[Anime Review] Zettai Bouei Leviathan

Zettai Bouei Leviathan is nothing more than cute dragon girls doing cute dragon girl things to save the world. And honestly, I am oddly okay with that…

Information

Series Name: Zettai Bouei Leviathan (Translated as – Leviathan: The Last Defense)
Studio: Gonzo
Episodes: 13
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy

Review

In recent years, it’s actually surprisingly, if not unsettling what will tickle my fancy and pass for entertainment. Zettai Bouei Leviathan is actually one of those titles that tickles my said fancy and for reasons unknown. It’s not exactly the greatest thing to watch or it is noteworthy enough to rub elbows with my pseudo elitist status. No it’s none of that. To simply put it: Zettai Bouei Leviathan is nothing more than cute dragon girls doing cute dragon girl things to save the world. And honestly, I am oddly okay with that. It will not be every bodies cup of tea, but it is more like a pack of gum and harmlessly, unadulterated fun.

As aforementioned, the series follows three girls young girl dragon girls: Leviathan, Bahamut and Jormungandr as they come together by the leadership (impertinence) of fairy Syrup to become the Aquafall defense and defend their world from insectoid invaders known as “Toripu”. Much like any other show of its caliber, it comparable to the run-of-the-mill Saturday morning cartoon routine, where our heroines run across various scenarios that actually follow a coherent storyline and often might last more than one episode. While this is all well and good, the show is itself awfully directed and doesn’t make the best of its time, no thanks to Gonzo. While most the episodes are fine, others can be easily resolved within 2-3 episodes, rather than 4-5 that the later episodes do. I think that in itself would improve the storytelling greatly than it already is. It isn’t mortal or devastating issues, but with episodes as short as they are, nothing ever seems to be accomplished until the next episode or two; when it would be much easier to refine them or spare the extra time so it can advance more swiftly rather than swiftly and little being done. However, at the same time, I must admit that I do appreciate the brevity, since it is so much more digestible – but still an ugly directorial oversight.

Regardless of how the show progresses, it did not put a damper on my overall enjoyment and actually was somewhat impressed Gonzo actually produced it. Speaking purely from an animation stand point as far as production is concerned, the studio work on this end is still average at best, but more like it was before it’s deficit announcement. The action sequences are sort of more smoother, background detailing better than it used to be, and far more liberal now with CG and special effects than it was. The animation is still nowhere as good as it could be, but for this series purposes, is actually quite acceptable. Although, I wise the artwork that is deployed in the mobile games promotional art was closer than how it appears in the anime. The soundtrack is nothing to write home about, but does include maybe one or two tunes that are catchy courtesy of Tomoki Kikuya and Shiho Terada that have worked on projects such as: Hidmari Skectch and Inazuma Eleven respectively. They more akin to the common background tracks, so nothing too significant.

At the end of the day, Zettai Bouei Leviathan is a nice distraction from the common series you may like or dislike and is nothing that should be taken on the whole. At the very least, it is a nice testament to Gonzo still working on new projects after getting back on its feet financially and not whittling its fingers at already existing properties. If you are okay of something likened to Deltora Quest or even the creators previous work, Tanken Driland I believe that Zettai Bouei Leviathan should be a perfect fit. The series is more targeted toward more younger demographics and clearly is who it is made for, but if someone like myself can gain a small nugget of satisfaction, it is not unlikely that other age groups will either.

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Pros: Easy to watch, very nice for younger audiences,

Cons: weak soundtrack, animation contain some minor issues, direction could of been more refined.