Ending Thoughts: 18if

Synopsis

S young man by the name of Haruto suddenly wakes and finds himself in the world of dreams. With no explanation he soon finds himself being dragged into the tales of witches, young women who suddenly fell into what is called, the “Sleeping Beauty Syndrome” due to an incident in their lives. Alongside a professor who is researching the phenomenon and a mysterious girl, Haruto finds himself being brought to the different tales of the witches…

General Thoughts

The most striking thing to notice about this series is the surrealism and magnetism of the art. From its opening to the different styles used for each episode whether it be for characters or background, there is a draw in each one. The animation done in certain episodes is also a plus point to the series and at certain points the episode comes out as almost cinematic.

The problem with this however is with the focus being on the major parts of the scenes, there is a tendency that little mistakes either slip by or make certain parts like a character’s face look awkward. For example, in one episodes, there is a side character in an idol related episode whose features less properly detailed, to be fair a side character’s face doesn’t have to be, but it should enough to make them presentable.

The different stories that are in each episode are both the plus and the negative side of the series. On one hand, we have a variety of characters who are each explored with their own personal stories, giving an episodic type of story flow with different mindsets and perspectives taken from each one. But on the other hand, other than the fact that all the females are afflicted with the same problem and Haruto is the one who gets involved in solving them, there is almost little to no connection placed between the characters until the very end.

The problem doesn’t lie in the fact that it is episodic, but that there is no connecting line between the episodes to tie everything together. While the art is nice and the music accompanying it works well and has some catchiness to it, it doesn’t change thea fact that the connecting point of the plot is severely lacking and the flaws placed with the art is not easy to ignore.

Ending Thoughts

To think that the series would actually touch on the story of Exodus and make use of it as a plot point was initially an interesting idea. Then we get the last episode and are given a rather feminist outcome of things. Not that there isn’t any problem with that. It was a great point of the series to have brought back all of the witches from the previous episodes and make use of them rather than have them as some sort of figure pieces to tie in the plot. Having each of them bring their own perspective and present different ideas to humans and the world brought a thoughtful point to the finale.

With the way that the series flowed, it was to be expected that a clash between reality and the dream world would occur. But the way it was presented seemed somewhat… lacking in a way. Given how surreal some episodes were in designing the dream world, the series could have gone all out in the final episode with the varying styles that it touched upon. But tackling things at a more sedate pace with a heavier focus on the mindsets of the characters with one another on how the world should be dealt with? It was not all that badly handled.

Looking at the entirety of the series and the ending that was lead up to, things ended up rather hit or miss. Yes, it was interesting that they brought all the characters together and created a different scenario than what most anime series would do such as defining a “good” and “bad” side. And it is nice that they at least answered some questions in the series, mainly, why Haruto is able to traverse the dream world. But it does not change the fact that there are certain plot holes that there are loose ends that still needed to be tied.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars