Leviathan

To get it across nice and quick. Should you watch this? Yeah Give it a shot. Animation is pretty. Sharp is really charming. World is interesting enough. Most of the "issues" with this show come from the source material that being a young adult book. Melodramatic, world building isn't super deep, story plot points you can see coming from miles away and themes being whatever. But those don't break it or drag it down, just make it less then exceptional. Something notable about this is the animation and mechanics of piloting the storm walker as something genuinely stunning. Getting a understand how this machine works and in how short of a time it's done is an achievement. That's all.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic — and just as dangerous." — Arthur C. Clarke. A brief preface: I haven't read the trilogy, so to a large extent, though not entirely, my assessment will be not as a reader, but as an ordinary viewer, which I'm sure most of us are. In 2009, American writer Scott Westerfeld wrote the first book of the trilogy of the same name, entitled Leviathan, which takes place in an alternate version of World War I. The book tells the story of the hostility between two sides: Darwinists and Mechanists. Two more books were released, continuing the story. The trilogy itself was very popular with many readers, receiving various awards at the time, such as the Aurealis Award, and now, in 2024, Netflix has announced an entire anime series, which, to everyone's disappointment, consists of 12 episodes and adapts LITERALLY THREE BOOKS. Peter Jackson, with his Lord of the Rings trilogy, couldn't have dreamed of such a thing even in his worst nightmares... As I said, the plot covers the events of World War I taking place in an alternate universe where the coalitions we know have been replaced by two warring factions: the Darwinists and the Mechanists: Darwinists (the British Empire and its allies) are people who use biological technologies (biopunk) developed with the help of Darwin. Mechanists (Austria-Hungary, Germany, and their allies) are people who use advanced mechanisms and technologies based on steam engines (steampunk). These are two completely different ideologies, with their own views on the concept of "technological progress," a kind of enmity between those who extol the machine revolution and those who extol nature as a gift and an inexhaustible resource. But how is this enmity portrayed in the series? In a completely childish way, that is, it is not portrayed at all. Battles are decided in a fraction of a second with seemingly meaningless actions. Critics themselves presented the Leviathan trilogy as "a mixture for young people," but the adaptation itself raises questions without providing answers, apparently considering "young people" to be fools. The only explanation for the ideological confrontation is "we think they are bad, and their technology is nonsense," without any philosophy or analysis. The war itself is shown through roughly the same prism: nothing happens in it, all the characters tread water and invent problems out of thin air. But what does the entire viewing time of the series consist of? Battles and drama. The main characters of this work are two characters, Alexander and Derin, each of whom belongs to a certain side, apparently for the convenience of the author in showing the life and character of each of the warring coalitions? No. Each of these characters has their own story. Alexander is the direct heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, who lost his parents and is on the run, while Derin is a girl who lost her father and, in order to join the army, cut her hair short and began to pretend to be a boy. At first, in the early episodes, a lot of attention was paid to character development. Alexander resisted the burden placed on his shoulders, and Derin skillfully used her voice and underwent military training, but everything went awry when the characters came face to face, and too much screen time was devoted to their relationship. Yes, of course, this is important because the characters are truly opposed to each other, and this is excellent ground for ideological disputes, but, as I mentioned earlier, this was not given attention, and their motivations became unclear. As for the secondary characters, they are empty shells created for the masses and to advance the plot. One reader noted: "Perhaps one of the main advantages of the novel is its vivid descriptions of unusual creatures and mechanisms," which we hardly see in the anime adaptation. Of course, we are given a good visual representation of the technologies on both sides, but the principle behind how they work remains behind the scenes. The mechanics' technology is just a pile of iron that somehow works with a steam engine, but when it comes to the Darwinists, things are much more interesting. To understand the biologists' technology, we need to turn to Leviathan itself. What is it? The biblical Leviathan from our world is a sea monster, a symbol of chaos and untamed power. In Leviathan itself, it is also a sea monster, a whale raised into the sky with the help of biotechnology. Its engines are huge jellyfish that emit hydrogen, and inside the whale itself are beehives, which are fermented by bacteria, causing the whale to fart and emit hydrogen again. Science fiction is one of the genres of the work, and yet it is really funny. Looking at all the flaws, it's worth mentioning the pros, and that's obviously the animation. When Netflix announced the adaptation, it was revealed that Orange, known for spectacular 3D works such as Beastars and Trigun Stampede, would be the studio behind it. Therefore, I think no one had any doubts that the picture would turn out to be truly colorful, and that's how it turned out. The technology is shown in detail, the characters have their own style, and their emotions and movements are well portrayed. The low frame rate will, of course, seem overly "eye-searing" to some, but this is common for 3D anime, especially if you have seen other works. The Hollywood standard of 24 frames per second is unacceptable for Japanese animation, where the frame rate is deliberately reduced for both 2D and 3D animation. If we compare people's reviews of the book trilogy and the ratings of the anime show, we can come to a simple conclusion: the adaptation did not do its job well. If the book received good reviews, then the adaptation seems like some kind of unfinished experiment. Its main problem lies precisely in the timing, in which it is impossible to combine the abundance of dialogue/scenes with a competent disclosure of the characters and the war in which they find themselves. The production team bet on spectacle, but they lost that bet. Even the Harry Potter film universe cut out a lot of material, which they want to compensate for with the release of the series, but here the creators decided to cram a huge number of pages into a mere 12 episodes, very clever. Read the books, friends. Maybe someday I'll start reading books instead of watching adaptations like this.

