Pet

This is likely one of the best psychological anime in a while. The drama and the suspense built for that moment. The same exact scene used over and over again for the final build-up at the last scene of the anime. The story is extremely intriguing making you want to know what exactly happens next. The drama behind the characters how they are all intertwined, how they are in the end the story would end up for them. This is exactly how a high octane thriller drama would be good. The ending of the anime cannot be guessed and that the story and suspense keep building up for the incredible finale that truly made me impressed by Geno Studio. Coupled with such an insane opening and ending by TK, impressive character development with very in-depth traits, exemplary and seamless art. Truly a breathtaking anime of this season. 9/10

When I saw the previews for this anime at the beginning of the year I got SUPER HYPED to watch this! For some reason I was expecting something like Bungo Stray Dogs... man this anime is the EXACT OPPOSITE! This is why you should always go into anime's without having any expectations. Let's get down to the anime basic. Story; You follow the partners Hiroki and Tsukasa working odd jobs for the "Company". Hiroki no longer wants to work for the "Company" that decides what to do with his life, so Tsukasa lets him open up a shop and work for himself. Little did they know this would screw things up for the both of them. Hiroki becomes depressed without his Peak giver and Tsukasa ends up damaging himself in his own way. That's what I got from the story. Till the very end, everything revolved around these two making stupid ass mistakes. Art; the stye for this anime was beautiful. The inside of everyone's Peaks, minds and what I'd like to call the deepest/darkest parts of their minds HELL looked amazing. Sound; You can't go wrong with a little TK <3 the whisper of his voice gives me goose bumps and chills. Characters; They didn't really build up the characters backgrounds till the end of the anime, but one thing they made me feel was sorry for every single one of them. This anime just reminds me to never touch the human mind and memories if i'm ever given the chance. Overall, it was an anime worth watching. I wasn't expecting a Psychological anime, but man did this mess me up. I really want to know what Satoru and Hiroki end up doing, so I might pick up the manga to find out.

Geno never fails to make me happy with their projects. Kokkoku, Golden Kamuy and Pet are masterpieces. Each anime has different stories but gives this similar dark vibe. Now about Pet, when I watched the trailer on Youtube I thought to myself "this looks so cool, I'm definitely going to watch this" and surprise surprise Pet didn't disappoint me. But I must say the first episode was kinda confusing so I didn't catch the story at first but it became clear to me when I watched episode two. I don't want to spoil everything but one thing I can tell you is Pet won't disappoint you. Everything about this anime is perfect, the story, the art, the opening (it's my boy Tk from ling tosite sigure) and the ending. I know everyone has their own preferences but please don't let this masterpiece go unnoticed. Anyway if you have nothing to watch, you should watch this anime. Highly recommended.

I may be biased. As I watched this anime I got the feeling that the author was trying to come up with an anime based on lower spectrum autism, and having a child in the spectrum myself, I honestly loved it. So hear me out on this autism metaphor. The premise of this show is that there are gifted people who cannot make memories of their own because they are unable to separate the emotional turmoil in their head. Once they are given the tools to do so, however, they unlock, what I can only call psychic powers. So, even though it hit a soft spot for me, I have to be real. The execution of the story is a bit sloppy so that unless you are taking notes you might get lost. The animation is honestly holding this anime back. I also think, for a psychological drama, it has too many characters which means none get to fully shine. I would still recommend this anime for people to watch. It has an original concept and that is something anime sorely needs.

