Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou

I think it is an alright show. I can see why people said it is heavily influenced by Madoka but I also find the two shows being quite different. The plot is fine. It is basically about girls having magical powers and they have to defeat monsters that can take control of people with "bad" emotions such as envy, hatred. The fights are pretty repetitive. The main character always tries to chat with the monsters first, then just kill it because the monsters always want to die. The ending is a bit rush IMO. The art style probably will take time to get used to. The characters' appearances are more on the cute side and all of them looks very skinny. I don't mind it too much after a few eps. I quite like the characters. They are unique and have quite interesting backstories, even the main villain. Overall I found this show enjoyable while not liking the story that much.

To be honest, I get a kick out of this new wave of dark magical girl shows that try to be grim and dark and sometimes gory. Even though they're only emulating the more superficial aspects of the acclaimed Madoka Magica and don't often have a superb story to offer, they can still be greatly entertaining. Unfortunately, this was not the case for me with Day Break Illusion. Story: 3/10 The story starts off as a semi-interesting Madoka clone but all of the potential for an interesting outcome is wasted and it just devolves into an incredibly generic friendship story that's masked by its attempts at being dark. And me personally, I'll watch dark, depressing, gory, etc shows even if they lack any real depth to them because it can still be entertaining, but the darkness and drama in this show isn't even that good! The show utterly fails at creating an interesting atmosphere for the dark events to take place in, thus I ended up pretty much feeling nothing most of the time, not even amusement. Art: 5/10 Well, I'll give them credit for trying to have unique character designs, but at the end of the day they're nothing special. The art isn't really bad, but it's not that good either. Maybe a few interesting moments here and there. Sound: 6/10 The opening theme is rather nice. Other than that, it's a very average soundtrack altogether. Sometimes, the music doesn't convey the emotion of what's happening on screen to the characters though, which goes back to my criticism of the show's lack of atmosphere. Characters: 4/10 Very generic group of characters, a small amount of which are borderline unlikable. The story really goes downhill once it starts centering around these generic characters. The show's plot eventually devolves into a generic group of friends trying to rescue their friend from a generic asshole of a villain who serves little other purpose than to be evil and talk about how pathetic and weak humans are. Enjoyment: 4.5/10 This show wasn't terrible, but it was a disappointment. It was just barely good and interesting enough for me to finish it. The action scenes are very average, I couldn't become invested in the characters, and a story that was interesting at the start very quickly became something predictable. I didn't go in expecting this to be even close to as good as Madoka Magica, but I was hoping for perhaps another very solid piece of entertainment in the vein of Magical Girl Raising Project. In the end, Day Break Illusion can't even hold a candle to that show though. My overall score will be 4/10. How much can I recommend this show? Well, if you're looking to watch as much magical girl anime as possible and don't mind the dark stuff, this show isn't unwatchable. Even as someone who likes the more generic dark magical girl shows, I found this one kind of underwhelming, but if you're the same way you MIGHT be able to enjoy it more than me. Either way, thanks for reading this review!

This series is a poor pretencious trying to make a dark maho shojo series. This series is a guide for not make a dark maho shojo. For those peoples what criticizes Puella Magi Madoka Magica for contain "lazy characters"... in Daybreak Illusion finds the true definition for lazy characters. That's not joke: the name, the design and dressing is a memorandun of the tarot title for each girl. The personalities are boring and lazy. Is hard empathize with several main characters, with exception of Ginka. The villain is a idiot. Why he don't know that could corrupt tarot users? Why don't idealize a better plan for mate with Akari having a temible power in your hands? Come on: he could transforms in any male/female character or expect that she have 16 years old for this! The script is very bad. The only good character and thing enjoyable in the series is Ginka's father, because he isn't a idiot character, he is a good example of father in the anime series... I don't recommend Daybreak. Is a bad and unconsistent anime with Deus ex Machinas, unconsistent rhythm and a boring characters.

