Dennou Coil
Madhouse produced Dennou Coil, better known for their work on Death Note and Paranoia Agent, and animated by Mitsuo Iso, well-known for his animation works in Neon Genesis Evangelion and some early Ghibli Movies. With that being said, we had high expectations from Dennou Coil. It deals with the themes of sci-fi, virtual reality, and even mystery.
Today, we’ll be giving you an in-depth review of Dennou Coil and let you guys know if it came up to our high expectations for it. So, let’s start!
The story opens in a world where augmented reality is a thing. Daikoku City is a place where people have been disappearing mysteriously. Despite the rumors, Yuuko Okonogi and her family move to the city. Yuuko’s grandmother opens a shop named Megasia and starts selling illegal tools that could make people have contact with the virtual world.
Yuuko’s grandmother also runs a secret agency, Coil, where Children around Yuuko’s age expose the corruption in the virtual world. Yuuko gets trapped in the virtual world with her cyber dog, chased by a mysterious virus. That’s when a cheerful member of Coil, Fumie Hashimoto, saves her dog. Both of them team up with another member named Isako. Will these kids be able to expose the illegal activities going on in the virtual world?
Incorporating a virtual world in an anime and making it believable is a nearly impossible task. However, Dennou Coil made it possible by blending every tiny detail of how the world works and how technology has progressed. We’re made to believe that a few years in the future, we might be able to see a world like this.
In most anime, we have characters around the same age that are targeted for a specific audience. However, in Dennou Coil, even if the characters are around 10-11 years old, they don’t cater to only one age group. The themes are pretty sophisticated to be understood and enjoyed by every age group.
The first half of the series might seem slow, but it quickly picks up pace in the second half. The suspense that was very faint in the first half becomes intense. We see the characters thinking out of the box and exploring things they hadn’t considered before. The story becomes solid and exciting not to drop it halfway. What we found interesting was how the series subtly incorporates horror elements in the story. Such horror moments are not even there in many horror movies.
We’re given a lot of side stories as well throughout the series. Now, most of them are very interesting and contribute to the plot. However, some of them get pretty boring because of their slow pacing. This is why some people may find the first half a little boring to watch. But you need to stick it out until the middle of the story to get something interesting and intriguing out of the story.
Despite being sci-fi and mystery, Dennou Coil is also a slice-of-life. This genre is very well incorporated into the series and does not feel out of place at all.
Overall, Dennou Coil’s story is very artfully made and is free from all the major flaws. The pacing gets better, the tension rises in the middle of the story, and everything gets even better. So, it’s a 10/10 for us.
We get to see some of the most well-constructed characters in Dennou Coil. Some characters may not seem prominent and essential to us at first, but they’re always there in the background, making us feel their presence.
The most realistic and well-developed characters are Yuuko and Isako. They’re both opposites of each other. It’s fascinating to see their interactions and their relationship developing over time. As they’re children, it’s easy to understand and sympathize with their personalities.
Despite being 10-11 years old, the children have pretty complex personalities. The complexities vary between the children, but none of them seem dim-witted or boring. We have the grandma who’s even more energetic and childlike than any children present in the series! That was very interesting to see.
Madhouse is known for its great character designs that are very pleasing to the eyes. However, with Dennou Coil, Madhouse chose a more straightforward character design. The characters looked very appropriate for their age. The technological aspect of the series is very intricately made, and massive amounts of details and effort are put there.
The CGI is done right and blends well with the traditional animations. It might not look clean all the time but is pretty decent, so we don’t have any complaints about the art style. Sometimes, a more straightforward art style suits a specific type of anime better, which was the case with Dennou Coil.
The opening soundtrack of Dennou Coil has this air of mystery and anticipation to it that we love so much. The same goes for the background themes of the series. The music is not too extraordinary but is pretty decent and memorable. The music was very appropriate for some of the most intense scenes of the series. It is crucial to have the background music right for some specific scenes that add to its intensity, and Dennou Coil did a great job in that regard.
Despite its slow pacing at the start, Dennou Coil is one of the most exciting and intriguing series ever to watch. If you’re looking for a good mystery sci-fi show, then Dennou Coil is for you!
