English Dub Season Review: Dusk Beyond the End of the World Season One

Overview:

After waking from a long cryogenic sleep, high school student Akira Himegami finds himself in a world he no longer recognizes. The city lies in ruins from war, society is now governed by an organization called OWEL, and traditional marriage has been replaced by a new system known as “LC”.

Our Take:

I feel like original anime are becoming rarer and rarer. There was a clip going around when Dusk Beyond the End of the World premiered going around that showed Yuugure fighting some bad guys. It was such an awesome fight scene that I wanted to cover the show when/if a dub was released. If all you wanted from this show were awesome fight scenes, then you would probably be disappointed. This show ended up becoming more of a character study, which makes us think about what it means to be human and how love can be both a good thing and something that causes us to do bad things.

If you’re a fan of movies like The Matrix and Terminator, I think you will find some common things in this story as well. A war against machines isn’t anything new that’s been covered in media before, but I found the way it was touched on here was just unique enough to be enjoyable. The war wasn’t nearly as bleak or catastrophic as portrayed in those movies I mentioned, but it is destructive enough that you can see how humanity has regressed a bit.

You never feel like the characters are in any danger, so it can make the show feel more boring than intended. But if you care more about the romantic aspects and characters involved, then I think you will still enjoy this show. It presents certain revelations as surprises, but if you’ve watched similar shows, you will probably guess what’s going to happen in most cases.

I didn’t love this show as much as I thought I would, but I still enjoyed it. It was an anime original that had a beginning and an end, which seems rare these days. The ending was slightly disappointing and confusing, but it was far from the worst ending I’ve seen. It was satisfying enough that I would recommend this show to people who enjoy these types of story beats, but I could understand why some people feel a bit let down based on promos and clips online. I had fun with this show and enjoyed my time with it, and I think you will too.