6 - I liked it. Didn't regret watching, but probably wouldn't watch a 2nd time if nostalgia bias didn't exist. Probably had a good message, was a guilty pleasure, or the story was solid. The last three episodes of this anime was definitely a roller coaster, and in a good way, too. It makes me hope that the story will continue if it finished that strong. That's as far as I'll go with spoilers. The previous 10 episodes were kind of just okay though. So I do have more praise for this anime than I do nitpicking. I have to remind myself that a 6 isn't necessarily bad. The difference between a 6 and a 7 is "Do I want to watch this for a second time?" and the answer here is no. I'd like to see if the story continues, but I feel like I got it the first time, and that's good enough for me. So what do I start with? The good or the bad? Well, the OP is by TK from whatever the hell band, so that's a plus. The world this anime is set in is also interesting. The idea of an evil company using people to alter people's memories and kill them. It's something different, at least to me. So the originality is basically solid is what I'm saying. It's a mystery story, and the story unravels very slowly. That may be a knock because it took me until around episode 7 or 8 to really get invested into the story. By then the climax was already in place, and it really took me for a ride. There are twists! And good twists as well! Not like, "oh, so this was the real enemy!" but like, "Ok! I didn't expect that." And yes, it was mainly near the end of the anime. But it was effective in wanting you to see what will end up happening. I enjoy that none of the characters are really idiots. They make wrong choices in the sense that they thought what they were doing was right or necessary, but each character is highly intelligent and perceptive. When you have a bunch of characters that are put against each other that are smart, it creates an atmosphere of curiosity. Who is going to outsmart who? Who is going to come out on top? I didn't predict the ending this anime had, and that's good. Being able to listen to a characters inner thoughts while they're interreacting with another person was well done. So why would I watch it for a second time? It just didn't capitate me like that. The story was solid, animation was solid, but it didn't blow me away. I'm not coming out of this anime thinking, "wow episode 4-7 was awesome!" I can only say that for a few episodes, and even then I may be gassing some of those up. It's solid. That's all I can say. But would I want to watch this again with future wifey? Nah, I'm not wasting her time. And that's where I stand on this being a 6. It's fine, but it aint that good.

After finishing Pet, I would definitely say that I had a pretty good experience watching the show, and even though in the beginning I was more apprehensive about where it would go, I had always felt that it would end well. I quite enjoyed all of the story by the end, and I also think that the ideas behind the show are quite interesting. At about episode 5, or 6 I felt like I fully understood most of the rules and terminology in the show when talking about things like peaks, valleys, doors, and locks, and around that episode mark is when the larger picture of what is happening and has happened to our main characters comes into play. At that point I would also say the show becomes more enjoyable because we learn more about the world and characters and how their pasts affect the present. Even though there will not be a season two most likely due to the fact that the manga has been done since 2003, it is unlikely any new material will be made by the author, but if more is made, it would be pretty easy to continue the story based on the ending of the first season. In conclusion, I'm sure this anime is not for everyone, and after looking at the reviews on MAL it's a bit sad that its rated that low, but I would say for someone who likes mind-bending stories with inception like qualities and some mystery, this would be a great show for you.

don't be misled by the first two episodes because it is after that, when it starts getting crazy. THE TWISTS WERE JAW DROPPING CRAZY and last episode mwah. the ending was so well written, it's one of those anime that give you that hollow sad empty feeling at the end however you describe it (in a good way idk TT) although it wasn't the ending I personally wanted, it was waaaaaay better in terms of entertainment. but all that aside the last episodes were just jksdjfkdjfd WATCH IT just give it a chance it starts getting really good as the plot progresses, the first story was nothing.

On the surface level, everything about PET will drive most audiences off: the subpar character design, the mediocre animations and horrible mixings and sounds designs. As for voice acting, the Japanese side is decent, but considering large chunks of the dialogues are spoken in Mandarin by non-Chinese people... It's very bad for anyone who speaks the language like myself. With all that, I am confident to say that if you like good drama and usually look for good stories in anime. Then you own it to yourself to ignore the downsides and watch this anime. Because it has the best story of anything from 2020, by far. The unique relationships between characters are defined by their special powers, creating conflicts impossible in any other stories. With the setting and supernatural abilities acting as a metaphor for the message the anime is trying to convey: what drives a person to continue living? That question being challenged time and time again throughout the story and ultimately elevated to another level by the end. Enough has been said about studio geno and their inadequacies. Yet I can't but feel respect towards them. They could be adapting shitty light novels like every other company in their calibre, yet they choose to not do that. If it wasn't for studios like this, most would have forgotten niche stories from 10, 20 years ago like PET. I think there is something quite commendable and even romantic about it, preserving stories that should not be forgotten with time. Sometimes, before we talk about how good something is, we should talk about how many of its kinds are left. Lastly, I would like to talk about my interpretations of what the writer is trying to tell us. Full spoilers ahead, only proceed when you have completed the series. In my opinion, peaks represent a person's drive and motivation. Since pets borrow theirs from someone else, you can say their will to live is based on someone else. Tsukasa did all the shitty things because of that dependency on Hayashi. When he lost that connection, he lost his drive to live and did everything he could to re-establish that bond. I think that's the reason for Satoru and Hiroki finding out where Hayashi's peaks came from. Even though their peaks will still look the same, they have a different meaning now. Theirs are no long borrowed from someone else's but are their own now. Unlike Tsukasa, they no longer live for someone else but are their own person now. Unlike characters in the anime, we don't have superpowers and our peaks are not as well visualized and defined. What we do have are motivations and reasons that drives us forward. Things that we live for. We can be like Tsukasa, borrowing others' peaks and dreams. In other words, living for someone else's sake. Eventually, when you have to be separated from that person, you will have nothing to protect you from all the valleys in your heart and the world. Eventually, we will have to develop our own peaks and live for our own sake.