TL;DR - If you drop this show early you'll probably regret it. Note: I will not be comparing this show to Madoka like many others have, because I can not. After watching this show to the very end I'm left confused with my own feelings for it, probably because this show itself is confused over what it wants to do. It started out fairly dull, there was no real impact, nothing that really made me feel like it was worth watching past the first few episodes. The characters started off rather shallow, none of them got adequate development and were merely there to do their own thing simply because that's how they were instructed to. Design-wise the characters look lazily done, my biggest gripe in this is the fact that they all have the same disproportionate and scrawny build, despite their daily activities there's nothing that would tell them apart if it wasn't for the fact they are colored differently. Seira is shown to be very athletic and exercises daily on an almost world-champion level, yet she is as scrawny looking as the next girl, apparently being slightly taller than everyone else is enough to show you're physically strong. Another lazily done thing is that some characters in this show have such luscious eyebrows/eyelashes that their hair disappears behind it (as if someone messed up on the layering of the facial features). The animations are still pretty solid even if they had their lackluster moments. As for the sound, the OP/ED blends in perfectly with the show, overall sounds and music were fairly okay, however the voice actors didn't leave much of an impact, there were several scenes that left no impression because there wasn't enough enthusiasm and emotion behind the characters words. This lack of emotion aids in making the characters seem bland, Laplace is clearly meant to be an asshole, but his voice carries no emotion to really nail this fact and instead comes off as a cardboard cutout that someone wrote "asshole" on. The same is true for other characters as well. One character in particular felt really cringy to listen to, they definitely didn't know how to make a character sound insanely furious. The story at first feels somewhat bland and not very well written, things happen for seemingly no reason, barely leaves any impact with its actions and tries to tell you that this is meant to be a grimdark story, but fails horribly to deliver. Killing off characters without giving them any kind of character development will not spring any emotions from the audience, it just feels out of place and irritating to see the characters' friends have an emotional breakdown when as a viewer you feel nothing. The author apparently also has some kind of fetish for restraining and strangling little girls given this happens in almost every episode. Now you might be thinking, why am I rating this show so high after listing so many flaws? Because the last few episodes and the ending left me feeling very satisfied. Despite all the bad things I've said about this show, not once did I feel like I wanted to drop it, I wanted to see if the show was gonna get any worse and actually make me feel so disgusted I wanted to drop it, but it never happened, the show instead unlocked all the restraints and went all-out to deliver a great climax as if it was all a big April Fools joke to trick you into thinking this is a bad show. And that's the end of my terrible "review", I really needed to get my feelings for this show out so I can move on.

Honestly, I don't know why everyone compares this to Madoka Magica, the two are completely different except that they share the magical girl genre. If that's the only reason, go compare it to sailor moon too. Now, the art for this anime is amazing, it has its own new style that no other anime that I've seen has really been anywhere close to. The sound was amazing and linked up with the ever-building story perfectly. All the way down to the opening as well. The character's each had there own unique backstories that weren't copied and pasted from other shows. Overall this anime was a pleasure to watch and is one of the few I can keep coming back too again and again.

This would be my second review on here, so please proceed at your own risk. I will try not to write any spoilers, but they may end up happening without me even realizing it. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. Story: (8) For a 13 episode, it was a very enjoyable series. It was unique in its own sense; it basically was a happier version of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika. If you haven't seen that anime, it's basically a darker version of this one. This anime is a bit happier with a happier ending. All the episodes had a flow to them even when they were on an episode that wasn't about the main prodigy. They told each story of the individual stories of Akari, Seria, Luna and Ginka without going all over the place like some anime do. The plot was well placed throughout the whole series, meaning; They didn't just put the point of the series in the first two episodes, they kept it flowing and built up to it. I did have mixed feelings on the end; I wanted a bit more information on certain subjects in the series and on certain characters, and it kind of left it hanging a bit on how it ended. Not to the point where you would be upset with the series. It was just left to the point that they could have made another season, but if they decided not too you wouldn't be completely devastated. Art: (9) The art was great; I found it unique, funny and inspiring. You had certain characters/scenes that the artist made that were unique, and then others that were more simple and had "odd" proportions, but was still enjoyable to watch. The color scheme through the whole series, with each episode was well put together, and blended into each character as "their" color. As I said in my "story" section in certain scenes it reminds you a lot of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika and also Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. When they go into a fighting scene the art style changes, not a bad change, but it definitely something that reminds me of those two animes. Including since the art style does change for the fighting scenes. Sound: (10) I give sound a 10 because the only knowledge that I would have on this, is if the characters voices matched with how the characters personality is and also the background music. So that said, the actors who voiced the characters were spot on; I hardly have found an anime in Japanese where the characters voice was way off. The background music was done really well; it didn't overpower in any of the scenes. Characters: (9) Characters in this series had flaws, had strengths, none were in the whole "god mode I'm awesome" phase. They all had battles with their "inner-demons" and I feel they expressed them and overcame them or how they come to terms with it was really well done. The only issues that I had was, they had great character development and stories for the 4 main characters(Akari, Seria, Luna and Ginka), but I wish I could have heard the back story on some of the other characters. Now with that being said, being only a 13 episode series and it having not just 1 or 2 main characters, it would be rather difficult to shove all the characters back stories into 13 episodes. With all the events that happened, it does leave a lot of questions about certain minor characters in the series, and also the people they answer too and what is happening with that. Of course with the manga the answer may have been answered, I never read it so I wouldn't be able to comment on that part, but with just watching the series it did leave me with questions. Enjoyment: (9) I enjoyed this anime. I would recommend it, it's most definitely an anime that will leave you with questions, but it leaves you also okay with not having them answered. ? If that makes any sense. If you've seen Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika I would suggest watching this anime, it is a happier version of it. It will make you giggle at times, and you catch an understanding and connection with a lot of the characters. All the characters have a sad story and how they got to where they are and it leaves them with many flaws, which the main "villain" tries to use against them. Which most people can relate too. Side Note: Sorry for the length, it is my second time writing a review. I'm practicing at trying to write better reviews. I hope some of you got some helpful information from this. I was really trying not to put spoilers into it. I hope this was helpful and you choose to watch this anime. Thank you for reading!

