Review of Den-noh Coil

This 2007 anime does a great job of depicting a world where augmented reality (glasses) are an integral part of peoples everyday life. The augmented reality cyber world that the kids immerse themselves in seems so natural to their life. (Things like interacting with virtual objects, searching for a lost cyber-pet, hacking each others glasses for pranks, investigating urban legends. All things I could see myself doing as a kid if we had that technology.) The first 13 episodes covers the slow buildup of the world, the characters, and their friendships as well as lays the groundwork and foreshadowing to something bigger that is happening inthe town. It's enjoyable, but slow and steady; quite light hearted. There a few mini-arcs that all work to build towards a killer second half. As a comparison it reminds me of the begining of Avatar, The Last Airbender; it was less serious then the rest of the show.

Starting at episode 15 the story REALLY ramps up and we get some really good story and character development. All the questions you had during the first half actually get answered and there are even some plot twists that take the story to a new level. There are some really bad-ass moments. MAL lists this anime as: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi and we really see a lot more of the Drama, Mystery, and Sci-Fi as we progress.

This is anime has a special place in my heart. I feel like there are certain anime that set up and follow through, and this is one of them. Two others I can name would be Ghost in the Shell (1995), and Kaiba (2008). Overall just solid picks.

Bonus note about Art: Mitsuo Iso (key animator for many great anime) does a great job of capturing the awkward natural motion of the characters. Things like running, tripping, hand movement; it's beautiful.