Mebius Dust Ep 1
“Capture the Flag With Extra Names”
So this is a series I have seen that has gotten some chatter. It was recommended to me, though from what I can tell on MyAnimeList, it is not doing very well. It sits at 5.43, which is lower than my guilty pleasure anime, Girls’ Frontline. To kill some time, I decided to watch at least the first episode and write up my first impressions.
One quick note before we get into it: Crunchyroll’s subtitles and the on-screen text do not always match. The most significant difference is the team name. The subs say “Police Hopper,” but when you see their logo on the actual screen, it reads “Polis Hopper.” I am going with the on-screen branding when it conflicts with the official cast listings for character names.
Mebius Dust is an original anime from Doga Kobo. No manga or light novel is sitting underneath it, which is worth knowing up front. When you don’t have a ready-made fanbase, you’re treated more harshly. That is just the climate.
The story comes from Hajime Shinagawa, who also handled the original character designs. It started as his submission to Project ANIMA, a contest for original anime premises. In 2019, it won the grand prize in the Kids/Game category. It was supposed to move forward after 2020, but it sat for a long time before Asmik Ace and Doga Kobo formally unveiled it in March 2026, ahead of a July 9 premiere. It is the third Project ANIMA winner to become a TV anime, after Sakugan and The Story of a Girl Who Failed to Be a Wizard.
Tarou Iwasaki directs. His prior credits include One Week Friends, Bibliophile Princess, and Baki the Grappler. The series composition is by Yoriko Tomita, who has worked on My Dress-Up Darling, The Elusive Samurai, and Senpai is an Otokonoko. Character designs are by Hatsume Kojima, with Keiko Ichihara on sub-character design and Kyoko Nagata handling Ram’s ability design and props. Music is by DE DE MOUSE. Sound direction is by Takeshi Takadera. The opening theme is “Mebius” by Leo Ieiri, and the ending is “Dilemma” by Ai Tomioka.
Opening Match
This first episode opens on what appears to be a capture-the-flag type event. There is a floating crystal in the sky. They are down to the last flag, which, according to one of the players, is 300 meters east, atop a building at the edge of the shopping district.
Names start flying early: Ainojo, Araki, Stella, Olga, and Gengo. My first impression of the look is that it reminds me of Tribe Nine, though not as vibrant. Stella is paired with hidden skates in her boots. I’ll just call it footwear to be safe.
My first issue in those opening moments, because the animation was so dark, is simple. I get that the game is a competition, but who is on whose team? Simply yelling names like Stella’s doesn’t tell me whose side you are on. Eventually, I realize Gengo is on the opposite team. Stella’s side loses, and the area now belongs to LAMPs. Their team was Polis Hopper. Someone surpassed their dust level. The losing team is bummed out, the cops show up, and everyone takes off.
World Setup
We cut to some exposition. It has been ten years since the meteorites hit Earth, and parts of Tokyo, such as Shin Katsushika, have barriers ahead. Something references Lamscuria, and a sign that says “may not pass,” which is the subtitle translation. It has caused many of the children to gain powers. Because of these events, they are not allowed to leave town. So basically, they are like on Manhattan Island in Escape from New York. Except there is no cabbie, and the city looks much better.
Cut to a bathhouse scene, and Gengo is being playfully beaten up for going over the limit. On the girls’ side, a female member admits she went over the limit as well. A few of her teammates on LAMPs are Renji, Yuichi, and Ainojo. Also went over the limits.
The losing team is sort of reviewing footage and going over how they lost. This is going to be one of those series with a lot of names. I think I was already up to six so far, and Haruto makes seven. Both teams leave the bathhouse. One character on the losing team mentions that he left the laundry outside, to which Araki says he’d better hurry. In a conversation, he says he is usually not wrong about these premonitions. So he probably has the same kind of ability as Jin in World Trigger.
Not sure if Araki and Stella are siblings, but they live in the same home. Araki looks out his window into the distance. As Stella brings him his laundry, she remarks that he wishes he could leave. As I mentioned before, their powers keep them trapped in this city. The crystal sits over the area they cannot leave. These are the children, and they are in a sort of quarantine zone.
Araki retires for the night, and while looking at his phone, he sees someone wearing a lab coat talking. She says she is sure he feels trapped in this town right now, which is why she is going to get them all outside, much to Araki’s amazement. That is Dr. Yuda.
Those with these special abilities are known as Rams Carriers. They have all been invited there to participate in an experiment. A note on the art for Yuda: the character has a kind of heavy-lidded look, but for some dumb reason she reminds me of Tommy Pickles from Rugrats. I think that was a main character’s name. I think it has to do with the way everyone else’s face, or the majority of them, kind of looks symmetrical, but hers is kind of off. I am not sure how to describe it. It just reminds me of the character.
So we get the same story about the meteorites, and ever since then, the so-called Mother Crystal has been floating above them, emitting particles called Mebius Dust, which now make up part of their bodies as Rams Carriers. They get a receiver that the government cannot detect, and they are allowed in this containment to release their powers without holding back.
