Needy Girl Overdose

There’s this scene in Ghost in the Shell Innocence that I absolutely despise, it is basically Batou and Togusa talking in nothing but quotes from literary works for a couple of minutes, and Needy Girl Overdose is basically that scene extended to an entire show. The series is full of “we live in a society” type commentary and references to literature, music and other anime, yet, I don’t think it really understands what it is talking about. Many of the references it makes are extremely superficial and aren’t similar at all once you analyze them, but given its obsession with mentioning Christian themes like “anti-christ” “Judas Iscariot” and things like that, I don’t think it understands anything about Christianity. For starters, it keeps comparing Lollipop and KAngel’s relationship to Judas and Jesus, however, doesn’t make sense at all, Judas is an apostle who follows and is learning directly from Jesus, which doesn’t apply to these two girls, they barely have a relationship to speak of besides a parasocial one where Lollipop admires her because she is the biggest streamer, but nothing of what they do is even similar to the supposed allegory being made, not even the most famous thing Judas did, betraying Jesus, as there’s no sense to betrayal on their relationship, as I just mentioned, they don’t even have a real one. They keep talking about being the Anti-Christ, because Lollipop is searching to kill God (KAngel) just like Judas did (that’s not what happened in the Bible, but whatever), and for Karamazov to become the most popular streamers after dethroning her, which just is one of those superficial comparisons that barely connects to the theme at hand. I’m not expecting Japanese people to have a good understanding of Christianity or any of its variants, but if you are going to keep mentioning it as much as this series does, you better have some grasp of it. It all makes sense once you watch episode 10 and the first half of it is a word for word recreation of Osamu Dazai’s Kekekomi Uttae, which is essentially a gay fanfic between Jesus and Judas, implying this is the actual reference being made rather than the Bible, yet once again it’s a comparison that makes no sense, given that Lollipop’s admiration towards KAngel isn’t a romantic one either. The main plot is fucked because it’s too focused on doing nonsensical things and referencing things almost at random, and given that the author clearly lacks an understanding of most of the things he is talking about, it’s not like there can be 1 or 2 episodes that can actually make a good point, such as the episodes that focus on Nechika and Michica, but those episodes also have multiple silly bits, like Michica’s random fight with Kache. But in general the characters are all mentally ill people preaching towards the viewer while they themselves are guilty of the things they are criticizing, KAngel mentions how she considers herself above the criticism made towards her while said thing is basically killing her, and this applies to the author too given that one of the points the series makes is that inscribing unto one’s self what you feel is part of engaging with fine art, while he’s also giving extremely detailed descriptions of what each episode mean in his blog, “don’t become hosts” says the girl who is a streamer. I mean, it’s not like the characters can’t be hypocrites, but the author is clearly giving this lecture using his characters as a mouthpiece instead of having the characters bringing it up naturally. My biggest problem with the characters is Lollipop, as she is a holier-than-thou Mary Sue in a universe that bends over itself to prove her right over everything, everything she says and does is the correct thing and one of the voting scenes in the show gets a ridiculous result just because it needs to prove her right, she’s not only the worse member of Karamazov, but the worst character in general. I think the most interesting part to analyze about Needy Girl Overdose is the size of Nechika's boobs. You see, in the first episode and the promotional art, they don't even look big at all, you only start noticing her breasts by about episode 4, and then they are really noticeable by episode 5-6 and by the time episode 12 rolls, they are huge, they just dwarf Kache's, who was always shown with big boobs. I was talking with a friend about this and he told me that is could be kind of like how when the girls complete a character arc/develop/mature in Monogatari, where they get a shorter haircut, but for Nechika, it means her boobs grow bigger, and honestly it might as well be like that. Talking about interesting things about this show, the directing is right there, the director clearly decided to be creative with it, I would say it doesn’t salvage the series, but he did a very good job, besides the Karamazov’s house being basically Araragi’s house and the sudden cuts to words covering the entire screen Monogatari-like, the directing reminded me more of Ikuhara than anything else, so I would say that he did a good job that is wasted on a horrendous script. This anime is pretentious. I usually complain about people calling shows this way, but I think with this series, it is completely warranted, it is pretentious to the core, it doesn’t understand the references and allegories it makes, and it barely understands its own themes, but I hope we can all be happy knowing the movie director 3x3 of the writer as he basically gives it in one of the episodes. Thank you for reading.

