MAPPA on ACID: The Most Disrespectful Anime

[00:00] Imagine a Guy Richie movie. [music] You

[00:02] know the vibe. Small-time criminals

[00:04] hiding in a dingy room, [music]

[00:07] sweating, arguing while a ruthless

[00:10] killer walks towards their door. [music]

[00:12] Think snatch or lock stock and two

[00:15] smoking barrels. [music]

[00:17] Now give those criminals superpowers and

[00:20] make the killer a blonde goddess.

[00:24] [music]

[00:25] This is the Itaden deities know only

[00:28] peace. On the surface, it looks like

[00:30] [music] a neon colored action show, but

[00:33] deep down it is a crime thriller

[00:36] disguised [music] as an anime. It is a

[00:39] story about what happens when the bad

[00:41] guys realize they entered the wrong

[00:44] neighborhood. Before we [music] dive

[00:46] into the madness, let's look at the rap

[00:48] sheet. You need to know who is [music]

[00:50] holding the gun. The rookie, Hayako. He

[00:54] looks like a hero, but he is actually an

[00:57] adrenaline junkie. He doesn't care about

[01:00] justice. He just wants to hit things

[01:02] [music] until they explode. The boss,

[01:05] Ren. She looks like a small blonde girl.

[01:08] But do not be fooled. She is the

[01:11] strongest being on the planet. She spent

[01:14] 800 years [music] alone fighting demons

[01:17] out of boredom. She isn't a mentor. She

[01:21] is [music] a natural disaster. The spy

[01:24] Fonta, he is the scariest one. He lets

[01:28] enemies capture and torture him [music]

[01:30] just to gather intel. He regenerates

[01:34] instantly because, well, you can't kill

[01:36] a god. [music]

[01:38] And the strategist easily. He is the

[01:41] brains of the [music] operation. While

[01:43] the others use fists, he uses science

[01:46] and psychological warfare. Usually in

[01:50] shownen anime like Naruto, the hero

[01:53] starts weak. He cries, [music] he

[01:55] trains, he unlocks power through

[01:57] friendship. Itaden throws that formula

[02:00] [music] into the trash. The heroes here

[02:03] don't train. They are born as [music]

[02:06] gods. They spawn into the world with

[02:08] maxed out stats and zero morals. [music]

[02:12] When Hayato fights a villain, he doesn't

[02:14] give a speech about hope. He just laughs

[02:17] and breaks their bones. It satisfies

[02:20] that [music] primal urge to watch

[02:22] absolute unfair dominance.

[02:26] The story begins with a classic sci-fi

[02:29] horror setup. The Zobel Empire, a

[02:32] high-tech human civilization, spent

[02:34] years digging into the Antarctic ice.

[02:37] They found ancient fossils. They thought

[02:40] they had discovered a biological weapon

[02:42] to conquer the world. But they made a

[02:45] fatal calculation. Those weren't

[02:47] fossils. They were sleeping demons. Apex

[02:51] predators that eat humanity for

[02:54] breakfast. When they woke up, it was

[02:56] supposed to be the end of the world. The

[02:59] demons destroyed the labs and prepared

[03:02] to conquer the planet. But then she

[03:05] showed up, [music] Ren. And the demons

[03:08] realized a terrifying truth. They aren't

[03:11] the top of the food chain. They are just

[03:14] the dog food.

[03:16] Let me give you an example of this power

[03:19] gap. In episode 3, a powerful demon

[03:22] named Nickel manages to ambush Ren. She

[03:26] shreds Ren's arms. She punches a hole in

[03:29] her neck. She thinks she is one. Any

[03:31] normal character would die. But Ren, she

[03:35] just looks at her bored. Her fingers

[03:37] regenerate instantly. Asks, "Are you

[03:40] done?" Then she casually reminds the

[03:43] demon, "How are you going to move if

[03:46] your head isn't attached to your body?"

[03:50] That is the level we're dealing with.

[03:52] And this is where the show becomes a

[03:54] masterpiece. Because the gods are so

[03:57] scary, you actually start rooting for

[04:00] the demons. Meet the demon generals,

[04:03] Piscolat and the others. They are

[04:05] geniuses. They have armies, but they are

[04:08] smart enough to do the math. They

[04:10] realize we cannot win a fair fight. So

[04:14] the genre shifts. It becomes a story

[04:17] about fugitives. [music] The demon

[04:19] generals desert their own army. They run

[04:22] away to a human city. They rent a cheap

[04:25] apartment. They order fast food. This

[04:28] leads to the [music] best scene in the

[04:30] entire show, the wiretap scene. Easily.

[04:34] The god of wisdom finds them, but he

[04:37] doesn't attack. He plants bugs. In

[04:40] episode [music] 4, the demons realize

[04:42] they are being watched. They scan the

[04:45] room. [music] They find wiretaps

[04:47] everywhere. Watching these worldending

[04:50] threats sitting [music] in a dark room,

[04:52] terrified, communicating with hand

[04:54] signals like gangsters in a heist movie

[04:57] is absolute comedy gold. We have to talk

[05:02] about the animation. This is Mapa on

[05:04] acid. The art style is experimental.

[05:08] Notice the lack of black outlines on the

[05:10] characters. [music] The colors are

[05:12] oversaturated, almost toxic. The blood

[05:16] isn't red, it's neon purple. This style

[05:20] serves a purpose. [music] It tells you,

[05:22] "Do not take this seriously. The lack of

[05:26] outlines [music]

[05:26] makes the movement incredibly fluid. The

[05:29] fight scenes look like a fever dream."

[05:32] It is pure visual candy, [music]

[05:35] specifically designed to look good in

[05:37] motion. But here's the final reason

[05:39] [music] you need to watch this. The

[05:42] ending. Most anime end with the heroes

[05:45] winning. [music]

[05:46] Itatada is smarter than that. While the

[05:49] gods are busy flexing their muscles, the

[05:52] surviving [music] demons, led by the

[05:54] mind master and the cyborg Oami, [music]

[05:58] change the game. They realize they can't

[06:01] win a fist fight. So, they [music]

[06:02] switch to politics and religion. They

[06:05] infiltrate the government. They

[06:08] brainwash the nuns. They [music] turn

[06:10] the human population against the gods.

[06:13] By the final episode, [music] the show

[06:15] turns into a psychological thriller. The

[06:18] gods are so arrogant they don't even

[06:21] notice they are walking into a trap. The

[06:24] season ends on [music] a cliffhanger so

[06:26] massive, so dark that it leaves you

[06:29] staring at the screen thinking, "Wait,

[06:31] [music]

[06:32] did the bad guys just win?

[06:38] [music]