World Destruction - Episode 1

In a way, World Destruction is a series with a bit of a confusing gestation, being based as it is upon a Nintendo DS game of the same name that hasn't actually been released yet. The game is being released by Sega in Japan this Summer, with development talent which includes key former members of Square Enix, and the anime seems to have some equally impressive names behind it, with Production I.G. doing the animation honours in their usual polished and distinctive style.

As you would expect, this opening episode is all about bringing the main characters together, and what a motley crew they are. First we have Kirie, a young human who has disguised himself as a beastman just to get a part-time job in this world where the two races hardly see eye to eye. Then there's Morte, who has managed to have herself dubbed with the moniker of World Destruction Commitee - A very apt title, seeing as she does indeed appear Hell-bent on destroying the world no matter. Finally, we have... err... a detective who's a cute, whisky drinking bear with an eye patch.


If there's one thing to be said for this series early on, it's that it's giving the character designers a golden opportunity to run riot, from the aforementioned teddy bear to an army of cats with a penchant for sacrifices to their God... and this is just the first episode!

This opening instalment does quite a masterful job at setting the scene in a well paced and suitably action-centric way, all with a fair amount of visual polish and enough enjoyment to be had from the characters and story to hook you. Yes, it is probably going to go the way of many a cliched action/adventure series, including an otherwise useless guy who somehow has some hidden special power and so on; but this first episode certainly proves to be fun, and you can't really ask for anything much more from this particular genre of anime.

To my shame, watching this and seeing the trailer for the Nintendo DS game almost makes me want to own a copy. Although I suppose actually owning a Nintendo DS first would help...