I wanted to like Moonrise, I really did. A sci-fi anime from the same studio that brought us Attack on Titan and Vinland Saga? Sign me up. But what I got was a visually decent, emotionally empty slog that made me wonder why it even exists. First off, the story is painfully generic. We've seen this "space war trauma" setup a hundred times before, but at least other shows give us characters we can care about. Here? The characters feel like cardboard cutouts with edgy backstories slapped on for cheap emotional weight. The writing tries to act deep, but it ends up feeling shallow and rushed. Then there's the pacing. It drags when it should move and rushes when it should breathe. By the halfway mark, I was more invested in checking how many episodes were left than in anything happening on screen. And the worst part? The show takes itself way too seriously, but with zero payoff. No twists, no emotional gut punches, just... gray visuals and gray emotions. Even the opening - usually a highlight in anime - is forgettable. It's some orchestra track over a bunch of pretty visuals, which might've worked if I actually cared about anything happening. For something that's been in production since 2018, this ain't it. Netflix dropped the ball hard on promotion, and honestly, it makes sense. This show feels like it's trying to be prestige anime, but ends up being the kind of thing you forget even existed a week later.

See other user reviews