Re:Creators Review | And Yet Again, Another Formulaic Anime

Hi guys and welcome to my place!

It’s time to continue with the random Anime Series and for the first time I come here without watching all the episodes of the Anime. To be honest I was trying to make myself watch Re:Creators but… Well, let’s say I was just watching because of the review and not because I was enjoying it so I decided it was time to drop this one out and just write the review taking into account the first season. I mean… The Anime is ok and when I think about it from a logic and cold perspective, the Anime is really well made, there is a good premise, the characters are likeable, the animation is top-notch, however it seems it was not able to grab me… After some thought I think I understood why and of course I will tell you down below. Beware, this time there will be spoilers along the review.

The Story:

The story starts with our main character Souta Mizushino in his bedroom after a day at school and decides to chill out a little bit by watching a popular Anime series in his tablet, however the strangest thing happens! While watching a fighting scene he is sent inside the Anime episode, yes, inside, like he is now part of the events occurring. As you may understand the 2 female characters, Celestia and Military Uniform Princess, were not expecting and for a second they stop looking confused to Souta. Non the less, it doesn’t take much for them to restart fighting. Celestia, being the good girl she is picks Souta and tries to save him and they end up both being transported to the real world. Now this scene is way faster than it seems. It’s a matter of seconds (if we count it Anime time) and a couple of minutes if we take into account the slow motion scenes. Other thing that the Anime makes sure you understand is that Souta and the Military Uniform Princess recognize each other.

They end up both in Souta’s bedroom, but it doesn’t take too much for the Princess to reaper. They continue fighting and that’s when a new character Meteora comes and saves the day… I mean, she doesn’t saaaaaave the day, but she is able to send away the Princess. Meteora is also a character, in this case not from an Anime, but from a video game. She also got transported to the “real” world where the gods (meaning the story creators) live and Princess also came to her. Basically, what Princess is doing is trying to gather all the characters that have come to the real world and start a war against the creators, which is not that strange honestly, but I’ll come back to that in a bit.

From here I already have a question… From what the Anime seems to imply, while in Celestia case the Princess was able to enter the story and change the course of it (I mean she was fighting against Celestia) in the Meteora’s case it doesn’t seem that was what happened… This question is not answered in the first season (I don’t know if it is answered in the second, but let’s face it, a season is enough for them to explain at least that part). Second question not answered… Why the hell did Souta get transported inside the Anime? It didn’t happen to nobody else with the other characters, they just got teletransported to the Real World with no worries. So, from here my brain is already not understanding what’s happening and not having any kind of answers regarding that for a complete season does not make any kind of sense!

But ok… Let’s continue… Right from the bat, Celestia, Meteora and Souta group up and become somewhat friends. They end up deciding to go meet their creators, since Meteora comes from a video game it’s harder because it has a team behind it, however it’s pretty easy to find Celestia’s creator and let me say… Easy to meet him (?)… I mean, the guy is the creator of a popular series and is available right away to meet a guy who says that he’s with the girl from his story or something like that? But, ok… Not going to think much about it… They all meet in the mall and of course Takeshi, the creator, does not believe them. He thinks the reasonable thing which is Celestia is just  a outstanding cosplayer. But, don’t worry, that changes right away!!!

With the best timing ever, a new character appears that is fighting for The Princess. This one is basically the Madoka Magica main character with a different name. From the beginning you understand she is a good person, so… Why is she joining the Princess to destroy the world is something that I also don’t understand. Nevertheless , Celestia and this new character, Mamika, start fighting. When the creator sees the girl claiming to be his story main character flying and fighting as she would do in the Anime he understands they are telling the truth.

Now… from here it’s basically a new episode, a new character. There is not really major happening in the following episodes to be honest. Some fights here and there which don’t result in nothing more than destroying the surroundings. However, one of the characters that appear, Magane (my favorite character), that doesn’t join any of the factions. She is the villain in her story and she just wants to have fun… By deceiving people! Although not in any of the factions she is the character that makes things moving.

So here’s the highlights and basically what’s worth mentioning about the story from there:

Mamika starts to talk with Souta and she finally understands that what the Princess is trying to do is destroying the World, not changing the characters’ for the best. She ends up confronting the princess who ends up injuring her. Badly injured she still tries to fly to Meteora to explain what happened, however ends up falling in the middle of the journey. Again, in the best timing way possible, she falls at the right moment when Magane is looking towards the sky and sees her falling and she ends up hearing the last words of Mamika. Moments later Alisteria, another character fighting for the Princess appears and when she asks Magane what happened, she is able to tell the truth but in a way that it seems that Meteora was the one killing Mamika. For Alisteria, Mamika was her dear friend and this way she swears revenge against Meteora.

The other thing that is worth mentioning is how Souta relates with The Princess… However, let me say that I was already expecting this from episode ONE, so seeing in the middle of the season a cliff hanger at the end of the episode where basically they say “Watch the nest episode to know why Souta seems to know The Princess” just made me laugh, because come on! Even if you don’t know the details, from day one you know they both know each other. Well, basically The Princess is the creation of one of his best friends that was able to kick-off her career as an artist. Souta started to feel envious towards her and when she was backslashed in Social Media he just didn’t care and even felt a certain joy because of it. His friend ended up killing herself making him to regret the way he treated her.

