Anime Digest
This is a Japanese Anime that portrays a monster developmental department. It was both written and illustrated by Hiroaki Mizusaki. Till now, it has four seasons and it first started airing in 2019. The current season was released from January to April 2022. The main depiction in the drama is of a theme park named Agastia. As glamorous and entertaining as it may seem, it is secretly an evil organization. The prominent aim of this organization is world domination through evil ways. This is a story of how the boss mistreats her employees forcing them to work harder. Though fed up, the employees have to keep pushing to work for a monster organization.
The Feel-Good Factor
The animation and colors of the series are pretty appealing and refreshing. One plus point of the show was that even though the characters work for an evil organization, none of them is genuinely evil. They aren’t intense and are rather fun to watch. The tone of the series is humorous with a hint of seriousness. Many viewers were of the opinion that it is an underrated drama. Even though the characters aim for evil domination over the entire world, the story does not go intense, which is good. The series retains its humor and fun which is impressive.
The Disappointing Factor
Some elements and characters of the show seemed stereotypical which can give rise to mixed feelings in a viewer’s mind. Though it is funny, it isn’t incredibly funny, meaning the level of humor is limited. A lot of scenes lacked backgrounds which was irresponsible from the show’s side. The story feels dull in some parts, which can disappoint some viewers. It is not a very unique concept when it comes to Anime.
In-Depth Analysis
Agastia is a popular amusement park. The series revolves around this theme park. It is highly trendy due to its amazing rides and various entertaining games and activities. But that’s not all there is to Agastia. It is an evil monster development department secretly. None of the people who visit this theme park have any knowledge about it. The role of this department is to create new monsters to fight against the superheroes of the world who aim to save the world and provide justice to its people. The name of the department’s boss is Akashic, who is a little high-school girl. Agastia Monster Development department’s main person is Toka Kuroitsu. She is in charge of the department but she is not the boss. Her superiors work somewhere else, and she has to report everything to them. There are a lot of other employees working for the department.
The following are the characters:
- Toka Kuroitsu: She is the assistant of the evil department whose job is to design new monsters according to the requirements of her superiors. Though she is in charge of the theme park and the department, she has to face a lot of pressure from her bosses. She creates these monsters to fight Agastia’s enemies, but her bosses are never satisfied with her work which frustrates her. She is bestowed with overwhelming demands which make her tired. Her job also includes calculating the costs of the resources required for creating these monsters and submitting them to the board. In short, hers is a really exhausting and time-consuming job.
- Doctor Hajime Sadamaki: The person who helps Toka with her job of creating monsters is dr. Hajime. As he is a doctor, all bodily functions of the monsters are monitored by him. He is an intelligent personality, capable of doing everything but is lazy. He is a laid-back and calm person most of the time. He has no sense of urgency, which always frustrates Toka. Even though he is the most crucial helper in this job, his behavior sometimes causes trouble for the department.
- Wolf Bete: He is one of the monsters created by Toka and Hajime. He was a male upon creation but later was turned into a female due to the demand of Akashic. He basically looks like a wolf, who was made cuter and a female after Akashic demanded.
- Megistus: he is the chief of staff at Agastia who has a strict and dangerous appearance. People are generally afraid of him due to his personality. But behind his misleading appearance, he is a sensible and understanding personality. He is practical and deals with things realistically. He is a brave person who is not afraid of even his boss but is very dedicated to his work.
- Akashic: She is the leader/boss of the department. She is a young girl who possesses extraordinary powers.
- Kenji Sadamaki: He is the protagonist of the series who is working for Agastia to learn about their tactics for destroying the world. He is a 22-year-old store worker who is the enemy of Agastia, whom no one knows the truth about.
Some other monsters made by the department are Hydra, Melty, Canon Thunderbird, etc.
The story starts with Agastia creating a new monster who looks like an old man. He was made at the last minute in order to meet the demands of the board. After rejection from Megistus himself, the monster is canceled at the last minute which forces Toka to wear the monster costume herself. She also fights on the department’s behalf but loses due to her lack of skills. At the same time, Wolf Bete is converted into a female but still retains his own old brain. Days later, Sadamaki is diagnosed with food poisoning. This prevents him from going on the business trip he was supposed to go. But in order to not miss out on the opportunity of gathering information about their enemies, Toka takes his place on the business trip too. During this trip, Toka accompanies Megistus. She tries to stay close to him to observe his thinking ability. During this time, Cannon Thunderbird is created. But due to a lot of missing parts, Agastia is forced to collaborate with the other departments under Akashic. But even after putting in a lot of effort in making it, Cannon is defeated by Divine Swordsman Blader, a superhero who is the main enemy of Agastia. Another new monster, Hydra, is defeated by the Blader again. These successive defeats frustrate Toka. However, her quest for continuous creating new monsters does not end here and she has to keep working hard for getting the approval of various other monsters created. The Blader is actually Kenji, a store worker who works for Agastia, but is their main enemy. This way, the story continues with the creation of various monsters and the defeat they face from Blader.
Star Power
It was one of the shows where various characters shared the role of being a star. Though the name of the drama has the name of Kuroitsu in it, many other characters shined as well. Kuroitsu definitely shared the most burden as she had a lot of work to do in almost every scene. She came out as a responsible character who worked well under pressure. She kept cleaning up other people’s messes, and that is why she stood out. We also got to see a tsundere character in the form of dr. Hajime.
Overall Opinion
This was a highly appreciated drama despite the story it possessed. A lot of people of the working class can actually relate to this drama because of the job pressure it depicts. Most of the viewers of this drama recommended it on a large scale. As it is a theme park based, it can also be watched by children.