There’s a version of Leviathan that could have changed the game. A sweeping, emotionally rich, genre-blending epic that dared to reimagine WWI with bioengineered creatures, mechanical walkers, gender disguise, class divides, and the fragile power of trust in the midst of chaos. This anime, however, is not that version. And I’m not saying it’s bad. In fact, the first few episodes had me genuinely hopeful. It looks beautiful, genuinely, at times, breathtaking. Studio Orange absolutely delivers on the animation. The Leviathan ship, a living ecosystem in the sky, pulses and breathes with a haunting kind of majesty. The worldbuilding is lush in its design, even if the script never fully lets us sit with it. You feel the bones of a brilliant concept everywhere. You see it, you hear it (Joe Hisaishi on the score?? Hello??), and yet… you rarely feel it. This adaptation moves like it’s afraid you’ll get bored. It flies through major arcs, condensing a trilogy of books into twelve tight episodes. There’s no room to breathe, no real build-up to emotional payoffs. And the problem is, this world needed time. It’s a world of slow trust, of secrets unraveling, of relationships built under the weight of war. Deryn and Alek’s dynamic should’ve been a masterclass in tension and growth. And to some extent, it almost is. Deryn’s voice performance is especially strong: sharp, funny, grounded. I liked her immediately. She’s brave, clever, a little reckless, and infinitely more compelling than Alek, who unfortunately spends most of the show looking vaguely troubled and not much else. His internal conflict is just... stated, not explored. I also want to talk about what this adaptation left behind. Deryn’s queerness; her gender disguise, the way it complicates her identity, her fear of discovery, the slow shift in how she relates to Alek, is mostly surface-level here. The tension around her secret is barely touched. It’s treated like a narrative gimmick rather than the deeply personal, emotional thread it was in the novels. The war, too, is simplified to the point of being almost background noise. Where’s the horror? Where’s the moral ambiguity? We get moments of action, yes, but never the emotional cost of any of it. I don’t want to be too harsh. I think, for some viewers, Leviathan will be enjoyable in the way a beautifully illustrated fairytale is. It moves fast, it’s easy to digest, and it offers a unique aesthetic you don’t often see in anime. But for those of us who came in hoping for something deeper, it’s hard not to feel disappointed. It flattens everything that made the original story rich and daring. Instead of revolutionary, it plays safe. Instead of emotionally resonant, it skims. There are glimpses of greatness throughout. Glimpses that hurt more than they comfort, because they remind you of what could have been. By the end, I felt hollow. Not because the show was tragic, but because it hadn’t earned any of the emotions it tried to evoke. The romance felt unearned. The resolution was rushed. And while I appreciated the beauty of the visuals and the ambition of the concept, I just kept thinking: this deserved more. It deserved more episodes. More intimacy. More fear, more heartache, more fire. It deserved time. And so did we.

