English Dub Season Review: Moonrise Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After rebel forces attack Earth, a carefree heir becomes the prime suspect and joins a special military unit to find the true mastermind on the moon.

Our Take:

Moonrise is an original net animation series adaptation of Tow Ubukata’s novel.  It is directed by Masashi Koizuka, with Tow Ubukata writing the script.  It is animated by Wit Studio, which is best known for producing anime like Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, and Spy x Family.  Hiromu Arakawa designed the characters, and Ryou Kawasaki composed the music.  The ending theme song, “Daijōbu” (It’s All Right), is performed by Aina the End, who voiced Mary in the Japanese dub.

The Earth and the moon have been living side by side within the galaxy since the dawn of time, almost like they’re BFFs.  But, thanks to humanity’s stupidity, that “friendship” happens to be broken by, you guessed it, war.  Regarding our current situation, it’s only a matter of time before that part of history becomes reality.  This topic comes in the form of the ONA series from Netflix that pits two sides of society against each other, with one side residing on Earth’s next-door neighbor.  With the streaming service’s lack of a happy marriage still lingering, the show’s concept is lucky to have enough interest to fulfill my anime desires.  But is the execution out-of-this-world to distract me from Netflix’s lack of release for the My Happy Marriage finale?  Not really, but it’s not without its diverting moments to keep it from getting sent off into the far reaches of space.

Consisting of 18 episodes, Moonrise chronicles Jacob Shadow (Alan Lee), a nonchalant and ignorant heir of the Shadow Corporation in a futuristic Earth.  Jacob is chosen to run the company during a presentation involving the orbital elevator connecting the Earth to the moon, which also houses a society.  When the moon’s rebel forces destroy the orbital elevator as a declaration of war, Jacob is framed for being involved in the terrorist attack due to his genes being falsified.  As a result, Jacob and his friends, including Rhys Rochelle (Courtney Lin), are assigned to a special forces unit known as VC3 to infiltrate the moon’s city and terminate the rebels’ leader, Bob Skylum (Christopher W. Jones).  Amid the mission, Jacob discovers shocking revelations about his past, including his childhood friend, Phil Ash (Ryan Colt Levy), leading to the confrontation between the two former friends who stand on opposite sides of the war.

Moonrise offers a narrative that would’ve lasted around twelve to thirteen episodes, a common length usually seen in most anime.  Instead, it added a few more episodes to expand its characters and plot further, giving us a total of eighteen.  One example that did this length pretty well is its protagonist, Jacob Shadow, who started off as a carefree and stubborn member of the business family on Earth.  However, as the series progressed, Jacob’s history gradually unraveled itself, showcasing him as one of the moon’s children raised in a fabricated facility alongside Phil.  Following an incident, Jacob was sent to Earth, where the Shadow parents raised him as their adopted son.  The rebel attack that separated Jacob from his adoptive parents resulted in him confronting his past to exact revenge on Bob Skylum.  However, the revelation of Phil’s intentions puts Jacob in a situation that would test his bond with the VC3 squad, mainly Rhys.  Another example is Mary, a mysterious yet chirpy loner later revealed to be Phil’s brother and acts as a core for a parasitic creature in the second half.

On the one hand, Moonrise functions as an entertaining and visually stunning sci-fi anime that glides through its seemingly standard storytelling.  Part of that is due to its narrative providing a few surprises that showcase the complexity of the show’s characters, mainly Jacob, with both sides sharing a similar goal of ending the war through different motives.  Additionally, the second half has Jacob discovering Mary’s connection with the parasitic species L-Zone, forcing him to switch sides, which is enough to inject more interest in its cliches.  On the other hand, there’s not much in the show’s exploration of its themes involving war and peace to convey some of its emotional intentions.  There were also instances of the show’s tonal shifts that appeared uneven regarding its visual humor, mainly the characters’ goofy facial expressions.  While a few of those moments were pretty amusing, the tonal shifts occasionally took me out of the series’ dramatic sequences.

As for the voice cast, this is one occasion where the English dub is flawed enough to reconsider choosing this option.  Admittedly, the cast consists of some talented actors, including Alan Lee and Ryan Colt Levy, and they made the best of their efforts to reflect their characters’ personalities.  However, the voice direction was the only issue that dragged their potential down.  Their line delivery mostly ranges from tolerable to underwhelming and even corny, with a few character reactions not lining up with the actors’ emotional range.  Because of that, the show’s attempt at providing emotional depth came off as forced, though it did get a bit better during its second half.

Finally, we have the animation, which is one of the show’s main highlights.  Wit Studio is another Japanese studio that I had high hopes for, especially after viewing projects like Spy x Family, Suicide Squad Isekai, and The Grimm Variations.  While some of the CGI effects can be hit-and-miss with the execution, it’s hard to ignore the efforts made in its sublimely smooth and stylized 2D animation.  After watching the other shows I mentioned, I had hoped that the studio would deliver those similar heights in Moonrise.  Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t disappointed by the results.  Utilizing its combination of 2D animation and suitable CGI effects, Wit Studio provided a dynamic and vibrantly stylized presentation that resembles other sci-fi blockbusters like Star Wars, but on a low-level scale.  Regarding the show’s energetic action scenes and production designs, the animation in Moonrise serves as another example of Wit Studio’s ability to convey slickness and color in its anime-esque quality.

On paper, Moonrise had the makings of an ordinary sci-fi war series that pits two sides of society against each other.  While that is the case, the ONA series also delivered enough merits in its plot’s second half and presentation to rise above most of its familiar narrative trappings.  The direction for the cast and tonal shifts was occasionally wooden, especially during its attempts at emotional depth.  However, it was mostly overshadowed by the plot’s entertainment values and the show’s terrific animation style.  As a result, the show is another enjoyably stunning addition to Netflix’s anime lineup that’s far from galactic but suitable enough to make the trip to the moon worth a shot.