I am pretty late to the party on this show, but I am glad I caught up before season two premiers. The second season has already dropped a trailer and is scheduled for some time in 2020. Of course, with anime we can never be too specific.
When I started episode one, I had no idea where I would end up. The amount of times I entered a complete state of shock, hyperventilated, forgot to breathe, screamed, or just simply let rivers of tears run down my cheeks during these 12 episodes is too many to count.
The show begins completely stress free, or so I thought. There are children running around smiling, happy – they haven’t got a problem in the world. Then, you notice little things. All of the children are wearing white, pure white. People don’t put kids in white. It’s not a thing. All of the children have numbers tattooed on the side of their necks. Lastly, there’s only one adult and all 6,000 of the children call her ‘Mama’.
My first thought: RUN.
However, I did not run I continued to watch. Was it because I am very dumb or because I am very brave? The world will never know the real reason. Maybe, and this is my best guess, it’s because I thought I knew better. I saw the white clothes and the tattoos on the necks, and I thought I knew what was coming.
My second thought: CULT. I’ve watched plenty of cult shows. I’ll be fine.
I was wrong. The brilliant writers knew a cult would be too cliché. It’s only been done thousands of times before, both on and off screen. A cult is too predictable, and no one needs another boring, predictable show. That’s what the CW is for. (All shade intended.)
My third thought: SCIENCE EXPERIMENT. The children are clearly lab rats. Duh. Anybody can tell.
It ’twas not until the end of the first episode when I realized I was not only wrong; I would have never even thought of it. In fact, I was questioning if I was even going to be able to watch this show in its entirety. I had my best friend Lo watch the first episode because I didn’t want to take this journey alone. After she finished the episode, I received a pleasant call where she politely asked, “What kind of sick person are you? I am not watching anymore of this. There’s something wrong with you.” I wish I was paraphrasing.
There may be something wrong with me because I continued to watch this gut-wrenching, heart breaking show and it was one of the best and emotionally draining experiences I’ve ever had. Lo has something wrong with her as well because she ended up finishing the show and we raved about it for hours. Or there’s nothing wrong with either of us, the show is just that captivating!
So, if you haven’t watch you have until next year to catch up. I promise you won’t regret watching expect for the first episode. No, you can’t skip it. Each episode keeps you on your toes and once you think you’ve figured everything out…. Mama reminds you that haven’t got the slightest clue.
Love, Love, Love
Jaz