Who Recommended Horizon?
So as part of the AniName Exchange we were to guess who gave what and to who, and later we will reveal as to who gave what. =D. It’s all fun and games until someone gets a crap anime, and I reckon I got the short end of the stick…as opposed to my larger stick. (hue hue hue) All jokes aside though, ‘Horizon’ isn’t as bad as the first few episodes makes it out to be, it just…doesn’t redeem itself from it well enough, in my opinion. If things were different and I had read the light novel first and actually understood what the hell was going on, then maybe…just maybe it might be a bit better. There might be something I’m just not understanding? but I just feel that there is too much going on in Horizon, and there is nothing that moderates it. Think of it as a dish lacking in salt or pepper, it’s just missing a crucial ingredient that will make it taste so much better and not leave such a foul taste in my mouth. I think Bkuyer or Lacie might have recommended this anime, leaning more towards Bkuyer (purely cause I stated I didn’t really like the anime in Skype and he mentioned he feared that I might have gotten his as the anime he recommended is an acquired tasted).If not, all gee…I’ll soon find out who gave me this anime and thank them for the wonderful experience that this has been to review it.
Make sure to stay tuned for the other reviews, but for now, this is your boy, NicoNicoEldries, signing out.
PEACE
P.S. I’ll add more pictures to make this look nice and fancy in a few. Merry Christmas EVERYONE!!! =D
The post AniName Exchange Special – Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere – NicoNicoEldries appeared first on UnimeTV: Blog & Connect.