And that’s it for the story in the first season. What I think is… There is too many fights that end up in nothing! Really, nothing! They fight a little bit and one of the parties run away and that’s it, no kind of development. I think that it would be for the best they used that time to show more about the characters’ in their own worlds and build them a lot more. Secondly, there is just too many things happening by occasion… I mean, what happened if Mamika didn’t appear on the mall, or if Magido didn’t saw Mamiko falling and then dying… I don’t really like when the writers use this kind of events to further develop the story… Basically what I immediately imagine is a meeting where they say “Well, we need to get to point B, but to get there we can’t think of a good route, so let’s just put point B and we will sort out some kind of arrangement for that to happen”… For me it makes the story to feel shallow.

The story does not have high points… The great reveal for season 1 is just something you can see miles away and therefore you can’t see that as a climax. Then you have Mamiko’s death (well, because dying always give you more views!), however there are so many characters appearing that you end up not feeling strong feelings for any of them, including Mamiko. Yeah, it’s sad and she’s a good person, but at this moment I only see her as a bunch of pixels together and not really a character that I love and don’t want to miss, so yeah… She died, well a lot of characters die.

Then, there are all these questions that should have been addressed way sooner (this, thinking they explain it in the second season). How are they being transported? Why in Celestia’s case the Princess was able to enter the Anime and seems to be vital for the transportation to occur, while in the others case they seem to only appear in the real world, no questions asked?

And this brings me to another question… Let me see if I can explain this in a understanble manner. You have these characters who came from another World right? That World is created by the humans right? So if these characters are not in their world, but episodes of their stories continue to come out, I mean, even if they stop production there is always at least one or two episodes that end up coming out… who the hell is the main character now in those stories? Do you understand what am I saying? It’s like, if it IS a real world and new episodes come out then the main character has to be in that world non the less… So did they just created clones without realizing?

So, in conclusion, there is way too many plot holes, most of the things happening have no explanation what so ever and happen because of let’s say… Destiny? I think they were more preoccupied with fast pacing, introducing a lot of characters for you to have at least one person that you can relate to and nice visuals (I mean, what other explanation would you give for fights to occur when in the end nothing major in the plot changed?)

The Characters:

Basically what they say to you is that the creations, so most of the characters in the Anime, are the way they are because of their character description. Makes sense of course, but it gives you no kind of background why they are like that… I mean, even if they are like that because of their description I think that the creators had the thoughts of thinking what kind of events made this character being like this or that right? That’s what creates complexity into a character… Well, since they don’t even show the characters in their own World, you just need to accept the characters for what they are.

Regarding the humans, you have Souta that I dislike as a character. Probably they tried to create a character that resonate with the common folk who watch Anime… I don’t know. He’s basically your typical guy who likes games and Manga/Anime. He wants to draw manga and make his own story, but feels that he’s not good enough (well, having his drawings on Social Media with almost no engagement it doesn’t help his confidence I’m certain). The thing is… He just accepts it like that and live a sad life… I don’t see him trying to change things, learn with others, engage with people inside the community. I mean we bloggers are all creators and of course we don’t always put the best work or get the views/likes/comments we wanted, but we don’t go cry in a corner! We learn from it, we engage with people, we ask veteran bloggers what they think about it… So yeah, I don’t really like this trait of him. Then you have his back story with his friend and, yet again, he *surprises* me negatively… Something I hate the most are envious people… I’ve already talked about this! Feel inspired to get better not envious, so for him to have this feeling towards a friend to the point she asks for help and he doesn’t care… Well, I really dislike him!

I love how the Anime tells you there is character development! Basically there is one or other conversation where the creations state they don’t feel that they are the same person as they were in their stories… Sorry, to say this, but you are! There is no evolution what so ever. Meteora is always the voice of reason, Celestia is always the kind girl who fights for her believes, Alisteria is the knight that always try to the “best” thing… They don’t change… At all! So yeah, again most of the characters feel empty to me. The one I was able to really like was Magane. I see her a little bit like Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter, she does what she does because she wants to have fun. There is not really a different reason besides that, however she does have a strong personality making her to be loved (or hated) from us, the viewers.

Animation/Audio:

The animation is top-notch period. The visuals are basically what you would expect from an Anime of this era. Really polished and bright. Fight animations and movement are also done perfectly and this is where the Anime shines. So if are looking for an Action Anime only because of strong visuals and excellent fights this one is for you.

Regarding voice acting is also really well executed and the voices of each character completely combine with the character itself. Regarding the music… It’s alright. I mean, it’s not those kind of musics that blew my mind or that is super original. Basically, if I heard the music in the radio next week I would probably dance to it (mildly) but would never remember from which Anime it was from. Basically, they just went with the formula of what works nowadays.

Conclusion:

It’s a formulaic Anime. It throws you everything that people normally like from an Anime. Excellent visuals, “ok” music, nice premise, a lot of characters for you to choose from… but they forgot the main ingredient… Story and Character construction. Maybe in the second season they improved it a lot, but I just don’t see myself pushing myself any forward towards ending this one! Non the less, as I told you before, if you want great visuals and excellent Anime fighting movements this one is a way to go!

I give Re:Creators 3 Plot Holes out of 5 Awesome Visuals

Have you already watched Re:Creators? What do you think of it? I know I was a little harsh with this one, but you are completely free to disagree and commenting your thoughts on it! 😀 If you didn’t watch it… I know I didn’t sell it that well, but hey it may work for you!!

The next Anime I’ll be watching is: Kiss Him Not Me!

See You Soon! 😀