Failure Frame Anime Review: When Studio Seven Arcs Failed

Failure Frame

“I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells”

If someone were to say you can’t do something, wouldn’t that motivate you even more to prove them wrong? While some get disheartened by such words, mainly depending on whom they came from, it can most certainly be used as fuel to drive you towards that very thing deemed unreachable for you. The important thing here is not to succumb to negativity and give up because nobody should hold you back from your goals as long as there’s no harm. So when you finally reach your objective and stand tall, you can proclaim loudly and proudly to all who doubted you, “I did it no matter what!”

Failure Frame Anime Review: When Studio Seven Arcs Failed | Pinnedupink.com

“Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells” is also known as “Hazurewaku no "Joutai Ijou Skill" de Saikyou ni Natta Ore ga Subete wo Juurin suru made,” “I became the strongest with the failure frame ‘Abnormal State Skill’ as I devastated everything,” or “Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything with Low-Level Spells.” This 12-episode TV anime series aired from the 5th of July till the 27th of September in Summer 2024. It was produced by Pierrot, Pony Canyon, TBS, DAX Production, Docomo Anime Store, BS11, Overlap, Nichion, and MAGNET and brought to life by Studio Seven Arcs. Its central staff included Oowada Tomoyuki, Iwasaki Shiho, Suzuki Takahiro, and Matsuoka Takanori as producers. Each episode has a runtime of 24 minutes and features the genres of action, adventure, and fantasy alongside the theme of Isekai. Receiving a rating of PG-13 for teenagers 13 years or older, it was released on Blu-ray in three volumes from the 18th of September till the 20th of November, 2024.

The anime series is based on the light novel series of the same name, the work of author Shinozaki Kaoru and artist KWKM. It began publication on the 25th of July 2018 and is still ongoing. It has been published digitally in English via Seven Seas Entertainment under the Airship imprint since the 10th of December 2020 and has been in print since the 9th of March 2021. The manga adaptation of the same name has been published since the 26th of July 2019 and is still ongoing, getting serialized in Comic Gardo. It is the work of the same author but artist Uyoshi Shou. Even this was published in English via Seven Seas Entertainment on the 13th of April 2021. A summary of the anime series was released as a TV special titled “Hazurewaku no "Joutai Ijou Skill" de Saikyou ni Natta Ore ga Subete wo Juurin suru made Recap.” This single episode recapped the first six episodes and aired on the 16th of August 2024, running for 24 minutes.

The story revolves around a loner named Touka Mimori, who is summoned to another world alongside his classmates and obtains supernatural powers. The specific ability he receives is the power to inflict status ailments on his foes, covering conditions like paralysis, poison, and so on. Unfortunately, he got dealt the shorter end of the stick with this skill, which is considered useless owing to its low success rates. Thus, our MC is assigned the title of E-rank hero! But things keep getting worse for him, as Vicius, the goddess who summoned their class, reveals that the lowest-ranked hero will be “disposed of” so they may not hinder the ones with more outstanding talents. Touka is thus cast aside and banished to a notoriously dangerous area, where he comes far too close to death at the hands of a minotaur-like monster. Left with no choice but to try everything in his arsenal to survive, he desperately uses his supposedly “useless” skill and soon realizes that it does, in fact, work almost every single time. Now fully aware of this OP ability that can render any monsters standing in his way completely helpless, our MC becomes determined to track down the unfair goddess that tossed him aside like trash and exact his sweet revenge…

Failure Frame is not an easy anime to watch, and the main reason is that each episode keeps raising your disappointment until you can’t take it anymore. At this point, it’s like you’ve spent too much time on it, so you’re obligated to finish it, but there’s nothing good waiting for you in the end. The main reason is, or at least what it felt like to me, the studio doesn’t care about it nor give enough effort to make it work. The plotline is bland, and the pacing is way too rushed, fueled by even worse characters with little to no solid development, so staying interested in it is nearly impossible. If you have experienced the source material to any extent, you’ll quickly realize that they’ve skipped critical moments and details in this adaptation, making this series lose its potential. On that note, if you’re a fan of the light novel, I highly suggest not watching it because it’ll diminish whatever positive impressions you already have.

All the problems start with how they’ve adapted this story because the original plot is full of small details and nuances that make it engaging and captivating to watch unfold. None of this is in the anime; it’s just an oversimplified and super-rushed version of the tale, where everything done right in the LN is either ignored or barely developed. We end up with a superficial and disconnected narrative that will alienate its audience and deprive them of what could have been a profound experience. Coming full circle, we reach the point where the studio decided to change some crucial parts of the story, essentially ruining its integrity. This creates many loopholes, gaps, and unanswered or unexplained questions, making your bewilderment overpower everything else. When it comes to the emotional moments, they all feel diluted, and world-building lacks details and cohesion. Isekai, which mess up their worldbuilding, are doomed to fail; this is a fine example.

The character department suffers from the same issues as the story. While the synopsis makes them sound basic and one-dimensional, these characters are complex and possess well-defined arcs. They are all supposed to have clear motivations and admirable growth and development as the story progresses, but the anime somehow chooses to undermine or ignore them. They are as one-dimensional as they can get, doing things just because without any context or depth, which left me not caring about what happens to them.

The art and animation department is another major flop. While it looks great on the promotional material, it’s inconsistent in quality throughout the show. While a few episodes have good to decent-looking visuals, the immersion is instantly broken when the inconsistency hits. I can point out moments where the animation was just rushed and devoid of any polishing, complete with clumsy movements and terribly rendered backgrounds devoid of detailing. Honestly, this department alone could’ve been good if not for these fluctuations, but it’s like the creators randomly dropped the ball whenever they felt like it and never cared to pick it up again. The characters' designs range from decent to bad; the MC is the most generic male protagonist ever, and while some of the others have nice designs, they don’t get anywhere with the lousy art style and animation.

The Sounds and Music department is the only one that is at least decent. It is neither revolutionary nor full of memorable pieces, but at least it doesn’t steal anything from the other departments. The main objective of OSTs is to complement and elevate the overall narrative, creating the right atmosphere and vibe for the show and giving those key moments the impact they deserve. But sadly, most of the OSTs here go unnoticed and overshadowed by the already bad aspects of the show; in the end, they won’t enhance the tensions and emotion of the critical moments and will simply have existed because they needed to. The opening theme is "Hazure" by Chogakusei, and the ending theme is Pray" by Hakubi. Both suffer from the same issues, as the OSTs are quickly forgotten. The voice acting is a mixed bag of good and bad performances; some of the VAs do a stellar job, but the department is instantly brought down by how bad the remainder are. It seemed as though these VAs were either as uninterested in the show as the creators or they were poorly directed, thereby wasting the efforts of even the competent VAs. It was sad seeing characters being monotonous and unintriguing when they had the potential to be endearing and memorable.

Overall, “Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells” is a massive failure of an adaptation that failed to reach at least a quarter of the original’s greatness. I have no idea why this project was this rushed in every department, but what we got was a story with too many holes, unlikable characters, weak developments, inconsistent visuals, and forgettable audio. The biggest flaw is the “improvements” the anime made to the original, which butchered the original story and left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth. I do not recommend this show to anyone; your time is better spent on a different Isekai.