Leviathan is an anime adaptation of Scott Westerfield's book going by the same name. Is it a good adaptation? Yes, but it inches very closely to just being "fine". Firstly, do I recommend the anime or book more? The book 100%. This adaptation made a lot of changes which doesn't properly close some plot setups and character arcs. The novel has a more pleasing story by the end. Back to the anime. I think the story is pretty good, considering it does adapt most of the good plots from the source material. There is always a soft spot in my heart for historical fiction stories. We follow characters in a fictional World War 1 world, surrounded by "clankers(machinist)" and "darwinist(genetically enhanced creatures". It's a setting that definitely picks the interest of anyone who's into scifi. The main characters are likeable enough, with just enough story for you to support their adventure. My only issue is race-swapping one of the main character which doesn't enhance the plot at all. Next, the music for the opening and ending is pretty solid. Considering the great Hisaishi Joe worked on them in collaboration. The music to me is definitely one of the great parts of the show. Joe and company manage to to compose melodies that can trigger your emotions well. Lastly, the animation. This is a 3D animation with a 2D style made by Orange who made Beastars. Personally, I think the animation is good enough. There are certainly beautiful moments accross the series, and also awkward parts sprinkled in between. So far, 3D animation with 2D style still needs some more improving.

While I haven't seen Trigun Stampede yet, I have in the past found Orange's past anime to be rather poor. While I've found individual seasons of anime to be worse, Beastars is probably my least favorite anime as a series and Land of the Lustrous wasn't exactly great in my opinion either. So Leviathan was a mix of different emotions from me when I saw it in the seasonals. It was set during WW1, which was cool. It was by Orange, which I wasn't sure of. It's an adaptation of a trilogy of American YA novels which I found really... interesting (honestly, I'm surprised it's even ON MAL considering what got cut off but I'm not complaining). And it... it sure is American YA literature, huh? I'll admit, I was more of a Harry Potter and Percy Jackson kid growing up, so I'd never heard of these novels before but they just kinda REEK of YA. I think the biggest example to me is the FeMC Sharp's tendency to curse but, like, not really? She's always going "Get out of my barkin' way" or "blisters! I've been foiled!" and like I'm not saying I wanted her to be written with all these words replaced with fuck but God, it made me cringe so hard. It also has a pretty reductive view of WW1. Our Male MC is the Austro-Hungarian prince and our FeMC is a British airman and, for those who don't know their WW1 history, Austria-Hungary and Britain were on opposite sides of WW1. So who is the enemy? They kinda hit us with a surprise villain at the end but throughout (including after the surprise villain), Germany is treated as the villain. And this isn't WW2 Germany (which we'll get to in a second), it's WW1 Germany who was on pretty friendly terms with Austria-Hungary? After all, at least nominally, Germany only joined WW1 because Serbians assassinated the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (of course, there were a lot of simmering European tensions, blah blah blah, but, like, that was the match that lit the fuse). God forbid my YA novel has historical inaccuracies in it but it felt unnecessarily reductive just so we can get back to Da Germans being the main antagonists. And what's worse is it's not even a specific German or anything, it's just The Germans as a nation so there's no real antagonist for most of the show. Even when they do a detour so the MC can join a revolution in the Ottoman Empire against the Sultan, we barely see the Sultan and it's just another antagonistic invisible force (supported by, you guessed it, the Germans). It just makes it seem like a stock standard "world tour" YA adventure thing. What's more is I don't really understand the conflict? Like, I know why WW1 happened irl but the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, etc.) are "Clankers" and have giant metal robot contraptions while the Allied Powers (Britain, Serbia, etc.) are "Darwinists" and have mutant animal freaks that they specifically bred to be weapons/tools of war. And somehow the people with robots are the bad guys? I feel like the Allied Powers should've been the Clankers because it just seems weird to me that the people making biological weapons of war are the good guys. Like, that whale (the titular Leviathan) must be in hell, dude. Was it supposed to be some commentary on relying on nature over machinery? You're just combining machinery with nature to bastardize natural creatures. If you have seen an Orange show, you likely know what the animation looks like. For better or for worse, that's what it is. It looked choppy and unappealing to me but considering the giant (and smaller) animals involved, it is what it is. They have a constant theme (as in a musical piece) and I thought it wasn't all that great but the rest of the music