Not Recommended
First, there was Ishuzoku Reviewers a.k.a Interspecies Reviewers, which marked the new 2020s decade of nuttiness, uncensored harem and ecchi glorified for all Men of Culture. Then, there was Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi a.k.a Redo of Healer, which marked 2021 with an outrageous revenge story, harem and ecchi uncensored if you wish to see all the pain and burn from an objectively wrecked MC. Now, there is the trash of harem anime: Shuumatsu no Harem a.k.a World's End Harem, which marks the brand new year of 2022 of the same feeling you got from Redo of Healer, except that if you'd put the current world events intoll, you'll have the same objectivity.
Yes that's right, COVID (and now Omicron) has struck this anime, delaying it by a season to finally air right smack in the new year of 2022, and I feel like this is more than just a karma that every Winter season since 2020 has to have at least one Ecchi show to stand out (before the pandemic-that-must-not-be-named turned the world upside down). And for the brand new butt-spanking new year of the evolved Omicron variant, comes Shuumatsu no Harem, the apocalyptical, man's wet fantasy dream version of our current world if the "World's End" Times have already dropped upon us with Jesus coming down from Heaven to give His judgment, saying: "From now on, thou Omicron virus shall oust all Adams, leaving more than enough for all the Eves of the world, and I'm only leaving a million perfect Adams for all the 7 million Eves out there to get the harem SEGGS on for the End Times...enjoy and bon appétit!"
And that is what mangaka LINK (not THAT Link from The Legend of Zelda) has basically concocted an idea that preceded the "World's End" time we're living in now: this potentially lethal, life-threatening and contagious Male Killer (MK) Virus, which was indoctrinated by the UW (United Women), caused an androcide (meaning the systematic killing of men, boys, or males in general), leaving only the majority of women left with a million men in the world whom are so VERY lucky to be put into cryostasis as a means to treat their "rare" diseases before the world ejected into women-only lockdown. Focusing on Japan, there are but only 5 men whom survived the incident, and since every UW has a regional branch located in each part of the world, the Japanese Division labels these men as "Numbers" to keep track of their progress into this conspicuous breeding program by having sex with as many women as possible regardless of circumstances. In my own opinion, this story would've made sense years ago around its publishing start in mid-2016, and since mangaka LINK is still working on the many Shuumatsu no Harem series like the sequel After World, canon Fantasia and the recently ended spin-off Britannia Lumiére, it's definitely a unique manga series...if you have trash taste, or have nothing else to read in your spare time.
Let's Seggs-way to the characters, and for good or for worse, you decide.
The first man encountered is No. 2 of 5, Reito Mizuhara. Living with his childhood friend Erisa Tachibana and having the dream to be a scientific researcher, Reito is a pure Mummy's boy if you will: he's dedicated to Erisa, and will only want to have sex with the girl he loves. Despite being traumatized by the fact that he's the first guy to ever get a peek of the outside world of Japan where only women roamed the streets, he is determined not as a breeder of women, but to breed a cure for the MK Virus, which works the opposite way as intended to get some attention and find his sister Erisa in the process. His attendant is Mira Suou, a girl whom looks like Erisa, and has a calm exterior to her name. She can be sweet if you let her, but she is pertinent to have second thoughts about getting it on with Reito, even if she looked like Erisa at first glance. In a situation like this, I know that a lot of people will chastise Reito for his decision to only make love to Erisa, so much so that he's one tub of a boring turd. But it's after all those events where he'll become useful...after the adapted events of the anime, that is if you can tolerate trash incoming.
The second man is No. 1 of 5, Hino Kyouji. He's the definition of a lustful and hedonistic man whom gleams at a women-only world to take on sexual activities with them in law and order benefitting the women and the man in tow...if he just follows orders and does what is intended to live his wildest dreams. He's not that all interesting, or should I say, the men's wannabe of a popular male enough to have girls worth surrounding his ass at every corner. His attendant is Neneko Isurugi, and is just like him being goal-oriented at being yet another lust-filled character. Just meh.
The third man is No. 3 of 5, Doi Shouta. And out of the 3 males that are extensively covered in the anime, he's the best written and liked of the trio, as his story is like Reito's, only if you inject much of the cynicism of Redo of Healer's MC Keyaru wanting a dark fantasy, revenge-filled life of mockery as the superior man on Earth. Being a behind-the-scenes good-gifted boy like any other goody-two-shoes attitude person, I feel like I have a kindred spirit for this boy whom was bullied all his life, and he was waiting for the exact moment to get his revenge on his tormentors which developed his PTSD, on top of being someone struck by mutiple sclerosis and in need of cryostasis. Fortunately, with the cryostasis, Doi was able to wake up into the World's End circumstance of the world only filled with women, and this was his chance of redemption that he could be worth a likable character to the girls that he'd never have met before. Doi's journey is a combination of the good parts of Reito and Hino: staying true to his first love, his teacher Yuzuki Hanyu, but also adhering to the UW's commands through his attendant Karen Kamiya, whom promises that the school that was specially made for Doi becomes a mating ground, the grandest of what Hino had and what he could potentially do to get the girls on and live out the "kind-hearted" world that he so desperately seeked for. Honestly, Doi Shouta is a chad that deserves to be preserved as a fine "Number" specimen (since 3's the (Lucky) Charm number).
