Mekakucity actors is an anime that is part of the Kagerou project multimedia franchise, which is a music video series created by vocaloid producer Jin telling the story about a cast of teens with supernatural powers.
The anime is not very accessible as you have to read the light novel and also the manga to really get a better understanding of the series. In addition, the pacing of the show is pretty frenetic as it has a lot of characters in 12 episodes with multiple backstories all interconnected with each other.
It focuses on Shintarou Kisaragi, a teen who has not left his room because of his obsession with Ene, a digital girl. He is forced to leave home when he has to replace his keyboard after spilling pop on it. At the store, Shintaro is caught in the middle of a hostage situation when a group of teens with special “eye powers” calling themselves the “Mekaushi Dan” intervenes and saves the day. Shintaro is forced to join the group. Bit by bit the story unfolds focusing on the pasts and a strange conspiracy around the cast and Shintarou having no choice but to go along with them.
The story is told in multiple routes with each form being a different story interpretation like the novels, manga and anime. Each part of the story focuses on one of the characters being caught up in a strange event. The show has a lot of back and forth flashbacks from each of the cast. The atmosphere of the show it’s a mix of supernatural edgy and very trippy especially. The dialogue is somewhat quirky and the characters were pretty interesting and had great chemistry with each other. The voice acting was very good and the The music is really catchy and very upbeat with some really good sound effects.
The animation and artstyle was another huge highlight for me. The character designs were well done. as well too.
Background characters in contrast are grey dull figures in comparison to the colorful cast. The series has a good balance of comedy and serious moments. The comedy especially the fish joke by Marry was really hilarious. The pacing is pretty fast and it takes a lot of effort managing to juggle so much storylines in a 12 episode frame with so many characters. The fast pace meant that character development was put on the back burner. There is also a lot more content that the show could have covered that could benefit from another season but Mekaku Reload is not released as yet. The series is by far one of the most interesting anime out there.
It gets 4 out of 5 stars.