Make My Day

On a frozen frontier planet, criminals sentenced to hard labor and their guards have to fight off hardy creatures who feed on their power source.

The first thing I noticed was that the art was pretty good. Then I noticed that a lot of it was in a rather stylized computer-generated style. It's not bad, but it gives faces and hair a plastic-like appearance reminiscent of older, cheaper video games. Sometimes it looks nice, but the plastic faces can be a little off-putting at times, especially when you compare them to screenshots of the newest games.

The monsters are reminiscent of tardigrades, probably to explain why they're living on a frozen wasteland with poisonous air. They're initially presented as immortal, but the protagonists soon figure out some weaknesses. There's a little more that gets done with the creatures, but that's pretty much it. The science fiction elements a bit minimal and mostly provide some quick world building.

Our protagonist, Jim, is a likeable sort though a bit of a generic everyman. He's an artist who has ignored his dreams and is too shy to tell his friend how he feels. There aren't really any surprises in his character arc, but you may be surprised at how much of a fearless and badass soldier he is. It turns out that all you really need to reach your potential is a lot of heart and maybe a training video or two.

Jim's new best friend is a criminal who repeatedly shows courage and honor. When Jim finally learns his crime, it introduces the core theme: redemption. Most characters are a bit cliched, and some don't really have any defined personality beyond "Jim's love interest". However, their flaws and redemption arcs can give them a bit more depth than you might usually see. It's a mixed bag that may work as long as you're not looking for something grimdark.

I had to fast forward through a couple scenes because they were just too long and boring, which is very rare for me. However, one of them was a scene where Jim's girlfriend, a surrogate mother, gave birth. It felt like it went on forever, though it might have just been my annoyance with having to listen to all that yelling. Overall, I thought the pacing was fine, but the series probably didn't need to be quite this long.

If you don't mind your science fiction being a bit generic and lawful good, it's pretty watchable. It's better than some of the stuff I've seen on Netflix.

Outstanding example of how to write characters and character arcs. Professional, committed English voice acting.

A well-written original story is the big asset here. Less violence and action than most animes. The very unusual writing highlights the redemption of several unsavory characters, using forgiveness without violins or abandoning its gritty sci-fi genre track.

The eight episodes don't culminate in a tight third act. The story was designed to continue if there was a second season. Still the ending works well enuf to satisfy.

I think this is computer assisted Blender animation, nicely done. Not flashy yet not trashy in any respect.

Congratulations to all who created this.

It's hard to write a review that doesn't cover what's been written before.

This anime, like most, suffers from typical anime issues. A young person is thrust into the spotlight to lead a group (or themselves) out of danger. They're initially shy and awkward, and then an episode later they're running around like they own the world, being impossibly awesome. It also has the same basic issue of static images with monologue look like stills, and it's hard to know whether the dubbing has been extended from the original or not, with a single frame paused to provide the additional time to bore us all with exposition. Add to that the 'surprise face' that the main character has and the 'oh, uh, ooh, waah' that we're constantly fed, makes me wonder whether this person is a newborn experiencing everything for the first time.

As many other reviewers have pointed out, the art work is great, and initially drew me into the show, however the show is let down by almost everything else. Including the basic plotline that just doesn't make sense.

Like, why is there a whole civilisation living on a barren frozen planet just to mine some special rock? If it's a penal colony, does there really need to be a whole city? How did the city get built if the air is toxic? Where do they get oxygen/nitrogen from to breathe? If it's a barren rock, why does the main building have a massive defence system? How come the tardigrades start to explode outside but not when shot hundreds of times in the mine? Why make this special mineral into little cubes that need to be fed in to machines like coins into a slot machine?

The plot conveniences are numerous and just go to show that, sadly, people can not write TV shows anymore.

If you're bored and really need something to watch, it's ok, but it's not going to win any awards for excitement nor originalism. Ah Netflix, you've done it again.

Quick review, as I can t understand all the other bad reviews here.

Maybe not the most original series but it s a nice well told adventure.

The characters are also well written even though it has its cheesy moments.

Also liked the fact that it s an optimistic show, with characters that grow, learn to forgive each other s shortcomings and try to improve their situation. Everybody grows into a well oiled team and helps each other out.

That is extremely satisfying and I found myself liking them more and more and rooting for everyone to get out alive...including the robot sidekick. He s the best.

Granted, the characters don t bring anything new to the table and they aren t something that you haven t seen before, but it works and their motivations make sense.

Just one character is annoying and always a crybaby which I couldn t stand. But the writers decided to save him to and he kind of reemeds himself too by the end.

So, stop being being such harsh critics and enjoy the feel good sensation that this show spreads.

Again, not the most original or best written, but it is a well executed story with a big heart, in my opinion.

Ah where to begin. Two episodes in, I was like, oh yeah! Lots of military scifi action. Animation is bad. Not really my cup of tea. But the premise of the story/plot is interesting.

Then the next couple episodes. The main character is weak. Though has tremendous potential. As always in japanese animé. Then the huge drama that comes with the Marnie character. Boy! This girl can cry! Again, thats japan for you. Want to inject a much needed drama? Make one or more characters wail and scream as loud as she can an cry an ocean of tears in the longest possible scene. I hope she gets eaten. But nah. She's the drama.

Then the rest of the episodes. Which are just filler episodes. Not much fun for me. But if you're a fan of extended loud crying in a very dated animation style, still a big no.