I genuinely believe this is one of the best animated shows ever created. The show highlights the complexities of the high school experience, and combines it with dystopian fantasy lore to produce a mystery thriller. This show is a masterclass in building lore, the writers have a gift in creating mysterious, well-constructed, harmonious plot lines that just keeps you guessing every episode.
As an Australian, I grew up with this show on ABC3 throughout the 2010s and remember the show vividly as a mystery thriller that I never got to finish. Having some spare time in my adulthood, I found the show on YouTube and decided to rewatch it all the way through, and it did not disappoint.
The animation is great and succinct. If you require watching the characters mouths to help understand the dialogue, then it may not be ideal as the dialogue is not in sync because of the animation style. That being said, the action sequences are awesome and the artists and designers partition the screen well, with split screens and flashback photos to help the viewer understand the story.
As it is probably more targeted for younger/teenage audiences, it does recap very thoroughly at the start and end of each episode. I will readily admit, as an adult watching this show, there is a small amount of kiddish dialogue that does get cringe, however some moments are the exact opposite and show the cleverness of the dialogue and foreshadowing.
All in all, this show showcases a conspiracy storyline that keeps every viewer guessing. Detentionaire is severely underrated and deserves more exposure.
