Takt Op. Destiny

Over 10 years ago, studio MAPPA was founded on the grounds to make a show called 'Kids on the Slope'. Madhouse has an even more extensive history tracing all the way back to the 1970s. Fash forward to 2021 and the rest is history. When you put these two studios together to producer a quality show, what can go wrong? Well, let me tell you. A lot. Since the announcement in March this year, the franchise didn't really spark much hype at the time. After it was revealed that studio MAPPA and Madhouse would handle the production, the show got boosted interest. The previews and promotionalmaterial speaks for itself, at least on a technical level. With a mixture of 2D and 3D artwork, Takt Op. Destiny did on some levels, take the world by storm. That doesn't make it an anime of the year contender but does bring in more eyeballs. But yet, somehow, they couldn't completely capitalize and became a shell of its technical accomplishment. Watching Takt Op. Destiny first felt like seeing a cinematic movie, at least for the first few episodes. The flashy fights, cinematic sequences, and overall chereography makes an impressive debut on the screen. Then, there's the plot dealing with a fictional enemy to humanity known as the D2. The show makes it clear that music plays a prominent role against them, and hence, we have two type of resistance: Conductor and Musicart. The story follows two prominent characters who play this role known to us as Takt Asahina and Cosette Schneider (aka Destiny.)Joining them also includes a girl named Anna, who plays a valuable role as an ally. Together, these three try to make a difference in the world as evidenced by their actions. At a fundamental level, Takt and Cosette shares a somewhat personal and professional relationship. Both characters get the job done when it calls for it but it's also clear that the duo has some interpersonal issues. For instance, Takt takes music perhaps too seriously and is generally considered anti-social with an indifferent attitude towards almost everything but music. Cosette can be brutally honest although she appears to be more friendlier than Takt when dealing with people. While the two are compatible, they form a peculiar character chemistry that I find to be confusing. It's hard to get emotionally attached to the pair when everything seems like clockwork. Almost every episode have them fight the D2 and the story rarely evolves from its base premise. There's some occasional background storytelling for them but ultimately, the show suffers from an engaging plot. Character development is limited as well when the majority of the show focuses them on taking missions. They work like robots day and night and even during off-time, following their adventures quickly grows into a chore. You may get entertained by Cosette's sharp tongue, witty humor, and sensational appetite towards sweets at times. But is that all the anime has to offer? Looking deeper into the anime, it feels like the show has little personal connection towards the main characters when they are doing their work. Every episode falls short in developing our cast. One somewhat unique element I do want to mention is the realistic settings of the modern world. Takt Op. Destiny almost feels like a futuristic dystopia at times but retains mostly a real feeling of familiarity. Settings such as Las Vegas are what we are familiar with while New York has its metropolis vibe. There's not too many places our characters journey across the world but it's safe to say that the anime has a degree of realism, despite all the otherworldly shenanigans. Outside of Takt and Cosette, the rest of the cast are ambigiously underdeveloped. I say this because it's difficult to feel invested about the characters. Even though they have their reasons for fighting (Lenny being a noticable example), they are often overshadowed by the plot's purpose or Takt and Cosette. That is to say, they are still somewhat important to the overall story but it's obvious from day one that the anime is mainly about Takt and Cosette. And for for better or worse, Anna feels more like a main supporting character than the middle girl of the trio. Acting as a big sister type for Cosette, the anime does go into some depth to show her kindness. The overall character chemistry is unfortunately, meek at best. Oh and before you ask, this anime does not have any real romance. You may get a surprise at how Anna responds to Takt near the end of the story, but overall, don't expect any sort of love to bloom between the main characters. Takt and Cosette aren't in this show to start a relationship. No way. Even though it's been mentioned already, Takt Op. Destiny's most outstanding feature is its technical accomplishment. It's one of the few CGI/2D art mixed anime that I've been impressed by in recent years. The colorful visuals sometimes reminds me of ufotable for their high level production. This is especially true in the first few episodes that looks and feels like a movie. Character designs are also highly decorated for the Musicarts with Cosette/Destiny being the poster girl. Even the D2 in this anime inspires a sense of fear with their monstrous look and impact of their actions. And overall, the road-trip like story adventure takes us to realistic places around the world. Take some notes, Tesla Note. Takt Op. Destiny is the type of show that had a fantastic start but began to degrade over time, with each episode, to the point where it never managed to truly recover itself. Maybe some people set higher expectations than me after watching the promotional material. However, I stand firm and say that the anime is average at best, being that it's not breakout anime of this year yet also watchable and on some levels, recommendable to those seeking for some popcorn entertainment.

