May 17, 2025
Ok thoughts, possibly echoing what others have already said, but hopefully you'll still find them useful. Forewarning: sorry if I give too much critim, I'm a bit hormonal and cranky atm 😃🔫
Let's start with the narration. I know some people found the melodrama a bit much, even with the big twist at the end. Personally, I didn't mind it. Usually I'm not a fan of this sort of trauma narration. It often reminds me of that dark magical girl anime where the protag is tormented by her family, classmates, yada yada. It can feel excessive, like trauma for trauma's sake. But in this story, the tone actually worked for me given that it's told from a kid's POV. If trauma is all she's known up to this point, then the trauma-ness of the narration feels justified. And the gloom was padded out by more humanizing moments (e.g. the kid folding a paper heart for the Journeyman) that gave the story an emotional range. Honestly, I would have loved more of those humanizing moments.
The story's central premise (that everything is a play, and the kid is playing 4D chess with Xilu) is def the most compelling part of the story. There's def chuuni in there, but it's handled with self-awareness, and the way the dream sequences all tie together was very nice. I get the sense that your philosophical way of writing would really thrive in a story where you're not constrained by a child's POV (possibly in Coffee).
Now, the characters. As others have said, this was prob the weakest element for me. While I appreciated the archetypal roles (Lady Scarlet as the mother figure, Ren as the father, etc.), and me being a sucker for the found family trope, I struggled to connect with them on a deeper level. They functioned well in relation to the kid, but rarely felt fully realized beyond those roles. Their deaths would have hit harder if we'd had a chance to see more of who they were as individuals, like through a backstory or something. The Journeyman is a prime example of this. He had so much potential to be more than a plot mover, esp given his connection to Xilu. But alas, he was crushed by rocks.
I could prob keep going, but my hormones are killing me, so I'll wrap it up here. Overall, good anime :3