Now for the girls, or should I rather say, the partners alongside the Numbers.
Starting off with No. 2 Reito, other than the childhood friend Erisa, you have his originally designated attendant Mira Suou (replaced by Rea Katagiri once higher-ups deem that her purpose was lost), nurse Akane Ryuzoji (whom her mother Kihara is part of the UW Japanese Division's upper management), child Sui Yamada whom has the obscene strength equal to a bear, and researcher Maria Kuroda whom is also seeking the MK Virus's origins as a virologist. Honest to God, not a bad diversity team of sorts as the research function to question UW about the MK Virus, but it can seem like an exercise in frustration.
No. 1 Hino has attendant Neneko Isurugi, the former UW actress Rena Kitayama and the bunch of other girls that I prefer not to waste my breath on, this group just feels tacked on without any clear thought, other than to add a Number onto the list of surviving men to speed the breeding process. Just self-indulgence covered and smeared in selfishness and self-centredness, pure wasted and contrived effort.
No. 3 Doi, once again, earns yet another deserved W for the girls that support his ideology of a women-only world, ruled by a man. Attendant Karen Kamiya who's free-and-easy, his real world teacher Yuzuki Hanyuu which supported him through his traumatic times, the once similarly bullied Shunka Hiiragi, rich girl Natsu Ichijou, athlete Akira Toudou, and the child-like Chifuyu Rain Kuroda, this is a team of girls that given the choice to have the harem of seggs with, this would indefinitely be my team of choice. As I mentioned earlier, the school that was specially tailored made for Doi's development, shows that these girls are more than just tickling fancies for the white-haired chad, and that Doi could actually live out a perfectly normal school life if given the right circumstances. Doi being led by Karen to do things that he wants to do, free and easy, along with the harem of girls that don't mind his undivided attention...be truthful to yourself: if you were in Doi's shoes, you would be a happy man with boobs and sex everyday with girls that love you with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.
I'm quite surprised that Studio Gokumi has chosen to do this seemingly controversial work, as do most of the studio's collab works with AXsiZ, and given how much this was anticipated back in Fall 2021, the pushback to Winter 2022 because of the need to "closely examine" the anime's production, certainly hurt the anime community's interest as a whole as it was largely forgotten. Reasons being from that Fall 2021 being a hugely stacked season, to only if you'd realized that this show is coming back the season after to complete the rest of its broadcast after the special hour-long Episodes 1 and 2 were scruitinized heavily and reception turned sour thereafter. Director Yuu Nobuta is hands down one of the most average directors with little hits (Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear) and many misses (Maesetsu! and Saihate no Paladin to name a few), and you can count Shuumatsu no Harem on the "miss" side of things as the anime production is just simply abysmal at best. I'd expected at least Queen Bee or even Collaboration Works (the best Hentai studio of the lot) like quality, but what I got is something produced by sub-standard producers like Milky's early days, and that says quite a lot. I feel bad, at least for illustrator Kotaro Shouno, because her craft as a Doujin hentai/ecchi artist is sublime given her prose works from 2009 to 2016 (before jumping onto Shuumatsu no Harem), and to see it all wasted with the anime, it hurts deep inside.
To edge the knife into the wound deeply even further, there are 4 versions of the anime:
- The complete censorship (as you'd see on an official licensee i.e. Crunchyroll) with black bars that at times made the anime almost completely unwatchable;
- The semi-uncensored version as broadcasted on AT-X, same 24 minute runtime as the complete censored version but you can at least see boobs and only boobs;
- The "Super Harem" version that airs alongside the semi-uncensored version, but a bit longer and uses the same black bars to censor away all the naughty private parts during sex;
- And last but not least, the BD version which is just basically the "Super Harem" version converted into a full Hentai, totally uncensored.
Basically, to get the most enjoyment out of Shuumatsu no Harem, someone better be off buying the BDs, doing the work equivalent of fansubs, and uploading it onto a Hentai website so all of us Men of Culture can enjoy. What a headache.
And if you think I can't complain anymore, there's the music, which is just about as subpar as the entirety of the show itself. For one, H-el-ical//'s OP I can accept, at least THAT is a good OP to match with the themes of the show, but EXiNA's ED is just plain bad, there's no excitement, even from an ending song that has a song calibre that thinks it's as good, but has no punch (or lack thereof) to it.
All in all, my typical Spidey senses would recommend for you to go read LINK's manga (or better case, the other series) for better or for worse, but unless you're really someone whom can tolerate trash (I know I used to), then this series would just be your good-ol' fashion sense of a poison. If given a chance to re-do the entire production from scratch, I'd say that what came out of the advanced pre-screening back in end-September through Kadokawa's YouTube channel should have been a red flag to choose not to continue with the production at all. This show literally was a waste of time, even watching it semi-uncensored, because it could not live up to the trash manga's "superiority" at all.
My final verdict would be to say that just watch any well-known Hentai series, and I guarantee you'd have better time spent watching quality and not crap like this. Now I'd feel like I want to spend yet another 4.5 hours just to re-watch the BD version once it gets fansubbed to cleanse my eyes from this pile of turd and satisfy my inner sword for fap enjoyment values. Someone PLEASE buy the BDs and do a service for us, then I'll flip that atrocious score around.
