Zetsuen no Tempest

Zetsuen no Tempest is an action/supernatural/shonen anime by studio Bones, known for its previous works Eureka Seven, Fullmetal Alchemist, Star Driver, etc. Tempest starts out as a very promising shonen anime with interesting characters and an elaborate setup in a world full of turmoil. Preferring to skip the dramatic buildup, Tempest throws you right into the action and chaos right from the very first episode. Its steady pacing keeps the viewers on the edge of their seat and eager for more of the story. It’s too bad that Tempest doesn’t keep this up for the whole series. Halfway through, the show takes a serious dipin quality in just about every area, aside from maybe animation and sound. And it’s a shame because Zetsuen no Tempest had so much potential, but it falls flat on its face instead. But let’s talk about the good of this show first. The art and animation are top notch. Studio Bones pulled no punches when it came to the gorgeous animation and character designs. The battles are fast, fluid, and intense, going hand in hand with the spectacular and vivid wheel of colors that enhance the magical effects. The character designs are stylish and unique, with no two characters looking too much alike. Another small little detail that was well done was the character’s clothing. Each character’s various clothing looks like something straight out of a teen fashion magazine; very funky and stylish. Small artistic details are also added in the character’s hair and accessories. If I were rating this anime solely based on its art and animation, it would easily score a nine at the very least. Unfortunately, I did not, and I won’t. Now on to the not-so-good of Zetsuen no Tempest, which is basically everything else. Perhaps the weakest aspect of the show is its story. The story starts out with Hakaze Kusaribe, the princess of a clan of mages, contacting Fuwa Mahiro to help her extinguish an uprising instigated by her followers. Left stranded on an island by said followers, they can only communicate through magic. Hakaze promises to help Mahiro find his sister’s killer in exchange for his help. Mahiro’s friend, Takigawa Yoshino comes along for the ride, and together the three aim to prevent the Kusaribe clan from awakening the tree of Exodus, which would subsequently bring destruction to the entire world. The entire story pays homage to Shakespeare’s works, namely The Tempest and Hamlet. For some reason, the story feels it needs to remind you of this quite frequently, as it seems every few minutes someone is throwing out a Shakespeare quote. There’s no subtlety in its delivery, and the quotes have little meaning to the plot or the characters. It seems they simply threw in several quotes in order to make the script seemed more grand and classy. Instead, it ended up making the entire anime sound incredibly pretentious. It could be argued that the two differing plays were being quoted to signal that this anime could either have a happy or tragic ending, leaving the viewer to wonder in anticipation. But not only is that grasping at straws, it gives the writers more credit than they probably deserve. Now to be fair, the first half of the series was pretty good. It was standing on shaky ground but it was still quite good. It may have been standard shonen anime fare “save the world with magical powers, stop the bad guys” but it had an interesting enough twist to keep it afloat. The characters were interesting; they had clear cut motivations that at least made some sense. The plot moved about at a comfortable pace with just enough action and character development shimmied into each episode. The rules of the universe made sense. All that was completely ruined by its mess of a second half. The plot begins to contradict the rules it established in its first half. It makes no effort to even make sense of Hakaze’s ability to time travel for a second and third time. It presents a ridiculous plot twist that makes even less sense and gives a sort of barbaric edge to Aika’s character that the other characters don’t even bat an eye at. And worst of all, romance is shoehorned in for the sake of throwing in some aspects of a corny school love comedy. Hakaze even alludes to this in a hilarious 4th wall breaking internal monologue. Perhaps one of the most disappointing aspects of the show is the degradation of its characters. Yes that’s right, the very characters