I won't go into the controversy surrounding this series during its earlier stage of production. As far as anyone should be concerned, we just have a new series on an anime streaming service. It will be judged as such.
The issue here is a lack of true innovation, or at the very least innovation that seems natural. Characters are one note or adhere to traits already used in other shows, the plot is just as flat and basic, the animation... I'm not gonna complain about a western cartoon being featured on an anime service, but this animation is pretty subpar.
Basic movement, mediocre art direction, often lazy backgrounds.
The writing suggests the writers are out of touch with the world or have no grasp on natural progression or presentation. It feels more like meeting a quota than providing true representation. Not all LGBTQ+ individuals have garish hairstyles or a punk look, it's a borderline caricature.
It's less "A lesbian character" and more. "Look, it's a lesbian character, are you satisfied?" I'm all for representation, but I fear it will always be handled in the worst possible way.
If these characters are based on the writers, then it's less about representation and more of a warped interpretation of it.
Either the wrong people are representing diversity, or this is just a poorly written show that was not worth the delays and vague initial details, plagued with cliches, bland characters and stories and low quality animation.
Both. It's both.
