English Dub Season Review: Exception Season One

In the distant future, human beings have been forced to leave earth and migrate to another galaxy by an organization called the P.D.A. (Planetary Development Agency) and via biomechanical spacecraft, arrive at a planet that is to be terraformed called “X-10”. Each member of the team is output by a biological 3D printer called “The Womb”, which is capable of creating an exploration team one individual at a time to man the spacecraft. However, a fatal “exception” causes one crew member named Lewis, to be misprinted as a deformed monstrosity that could potentially pose a threat to the rest of the crew. However, a new successful printing of Lewis joins the crew to help in the situation, which raises philosophical questions about humanity, individuality, and life…

The plot itself is based on an original story by Hirotaka Adachi with character designs by Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy and Vampire Hunter D) and directed by Yūzō Satō. With music by Ryuichi Sakamoto, and 3D/CGI animation by Tatsunoko Production. The Dub voice cast is quite small, but all of them manage to deliver their A-Game with veterans such as Nolan North, Robbie Daymond, Eugene Byrd, and Nadine Nicole rounding out the cast of this simple yet effective sci-fi suspense thriller.

A lot of the artstyle is an acquired taste given Amano’s past works in Anime and video games, giving most if not all their characters a gender-fluid look to them which is passable given Amano’s track record. The cloning process in this show’s universe manages to cover the bases as it doesn’t just make a new body inside the “Womb” with bio-mass, but all your, knowledge, memories, and experiences are downloaded in a database of sorts at the off chance you die and you need a crew member’s necessary skills or credentials. But in terms of the deformed Misprint Lewis’ character design, it’s effectively creepy with a bit of H.R. Giger, and Ridley Scott’s Alien influences sprinkled throughout the proceedings, and Nolan North does an excellent job making the two different versions of Lewis distinct while giving both versions of the character more depth.

Progressively as you learn a bit about the show’s universe and characters it starts turning into a conspiratorial “whodunnit” mystery with scifi story elements and philosophical themes mixed in that sprinkled throughout its 8-episode run, ask ethical questions about humanity, ethics of cloning, what it means to be human and whether or not certain choices make us better people. And despite this being a techno-organic ship that’s shaped like an oversized fish, a lot of their minor and modern conveniences can easily be 3d-printed such as tools or playing cards. However, the biggest limitation is that printing weapons are forbidden as they do not want to solve their problems with complete violence which seems fine, yet makes you wonder how is anyone able to defend themselves when shit starts to go down after the reveal of a traitor/saboteur amongst them amidst the chaos of a deformed clone that, to put it mildly, has some surprises of his own…

Overall, I don’t know if this will appeal to everyone since CGI/3D anime is a mixed bag. But at the very least, the compelling narrative and mystery aspects really make up for the unusual style of animation that was utilized. This is more of a “slow burn” story with very little action, and while some parts of the story have small amounts of nudity, it’s done in a way that makes sense and the unraveling mystery keeps the rest of the crew (and the audience) guessing until the 6th episode on what’s really going on, but if your willing to try something different in terms of high-concept, thought-provoking sci-fi, I say give this a go.