Moonrise

A few hours ago, I was browsing r/anime when I stumbled across the announcement that this anime was batch released on Netflix. Of course, I did the sensible thing and proceeded to watch all of it, even though it's mediocre at best. It really needed more episodes to fully explore the emotions it was trying to evoke. If it had been released weekly, it wouldn't have been as bad, but several time skips in a show that isn't told chronologically aren't ideal when binge-watching. Give us a training arc instead of one episode and some direct aftermath of episode 13, damn it. That at least would giveus some good character interaction and help the characters feel less like cardboard cutouts. The animation is solid, the character designs are by the FMA mangaka, and the dub is decent. I guess you could consider it just another Netflix addition. Fine for background, but not something worth paying full attention to. Hours of buildup for an ending that would have been better if we took some time to explore the characters. The scaffolding is there but it's not enough to get a good series.

Resume review: 8/10 Excellent anime really enjoyable if you are patient, something people are not much nowadays. STORY is really good all questions ARE AWNSERED by the end of the anime. The ART is top with AOT art in some surroundings and obvious character design from FMA , the animation is fluid and pleasing to watch. SOUNDTRACK is incredible as well, Opening leaves an hint of mystery in your ear. Let's go by topics on why this anime is worth watching imo ART, the animation is so fluid, no "PowerPoint" animation here like some animes we saw recently in 2025/24, its elegant, its fluid. It is obvious this animehas great animation even before you watch it, if you go see the animators list, this is packed with artists from AOT and other great animes. The character design Hiromu Arakawa was the character designer for Full metal Alchemist and it shows in some characters and its great. Also AOT background design is implemented in some areas during the series and the obvious fighting while in the air and capes. AOT used wires to leap into the air, these guys use technology to get a boost mid air (on the moon so low gravity) STORY! The first episodes are pain, great set up with the 1st episode, amazing, but the first 4/5 episodes are pain, you are sort of thrown into something new out of nowhere. You get to experience some time skips yes but everything is explained, just be patient, don't give up after 4/5/6 episodes where you might think "did i skip something? why are we here?" don't worry, its going to be explained, its just to create mystery and suspense, its a play with time itself where you get to know things before they are explained or introduced properly. There is a lot of fighting, there is a lot of plotting behind the scenes that you will discover the why after some episodes, a lot of goofiness and fun moments, also some sad moments. Its a good story in the end i was talking to the characters like "NO PLEASE DON'T DO IT" and things like that because i payed attention and i got attached some characters. The end is … weird, There is an end! But there is something there a bit confusing, wont spoil. Basically don't get confused when some Time skip happens out of nowhere and you don't know where it is or when it happened. IT ALL HAS A MEANING and it will be explained! SOUNDTRACK / MUSIC.... amazing. Loved the opening there is no voice in it but it gives a suspense and mystery vibe. It gives you the idea of mystery, turmoil, hope, sadness, joy. Loved the choice. And the ending is also really good! Its written and performed by one character from the show the artist is called AiNA THE END and i loved her voice during the anime, its different and unique! CHARACTERS, no spoilers, The MC reminds me of the mc from ID: Invaded, but way more energetic, there is probably a better reference to this MC but, to me its what came to mind. Fun fact the MC and his childhood friend are the voices from Vinlad Saga Askeladd and Thorfinn. MC best friend is Sasha from AOT. Basically this is stacked, go watch the list of Voice Actors! I grew attached to some but didn't have time to grow attached to all, it is a small anime even tho its 18 episodes and people nowadays get tired after 5 episodes in a 12 ep anime... There are a lot of personalities in this anime and its fun to see them interact. My favourite was Mary! After all that i would recommend watching this anime, good story and great characters even tho i would like to have more time with it, AMAZING animation, flawless. Beautiful soundtrack great opening and ending songs. Animation: 9.5 Characters: 8 Sound/music: 8.5 Story:7 Overall: 8

Production quality is excellent, it truly is. This show is filled to the brim with both great still frames and action sequences. Writing quality, unfortunately, doesn't remotely matches the visuals. The plot is confused and leaves you with impression that things were shifted around, added and removed on the fly, so it falls short of a decent action oriented story they could fit in 18 episodes. The narrative keeps jumping around to flashbacks and flashforwards for no good reason, though this gets better after the first few episodes. Basically nothing in terms of character arcs. Overall, Moonrise is a story that dips its toes into interplanetaryconflict, colony revolting against the metropole, ethics of AI governance, evolution of mankind, conflict between long separated friends going different paths, love triangles and succeeds at nothing. Give it a watch if you want some eye candy, but otherwise it's not worth it.

If Moonrise's visuals could carry the score alone, it would be a 10/10. It is gorgeous, stunning and a true benchmark at what modern CGI in anime can look like. But that's it. It starts off strong with an interesting premise and setting, yet it bites off way more than it can chew. It wants to do a hundred different things, but only has time to flesh out 10 of those. Cuts and large jumps occur often, leaving confusing in its wake. The cast, while interesting, either doesn't get fleshed out or is kind of forgotten about; the most interesting characters are the ones withthe least screen time. Speaking of that, the main characters are so hard to like. You care about them as much as they care about important plot points - very little. To them, consequences don't mean anything (except for that one incident which very much felt forced). The ending was not worth sticking around to watch. The coolest part had about 1 minute of screentime dedicated to it, the rest felt so insignificant. The only reason why I would watch a second season would be for the world and setting, because it's genuinly cool and interesting. It's really not a bad show, but the untapped potential and the increasingly infuriating story really makes you wish it was better.

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