First of all, ill pretend this is a universe where Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica doesn't exist; be it inspiration, based upon or plain plagiarism, let's be fair: this is a site to review series as individual works. Without further ado: Story: The first half of the story is fairly good due the fact that you are exposed to the tragedies of the girls: Akari and Seira's experience the tragedy of the loss of a loved one, Ginka's Harsh life with her father and the self-confidence issues of Luna. We also learn about the Daemonia and how they originate from and you get to see glimpse on who's the series villain during the chapters. However, one of the the main problems with the story is on the second half it begins to be not so good: Luna becomes excessively jealous for very dumb reasons and her "transformation" is terrible, the randomness of the villain Cerebrum (supposedly to mentally defeat her, has a character go through a tragedy infinitely...he didn't realize that by the time she finds her she already was like that?) and overall the "resurrection" of a certain character and WHY it got resurrected. Also, the "Cameo" appearance at the end was totally unneeded (Why? did that happened for a reason? Just confidence boost? Cameo?). We will probably also never know if Sefiro Fiore (the organization's name) intentions are truly good or evil, at it seems they are helping humanity for their own amusement...urgh. It feels like the series builds a great, gloomy and steady atmosphere, then suddenly goes insane and throws everything to the window and gives you a happy treatment pill. Overall,the story was passable, but could have been way better. I don't dislike happy endings, if they were done on a plausible way. Art: Artwork is good most of the time and tries really hard to keep it consistent that way. Most anime series show an evident drop of quality passing episode 2- and beyond till the final episode, but i never felt this happened here. Just as an observation, the girls height varies in chapters: sometimes you see them looking around the height of a elementary/Junior high girl, and suddenly they look like they are on their late teens. This alternates on the girls transformed forms as well. Oddly, i thought the late teen forms where more suitable for the show plot... Backgrounds are okay, but the alternate dimension backgrounds are kind of dull (Void, stars, barrens giving a sad empty feeling). I really liked the girls transformations artwork, specially Akari and Seira's forms (Ginka was meh at best). Most of the abilities and powers are well made (Specially Ginka's Armory and the Solar Rapier from Akari). The last boss form is bad at best. Sound: Overall Good. Both the opening and ending theme are really good and the seiyuus match the characters they represent. Extra points to the triplets voice as they were cute. Character: You definitely can't blame the girls for being most of the time moody, angry, depressed or scared about what's going on with them. They are young girls that they were forc-...convinced to battle monsters rather than going to school and have a happy life overall: Akari rather than being the "sunny, bright and lovable" person that many characters suggest, she is most of the time gloomy, worried or anxious during the series. Seira is the cool, calm and collected girl that due her past with the Daemonia, she slays them without concern or fear. Hates the Daemonia with passion and hates the fact that Akari can listen to them as she thinks its a waste of time. The character i liked the most oddly. Ginka is the "Sunny, bright and lovable" character that Akari is supposed to be; even in situations that may suck for most people, she's always optimistic and tries to keep the team together. The strongest link on the series if not a little annoying. Luna takes the support role, both in battle and as a person, caring for Akari (to an obsessive/romantic point) which causes her to take really dumb decisions later on. Next to Cerebrum, it is a likely candidate for most hated character but gets better near the end. The weakest link of the girls basically. Cerebrum the villain, is the character i hated the most. I would like to have hated him because of being evil or cruel... but the problem with Cerebrum are his actions: Why Cerebrum was luring humans to become Daemonia in the first place (other than hating humans) is a mystery to me and even if it was a valid reason, there are more efficient ways to hunt down humans souls with negative emotions than going one by one waiting to get at the lowest point of their lives... im pretty sure you can make an army of humans with negative emotions being a lot to choose from, then send them to Sefiro Fiore and finish them off... Also, he indirectly helped Akari to overcome her tragedy and effectively become stronger to defeat him. Villain's logic. What is not Villain's logic, is to shape shift into a young girl and become the night's enjoyment of an middle aged man. Yikes. Supporting characters are kind of memorable, but not much: You have the Tendou Triplets, doing the role of scientists, the demons LaPlace and Schrodinger, Etia and Ariel acting as figure heads for the Sefiro Fiore Japan Branch, the older Tarot Girls , Mama, Hanayume and Lymro, etc. Enjoyment: Despite aforementioned flaws, most chapters end with a good cliffhanger enough to wanting you to look forward for the next chapter. One of the most well done chapters was the fight between Ginka and her Diabolos Tarot card (basically her dark clone) with had a good conclusion. Many incidents are very shocking and entertaining but kind of expected (most of the girls end up fighting with her loved ones) however, the last battle was probably the worst one: You first see the girls overpowering the "last boss form" (actually, i felt sad he was being so easily defeated!!) and then suddenly they end up being shot over and defeated instantly even when you saw them minutes ago effortlessly evading the boss attacks. Cheat? Hack? And then... terribly cliched : the MC gains Limit Break , opening theme starts (and you can guess the battle will end due this) , uses it on the Last boss, you get a "Never give up, trust your instincts" kind of feeling as you see a familiar spirit around the MC (for no reason, really) and you know what happens next. Happy Ending as all characters are alive? Seriously? Next Season teaser? Ehm...naaah, im okay, thanks. Overall: Flawed or not, I recommend the series to people who like Tragedies or simply look for an alternative of "Super Shiny Sparkly Bubbly" Magical Girls. Even though there are some comments about the girls age and their "designs", there's no fanservice to complement such perversions, which i liked as a production value (Finally somebody understands that Onsen chapters and Beach Chapters are not needed!). For those with questions about Akari's Mom there is a light novel out there apparently. In conclusion, there are some weak points that the series would definitely could have improved (the Clessida plot-thing was a laughable and the resurrection of a certain character near the end was terrible); however, the well done art for the transformed girls, average art on special attacks, Dark gloomy atmosphere and interesting-yet-cliched story helped me become hooked to keep watching the series until the end. Give it a try.

