I will not stand for this level of slept-on. This anime is like Shinsekai Yori + Arrival / District9. Arrival & District 9 alien background setup + somewhat Shinsekai Yori storytelling approach, with chibi-amid-brutality art style flair - like Madoka Magica & Made in Abyss (but less offensive), and a more realistic/urban background. The chibi-like potato faces, exaggerated to the extreme for some side characters (buck teeth galore, beady eyes), has a really great contrast in a laid-back, schoolgirls graduating, transitioning to college MC background amid a larger plot backdrop of alien invasion reaching its breaking point - broken systemic government failures enable sketchy military industrial complexinnovation/excess that slowly treads into the lives of the main cast.

The directing/pacing is top tier, really knowing how to let a scene/shot linger, and developing creepy tension unsettling vibes. It is a slow burn, even if they show the alien craft in the first few minutes.

The high notes of the brutal parody of reality aspects include (basically all background stuff, themes, ep 1 explained):

- American interventionism, bombing the Arrival craft, causing fallout pollution & evac
- Military corp selling/celebrating rail gun as 'clean energy, no fossil fuel, sustainable weaponry' greenwashing PR
- The most realistic depiction of nonviolent anti-war protests in all of animated media. Period. It's not even close.
- Mass disinformation/misinformation in the digital era, "lame-stream media" lol, also "isn’t that a conspiracy?" casually thrown around a concerning amount of times
- Desensitization to eternal war & killing refugees/civilians, long-term mental impact of public and soldiers
- actually hilarious 'history of war is a series of bloody mistakes fueled by the capitalist war machine' one-liners, a tankie chuuni
- Manic vigilantism & coping, some def inspired by Death Note
- brutal scenes seemingly inspired by Attack on Titan rumbling/civilian panic
- some derealization of human culture, exposing our contradictions & pettiness