that made the show go backwards as it drags on. Perhaps the character that does it the most is Hakaze Kusaribe. She is initially presented as a strong heroine, with an arrogant edge that is backed up by her standing as the most powerful mage in the clan. She is cunning and unflinching, yet kind and caring when she needs to be. But of course that is all negated when she falls in love. Yes, LOVE! She becomes clumsy, indecisive, and silly at the first hints of love. Her initial goal was to prevent the destruction of the world and take control of her clan once again. But when she falls in love, she leaves the fate of her clan in the hands of the guy who betrayed her and sent her to an island to die. All so she could travel freely with her love interest. Later, she wants to save the world simply for her love. To say anything else about her silly love driven mindset would mean spoilers, so to be vague, pay attention to what she says when she travels across time a second time. It is so unbelievably silly, bordering on completely idiotic. She goes from a strong heroine to someone whose sole reason for existing and acting is for her love. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad it we had some substantial buildup to the relationship, coupled with proof of an established and long-lasting bond that could never be broken. That, and if her feelings were actually reciprocated. Then it would be quite romantic and heroic that Hakaze would do anything for her love. But instead, her actions are based on a silly schoolgirl crush (that quite literally springs out of nowhere) and nothing more, making her actions and motivations seem incredibly idiotic. Fuwa Mahiro and Takigawa Yoshino are perfect foils, making for a very interesting relationship between the two heroes. They get a significant amount of development in the first half of the show through a series of flashbacks, some of which involve Aika. Brash and arrogant Mahiro is the brawn of their duo, while the manipulative and analytical Yoshino is the brains. Their relationship is one of the most interesting ones of the series. How two young men who are so different from each other could end up cooperating so willingly and becoming the best of friends is a real mystery. But their actions in the second half become a bit odd to say the least. Not only that, but they show little emotion when finding out the truth behind Aika’s death, despite the fact that they are the most important people to her. In fact, their lack of emotion is prevalent even in the first half. They are just normal high school boys, not hardened soldiers. Yet their reactions to the destruction of their home certainly don’t give any hints to that. Then there is Fuwa Aika, one of the most confusing characters. She’s already dead by the beginning of the series, yet still plays an important role in the story. She’s the motivation for Yoshino and Mahiro’s actions and appears in numerous flashbacks. Her character is described in the anime as having a “horrible personality.” That’s not even the half of it. Her development at the tail end of the series hints at a facet of her personality that is far more barbaric, border lining on psychotic. The rest of the side characters are mostly just there for decoration. They are lively personalities to either spice things up or be used as a convenient plot device to move the story along. Now don’t get me wrong, Zetsuen no Tempest is not wholly unwatchable. There is plenty of enjoyment to be had watching this series, especially during the first half. It’s just too bad that Bones screwed up the story and characters so hard during the second half that it irredeemably sours the entire series. The character’s motivations during the second half make little to no sense. And trying to piece together why the characters are doing what they’re doing gives way to the realization that these characters are acting like total idiots. The plot twist during the second half was also ridiculous, giving the viewer little justification for WHY things had to be this way. Not to mention the implausibility of the situation based purely on the rules set by the anime. Zetsuen no Tempest is a great watch if you turn off your brain and just enjoy it for what it is: Your “only very slightly above average until the second half of the show” shonen anime. Anybody looking for anything more won’t get much enjoyment out of this anime.