was fine. Serviceable. The OP and ED are not very good. the OP in particular felt more like a skippable TV show and less like a proper anime opening like Beastars/Land of the Lustrous/Trigun Stampede, which was a shame. The characters are also pretty one-dimensional. Alek is "prince who cares about ~the commoners~" Sharp is "woman who wants to do thing women are banned from doing so she hides herself as a man" and I'm sure you can figure out what her personality is from there. We've got the kindly and stricter tutors/servants of Alek There's a woman scientist who they shove into Charles Darwin's family so it's all Cool and they're Actually Part of History There's a Turkish grandma who is very wise There's a Turkish revolutionary who is lesbian and really only serves as fodder for Alek/Sharp's romance outside of the little revolution sidequest There are a few British airmen in Leviathan alongside Sharp. None of them really matter as characters. They introduce a character in the last couple episodes who ackshully has this really powerful weapon and they gotta go stop him. He wants to use his weapon to stop all wars and yup... It could be interesting if 1. this weren't a YA novel that wraps up tidily and 2. he weren't introduced in the last couple episodes. Speaking of which, to me, this felt like an elephant in the room... They just kind of end on America entering WW1 with the implied end of WW1 incoming which whatever, but it never really answers what's next. Because in real life, Austria-Hungary basically split and dissolved into portions. Now, because in Leviathan world, apparently Alek is ackshully in the royal line (because irl, Franz Ferdinand's kids weren't in succession because of his marriage being morganatic aka his wife was of low nobility and not of any dynasty), HE would become the ruler after Franz Joseph I died. Which sure, okay, whatever, that's not my contention, God forbid they didn't go into the intricacies of Austria-Hungary's potential dissolution in my YA novel. My problem is, going back to WW2 Germany... does Adolf Hitler still exist in this timeline? Both Austria and Hungary were taken over by the Nazis and maybe I'm asking too much here but I don't think it's that hard to show him and Sharp living happily ever after or meeting 30 years later or something because it's very likely that Hitler probably had Alek shot or something. It's not anything to take points from over but, like, I figured for my own peace of mind, I had to put it out there. I sound pretty negative in this review and... um... yeah, it wasn't all that great. That being said, I was entertained, it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Apparently the entire trilogy (according to Wikipedia) is 1475 pages long. I was going to make a comment about how I don't know if they could adapt that many pages in 12 episodes but reading Goliath (the last of the 3 books)'s plot, it seems like they did have to change a lot to fit the constraints of a cour-long anime. Which, fair enough, I guess. I found the animation to be kind of grating, the characters one-dimensional, and the story shallow. I guess it's not bad enough to not be unwatchable but really, it's a kind of show you have to have some sort of interest in the background material (for example, if this wasn't about WW1, I likely wouldn't have watched it at all) to get anything out of.

What really pulls you into Leviathan right away is its wild, alternate-history setting. It's 1914, right before World War I, but instead of just trenches and rifles, the world is split into two sides with totally different worldviews. The "Clankers" (aka the Central Powers) run on massive steam-powered machines—think walking tanks and clunky metal beasts—while the "Darwinists" (basically the Allies) fight with living, bio-engineered animals. Yeah, giant flying whales and messenger lizards are totally normal here. It’s this clash between metal and muscle, machine and organism, that gives the world so much style and personality. The show wastes no time showing off these two sides with flair—the towering Stormwalker mechs, the sleek, organic airship HMS Leviathan—it’s all bold, imaginative, and weirdly believable. The tech and world-building aren’t just cool set dressing either—they fuel the ideological tension and give the story its pulse. The story kicks off with two very different leads: Alek, a runaway prince on the run after his parents are assassinated, and Deryn, a sharp and stubborn Scottish girl pretending to be a boy so she can join the British Air Service. Their lives crash together—literally—aboard the Leviathan, and that’s where things really take off. The plot moves fast. We get Alek’s escape and Deryn’s secret enlistment right out the gate, which makes the early episodes feel tight and focused. Once they meet, the show leans into their differences—privileged vs. working-class, Clanker vs. Darwinist—and uses that tension to build a surprisingly sweet partnership in the middle of a war-torn Europe. But here’s the catch: this anime adapts all three books of the original trilogy into just 12 episodes. That’s a lot of story crammed into not a lot of time. So while it does manage to tell a full arc, it definitely comes at a cost. Big events happen