Think Inception meets Great Pretender, specifically the arc with the Chinese mafia. There are a lot of interesting ideas in this, and parts of the setting are rare for a Japanese Anime. I think that’s commendable. I’m writing this short review, because Pet is still living rent free in my head to this day. That means I watched it when it was airing and don’t remember all the details. So I won’t go into those and instead tell you of the things that have stuck in my mind for years. The ED alone was worth sitting through 20 minutes of Anime each week, but I’m weird like that. And while the accompanying visuals aren’t great, those bits of the characters with pained expressions together with the music left quite an impression on me. Another thing that really struck me was at the very end, when the characters who made it through everything, suddenly reached SOMETHING and realized that surely there was a point to EVERYTHING. Because that something seems to say ‘Yes’, even if you don’t immediately know what it is saying that about or to whom. The audiovisual experience of this show gets a pass from me. They are not the point here. The story and the ideas in this show make it worth it. That’s my score: Worth it. There is definitely a point to all of this and it is worth it. And now you too have found a ‘Yes’ in an unlikely place.

The story should not always be about the powers, but about how those powers are used in a real context. I love the concept for the story, a mature exploration in subtle powers used for the wrong reasons. Akin to Inception, this is a story that explores memories with certain abilities, here they're only acquired by neurodivergent people. The cast is full of people that understandably have sensitive outlooks and personalities, leaning into how unpredictable they can be with powers. The debates on how to deal with them, the leash cast on them since the beginning of their consciousness in life, it's really tragic. If you work with people that can change memories, how can you even be sure yours are your own? A change in the script can change who you are completely, who you cherish, who you love or hate, even hobbies. All this, led by people who can't think for themselves, but don't want to do wrong things. One of the most amazing aspects of the show being how they never tell you how mentally challenged somebody is, "show don't tell" is respected to the highest degree. The aspect that sadly doesn't particularly work are the powers. With such a broad landscape such as memories; being able to change them needs rules for the audience. The people in the story pull out the most out of nowhere abilities that change everything without even batting an eye. We are in the biggest crisis, and somehow, a character wins using something the audience would never imagine could be possible. Some other elements are properly set up and explored as achievable, and I applaud those, but this clearly showed how certain parts had more care than others put into them. It was a character drama done very well, with scheming, betrayals, constantly intense, only powers and music choices being the only flimsy elements from time to time. The animation was pretty damn amazing, with some of my favorite visuals when exploring abstract landscapes without being overbearing. Colors, realistic character designs and a mature story made this something to be remembered. Not many people talk about this show at all; not even the reviews are watched. Underwatched, but at least not underrated. 8.2/10, only hard part is remembering the names consistently, since the anime constantly barrages with he said, they said.

Well how to put this. I did drop PET before for few months because the first 5 eps were so hard to cling on for me, and I understand some who’ve dropped and the rating is also bad. Then, last week, I decided to finish it because I was bored, and boy, I regretted for not finishing it. This show is all about shitty people who runs a company on their demanding and basically interfered other people into their shitty acts aswell. As I take it as this anime is serious, it really does blow my mind for the last few eps. I can’t take my eyes of the screen, because it’s so good. I recommend to watch this, a solid 8/10 if you are into new type of anime that is dark, cruel, twist and most characters were very unlikable at first. That’s basically it for me, gonna rewatch it again.

It's like what would happen if you put the Uchiha's sharingan illusion ability in a modern era. I was kinda bored in the beginning it gradually got good as the story picked up. It kinda started like "Boom, you're immediately in the story" without explanation and as you go along with this mystery, the story slowly uncovers information little by little, never i noticed that i was already hooked. Not that I'm complaining, but i kinda wish there was something more to the story that could've been done to make it more polished, cuz it kinda reminded me of Link Click. There's not much action in this anime because it's story and character-heavy, but i was curious how would they go about the fighting and it was okay, nothing grand or anything. The characters are great, it's really nice when they dive deep into the characters backstory because it ties into how they've curated their powers to match each of them. I hope there's season 2 because there's still more room to explore other uses of the powers.

