Geekatana Anime Review: Zetsuen no Tempest

When folks talk about an animation studio like Bones Inc or simply known to most anime fans as studio Bones the first things to come to mind are shows like Noragami, Soul Eater, Darker Than Black, Fulmetal Alchemist and My Hero Academia. Sadly so many great series to its name eventually one or two anime falls through the crack and don't receive the recognition it deserve.

One such series is Zetsuen no Tempest or better known as Blast of Tempest and also translated as The Civilization Blaster which is about as unexciting and cheesy title as an anime series can get. It's on my Top Underrated anime list here.

Zetsuen no Tempest  is a Japanese manga series written by Kyō Shirodaira and illustrated by Arihide Sano and Ren Saizaki. It was adopted into an anime by Bones in 2012. The story follows the story of Mahiro and Yoshino who is out on a who-done-it search for the killer of their best friend Aika who was supposed to be murdered one year before the start of the series. 

The story draws inspiration from Shakespeare works like Hamlet and the Tempest. The series also drops in some magic, over the top fight scenes, an end of the world scenario and a murder mystery aspect worthy of an episode of Sherlocke Holmes episode.

The story is complex and fast paced that every episode leads into the next that you practically need to watch all 24 episode in order without skipping a single one to understand it all. Its tedious but the reward is worth the trouble as the story falls into place surprisingly well.

The character is well done and you feel yourself drawn into their plight as they search for answers. They are extremely well drawn and complex and their constant back and forth keeps you on the edge as you really don't know who is the real "evil" in this series as each character motives are justified in some way or another. The lines between good and evil is often blurred.

The animation is top notch and beautiful as the animation studio Bones is clearly in top form here. There's very little action in this series though as it centers more of plot and story driven aspect. If you are a fan of Deathnote complex detective phase than you will find plenty in this series as you and the characters in the series find out the truth.

Now the series is not without its flaws as the series dips down a bit in everything except for the animation in later half but still good enough to make a decent finale to the entire series as a whole. Also the character design although nicely animated looks generic as Norigami characters design.

Zetsuen no Tempest is an underrated anime that I'd recommend anyone specially if they want some depth in terms of plot and storytelling. It's not action heavy but what it has is a solid enough story to its name. If you're a fan of great story and don't mind sitting through 24 episodes of a who-done-it detective anime with supernatural and magic thrown in then I can't recommend this anime enough.