Post-apocalyptic stories are pretty common in recent years, which some could see as foreboding sign. Not just because they often give a grim view of the world but also because it can remind us of ways our society is falling short and may, in some way, face becoming something as portrayed in that story in the future. But in a lot of ways, they can be optimistic stories too, showing the resilience of mankind even when torn away from our comforts or faced with horrific disasters, or how those who are emotionally or physically traumatized. And sometimes they focus on the children that have to grow up in that hell, as is the case with Heavenly Delusion, which not only centers on those who are making due in the ruins of Japan, but also those who are shielded from the devastation for unknown reasons. Boasting the always impressive animation skills of Production IG, Heavenly Delusion does its best to cover as much of its source material as it can, but unfortunately comes up short.The story follows two groups: Kiruko and Maru, two teenagers roaming the wastelands in search of someone who looks like Maru while also fighting off mutated monsters called Man-Eaters/Hiruko, while Kiruko is looking for a certain surgeon who put his brain in the body of his older sister for some reason. The other involves a group of teens and younger kids in what is initially known as “Heaven”, are taught in a very sanitized school and kept walled off from the outside, despite many of them feeling a strange inner yearning to break free. Over the course of the season, both stories develop and grow as Kiruko and Maru face great threats and grow closer, while the Heaven kids find themselves in increasingly sinister situations as their caretakers enact their mysterious plans. As the series goes on, more hints at the connections pop up, dropped subtly and offhand but easy to spot for those looking or paying attention. There are clearly plans in place for these plots to collide at some point, but…then we get to the final episode of this season and nothing about that has really happened.And like…I understand that to an extent, as this is adapted from a currently ongoing manga with no clear end in sight. There may be things that even the author doesn’t know at the moment that they couldn’t possibly tell the creative team to set up or land on a conclusive area for the anime to finish on. But at the same time, as a viewer who will probably only ever consume this in anime form, what felt like a lot of interesting set up did not lead to much close to a satisfying payoff. And again, yes, this happens quite a lot in anime adaptations, but that doesn’t make things much better. Some of the kids in “Heaven” do at least manage to escape their home (though inadvertently) while others find themselves in more complicated and ambiguous circumstances. Meanwhile, Kiruko and Maru end their part of the story in a rather needlessly dark and graphic place, and that’s after taking into account that they live in an apocalyptic dystopia that occasionally involves horrific monsters.Basically, after a pretty intriguing and entertaining ride for the majority of the show’s run, it ends on a pretty unsatisfying and sour taste that doesn’t really make me yearn for more. I do think my enjoyment of the majority is sustained, but that’s not enough for me to really recommend it, unless you want to just stop at Episode 11 and maybe watch half of the other two. Plus, at the end of the day, if a show can’t stick the landing, you really have to seriously consider if the journey was worth it at all. Which is what makes a lot of this frustrating because so much of this series is quite exceptional and sparks a lot of curiosity and intrigue, but MAN is that ending a real mood killer. I honestly don’t know what else to say, so maybe give it a try if you feel like it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.