quickly, political complexities get glossed over, and deeper character moments sometimes feel like they’re just rushing to the next scene. Historical figures like Nikola Tesla show up with cool ideas but not always enough weight. Basically, the pacing keeps things exciting, but you’ll sometimes wish it had room to breathe. Alek starts off as your classic royal-in-over-his-head—sheltered, clueless, and kind of annoying at first. But that’s part of the point. His journey is all about being yanked out of his palace bubble and learning how to survive in a world that doesn’t care about his title. It takes a while for him to grow on you, but once he starts facing real danger and moral choices, his arc becomes way more compelling. Deryn, on the other hand, steals the spotlight early. She’s gutsy, smart, and totally at home bluffing her way through military life while hiding the fact that she’s actually a girl. Her secret adds tension to nearly every scene, especially as her relationship with Alek deepens. Their dynamic—part friendship, part rivalry, part will-they-won’t-they—is the emotional anchor of the whole series. As for the rest of the crew, characters like Count Volger (Alek’s grumpy guardian) and Dr. Barlow (a sharp, eccentric Darwinist scientist) do a solid job pushing the plot along and mentoring the leads. But with so much story crammed into 12 episodes, a lot of the side characters get shortchanged. They mostly exist to explain things or move the plot forward, without much time to explore their own stories or inner lives. You get the sense there’s more to them, but the show rarely slows down enough to show it. Studio Orange brings their signature CGI flair to Leviathan, and it honestly looks great most of the time. From clanking mechs stomping through forests to massive flying whales gliding through the sky, the animation is sleek, smooth, and full of spectacle. The designs—based on the original book illustrations by Keith Thompson—really pop on screen. Whether it's the intricate gears of a Stormwalker or the glowing tendrils of a jellyfish-inspired airship, there's always something cool to look at. One of the show’s biggest visual strengths is how it balances the mechanical and the organic. The Clanker machines feel heavy and grounded, while the Darwinist creatures move with this weird, graceful fluidity. The aerial battles in particular are a treat—chaotic, layered, and full of scale. Even the character designs strike a nice balance between anime style and a more Western-cartoon vibe, giving the show a bit of visual uniqueness. That said, it’s not perfect. Like in some of Orange’s other work, the world can feel kind of... empty. There’s all this cool stuff happening, but sometimes it lacks that extra background noise or small visual clutter that makes a place feel truly alive. And while the CGI does a solid job overall, it doesn’t always nail the quieter moments—especially facial expressions. Subtle emotions can feel a bit stiff, making some character beats less impactful than they could’ve been with traditional 2D animation. Still, it’s a strong visual experience that plays to the show’s big, bold world. The soundscape of Leviathan is one of its secret weapons. The score, composed by Nobuko Toda and Kazuma Jinnouchi, packs a real cinematic punch—sweeping when it needs to be, subtle when things get emotional. And then there’s Joe Hisaishi, whose original pieces (especially the opening theme “Paths Combine”) bring that classic, heart-tugging magic. His music gives the series an extra layer of emotional depth that lingers even after the episode ends. The sound effects are just as solid. Every Clanker mech groans and rattles like it weighs a ton, while the Darwinist creatures have these eerie, organic sounds that make them feel alive. From flapping wings to mechanical stomps, the audio does a great job grounding the fantastical world in something that feels real. Voice acting-wise, both the Japanese and English dubs get the job done well. The performances feel sincere, and both casts bring out the quirks and tensions between characters. That said, there are a few moments—especially with the German names and military jargon—where the pronunciation can be a little shaky, but it’s more of a minor bump than a deal-breaker. Overall, the audio side of Leviathan does a great job pulling you deeper into its world. Leviathan touches on some pretty heavy stuff—war, class divides, identity, and the clash between tech and nature. The whole fight between Clankers and Darwinists feels like a stand-in for the real tensions behind World War I, showing how different ideologies can tear people apart. But the anime sometimes keeps it pretty simple, leaning more toward “can’t we all just get along?” rather than diving into the messy, complicated politics behind the war. Deryn’s whole “pretending to be Dylan” thing is a cool way to explore gender and society’s expectations, but with everything moving so fast, the show doesn’t always get to fully explore how deep and personal that struggle really is. And then there’s the big question of science vs. nature—the classic debate between machines and biology. The show nails the visuals here, but it only skims the surface when it comes to the ethical questions