Stella was the first to test it out. Her legs are metal, and she has skates that she can use. Otherwise, her feet kind of look like the wedges from Transformers or a mecha. One person questions the legality of everything. Oh wow, there are all types of characters in this city, even one who is basically a talking dog. Guess he got turned into a dog.
So they want to take some time to think things over before committing to this research project: using their powers at full tilt and possibly going outside the city. Araki is eager for the Polis Hopper team to do it.
Bumpers, Territory, and the Real Match
One of the cool things, and again, I mentioned that this kind of reminds me of World Trigger, is when they would go to the little bumper. You would get a character, and it would say age, blood type, and height. Well, in this case, when they cut to their bumper, it tells you their Ram parts. For example, Araki is represented from the forehead to the prefrontal cortex, while Stella is represented from the waist down.
So I guess this is kind of like a turf war as they play the game, but it is still a game. Right now, they only control 5 percent. The February Roar controls fifty-three percent of the territory. That is my birth month, so I am fine with that.
Anyway, tonight’s game is against February Roar. That is Suzaku’s group. She is the one who questioned the legality of this arrangement that Yuda proposed. One of the questions I have is that they mention, and they being Polis, that several members, like Araki, for example, have low Dust levels. So how do you increase your Dust?
It is another game of capture the flag, with five flags. It starts as skates versus skates: Stella on roller skates and an unnamed girl on blades. So basically, it is roller skater versus speed skater. And since Kyoko can create energy under her blades, she does not need ice. Nice touch. So it looks like, so far, all of the February Roar team members have some type of ice-related abilities. Oh, by the way, Stella lost.
So we are on to the second flag. Okay, I do like the one girl on the Polis team. She can use her hair as her power. And just like that, she got the flag, so they are tied one-to-one. Ah, Haruto lost the third flag to a girl with angel-like wings who can disappear and reappear.
The rules are interesting; I thought it was one-on-one for each flag, but I guess you can add more members as needed. Araki is trying to use his ability, which turns his frontal lobe, the part of his head, and his hair a whitish-gray-gold color. We will just say that it basically glows and changes colors, but he is having difficulty using his clairvoyance abilities. Also, his eyes turn red.
So as they battle for the fourth flag, they run into Kei. So you mean his power is basically the ability to make people cheer for him? Get the fork out of here.
So they get past his concert, and it is tied two to two—the last one. In addition to being the Jin of their group, Araki is also the Osamu, orchestrating a way to get the fifth flag. He sends Stella on the tracks, and then one of their other members, Shosei, fires what I would just say is almost like a spirit gun. If I am really pulling it, it is when Kuwabara made his spirit sword, and he flies at the Toguro Brothers while Yusuke uses his Spirit Gun to give him more speed. So they are doing the same thing, basically sending Stella toward Suzaku.
Okay, this is what I do not get. Okay, so Polis won; Stella got the flag. But the last time that happened, I believe on the third one, the girl with the angel wings got it. So where the hell did she go?
So my thoughts. The animation is not fluid. Some of the action scenes are kind of static and choppy at times. I’m sure the lines are where they’re supposed to be for the character designs, but you can see parts where the line goes along the face and then just stops, you know, and maybe that’s intentional. Maybe it is not.
This series does remind me of Tribe Nine. It also reminds me of World Trigger. As far as the ED goes, it’s pretty cool. As for the background music, I really didn't pay much attention to it. In other words, it didn’t stand out. I guess I noticed it, but I didn’t, and it really didn’t seem intrusive. I really was trying to focus and lock in on the characters. There are many names to keep track of. We are not really told a lot about them. We do know that Araki and Stella will be the two frontrunners. Beyond that, I am not sure.
It also reminds me of Mecha Ude, although in that anime, some of the voice acting got under my skin. It was much better, with much better animation, which reminds me I have to get around to rewatching that and reviewing it. The voice acting here is not bad. It is flat at times. I haven’t really found a compelling reason to care yet.
Will I Continue?
Am I going to keep watching? I mean, if you do not expect much from this show, then it is a simple watch. I do not know what subject matter it will cover or whether it will go any deeper. So far, it is just a game. The biggest mystery is what is going on with our main protagonist and his clairvoyant abilities, because at the end he looked like he was about to pass out. For anyone who has ever seen the movie Firestarter, the dad kind of had the same look when he used his mind-control abilities. He looked like he was about to pass out, but in this case, our anime protagonist, no blood comes out of his nose, which is a good thing.
The pacing felt slow at times, but it could be because I was watching the episode late in the evening when I should be carrying my butt to bed. So there is some bias in that part. Take it for what it is worth.
Bottom line: if you walk in cold and keep the bar low, you can get through it. Cool power gags show up: hair girl, ice skates without ice, and concert boy with the glow sticks. Team clarity is muddy early. Action is choppy. The hook, if there is one, is Araki’s power cost plus Dr. Yuda saying she is going to get them outside. Simple watch if you are bored. Not a must.
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