Review of Sagrada Reset

After the first 3 episodes of this show, I was ready to pick apart every single flaw and problem that this show had. I was so enraged at the lack of quality that had made up the first three episodes. This was going to be my magnum opus review where I shredded apart this show and exposed it bare for the lack of quality that it was. But then something happened. It suddenly stopped sucking. Maybe it was Amazon treating the subs better or maybe it was the show having a clearer idea of what it was doing. Either way it got better. Not good,but better.

And then came the last arc in which finally Sakurada Reset finally knew what it was doing and turned itself into an enjoyable and actually good show.

For one arc.

The sad fact is, besides the one arc the show is still overall sub par. Even in its best arc the direction is still lacking and the art is so bland and featureless that it adds nothing to the show. Often times it looks like they aren't even trying as there are no real directing cues, or moments with more than bland featureless art. It's all the same dull looking and unexpressive views that don't add anything over and over again. The voice acting as well as too monotone and while it does lead to a certain atmosphere, it also hinders the emotional impact of the work, and also conflicts with one of the shows biggest problems: Convolution.

Sakurada Reset is a fan of Convolution. It likes to make nothing simple. If there ever where a simple answer, Sakurada Reset would find some way to go around it. There is one lady whom one has to phone 5 times just to get her to pick up and talk. Why is this done? Convolution. They talk in metaphors and in psychology more than they talk one on one. And while that can be interesting at times. When done too much it gets overdosed and ends up saturating the show with too much of that. It makes the connection between the characters feel less human and feel less realistic. It makes the characters themselves feel less realistic They don't feel like humans anymore rather like machines or some other entity. It makes the show fall apart.

Added to that is a script that is awful at best. The line "If you ask me, I'd say I'm on the talkative side, and I'm pretty expressive. My name is Kei Asai." sums up its problems very well. First off that's a lie. He's not expressive, and if the show thinks he is then they've failed at expressing that. Second off, no one talks like that. The formatting is all wrong and doesn't make much sense. Third off he's telling this to one of his best friends (whom promptly matters very little afterwards) not a stranger. It comes off as a poor attempt to explain the characters to us even though it makes no sense in context. Characters are best built by actions not poor explanations like this. The worst of the lot was when a character said, "I'm not sad. You're the one who's sad., I'm crying because you're sad." after an event that was very impactful on their own life. It was so completely out of left field and unnatural that it was hard to take the show seriously after that. If someone is really going to play that card after the serious event that happened, then that person is lacking in humanity.

And because of these traits the characters don't really develop until the end. Even then the development is quite confusing. The characters are so convoluted themselves that it's hard to take anything at face value. Sometimes I feel like simplicity is underrated. One can get across clear strong messages easily by going for something simple, clear, and definitive. But since Sakurada doesn't like any of that. It makes a game of trying to figure out everything from the statements that are made and the ways that the characters talk to each other. Not to mention a lot of what actually is there isn't anything that interesting. Most of it ends up in characters that love the MC, which isn't really well written. One character is defined by her love for the MC and basically does everything for him and because of him. It's shallow characterization and it's annoying to see a one-dimensional character devoid of development even throughout 24 episodes. While it does actually get put in depth later and does have some merit, for most of the show it's shallow and boring.

Even with all of the information that Sakurada Reset gives and among all its conversations, it's very boring and hard to follow due to those convolutions, a lack of directness and a lack of expression in the art, direction, and sound. It takes a lot of effort to watch for no real reward and overall it just isn't any good. The worst of which is episode 11 which has to be one of the worst episodes I've ever watched, due to how boring and frustrating it was.

However, that last arc does work well. The script did get a bit better over time, and as soon as it shifted into mindgame time the show actually worked. It was still confusing but at least there was a pay off for its confusing moments. There was a reason to follow their lines of logic and there was a reason for the characters to code their messages more. While there were mindgames before none were as direct as they were in the last arc and they never worked as well as in the last arc.

While the last arc worked well, sadly a final arc can't save a show. For the most of it's run it wasn't any good and was a pain to watch. Just because the last 5 episodes are decent doesn't make the first episodes worth it anymore. Even though I did like those last episodes I still wouldn't recommend it to others because to get to them one would have to wade through a lot of crap. And frankly, it's not worth it. If you like overly convoluted and dialogue heavy works you might like this. However if you can't stand boring visuals or can't put up with trying to decode everything including the mangled thing they called a script, it's not worth your time and you're best off not watching it.