and what those paths might mean for the future. It’s there, just not as deep or as thoughtful as it could be. Leviathan is definitely a feast for the eyes. Studio Orange nails the CGI, making the clash between steam-powered machines and bio-engineered beasts super exciting to watch. The music adds that extra emotional kick, too, really pulling you into this wild, alternate history world Scott Westerfeld created. That said, packing three hefty novels into just 12 episodes means things move at a breakneck pace. Because of that, character moments and deeper themes often get squeezed out or feel rushed. The show hits the main plot beats, but it sometimes sacrifices the emotional weight and world-building that made the books so rich. If you’re new to the story, Leviathan offers a cool, steampunk adventure…

As someone who adored the Leviathan trilogy during my highschool days and was such a fan to the point I made original characters in my head based on the series... I can't help but find myself disappointed in this adaption. I was so gob smacked to begin with to hear that it was getting an anime adaption of all things! It was exciting but my expectations were tempered considering the medium which would be using CGI over the many hand-drawn illustrations that filled that pages of these books. That and... 12 episodes wasn't a whole lot of space for adapting 3 whole books! Sure enough, the story felt incredibly rushed. What could have been an opportunity to expand the world of Leviathan was instead turned minuscule into this short series left with little to no room to breathe. We get no insights onto what the characters are thinking. People come and go with little fanfare, no reason to stick to them, very little explanation if any. There are characters from the book who die that shouldn't have, while there are characters who live who shouldn't have. Worst offense of all is the complete and utter change around the whole of the third book's adaption... and ESPECIALLY the ending. Everything that happens in the last 4 episodes may as well be to complete opposite as to what is supposed to play out. But I can at least assure that the first book was close to adapted perfectly ignoring all the missing content and slight changes. Character wise, Deryn overreacts a /lot/. The main characters are supposed to have inner dialogues that add to their actions but there is no such dialogue in the anime. Instead you'll see Deryn fly into a fit over almost anything! Like turning a switch in an instant and it makes no sense. Constantly combative, constantly making themselves out to be an arse when they're not supposed to be that way. Tomboyish, yes, but the dial was turned up to 100 in making it obvious she was an over-reactive girl in disguise when it shouldn't have been. Alek remained somewhat close to his original depiction, but he should have been a lot more emotional. He's a kid being put through the ringer but he's constantly wearing a tidy grown up suit even after losing everything. There's plenty of other changes I could get into (Looking at the loris who suddenly can't talk), but it should give the idea that the adaption just wasn't as good as it could have been and missing out on a lot. Despite my wariness to the CGI, I believe the studio did the best they could with what they had, because there were certainly times I couldn't tell it was 3D and it looks so good for what it was. A bit basic at times, but they put a lot of effort into the war mechs and battle beasties. I can't completely say that it's an awful adaption... and quite frankly, with the way it ended, it almost opens the series up for more? It's an anime only ending that's for certain. So long as you don't know the book's original content like I do, other viewers might find some worth in this series despite the rushed pace. It could even bring attention to the trilogy once more for whatever future Scott Westerfeld has for it. Regardless, I highly recommend reading the trilogy for yourself. If not for the story, then definitely the art and illustrations that were masterfully crafted every other page. I can't personally recommend this anime to friends or others in the community, but I like the idea of the anime at least introducing the author and ideas to their work.

I wasn't really planning to write a review but my consciousness leaves me no other choice... First i wanted to give this anime solid 8... After few episodes I was rather thinking about 6... Then after finalle i decided on 3... Why? Well the world itself is great. The idea is very nice, the world with robo and nature fraction gives many possibilities. The problem is flying whale that seems to be zombie to be honest since its empty inside. The problem are birds/bats that carry grenade like sized bombs that sinks battleships. The problem is living calculator with size close to squirrel that understands complicated mathematic formulas and of course the scientist understands it by looking at multicolor lights on its back... The problem are main characters that acts with naivety and lack of basic logic and of course they succeed. This lack od logic and good character development hit me so hard that i was fighting to watch this BS to the end. This could be great anime but got wasted.

