Scarlet Nexus

What does it mean to be a part of the military? What does it mean to go into an actual battlefield with no reasonable assurance that you’ll make it out alive? Luckily, the times we live in are kinder but are they really going to be constant? We can never really know, as we all fall at the mercy of time itself, that which none of us can control.

Scarlet Nexus is a 26 episode TV Anime series that aired from the 1st of July until the 23rd of December, in Summer 2021. It was produced by Bandai Namco Arts, licensed by Funimation, and brought to life by Studio Sunrise.

Its main staff includes Nishimura Hiroyuki as Director and on Character Design, Nemoto Toshizou on Script and Series Composition, Tateishi Yayoi as Sound Director, and Katou Youichi on Script and Script Series Composition. This series features Action and Sci-Fi genres alongside Military and Super Power themes. It received a rating of PG-13 for teenagers 13 years or older.

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Scarlet Nexus is based on the source game of the same title. It is a Japanese Action Role-Playing Game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Tose. It was then published by Bandai Namco Entertainment and released just before the official airing of the Television Anime series on the 25th of June 2021. It is playable on various platforms, including Windows, PlayStation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

The series is set in the fictional year 2020, where a nation has come face to face with the pervasive threat of the "Others," mysterious monsters who just fall from the sky and then proceed to feed on human brains. But at the same time, a particular hormone called “psionics” gives certain people extrasensory abilities that happen to be effective against the Others is discovered within the human body.

Soon after, the nation's founder establishes the Other Suppression Force (OSF), an organization to combat the Others and subsequently save humanity. As such, promising young individuals with psionics, commonly called the “Scarlet Guardians,” undergo intensive training to join them. One peculiar day, the nation organizes an induction ceremony for the most exceptional recruits who have completed the grueling training to become Scarlet Guardians.

Among these young elite recruits is protagonist Yuito Sumeragi, the determined son of the nation's founder. At the young age of five, his life was saved by a woman in the OSF. Thus he eagerly joins the organization to repay this huge debt and put his tough training to use.

Upon meeting his all-new comrades, he receives a big shock and problem: the woman who had saved him many years ago closely resembles one of his teammates. Regardless, this should be the least of his worries as, unknown to him; a grand conspiracy is brewing behind the scenes; one with the scale and ability to shake the whole country.

When comparing the overall quality and experience of the Game versus the Anime, the source material is a hundred times better. Seriously, it's better just to play the game rather than watch this Anime series, which is a huge letdown. The Game’s execution is superb, while the Anime’s execution is just rock bottom.

This is a classic example of an excellent concept wasted by a terrible story. It feels rushed, inconsistent, confusing, hysterical, and messy. Even at the finale, many things are left unclear and partially explained. There simply is no good central story, and instead, it leaves some loose ends that they hope will excite the viewers but to no avail.

The idea and design held much promise but ended up completely ruined. The ending is made blatantly apparent within the first dozen episodes to make things worse. Overall, the Story is terrible, overly dragged, and lacks any soul.

The characters aren’t any great either; the series is written to express a few isolated events where the Antagonist suffers to meet his love again and causes chaos in the process, not portraying a sound and complete story. What's worse, none of these events are conclusive to the course of history. The main fault lies in creating too many secondary characters and not focusing on the main characters while giving them sustained development.

The character development is exceptionally lackluster, despite being 26 episodes long and missing a lot from the game. The whole world seems to revolve around Yuito Sumeragi and, to some extent, Kasane Randall, the Scarlet Guardian link to fabled Red Strings power from start to finish. He is an annoying protagonist who suffers alone on multiple occasions and draws death flags whenever the plot sees fit.

It feels overly MC-centric, and the remaining cast is ever so generic, making it impossible for viewers to care for any of them. Arashi Sprong is the only saving grace, with her cute demeanor and light humor, the only character any viewers could possibly feel anything for. Thanks to the dull story presentation, the main cast is ultimately put down.

The Art and Animation are decent. The "Others" monsters are heavily CGI-dependent and not that much of a treat. The Art itself is pretty good, just slightly above average but isn't anything incredible or praiseworthy. The Animation is mediocre as well.

The Sounds and Music are mediocre as well. The Opening themes are "MACHINEGUN" and "Red Criminal" by THE ORAL CIGARETTES. MACHINEGUN is highly subpar, but the latter is much better in comparison. Once again, the Song from the Game is miles better than the Anime.

The Ending themes are "Stranger" by Ayumu Imazu and "Fire" by Yamato(.S), both of which are great songs, so much so that they feel wasted on this series. The sound effects are bad for a 2021 show, way behind the times. The Voice Acting was okay, but they did not match the characters or their personalities more often than not. The OSTs are easily forgettable and nothing worth mentioning.

Overall, it's better to play the game rather than watch this Anime. It’s a great game but go ahead with the Anime if you're still curious. This honestly isn't recommended for anyone, being one of the worst of 2021. It is full of weird issues. The characters make horrible and irrational decisions throughout, making it easy for you to hate them. While the plot twists remain loyal to the game, the execution is terrible.

At best, the entire series may not be horrible, but most of it is. The finale is a simply pointless one where nothing happens, and you don’t care at all what the characters are going to do. On the other hand, there are just too many plot holes. So yeah, best avoid this one.

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