Anime: Devil Survivor 2 The Animation

Devil Survivor 2 The Animation (henceforth DS2TA) is an adaptation of Atlus's story-centric video game "Devil Survivor 2". It has a "2" in the title but don't worry, it's a standalone story. I tried to make this review as spoiler-free as possible.

DS2TA thematically mirrors Atlus's Persona series. Bonds between people, and the supernatural power unleashed by them, is a major theme of the story. But unlike Persona 4 The Animation, DS2TA is an angsty action anime with an over-the-top chuuni setting.

Animation (Average): The art and animation weren't impressive in any way. It wasn't noticeably inconsistent, either. The characters' faces properly expressed how they were feeling, although it's not like there was anything especially challenging about that. The animation was typical CG quality. The OP and ED's animation was basically non-existent.

Sound (Above average): The only music that's lingered in my mind is the OP and ED. However, there were a couple of scenes in which it was inserted for nice effect (around the end of episode ~6, and at the end of the final episode). On the voices side, the seiyuu were all talented--Kamiya Hiroshi plays the protagonist, and Sawashiro Miyuki one of the main cast--but there wasn't really an opportunity for them to showcase their ability.

Story (Mediocre): The core elements of DS2TA could be described as a combination of Digimon/Yu-Gi-Oh!, Mirai Nikki, Persona 4, and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

In the first episode, the three main characters are given a cell phone app that allows them to summon demons (akuma)--like Yu-Gi-Oh monsters in that they just obediently attack and don't talk, no matter how humanoid they appear--which they need because Tokyo suddenly becomes overrun with hostile ones. Oh, and the app also sends close-up photos of their friends' prophecied corpses, leading to a constant race against time to change fate.

Near the start of the series, the plot is more dynamic, with mild chuuni elements. But around the midpoint of the series (again, I'm being as vague as possible) it becomes far more chuuni and adopts elements of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Just like in Persona 4 The Animation, a range of existential attitudes--hope, loneliness, trust, friendship, despair, strength, responsibility, etc.--influence the power of summoned demons and guide the direction of the story.

Unfortunately, the story was largely uncompelling. The setting was underdeveloped due to time constraints. That's inevitable because it's only 13 episodes. But moreover, chuuni melodrama was prioritized at the expense of slice-of-life scenes that would have helped the viewer develop a sense of rapport with the characters.

I consider myself a total sucker for chuuni arguments where people yell at each other about what strength or justice is and accuse each other of being callous or mistaken, and such. I liked those parts of Persona 4 The Animation, the famous Naruto manga, Fate/stay night, etc. But the conversations in DS2TA progressed WAY too fast, so even I couldn't always follow them. I often felt like I had missed a dozen lines of conversation which had led to the discussion of purely abstract concepts.

That said, I did appreciate that there was nothing overtly inconsistent about the chuuni themes as they were presented. In other words, whoever wrote them had a consistent worldview. If not, I would have dropped this and never reviewed it. Anyway, it's very possible that the Devil Survivor 2 game, not having to cut dialog, was able to put forth the themes in a much better fashion. I didn't play it, so I don't know.

The series finale (last half of the last episode) was more satisfying than I'd expected, but that may be just because I had low expectations in the first place.

Characters (Average): The main trio consists of the mild-mannered brooding protagonist Hibiki, his very ordinary friend, and the friendly yet brooding female lead. Hibiki receives far more development than any other character, but even after watching the entire series and witnessing an ambiguous flashback, I don't really understand the logic behind it. Some people might be able to find similarities between Hibiki and the Persona 4 protagonist Yuu, but they're not the same. I really liked Yuu's development (I thought it was incredible) but wasn't in any way engaged by Hibiki's.

There are around a dozen other characters, some forgettable (like the nurse) and others relatively quirky and likable if they happen to be your type. The catgirl/catboy duo Jungo and Airi were fun, and I'm somewhat fond of what I saw of Ronaldo and Fumi. Makoto and Hinako weren't my type, but objectively speaking, they weren't any less developed or complex. And the mysterious character who soliloquies from rooftops, Alcor, had a couple of nice comic moments, in spite of being largely a clone of a certain character from Eva.

As I said in the story section, it's a shame that time wasn't taken to show different sides of the characters and increase viewers' attachment to them. But they weren't bad.

Value (Above average): If you just finished Persona 4 or Neon Genesis Evangelion and want to watch something like it, you may very well enjoy this in spite of its faults. But as with all anime, the fewer you've seen, the more they move you.

Enjoyment (Average): The plot itself had some unpredictable elements, but was full of predictable tropes. I didn't care about the characters, and that made me less emotionally invested in everything. The fast pacing helped make up a lot of this.

My review may appear critical to you, but there are many, many anime out there with more hackneyed and unengaging stories and dumber characters. The characters of this one are somewhat fun and likable even if you won't find yourself attached to them, and the plot deserves an A for effort even if it does "borrow" quite a bit from other anime to inferior effect. So consider DS2TA if it looks like the type of anime you could enjoy. One episode should be enough to make a good judgment.

