** SPOILERS ALL AROUND **
When I think of Takt Op. Destiny, I think of Guilty Crown, and there is no way I can avoid making such a comparison. Everything about Takt Op. Destiny, especially towards the end, felt very similar to how Guilty Crown ended. In what ways are they similar?
- The female protagonist is a serious superweapon.
- The male portagonist is the ‘weilder’ of the supersweapon.
- The D2 are controlled by Sagan, the leader of an organization who is supposed to eliminate them, similar to how the Funeral Parlor/Undertaker (in particular Gai), is able to manipulate the virus in Guilty Crown to fulfill his ‘mission’.
- Bittersweet ending.
- Oustanding OSTs in both anime.
- Both anime have incredible action scenes
The list can go on and on. So many things set them apart from one another. For me anyway, the most significant factor comes down to that Takt Op. Destiny acts as an advertisement for the game Takt Op. Unmei wa Akaki Senritsu no Machi o, which I assume will carry on with the story in the anime.
So what did I think about the anime? Personally, I did enjoy it. The fight scenes for sure were terrific, and the OST was fantastic. I enjoyed several characters, like, for example, Lenny. Although he was a supporting character, he was definitely one of the best-supporting characters I’ve seen in a long while. Not only was his personality something to be admired, but the knowledge he had about the situation our characters were facing only added to the storytelling. Not to mention, the way that Lenny died only helped to develop our characters more. His death wasn’t in vain.
Destiny/Cosette, I thought, was the star of the anime and for obvious reasons. The whole reason why Cosette, Anna and Takt were travelling to New York in the first place was to ‘tune’ Destiny so that she would stop eating away at Takt’s lifeforce. But I guess you can say that this is where the anime itself falls a little short. The whole anime consists of our trio travelling across the country to New York, fighting D2 along the way, and meeting various characters. Only does it ramp up towards the end of the anime as we sped towards the conclusion.
The pacing of Takt Op. Destiny can be compared to the speed of a lawnmower. Episodes one through twelve slowly changed to a higher and higher speed. We went from turtle speed to rabbit speed by the very end. Another negative of the anime was that it made everything too apparent by the show’s end. We already knew from the hints being dropped by episode six (???) that the New York Symphonica wasn’t all that it was made up to be. You could tell that there was someone behind the scenes pulling the strings. This was when everything started to become a bit Guilty Crown-esk, like you cannot look at me and say that the ending of Takt Op. Destiny didn’t resemble that of Guilty Crown. In both anime, both female and male protagonists defeat the final boss. And in both anime, the female protagonist ends up dying to save the world and the male protagonist. Resulting in a bittersweet ending.
To save Takt from death, Destiny sacrifices herself so that he can continue living. So instead of being a physical Musicart, Destiny turns into this necklace sort of thing. Which I think unbinds her from Takt, stopping him from being her vassal. However, given how episode twelve ended, it seems as though Anna is a Conductor/Musicart combination of sorts because she can now turn into Destiny. I’m not sure how this all works. That end scene of the two of them on the beach was just beautiful. The OST, as Destiny kissed Takt, confessing her love for him before vanishing, was emotional. Similar to how Shuu accepted the Cat’s Cradle from Inori before she disappears, Takt accepts this necklace from Cosette before she too vanishes. I’m not someone who likes bittersweet endings because it’s something I have trouble with emotionally, so that scene, in particular, will be something I’ll remember for a while.
Takt Op. Destiny was a good anime. Was the story itself kind of meh, yeah. If you’re here for the story, there isn’t much to it until the final few episodes. That’s when everything starts to pick up. Despite what can be argued as a story that lacks real substance, I think it makes up for it in characters, OST, action scenes and the anime’s ability to throw its emotional weight around. It’s a shame that Takt Op. Destiny was an advertisement for the game coming out next year. Does it interest me to see where the story takes us now that Destiny and Anna are fused into one being? Yeah, it does. Did it interest me enough to check it out? No, because now there’s an expectation that the story is carried on and conveys the same emotions of the anime in the form of a game. Which is insanely hard to do and often results in a letdown.
I hope we see more collaborations between major studios. I would love to see more anime produced by Madhouse, MAPPA together because, man. From a character, art design, and emotional standpoint, this anime was it. I’m rating this anime a solid 7/10.