GENEI WO KAKERU TAIYOU: Promising start, but that’s about it I must admit that the story interests me. The idea of Tarot cards, Daemonia, and magic in general, has its appeals. What make it even darker are the video effects, eerie soundtracks, and blood. As for the story itself, I think it is executed very well. There is much progress in the overall plot and the development of the main character to keep things interesting. However, this good execution doesn’t last very long. It is consistent only up to episode 3. Episodes 4 to 6 are so character-driven that they almost have zero development in the overall story. These episodes seem to be episodic, and the only reason why I can’t say that they’re filler is that they have been used to introduce certain plot elements, like Cerebrum, Ginka’s father, and Seira’s past – all of these could have been introduced by interweaving them to the overall story, and not by creating seemingly filler episodes. Episodes 7 onwards, however, resume the development of the overall story. But unlike the first three episodes of the show, they are not executed very well. The ideas presented don’t seem to be well thought-out, and the philosophical insights are a bit forced and cheesy. The dark atmosphere, too, has almost been completely removed. The video effects, eerie soundtracks, and blood, are not as well-executed as the earlier episodes. In the later episodes, there are also hints that everything will turn out worse for the protagonists, but the last episodes just don’t deliver and everything actually turns out to be a happily ever after. The ending would have been fine if it wasn’t suggested in the later episodes that the worst is going down, but I guess that’s the writers’ way of catching the viewers off-guard by giving them the opposite of what they have suggested. As for the characters, they are not that complicated. But each has its own unique characteristics and opinions that, sometimes, these opinions could even make them clash against each other -- which is always interesting. If there is something I don’t like about the characters, that’s their design. The art style, in general, is not of my taste. It is too funky, and it doesn’t suit the story at all. It is obvious that the creators are trying to create a contradiction between the dark story and the cute art style, but I think it’s not done well. Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou, more commonly known as Daybreak Illusion, holds such a promising start. It is just too bad that it hasn’t been able to keep it up until the end. It just went downhill from episode 4. Its attempt on adding a twist in the Mahou Shoujo subgenre is interesting, but I can’t help but think that it’s trying too hard to make it big like Madoka Magica. Overall, I still enjoyed this anime. But I could’ve enjoyed it more if the quality of the first episodes have been the quality of the later episodes.