Hikari no ó

The Fire Hunter is a very distinctive and remarkable series. I was immediately intrigued by the world and its rules and mysteries which kept me interested in its history and future. It is interspersed with mysticism and the writers manage to sell it really well. I also liked how the story was presented. The cuts between the main characters were always introduced by the characters’ names, which helped the overall clarity and the subsequent intersection of all the storylines. The series also has some unique visuals, reminding me of a series from the 90s. The animation does get a little sloppy when the characters are moving fast, fighting, or jumping, but at other times it can surprise you with the amount of detail. There is great work with atmosphere. I liked how additional close-ups were inserted into the shot, such as the face of a character during an important moment to make things more dramatic. I was especially charmed by the use of hand-drawn art images. They surprised me at first, and I was even slightly apprehensive about them, but I quickly got used to them and ended up enjoying those shots. The score was also excellent, be it the very nice atmospheric opening and ending, or the well-chosen background music during important moments. What I found to be the biggest problem and what the writers failed to sell me at all were the individual characters. After ten episodes, I can't say that there's anyone even remotely relatable. My favorite character at this point is probably Kanata the dog, which is saying a lot. I keep watching the show because I want to know what happens next and how everything will be explained, but I don't really care what happens to whom. Maybe it's because this is just the beginning, the episodes were too few and there weren’t enough strong or dramatic personal moments for me to grow fond of the characters. On the other hand, there are hints about secrets that are yet to be revealed, so there’s a chance I might get to know the characters (and get to like them). So far, my complete disinterest in the characters is affecting my overall impression. Although I see a lot of potential, I’m giving the series "only" three stars. 6.4/10 (29.09.2023)

The second season of Hikari no ó might be a spectacular culmination of a brilliant story for some, but for me, it just didn't hit the mark. The characters keep going somewhere, endlessly babbling about nothing, with gods constantly flying around... I was expecting big things, a massive attack on the city where our heroes were, but it happened completely off-screen and we only saw a total of two attackers throughout the entire season! The main character spends a significant portion of the story dealing with the fact that he killed almost all of his enemies off-screen, building drama around something I didn't even see! Add to that the insane yapfest about the local gods, how humans have destroyed and continue to destroy the Earth, constant walking back and forth with no real outcome, often for very weird reasons, plenty of confrontations full of poorly animated fights interspersed with beautiful yet atmosphere-shattering artsy shots. Everything felt so empty and bland, full of pseudo-important dialogue that made me feel like I was reading another Genshin side plot. At least the finale was relatively satisfying, everything tied up nicely. Visually, this season is just as unique as the first one, with a style straight out of the 80s, maybe 90s, the visual storytelling form is very distinct, sometimes almost cinematic, other times literally comic-like, with approaches focusing on various details and characters, occasionally complemented by gorgeous artistic shots that I'd happily frame and put on my wall - a strange mishmash that I often liked, except when anything was in motion, especially in fights, which looked like they were animated and edited by a complete amateur. For how intrigued I was by the series, how I actually quite enjoyed it in the first season and was curious about what's to come, the second half literally bored me. What I wanted to see and what interested me mostly happened off-screen, or there was too much talking going on, so I often lost concentration and couldn't even explain exactly what happened, I just have a basic idea. Simply put, this didn't entertain me; the only thing I slightly enjoyed was the form, but the content was often mind-numbing. What a shame, if there was more showing and less talking, if Mamoru thought a bit about a realistic scenario and direction instead of just writing dialogues, this series might have appealed to more than just art enthusiasts and pseudo-intellectuals who might find the meaning of life, the universe, and everything in it. For me, it's a bored and disappointed 3.5/10. (18.03.2024)