I really like this show XD Preface: I did not read the books, but my brother did. I watched it with him and made sure to ask him about the adaptation decisions, so I have a decent understanding of what's happening there. First off, this show is freaking gorgeous. 🤩 There are so many beautiful displays on the screen that were just BEGGING to be screenshotted. The art team did a phenomenal job creating the wonderful atmospheres and settings for this show. The animation is impressive. Studio Orange may be a CGI studio, but they are THE CGI studio. They're the studio that was founded by a man that wanted to prove to the world that CGI can look just as good, if not better than, 2D animation. Leviathan's animation does some things that are truly amazing. I'd watch the stand out mecha fights then just sit with my mouth open basking in the awesomeness of the moment. You can really feel it when a mech gets SMASHED by a giant bullet or when it LEAPS over the top of another mech. It was so cool. There's also some seriously good animation in a few sword fighting scenes. The characters will have little fencing matches that are animated with lots of grace and fluidity. The movements were mesmerizing. I liked how realistic the fencing stances and footwork was. The characters shuffled around like you would see in Olympics matches. Studio Orange is famous for its brilliant CGI facial expressions. This show had some expressions that I've never seen in an anime before. There were these mild looks of concern and dread that added so much to the story. Those looks of concern are really hard to make in general, but Orange pulls it off constantly despite CGI's notoriously difficult facial animation processes. All in all, 12/10 animation. Everything they did was spot on and very impressive. There's several moments I can point to and say, "That was amazing." Nobody does it like Orange... Nobody. The story was interesting. It was adapted from a trilogy of books written by Scott Westernfield. This show trims the stories of each book down to 4 episodes each. While it's easy to find complaints about book-to-film adaptations, my brother understood that the story needed to be trimmed and thought this show did a very good job of it. He said that all of the important story bits were still in the show, but it made time for all these cool visual spectacles in-between. I thought the pacing was very good, as can be proven by the runtimes of each episode. The runtimes vary between 23 and 30 minutes each. This is to make sure each episode feels as good as possible and the story flows and seamlessly as possible. I was very impressed when I watched a 28-minute episode but it felt like another regular 20-minute episode because the story was so engaging. It was a very good adaptation and made for a perfect fast-paced TV show. I really liked all of the characters. I fell in love with literally every person that appeared on the screen. The only other show I can say that about is BEASTARS, which is another Studio Orange show. 🤣 I love how each character has very defined personalities. They each have their own quirks that make the story more interesting. The main characters were very different from each other, but it made for these great character interactions that were a lot of fun. There was a good villain, too. God the music in the show... Wow was it so impressive. There are some dramatic moments that were greatly enhanced by the music. There are also some very powerful, heart swooning moments that are carried by beautiful flute music. The ending theme in this show is so perfect. I listened to it every time, and I'm a person that usually skips ending songs to get to the next episode. I loved everything to do with the sound in this show. There are some very cool sound effects for the mechas and gun fights. You could feel the weight behind every bullet that was shot. That was such a cool feeling and is due to the excellent sound design. I really can't think of an issue this show has. I enjoyed every episode, I loved all of the characters, the music was phenomenal, the story was as good as it gets for an adaptation like the one they were doing here... it's a perfect TV show. I really don't find any hesitance behind saying that. It really was perfect, and you really should watch it XD

Let's start off with the obvious, which is that this idea is cool as hell. I absolutely want to watch a flying whale participate in a WWI where the Triple Entente is using genetically engineered beasts made by Charles Darwin (the inventor of evolution) to fight German mechs from Iron Harvest. And this show definitely does that. A battleship with legs tried to blow up the whale, the whale counterattacked with bat swarms, it rocked my socks. It's also made by Studio Orange, who hasn't lost any of their skill and continues to be the only Eastern studio that can reliably do 3D animation well. Past the opening arc, however, the show can't count on its premise alone to keep it afloat, and has to actually deliver on deeper characters, themes, and war progression. Unfortunately it fails on basically every one of these fronts. Its characters are... there. And it's trying to do things with them, sort of. But it never really accomplishes anything past the surface level, and notably bungles a bunch of character deaths. Characters are killed off regularly, which is absolutely the right choice for a story about WWI, but Leviathan fails to give them the weight or nuance needed to