Re:Creators | Lovin’ all the “RE” titles

At first glance, this series sounds really interesting. As an original anime, the creators seems to have decided to take a risk and mix many genres together. Fantasy, sci-fi, magic, isekai, and even mecha are just a few among these. However, what really caught my attention for this series is the fictional worlds and their characters. Every world has its own unique story as well. Not to mention, these stories has its creators and the characters they created. While all this really sets up the show as a mesmerizing story, I can’t help but find this series to be a flop in the most disappointing ways possible.

The first few episodes of the show wastes little time to introduce the main characters. That’s good news since the cast seems to feature a unique set with characters of all different types. Magical girl, mecha pilot, princely knight, supernatural NPCs, anti-heroes, you name it. The most normal character among them is a young man named Souta Mizushino. He is inspired to become a light novel author but somehow manages to get caught into fierce fight one day. Souta gets involved in the conflict with the clash of fictional worlds, creators, and the characters. From the start, I can honestly say that the show actually has a mystique that kept me interested. Many questions pop up and it makes me wonder how this anime plans to resolve them. The characters also brings the attention of their purpose and why they are there in the first place.

At its core, the creators and created play the main role although I can’t really say that I’m impressed by the character relationships. They just seem all over the place and almost none of them really feel special. The show attempts to make us feel something for the characters whether it’s their personalities or motives. Yet as I watched more and more of this show, I can’t really say that any of them are particularly memorable. At times, I thought this show was trying to make us sympathize with the characters. However, I really felt nothing for the characters. Even Selestia, one of the main female protagonists didn’t stand out as the show didn’t develop her enough as a character. She just seems to be there to play her role as a female fighter. The main male protagonist, Souta is far from interesting from any angle. The only time he ever drew my attention was during his interactions with Magane and it’s when she’s the one doing the talking.

On the other hand, the story shows some promise as it ties together the characters and their roles. The background story of Souta is perhaps one of the more interesting and also most important part of this series. As a very talky show with heavy exposition, each episode does build more and more of the story together to avoid loose ends. When you mix so many genres together all at the same time, it can be quite difficult to tie everything together. Yet, somehow this show does manage to achieve such a feat when its storytelling manages to be convincing despite being predictable. That’s of course speaking from the first half of the show. From the latter half, I can’t really say the story is impressive. It bobbles down to exploring events from previous relationships and how that influences character motivations in the present. Certain new characters introduced in the latter half really feel out of place like as if they are just there to make the story flow more. However, it really felt unnecessary and just make the series longer than it should’ve been.

Re:Creators’ animation quality as a whole looks solid on multiple fronts. From the battle choreography to character designs, everything seems to fall in place in order. The characters from the fictional worlds look creatively unique that suits with their role. Even the mecha designs has its dynamic features that avoids CGI pitfalls. The most innovative design that had my eyes glued to the screen is no doubt the Military Uniform Princess. I’ve rarely seen a character with such a look and that really took my attention. Unfortunately, the other fictional worlds didn’t get too much spotlight as we only see glimpse of them. The majority of the show takes place on Earth and we all know how dull that is. Nonetheless, Re:Creators succeeds at crafting its visual elements through its character designs, action sequences, and world fiction.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock in recent years, then it’s obvious that the soundtrack of the show is created by the modern talent of Sawano Hiroyuki. The OST is stellar with its dramatic choreography and precisely timed. The OP & ED theme songs are very catchy with hidden messages.