Terror in Resonance (2014)

[残響のテロル]

Director: Shinichiro Watanabe
Studio: MAPPA
Starring: Kaito Ishikawa, Soma Saito, Atsumi Tanezaki
Episodes: 11

Synopsis:
Two young men who were subjected to human experimentation launch a terror campaign to get revenge on the government.

Impressions:
Around the time Netflix was bringing out its disastrous live action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, I was wondering what director Shinichiro Watanabe had been up to and was cross-referencing it with composer Yoko Kanno's work and I came upon this series. Add in character designs by Kazuto Nakazawa and animation by MAPPA and that's quite the strong ensemble of creatives, so I had fairly high hopes. I was a little doubtful of following a pair of terrorists as our leads, but I saw promise in a big cat-and-mouse game between Sphinx and Detective Shibazaki. However, the story starts to break down and at my most charitable, I can say I was left with mixed feelings at the end. The two main female characters, Lisa and Five, seem to be quite divisive. I can appreciate the intended function of both, but particularly with Five, her villainy is rather excessive, to the point of pretty well destroying what grounding the story had. (That and her English is atrocious.) The politics are also a bit clumsy, but I've certainly seen worse. At least as far as the production values are concerned, I can't find anything to complain about and indeed the visuals alone may be enough for many people to feel this is worth a watch. However, I can't give it a full-throated endorsement, especially in light of how strongly some people react to the weaker elements. If you're prepared to accept the good with the bad, give it a watch. Otherwise, don't let Five get your blood pressure up.

Rating:
50/50