I don't know why I haven't heard more about this show. It's just so well done, there's very few things to nitpick about. That being said, there are still a few things. First of all, what was with some of the gore being censored with random stuff in front of the camera? The type of person that would be watching this show wouldn't care about that stuff. Maybe it's because of some rules they have regarding anime in Japan, I don't know. Second of all, there are very few people that you want to root for, and with the exception of the main character literally everyone in this show is a bad person. I guess that's why they call them akudama, huh. I like having some people in my anime that I can root for that are good people! That being said, some of the akudama are badass, like brawler. He was definitely the character I liked the most, even if my favorite character was the main one. The ending didn't really do it for me either, but I like a certain type of ending so I can see people going either way on whether they like it or not.
Now, the good stuff. The fighting and visuals. If this show had bad action and bad visuals, every single review would be like a 6 or lower. The story is interesting enough, but those are the two things that elevate it above any other anime. GODDAMN this show is gorgeous! It's more technically impressive than most anime, and the way it handles lighting is just fantastic! The cyberpunk nature of this show lends itself really well to everything else, too.
They would usually use this awesome lighting and visuals to make the already awesome action even more awesome. They'll have blue, or pink, or yellow, or some other color lighting things from a side or two, and for some reason that just makes the aesthetic so COOL! The action is really badass, too, with lots of fluid and well-choreographed fights. It's definitely more than a little unrealistic, though, with normal people surviving things that would normally turn you into a fine mist and brushing it off.
That's not to say that people don't die, though, they die A LOT. There is a ton of death and gore in this show, so if you're not into that I wouldn't watch this. Personally, I think if that was more my thing I probably would have given this a 10, but it's more of something that I don't care one way or another for.
There isn't really any character development in anyone but the main character, a an original side character, and two side characters you meet later on. One of the side characters we meet later on doesn't really go through much development, but the other one goes through a lot in what seems like a very short time. The one person they did really well was the main character. She develops believably and her entire character feels fleshed out. The other characters, while not that deep, make fun additions to the cast that improve the show.
Oh, and the transitions and character introductions are cool too! They only really keep it up for the first few episodes, but early on there are some really cool introductions and transitions between scenes that give it a kind of comic feel.
The story is fairly interesting, staring out with a heist and turning into a sort of revolution and survival type of thing. It's not the best story in the world, but with everything else this anime did right it didn't really need to be.
Overall, this is a badass, cyberpunk, heist, survival, action, martial arts, revolution, anti-hero, just plain cool anime that should get a lot more recognition.