I usually decline to either rate or review, but this series doesn’t deserve this measly score. The biggest contributing factor to a rating for me personally is plot. Pet is pretty interesting, though this is one of the rare times I think they should have gone more into it. It had the potential to be a more episodic/arc-type of show what with the interesting premise. Just seems like a waste. Pretty sure it’s because the souce material’s only 55 chapters, so that’s what I’m referring to - if only the mangaka had written/drawn more. What Pet covers in its 13 episodes is typically the overarching mystery revelation in other much longer series. It starts off seeming episodic but it turns out that’s just for you to understand the story. It’s interesting but also not difficult to understand. Some reviewers mentioned a weak start, and I’d say follow their advice and stick it out for at least…3 episodes? Before deciding. I didn’t feel that way since I’d read the first 20 chapters (the rest aren’t translated, afaik) so it was an easy show for me to pick up. That said, while the plot gets better, some things remain the same. The characters are honestly not very likeable (and that’s fine), and frankly this adaptation is not amazing. I think the pacing probably follows that of the manga, but this production quality doesn’t quite match up to its era (2020 release). I’d have put it as a much earlier work really. That said, it’s not terrible, or even unpleasant. Just kinda lacklustre. Not a huge fan of the ending. For me, that’s the weak part of the plot. Characters-wise, it’s actually decent characterisation I think, considering this adaptation is literally the entire manga. Pity about Katsuragi though, I do think he would have been an interesting character to develop further, but he’s more of a side character I guess. For those of you who understand Chinese - yes, this series does a fine job of incorporating it as much as possible and completely butchering it. It was really, really painful to sit through but oh well. I guess it’s…the source material…though I do wish they had gone about it in a different way. Man. That was terrible. And for some reason the dialogue seemed really strange to me. Not the content but the sound/audio. I noticed it in the first few episodes and it kind of threw me off because ordinarily I don’t notice such things. Can’t quite put my finger on why, though. It’s an adequate adaptation, I think, of a manga that originally had a pretty interesting plot. Too short, could have milked more out of this premise, but this will do. Hence the 7. I don’t think it deserves anything below that, especially not in comparison to other series on this site.

Amazing. The first episode was straight up confusing at first but a great way to show you how this world works in this anime. The second episode finally shows us our 2 main character (though, everyone is important)- and even this episode is simply confusing but at the same time giving us the facts we need to know about the characters. Overall, I was a big fan of all the characters- even the antagonist- or what seem to be. Sound was amazing and dramatic. They know what they're doing. The art style was a bit sloppy at times but I honestly didn't mind much because the story is amazing and at some times I was too shocked anyway with the current situation to even care. You like psycho-like genres with thoughtful character? Then you will like this.

Short review: (minor spoilers regarding the general direction of the story) I did not expect this show to literally wow me, but wow, what a show. I've seen some movies about hypnotizing before, but overall not very fond of the genre, for this type of story can become too contrived and stale really fast. Plus, there's always something extra morbid and dehumanizing about manipulating a person's mind for evil purposes. In that regard, Pet the anime is somewhat uncomfortable to watch for me, but still compelling enough for me to finish in one sitting. What worked for me here are relentless pace and suspense, dynamic and imaginative illustration of mind worlds, and most importantly, a deeply human and conscientious core personified by the compassionate master. Even if you are baffled and a little confused by all the nitty-gritties and jargons of the hypnotizing/mind manipulation, just follow the characters who struggle for their humanity, dignity and freedom, and you won't be lost in this complex story. The show can be too dark and disturbing even for jaded audiences as we see the brutal consequences of hypnotizing (especially the technique called "destroying" which melts a person's mind into a pile of goo and turns that person into a vegetable). The mere suggestion that an elite group of hypnotizers might exist out there in the real world can make your hair stand. The brutality in Pet is very heavy-handed and can potentially be nightmare fuel. That is my main complaint with the show. Other than that, some obsolete depictions of overseas Chinese can also be problematic and even offensive (e.g. Chinese characters mostly having distinctive kinky eyes, ladies always wearing cheongsam, etc.). I am not too offended here, but still, in reality the vast majority of overseas Chinese don't look or dress like that. I am very impressed by the show, and would recommend it to fans of psychological thrillers. Still, prepare an iron stomach for this show.