have any impact. It's always just, "Wow, that guy sure did die. Pretty sad, right? Anyway, on with the story!" It gets to the point where you can tell when the camera has entered Character Death Mode and someone is about to get shot. Its themes are extremely surface-level. Friendship good. War Bad. Friendship good. War bad. Have we mentioned that friendship is good and important? War, though. War's pretty bad. A show with better writing could definitely make those themes work. Leviathan can't. Instead it relies on twists with no impact, confused character motivations and increasingly stale worldbuilding to keep its stakes up, to declining effect as the series goes on. Maybe its biggest sin is that last point - by the halfway mark, its world has stopped being interesting. Its 'beasties' never made *much* sense, but as time goes on the new ones become even less believable and you start asking questions like, "Wait, why the hell don't they have ANY guns on this whale? This thing really fights with EXCLUSIVELY bats? How do they even aim them? Wait, what do you mean the 'bat tubes' don't open up into the inside of the whale? There aren't any bats on the outside. How is this even a bat tube? Why aren't any of them ever using the prominent clips on their uniform to stay safe while running around on top of the SKY WHALE" More egregiously, while Leviathan definitely wants you to know war is bad, it doesn't actually SHOW you much of the war. WWI is, debatably, the most interesting war in history, when the world's ideals of honor and glory in war abruptly died in a hail of artillery, machine guns and the largest armies the world had ever seen. Given that one of the main characters lied about their identity to chase adventure and glory in the war, only to learn that war is bad, this is a thematic layup, but the show never actually shows us any significant part of WWI, let alone what it would look like if Russia was putting its R&D resources into megabears instead of artillery. All in all, just a kinda sad slump of a show. It's definitely trying to be an adventure, and it succeeds at the start, but in the end I can absolutely believe the people saying that this show's flaws come from being based on a 2000s young adult novel. You can tell. Should you watch it? Yeah! For the first couple episodes. Bail out once you get to the Ottoman empire and imagine the great show this premise deserves to be. Imagine getting a second season of Land of the Lustrous. ...Please give us a second season of Land of the Lustrous.

The anime is a fusion of World War I and World War II with Gundam. That's the premise; from there, it explores both biological and conventional technology. This already presents an interesting world, but the story focuses on a prince and a girl who joins the military. Their worlds intersect amidst the war, and they grow as individuals. There's significant character development, especially for the prince, who is initially ignorant of the world. The soundtrack and character designs are good, but the animation is mediocre, not terrible. I recommend it if you're interested in action sequences and political intrigue. En español: el anime es una función de la primera y segunda guerra mundial con gundam. Esa sería la primicia apartir de eso hay tecnología biológica y normal. Con eso ya te presenta un mundo interesante pero vemos la historia de un príncipe y de una chica que se mete en el ejército. Como sus mundos se cruzan en medio de la guerra y como van creciendo como personas. Más que nada hay mucho desarrollo de personaje por parte del príncipe ya que el no sabe nada del mundo. Después la banda sonora está buena, los diseños de personajes también, lo peor es su animación que no es mala pero tampoco buena. Regular la animación. Lo recomiendo si queres ver peleas y tramas políticas.

Imagine if WW1 were fought between steampunk mech driving Germans on one side (the clankers), and genetically modified animals controlled by the British on the other (the Darwinists). The premise is crazy, and that's Leviathan's selling point. No matter what happens, the setting is fun. Leviathan is based on the trilogy of novels of the same name. Having not read them, I can't speak with certainty as to whether this is or is not a faithful adaptation, but I'm confident it isn't. This is apparent in one of the show's unfortunate flaws. How much of the trilogy do you think it adapts? One book? One and a bit? Nope, this is is an adaptation of the whole trilogy. And these aren't short books, they're 400 to 600 pages each. ~1500 pages of story, condensed into 12 episodes. Unsurprisingly the pacing is extremely quick. So quick that character development and plot suffer. The viewer never really gets time to settle, to consider what has happened, or become emotionally invested. Which is a shame, because the setting, and the characters, are all interesting with so much potential. I know there are some that will criticise the production quality, and they're not wrong to do so. The animation is stilted, and the show does feel a little too ambitious for its budget. But the story and characters, though rushed, are strong enough that this is a minor issue. Leviathan is fun to watch, and if the premise interests you, it's strong enough to carry you through to its end. However, it's clear this is a series that could have been so much more. It engaged me enough that I'm tempted to read books, even if just to see if the premise was done more justice there.