Šúmacu no Harem

World's End Harem is the Japanese version of Sexmission, although it is neither funny nor surprising. It is loaded with sex and eroticism, which is to be expected in this kind of setting; the scenes are just explicit enough to cross the line, although they did not put me off, bother or offend me in any way, which is probably an achievement. On the other hand, they did not make me feel "free" in any other way either, which might be a failure again. The most interesting thing about this anime series was introducing three different young men in an environment full of women. This show charts their behavior, trying to paint a psychological portrait of male mentality and perhaps character development, making it easy to watch. Although there is not much development, so I can still pigeonhole them into several categories. Number one is the indulger; number two is the romantic; number three is the outsider. The only thing I can see eventually is how number one could theoretically become number two, or number three could become number one again, and so on. I can quite believe what the anime's creators want to tell me about it (because it is nothing unknown nor it is something that would shake your world). The biggest character development, in the end, is focused on number three, and it is somewhat believable, again showing the role of self-confidence for men, and also that sometimes it is not that difficult to manipulate a man. I am also quite curious to see how far number three can go, and it scares me somewhat, because of what I have seen so far and the general awareness of what can happen to a victim when he gets power tells me a lot (plus I still have PTSD from Redo of a Healer). My favorite one of the trio is eventually number one because his behavior seems somehow the most natural to me. I am not going to lie; if I were one of the few guys in this purely female world, as much as I would like to claim I am definitely like number two, I would still be a number one. I understand number two to a certain extent. However, I struggle a lot because he is a rational man. His decision regarding sex does not seem reasonable to me under the circumstances (it seems purely emotional), although I admire his stamina. However, within the overall narrative, it conveniently turns out to be the right choice. I did not get on with the narrative itself as it is occasionally predictable and makes no sense. To be honest, you suspect the big reveal about who is behind the MK virus is released almost from the very beginning. You subconsciously wish there was at least a good plot twist, like in Sexmission, as mentioned earlier. However, there is no decent twist, so it is boringly predictable. Similarly, I was left reeling at the decision of the ruling clique here as to how they will treat number two and what they would be allowed. In truth, even any effort to change the overall attitude of number two becomes rather silly after a while (and gets bogged down into the category of mere fan service). I would have thought that after the first failure, UW would logically have either given up or handled it completely differently. The animation is average, and the animators run out of steam towards the end, so some scenes are, in my opinion, stilted. At one point in episode eleven, it was eye-popping. As for the soundtrack, I am not going to say it is bad because now, less than an hour after the end of the last episode, I cannot remember it at all; it is almost like there is no music playing at all. It is not elevator music; it is not music that does not fit what is happening on screen, even though it has no expression and leaves no lasting impression. Finally, the most important thing, the women! This anime series also fails at presenting a really interesting female character, someone who stands out from the crowd in some significant way and about whom I could say something profound, not just her most striking characteristic or visual form. So the most interesting character is Karen (who takes care of the trio), who at least seems like she is up to something, and I want to see if she succeeds (however, I am not rooting for her). A few things kept my attention, and if there were a second season, I would watch it out of curiosity. However, there is also a lot of stuff that I found boring or did not make any sense. 4/10. (18.03.2022) (mniej) (więcej)