Short reviews on series with none or few reviews that answers the question if the series is worth watching.
With the idea to help you, without spoilers or having to read through every review aspect, to decide if you want to watch a series.

Review of Devil Survivor 2 The Animation

Is this worth watching?
Not really, only if you played the game and want to ‘revisit’ the world.

Is this worth the time?
Yes, comparing it to the 40+ hours it takes to beat the game.

Short impression:
The story has some potential: An app that shows death videos of your friends which can be prevented. The app also lets you summon demons to fight against an invading force called Septentriones.

It did one thing very good; recreate the overpowered feeling of the Septentriones bosses from the game. They seemed almost impossible to beat at some time.

Special notes:
It is a bad game adaption, but it did make me appreciate the game more and vice versa (for which i added +2 to value and enjoyment).
With 14 major characters and only 13 episodes it is pretty much impossible for the story to make any sense. If you haven’t played the game it is one illogical situation after the other, but if you have played the game you keep wondering why certain parts are left out or handled differently.
I think I appreciated this series more (+1 to everything) because I had the same outcome of the game as the anime (apart from the ending cause im stuck at the 2nd to last level).

Damn Atlus, you really like to adapt your games with random order, don’t you? Anyways, this is yet another one of those videogames where teenagers summon monsters to defend the world. It has the same director of the Persona 4 (P4) adaptation, which is also a spin-off franchise of this one. I really liked P4 despite its cheesiness and expected Devil Survivor (DS2) to be around the same level but turned out it is a waste of time.

So, the premise is sort of typical for the franchise. Some demons invade the word and some teenagers fight them with their own demons. The problem is that despite the apocalyptic set up, nothing seems to make sense or feels important enough for you to care. You are just thrown into this mess and no real hooks exist for you to give a damn. I mean the main three characters look so dull and typical. As retarded as that other show with cell-phones and future predictions was, Future Diary had a very wimpy boy and a very psychotic girl; extreme enough for you to notice them. Plus you had a freaking god giving them a clear picture of what they have to do right away. This doesn’t happen in DS2 since it has bland main characters and the premise is not anything special or even clear.

Another problem is the action part. It is so simple and boring to the point you again don’t give a damn. They just summon random monsters to fight each other and after a couple of energy attacks it is all over. P4 had similar battles but even there the choreography was more colorful, the bosses were relevant to the main characters, and the characters themselves were funny enough for you to care. Over here you feel nothing, even if the demons kill people by the hundreds in each battle. Who are these people for you to care? Who are these mass-produced identical demons with no relation to the main characters? So what if hell takes over Earth?

Another thing which annoyed me are the cell phones. In this setting they are gateways to hell and all demons invade with portals created by them, or in other cases computers with access to the net. The heroes just press buttons on them and POP appears a monster to fight for them. They can do that as many times as they can and then they expect you to think it is hard or taxing. I mean, ok, in the game you have magic point consumption but the show doesn’t show that and all you get is a bunch of cardboards saving the world by playing videogame applications on their cell phones. GAH WHAT’S UP WITH ALL THE VIDEOGAME SHOWS? When I was a kid you needed to know martial arts or be affected by gamma rays to become strong enough to defend the world. Nowadays it is always about skinny dorks button-mashing consoles. WHERE IS THE FARTING CHALLENGE IN THAT?

The facepalms continue with the obligatory secret organization which is fighting the demons. They have all this super technology and they still are unable to do squat next to three bland gamers. It doesn’t even seem that hard enough to stop them anyways; if the internet is a gateway to hell, then why don’t they simply cut the internet? Or if necessary, the electricity too. Yes, it would throw the world back a few centuries but it is still better to mankind be chopped to little pieces by demons, right? And you know what? It would make a bloody good conflict if that option was available but the corporations or addicted gamers were vertically against cutting the internet or the electricity. WE DON’T GET THAT!

Yet another BS is the artwork itself. Not only the budget is rather low but the character designs are generic and the only thing that stands out is the fan service. Yes, you have demons from hell killing screaming people being less eye-catchy than some random cleavage shots. The main heroine has a huge rack, the videogame has a cosplay mascot girl and the secret organization is run by a half naked slut. JUST BECAUSE! Well if that is the case, then the anime should instead be called Drooling Saliver 2DEEP4U!!!

And even if you somehow endure all the sleep-inducing plot, and the completely uninteresting revelations, you reach to a final showdown where the whole world is basically destroyed and made anew… exactly as it was before. Yup, they took the retarded time reset route where everything is back to normal and the apocalypse is like it never happened. Boy, that sure made the world to realize technology is not to be toyed with. Oh wait, it didn’t since NOBODY REMEMBERS IT!

Meh, what a waste of funds. Atlus, go adapt Persona 2 and make sure to include Hitler.