English Dub Review: Shironeko Project ZERO Chronicle Season One

Making a prequel is often a tricky business. It comes into existence to expand on a previously established story, presumably because of curiosity and demand for more content. But despite it taking place chronologically before the thing it was based on, it must also be reliant on the familiarity with that source, often to the point of alienating those who may have stumbled upon that prequel first. Such is the case with Shironeko Project ZERO Chronicle, which is a prequel for, of all things, a mobile game that is so unremarkable and unnoticed that you are probably learning that mobile game exists just from reading this review! Specifically, this fleshes out the opening prologue of that game, regarding the tragic romance between the Queen of Light and the Prince of Darkness, who found themselves bonded in love despite being on two sides of a horrific war.

That sure sounds like a pretty dang neat premise, don’t you think?! Well, reading that sentence might have been a good use of your time, but expand that story idea over twelve episodes and you will quickly see the core problem here. Namely that the show takes its sweet ass time getting to an already determined conclusion to the point that you will be bored to tears waiting for anything to get started. With the hook being about how this romance formed, you would think that we would begin the story with a sudden chance meeting between the two future lovers, which would then lead into their blossoming affections and compounding relationship which we could be invested in until the series end. Instead, we get the first few episodes overly explaining the worlds of light and darkness, which are made to seem nuanced and complex when really they are as stock standard as those names can get. The main couple don’t even meet until episode 4, then don’t form much of a romantic bond until episode 8. Of 12. Because what better way could this time be used than to set up two unnecessary love triangles and stupid fantasy elements instead of the couple this whole thing is supposed to be about?!

I doubt this release will do anything to push further use of the mobile app, assuming it’s still playable in international countries. And even if that was the goal, would it not be better to make a series based on the game itself instead of a prequel that seems to not have much of an impact on much of anything? This series’ existence baffles and terrifies me, and I cannot believe I had to spend to much time watching and thinking about it, let alone writing about it. If you need any further convincing that this is not worth your time, look no further than here. Not that I expect many people were clamoring for it anyway, but whatever. Don’t watch it.