This is the first time I'm writing a review for a anime, and I have literally just finished the anime not even 2 minutes ago, I have to say it was overall pretty good. I enjoyed it up to the end, the characters were well built, the art was great, even the story. The story behind it all was very original, and i think its rather hard for some anime now-a-days to do so. Zetsuen no Tempest is a great watch overall, I'd recommend it to anyone, the only hard part of the entire series is getting over some of the main character's personalities whichyou just find out later makes their character even better. All in all, it's a great watch!

Before reading this review, you need to put in mind that I watched after the original run . so, my perspective would differ from that of those who watched a single episode per week. One more thing, I tried my best to make it spoiler free no need to worry.. Characters: Let me start by stating that there isn’t a real main character in this anime. Which I quite liked . For once everyone get their fare share of screen-time and character development. The Characters are linked in a very impressive way. you will see that the character’s are quite solid , attractive andunique . They have depth , dimensions and great character development . You have the guy who seems reckless and restless but can easily be tamed by logic, The girl who seems mighty and unshakable who’s in fact have the heart of a teenager that can be swayed by passion, the guy who seems kind and indifferent but has his own deep dark secrets . Those who are considered to be traitors but have their reasonable motives etc ...I have to say that it’s one of the strongest points in the anime. First Half: For a 24 episode anime, it’s expected for the first 5-8 episodes to be invested on characters introduction and story establishment . ZNT is an exception. It throws you right in the middle and gradually reveals its story. This should be an advantage but it turns out to be quite the opposite .. Because the first half of the show sat a very high standard, The second half had a problem keeping up with it., but let’s save that for later .. ZNT is a character driven anime so, psychology plays an important part in it. The story is simply amazing . You can see that all possibilities were considered , every detail was well thought out and explained reasonably. Every action had a logical internal drive . Although action plays an important part in it ,I wouldn’t recommend this for people who don’t want to use their brain or want a straight forwarded action anime. ZNT is not about pure action . there is no good or evil in it .It’s about logic , reasoning and standing for your beliefs you can say that it has a literary feel ( only natural since it’s inspired from Shakespeare’s plays) It may not appeal for all viewers. Second Half: This is where the anime starts to struggle, It seems as if the anime no longer knows what it wants to be. It switches between slice of life, romance and even teen drama. Luckily for me, I had the choice to watch as many episodes as I want but I can understand where those -who had to wait a week after the other for a single episode - are coming from. It’s not entirely bad but when you compare it with the intensity of the first half it simply falls short.(if it was set in the beginning of the show I doubt anyone would’ve minded) Many people disliked what had come of characters (mostly Hakaze). I don’t want to give spoilers so I’m going to address this briefly , you people need to put in mind that these characters are created to simulate humans who are NOT perfect. You can’t expect them to be cool and awesome- or whatever- all the time. Hakaze spent her life between the country and a deserted island . Her actions are only natural for a teenager going through ( .. ) for the first time. And giving all she’s been through.. anyways, it pays to be patient. The show does redeem itself unlike other shows .. cough~ .. SAO.. The last few episodes are on fire. It will blow your mind . All the masteries are uncovered beautifully and the end is very satisfactory. Enjoyment : I truly enjoyed this anime. It had its flaws but it’s a great watch after all . It’s worthy to give it a chance . I guaranty that you’ll end up with at least a good watch .The art and sound are incredible . The animation is top notch . The story is -no matter what- original and the characters are memorable.

How should I say this... This anime was one of the best that I've seen. Whenever I have nothing to watch, I would turn to Zetsuen no Tempest (Blast of the Tempest/ The Civilization Blaster). The ending was perfect, the story line was amazing, but the best of all were the characters. Let me go into detail... Story: The story was put together in a great yet questionable way. There were many parts of the anime that could be related to the famous works of Shakespeare. With plot twists that would leave you confused, the story was never boring. The twisted tale of love, hate, revenge anda touch of magic was most definitely satisfying especially how the ending wrapped up the entire story. I sincerely wish that they would make a sequel. Art: The art was satisfying, it clearly showed details in the magic shields and barriers. They point that stood out the most for me were the eyes. The characters eyes showed their emotions so clearly that they sent shivers down my spine, how they would dull or brighten depending on the emotions being conveyed. Sound: The music chosen for this anime was.... Fabulous. The violin solos with the varying volumes matched the pace of the show and the suspense in the best fashion. The opening and endings weren't boring and they definitely didn't reveal a lot about the story. The upbeat openings shows the action and the more aggressive emotions in the show whereas the slower themes in the endings portrays the more negative and deeper feelings. Character: Gosh, all of the characters were so perfect. They each played a huge role in the story but I think I should be more specific. Takigawa Yoshino is my favorite character, he is so mysterious and he definitely is a major character. He is referred as Horatio in some parts of the anime. His tale of not being able to grieve for the one he loves is heart breaking, how he shows great deduction skills and how he seems so innocent is so twisted and yet it fits the story perfectly. Fuwa Mahiro is the rich and feared character. His feelings played a large role, I find his motives very amusing throughout the plot. Yoshino and Mahiro are very... different characters compared to the cliches that show up nowadays. When you expect them to do something, they do the complete opposite. But what scares and surprises me the most is the lack of response from the two of them, no matter what they can always appear calm. Overall, I ranked this anime a 9/10. Although I would say that it's closer to a 9.5/10. This is my first review, so I hope I did well

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