Takt OP. is the perfect example of “style over substance”. Whilst I admittedly enjoyed watching the anime, I would be remised to not speak on the lack of any real cohesive story. We’re essentially thrown into a beautifully rendered world brought to life by MAPPA and Madhouse, told there’s a war between humans and aliens who hate music, and made to fend for ourselves. In fairness, the backstory is fleshed Outstanding a bit more, but that doesn’t mean the writing gets much better. This show honestly felt like a tech demo for new animation and storyboarding techniques. Like imagine those Unreal Engine 5 play-tests, butin anime form. If that’s what the creators were going for, they certainly succeeded. From the very first episode’s first few minutes I was blown away by the attention to the detail of the artists who worked on the show. It’s not exaggerating to say that Takt OP. has some of the best animation ever in the medium. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the story to back it up. That said, story is important, but it’s not everything. You can definitely enjoy an anime that has a weak story, that’s not a crime. I really did enjoy seeing Takt and Destiny grow together over the course of the anime. I found a lot of similarities between their relationship and Artoria and Emiya from the Fate series. In fact, the whole musicart/maestro dynamic seems like it’s taken straight from the Type-Moon universe. The ending was “ok” at best, but I still felt most of the characters got a decent conclusion to their arcs. The writing just wasn’t really good from the beginning for them to get much better. Even though this isn’t the strongest show out there, I did have a lot of fun with it. The fights, slice of life and overall artistic quality made it an enjoyable experience and I definitely think everyone should check the anime out, if only for the sakuga. Takt Op. Destiny is somewhat of a preview of the future of anime. I think some time in the not too distant future, shows will consistently be made with this type of artistic quality. It also seems like collaborative efforts between studios are becoming more common. This means more staff working on a project, less stress on staff and a better product for consumers. A win win for everyone. Takt gets 7 pianos out of 10.

