Zetsuen no Tempest
Good, thought-provoking anime is difficult to find due to the huge popularity and saturation of action anime. With my favourite entertainment genre being psychological thrillers, I’m always on the hunt for anime that are bound to draw you in, leave you reeling with the sheer ingenuity, creativity and clever plots and craving for more. With this recommendation, I hope to provide you some quality entertainment and appreciation for the brilliance of anime, without spoiling too much of the show.
Zetsuen no Tempest, or Blast of Tempest, is a subtle malady of relationships, intricate plotlines and upending twists. Filled with engaging dialogue, fast pacing and brilliant situations, this anime has been my personal favourite so far, this year.
What starts off as a quest for simple, albeit twisted, revenge turns into a catastrophic, possibly world-ending (pun intended) ride. But this adventure is not a simple black and white tale of saving the world; it involves so many plot twists and seemingly impossible scenarios that it is not meant for the weak-hearted. What makes this anime so good is its multi-faceted characters. Each of them has a role to fulfill and they subtly influence the situation with their own quirks and quips. In fact, I might be reaching by stating that perhaps some of the situations may have been deliberately spun so as to encourage the intelligent, intricate discussions among the characters. Those discussions also form a vital part of the plot so I’d advise you to pay good attention to them.
Coming to the story, it is mainly about Fuwa Mahiro and Takigawa Yoshino, how they find themselves battling various mysteries, circumstances and at times, themselves as their world is seemingly heading, straight first into absolute devastation.
The characters, behaviours, thought processes and persona of the three main characters have allusions to the corresponding protagonists of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and The Tempest. This feature perhaps, helps define how they react to a given situation and ultimately culminates in a unique storyline.
The character development of the leads is also very refreshingly done and realistic. I do think that Mahiro’s development was anti-climactic, at the expense of a spoiler. But it wasn’t anything major and certainly did not take away from the show’s genius.
So if it wasn’t evident from my gushing rant of this anime, I’ll further sum up why you should watch this anime at least once:
- Complex but brilliant story and plot.
- Colourful and crisp animation.
- Realistically likeable characters.
- Fantastic character development
- Twists and turns at every moment. All my conspiracies were proven wrong!
Random Musings 