[0:00] Imagine a Guy Richie movie. [music] You
[0:02] know the vibe. Small-time criminals
[0:04] hiding in a dingy room, [music]
[0:07] sweating, arguing while a ruthless
[0:10] killer walks towards their door. [music]
[0:12] Think snatch or lock stock and two
[0:15] smoking barrels. [music]
[0:17] Now give those criminals superpowers and
[0:20] make the killer a blonde goddess.
[0:24] [music]
[0:25] This is the Itaden deities know only
[0:28] peace. On the surface, it looks like
[0:30] [music] a neon colored action show, but
[0:33] deep down it is a crime thriller
[0:36] disguised [music] as an anime. It is a
[0:39] story about what happens when the bad
[0:41] guys realize they entered the wrong
[0:44] neighborhood. Before we [music] dive
[0:46] into the madness, let's look at the rap
[0:48] sheet. You need to know who is [music]
[0:50] holding the gun. The rookie, Hayako. He
[0:54] looks like a hero, but he is actually an
[0:57] adrenaline junkie. He doesn't care about
[1:00] justice. He just wants to hit things
[1:02] [music] until they explode. The boss,
[1:05] Ren. She looks like a small blonde girl.
[1:08] But do not be fooled. She is the
[1:11] strongest being on the planet. She spent
[1:14] 800 years [music] alone fighting demons
[1:17] out of boredom. She isn't a mentor. She
[1:21] is [music] a natural disaster. The spy
[1:24] Fonta, he is the scariest one. He lets
[1:28] enemies capture and torture him [music]
[1:30] just to gather intel. He regenerates
[1:34] instantly because, well, you can't kill
[1:36] a god. [music]
[1:38] And the strategist easily. He is the
[1:41] brains of the [music] operation. While
[1:43] the others use fists, he uses science
[1:46] and psychological warfare. Usually in
[1:50] shownen anime like Naruto, the hero
[1:53] starts weak. He cries, [music] he
[1:55] trains, he unlocks power through
[1:57] friendship. Itaden throws that formula
[2:00] [music] into the trash. The heroes here
[2:03] don't train. They are born as [music]
[2:06] gods. They spawn into the world with
[2:08] maxed out stats and zero morals. [music]
[2:12] When Hayato fights a villain, he doesn't
[2:14] give a speech about hope. He just laughs
[2:17] and breaks their bones. It satisfies
[2:20] that [music] primal urge to watch
[2:22] absolute unfair dominance.
[2:26] The story begins with a classic sci-fi
[2:29] horror setup. The Zobel Empire, a
[2:32] high-tech human civilization, spent
[2:34] years digging into the Antarctic ice.
[2:37] They found ancient fossils. They thought
[2:40] they had discovered a biological weapon
[2:42] to conquer the world. But they made a
[2:45] fatal calculation. Those weren't
[2:47] fossils. They were sleeping demons. Apex
[2:51] predators that eat humanity for
[2:54] breakfast. When they woke up, it was
[2:56] supposed to be the end of the world. The
[2:59] demons destroyed the labs and prepared
[3:02] to conquer the planet. But then she
[3:05] showed up, [music] Ren. And the demons
[3:08] realized a terrifying truth. They aren't
[3:11] the top of the food chain. They are just
[3:14] the dog food.
[3:16] Let me give you an example of this power
[3:19] gap. In episode 3, a powerful demon
[3:22] named Nickel manages to ambush Ren. She
[3:26] shreds Ren's arms. She punches a hole in
[3:29] her neck. She thinks she is one. Any
[3:31] normal character would die. But Ren, she
[3:35] just looks at her bored. Her fingers
[3:37] regenerate instantly. Asks, "Are you
[3:40] done?" Then she casually reminds the
[3:43] demon, "How are you going to move if
[3:46] your head isn't attached to your body?"
[3:50] That is the level we're dealing with.
[3:52] And this is where the show becomes a
[3:54] masterpiece. Because the gods are so
[3:57] scary, you actually start rooting for
[4:00] the demons. Meet the demon generals,
[4:03] Piscolat and the others. They are
[4:05] geniuses. They have armies, but they are
[4:08] smart enough to do the math. They
[4:10] realize we cannot win a fair fight. So
[4:14] the genre shifts. It becomes a story
[4:17] about fugitives. [music] The demon
[4:19] generals desert their own army. They run
[4:22] away to a human city. They rent a cheap
[4:25] apartment. They order fast food. This
[4:28] leads to the [music] best scene in the
[4:30] entire show, the wiretap scene. Easily.
[4:34] The god of wisdom finds them, but he
[4:37] doesn't attack. He plants bugs. In
[4:40] episode [music] 4, the demons realize
[4:42] they are being watched. They scan the
[4:45] room. [music] They find wiretaps
[4:47] everywhere. Watching these worldending
[4:50] threats sitting [music] in a dark room,
[4:52] terrified, communicating with hand
[4:54] signals like gangsters in a heist movie
[4:57] is absolute comedy gold. We have to talk
[5:02] about the animation. This is Mapa on
[5:04] acid. The art style is experimental.
[5:08] Notice the lack of black outlines on the
[5:10] characters. [music] The colors are
[5:12] oversaturated, almost toxic. The blood
[5:16] isn't red, it's neon purple. This style
[5:20] serves a purpose. [music] It tells you,
[5:22] "Do not take this seriously. The lack of
[5:26] outlines [music]
[5:26] makes the movement incredibly fluid. The
[5:29] fight scenes look like a fever dream."
[5:32] It is pure visual candy, [music]
[5:35] specifically designed to look good in
[5:37] motion. But here's the final reason
[5:39] [music] you need to watch this. The
[5:42] ending. Most anime end with the heroes
[5:45] winning. [music]
[5:46] Itatada is smarter than that. While the
[5:49] gods are busy flexing their muscles, the
[5:52] surviving [music] demons, led by the
[5:54] mind master and the cyborg Oami, [music]
[5:58] change the game. They realize they can't
[6:01] win a fist fight. So, they [music]
[6:02] switch to politics and religion. They
[6:05] infiltrate the government. They
[6:08] brainwash the nuns. They [music] turn
[6:10] the human population against the gods.
[6:13] By the final episode, [music] the show
[6:15] turns into a psychological thriller. The
[6:18] gods are so arrogant they don't even
[6:21] notice they are walking into a trap. The
[6:24] season ends on [music] a cliffhanger so
[6:26] massive, so dark that it leaves you
[6:29] staring at the screen thinking, "Wait,
[6:31] [music]
[6:32] did the bad guys just win?
[6:38] [music]