English Dub Season Review: Orient Season One

Overview:

Freed from the rule of samurai 150 years ago, the people of Hinomoto live peaceful lives and revere their liberators—demons whose true forms remain elusive—as gods. Fated to mine rocks for the demons to feast on, Musashi knows the grim truth: humanity is enslaved by these otherworldly beings and the samurai are the last bastion fighting for freedom. Hiding his true opinion from his peers and growing distant from his childhood friend Kojirou Kanemaki, Musashi lives in angst until the day of his graduation.

Our Take:

Orient is a hard anime to recommend, I mean I do recommend it but the problem is the investment. The first half is really weak, I did not enjoy most of my time with the first eight to ten episodes. The characters hadn’t quite made an impact on me yet mainly because of the original trio only one of them becomes interesting. I never really liked Kojirou all that much and he and Tsumugi spend a good portion of the second half somewhere else. But I promise you that the second half is really great. I got really into it even though it broke my heart, but hopefully, it gets a second season to rectify that.

The power system somehow manages to be unique while also being the same stuff you see everywhere else in a shonen anime. It’s bright colors and beams and all sorts of the stuff you expect but the way they implement the typical “power of friendship” stuff is kind of cool. We all know it’s going to happen eventually but with the way they use the blade energy mechanic, working together becomes a part of the power system itself.

I know that it’s hard to tell you to sit through roughly 160 minutes of bad anime to get to the good stuff but I think it’s warranted here. Especially, if you’re a shonen fan because this has been one of my favorites recently. It was a pleasant surprise and I think if you read each episode review I put out you will see the scores gradually getting higher. Sure some of that is because of the introduction of Michiru as a character but the plot also gets more interesting. One of the few shonen where I feel the trio actively holds the show back.