So, mobile game a.k.a mobage adaptations, especially gacha ones. What are the most prominent features that comes to mind when Japan always has these type of mixed-media anime that just basically exists just to promote the numerous amout of mobile games at their disposal? Is it the concept that's derived from the setting basis of the mobage? Is it the characters that are meant to bait the viewer into purchasing them like DLC after watching the anime? Is it the "original" wack writing concept of the story, plot and characters? Is it the subpar animation that makes and/or breaks the experience? Is it the mediocre OST that more than skippingthe OP/ED, just didn't do enough for enticement? Is it the actual mobage that it being influenced from the anime's promotion, tends to always suck, because you don't live in Japan and/or are thankful that Japan banks heavily on these subpar games and you wish to not have a hand on the game? This season, look no further than the over-hyped and under-delivered Takt Op. Destiny, a show that's meant to promote Bandai Namco and DeNA's brand new {tákt: op.} musical sci-fi action mobage in Japan, and that the only thing that will catch people's eyes is the collab between two well-established studios for such a mixed-media project that's the "best of the best" of mobage adaptations ever seen yet. Be VERY honest, a MAPPA x Madhouse project we will all not shun our attention from, but it's the same tried-and-true formula to sell a product that only Japan will enjoy, and we the audience living elsewhere just couldn't give two flying effs about the mobage, our critique is only based on the anime which is just the same wash, rinse and repeat marketing ploy. This marketing ploy consists of a story where "The Music is Already Dead" because of monsters called "D2", produced by a black meteorite containing Black Night Siderites which fell from the sky, hating humanly-produced music and drawn to the music source to attempt destruction, as it's the only thing that can ensure their decimation. To the defense, the New York Symphonica created "Musicarts," young girls drawn and inspired from classical music sheets that are directed by human "Conductors". Should be easy to digest, but given the usual fanfare of mobage adaptations, this is very basic. The marketing ploy is supported by its main characters: Takt Asahina, Destiny and Anna Schneider. A music geek and a piano genius, Takt comes off as being an aloof, inert and misanthropic, compared to his father Kenji, who was a famous conductor before the situational pipeline of the D2s took a toll on his life. The Musicart to the Conductor is Destiny, or otherwise known as Cosette, the younger sister of the Schneider sisters that's borne from Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. Cosette used to be an easy-going, happy-go-lucky girl living with her older sister Anna, before the freak accident with encountering the D2s while playing classical music with Takt on the streets caused her to lose her memories and rebirth as the Musicart Destiny. But this chain reaction wasn't a clean process, and if at any time that Destiny is called forth, Takt transforms his right arm into a conductor's baton, while corruption seeps slowly through his entire being. The more the unstable Destiny is utilized, the worse the corruption spread. Anna on the other hand, acts as an in-between parental guide between Takt and Destiny, while searching for a way to turn the latter back to the younger sister that she knows. With bits and pieces of character development, these somewhat decent characters can be likable, especially for the Musicarts which are bait-and-switch waifus due to their unique designs done by the one and only LAM. One such example lies from yet another Musicart-Conductor pairing: Leonard "Lenny" Flyheart and Titan. The former is a former Symphonica conductor whose existence is thanks to Takt's father Kenji, whom influenced him to take the music route until his unfortunate death from the D2s, and the latter borne from Mahler's Symphony No. 1 is a carefree soul whom speaks with onomatopoeic behaviour , and is a serious fighter. Arguably the only pair of characters that truly fits the adage of "action speaks more than words", it's easy to get invested into both characters, from being tutors to both Takt and Destiny to the occasional downtime. The New York Symphonica on the other hand, I'm not the only one who feels that the villain plot is so wasted on these guys whom have such a reputation of an organization behind their backs. The opportunity to correct the tides of time became its utmost failure, because the Symphonica are nothing more than your stereotypical coporate dogs meant to serve for the greater good while easily hiding true intentions behind the face of the organization. The CEO of the Symphonica, Sagan, does at least feel like a decent villain with that much backing and power on his hand. Felix Schindler on the other hand, he's the worst offender of the "lot" commanding the unassigned Musicart Valkyrie/Walküre that's borne from Wagner's Die Walküre for his own gain. Yep, talk about dull, uninspired, and "trying" to insert more hype musical waifus to promote their character worth playing for the mobage. This is all pinned to series composer Kiyoko Yoshimura, of which her writing skills really aren't all that spectacular to begin with. Her recent works of the Cardfight!! Vanguard G series and being the in-house series composer to many more recent MAPPA works (Granblue Fantasy S2, God of High School, Koi to Producer: EVOL×LOVE) just proves time and time again that she only keeps getting worse at her scriptwriting and composing craft, of which it all culminates to affect this show in its rear-headed ugliness. The only advantage (that comes back to bite all involved) of Takt Op. Destiny being in the visuals and animation, even that is a misnomer in and of itself. I'd already expect that this mobage adaptation is a rather high-profile one because of the collaboration between MAPPA and Madhouse, but don't let that ever sway your overall expectations of the entire show as a whole. Being another show part of the endless sweatshop schedule of MAPPA announced at their 10th Anniversary Stage event, I'd not be surprised that the studio is firing all guns at whatever they have, it does not take away the fact that MAPPA has turned from a quality studio to a desperate corporate shill of quantity that there's no more substantial evidence enough to shield them. It's good that Madhouse is back to showcase the quality that we've come to expect from the studio that has been in hiatus for a year, but MAPPA, you've shat yourselves up big-time this time. The unmistakable "we all agree this is good" part will lie in the music department, that is a central focus to the show...in name only because of the Musicart origins. The OST is impressive no doubt, that's really expected of the OP composed by Supercell's ryo feat. Mafumafu and gaku, and Mika Nakashima's ED. But this is a case of quantity over quality, and as much as the music really shines in its bombastic glamour, it will always be overshadowed of the fact that the entire show just tries too hard to stand out even with all the pompous hits that manages to stick out more than most. So there you have it: a very new, just released mobage that unexpectedly had the highest of high of budgets that I've seen ever in subpar adaptations, only for that same subpar-ness to slowly seep into the entire show quite expectedly. Never thought that I'd pay so much attention to the regular shitty mobage adaptation that the anime industry has for years, and Takt Op. Destiny adds a number to the same reception that mobage-to-anime adaptations should not exist as mere promo material quality. A disappointment this is too easy to dismiss, but we the audience should learn this one thing: learn to not put insanely high expectations, of which the majority will never, ever learn to get out of this ruse.

Well what can I say ... at some point in my life, music became something I couldn't go a day without. Now, I don't really listen to classical music but I have a huge appreciation to the people who created all those masterpieces. In this anime, we can hear A LOT of different classical music pieces that suit incredibly well in the scenes they are played at! I love how many scenes, just as "Titan's finale", Lenny starts playing 4th/Final movement of the 1st symphony of Gustav Mahler - which funnily enough, this symphony has the nickname "Titan" - how cool is that? Obviously there area lot of other interesting musical moments throughout the show, which will take a long while for ma to list, but what I can say is that, Takt Op. Destiny is one unique anime that contain a little bit of everything with the biggest impact being - music. I am sure people who have a high appreciation of art and music will also enjoy this! Without including any spoilers. all I will say is - give this anime a shot since you might very well end up surprised from what it has to offer!

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