Every E girl’s favorite larp finally got an anime and well, Needy Girl Overdose is definitely an acquired taste. You either get it or you don’t, it’s avant-garde and very much an auteur anime. There’s heavy emphasis on style and direction to convey meaning in every episode, in fact, the direction is probably the main character of the show because that’s what’s really guiding and telling you what’s going on within the story. Personally, I got it from the very first episode and I love series like this. We need these types of anime to keep this medium from getting stale and I really appreciate what Yostar pictures did here. This is an EXTREMELY unsettling watch, so be aware of that. It’s the first anime I’ve ever seen that’s covered themes like substance abuse, self harm, rape, emotional and physical abuse, eating disorders and much, much more in such a blatant and unreserved manner. Definitely a refreshing thing in anime, but at the same time you can’t help but feel horrible for every single person in this story because my God, THERAPY, PEOPLE!! I won’t sit here and pretend I understood every little detail in the show, but I definitely got the gist and I enjoyed the absolute mind fuck that every one of these episodes was. It’s really hard to talk about the story of nerdy girl overdose, so suffice to say, based on a game about mentally unstable streamers using streaming as a way to take back control of their own lives which have been spiralling out of control for a long time and they have a ton of mental breakdowns while obsessing over streaming numbers and online validation. So basically the modern twitch streaming e girl, but slightly darker. I think for me this was so enjoyable because I’m a person who doesn’t have these sorts of issues, even as a YouTuber myself, I do it for my own personal satisfaction and I also come from a very stable, happy and loving home, so learning how people who didn’t have that luxury cope with their issues is like a case study for me. I also have a natural savior complex and love trying to fix extremely broken women, I know, I know, red flag, unhealthy etc etc., but I can really fix Ame and Nechika. It’s also a bit morbid, though because if you think about it, we’re all deriving a bit of satisfaction from watching Kangel and the others’ lives unravel and spiral and this is stuff that very much happens to real life girls who have this need for validation from the internet, so it’s an all around sad experience here, but an important one because it is real. I was a big fan of how Karamazov’s plot to dethrone Kangel as the number 1 streamer played out and how the girls all got closer to one another thanks to it. Nice build up throughout the season and that climax in episode 10 was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. Only to be topped by Kangel’s live in episode 11. The amount of references they packed into those episodes and the over the top theatrics.. insane. Kazamarov’s friendship was really well written and all the girls got some good character development. Again, it can be a little tricky to follow along because of how the episodes are directed, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll start noticing all the subliminal and subtle messaging and it’ll all click. Production values are absolutely insane here. I’ve talked about the direction and could go on about that forever, won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was great to me. The general art style is also beautiful and the animation for the unexpected action sequences was also incredible? The sound design is top notch and there’s an emphasis on silence at times to drive home the gravity of what you’re watching, similar to how it’s done in Gimai Seikatsu, which I liked too. The voice acting is also really well done. Hats off to Yostar here, they’ve pretty much not missed on any of their shows yet. Again, this show won’t be for everyone and it’s difficult to follow along with at times, but it’s right up my alley because I enjoy shows that make you think and don’t put everything on a platter for you. I definitely had to rewatch a few scenes here multiple times to really understand what was happening, but that’s all good in my book. She might be absolutely insane, but Kangel is very much someone who could exist irl and knowing the signs of substance abuse and mental instability could help save someone’s life one day. You never know. Needy Girl Overdose gets 9 out of 10.

Needy Girl Overdose is a contender for one of the worst anime of the decade, if not of all time. I wish this was just an exaggeration, but any good is engulfed by some of the most exhausting and downright offensive things put on TV. Not offensive in a literal way (although there’s a lot that you can argue is), but more in that nothing of value is produced in the Frankenstein's monstrosity that this anime is. The amount of shock value and its shallow attempt at experimentation is equivalent to a fanmade creepypasta game/video. It would be easier to give you a large list of works that cover similar themes and topics with more sincerity than to faithfully recommend this to anyone. Unlike what most people are complaining about, Needy Girl Overdose is NOT confusing and/or complicated. I would say it is the complete opposite. The anime is so blatant in the character’s motives and what is clearly fiction/reality that I’m more confused in what there is to be confused about. The direction the anime goes is that it takes place sometime after the end of the game where Ame/Kangel have reached massive popularity and have in effect influenced a trio of similar minded girls to challenge her. The concept of an anime original based on the game is interesting enough if you’ve actually played it. It covers a lot of the same issues, but doesn’t really have an ending that feels very conclusive. Anime is a completely different medium, so it makes sense that it takes a more direct approach. It plays with the concept of Kangel and assumes that the viewer already knows who she is, which if you’ve been on social media at least a bit, you’ve probably at least seen her before. Therefore anyone can watch this without touching the source material which is what Nyalra, the creator and scenario writer for the anime, very much intended. Nyarla is a teenage Californian girl disguising herself as a Japanese adult male. Conversing about the anime’s faults all point back to him as a writer. As an individual, I think he’s actually pretty awesome. He is very much a hardcore otaku and talks in-depth about some of his favorite works on his blog, both in Japanese and English. He is a fan of the psychological and experimental, as well as works that are prominently Japanese. He seems more than happy to discuss things no one cares about, especially to his newer English fans gained from NGO fame. He talks a lot about the current state of the anime industry and the lack of original works, which I wholeheartedly agree with. He really loves all things otaku and even those outside the realm. The biggest fault to his writing is just how much his influences show in his works. There’s a lot that can be directly linked to Nyalra’s favorite works that can more often feel like plagiarism than just a nod. Frankenstein’s monstrosity is the best term I can use to describe Needy Girl Overdose. It’s a psychological series that also manages to be a comedy, ecchi, idol, mahou shoujo, mecha musume, tokusatsu, all with a coat of “denpa”. It’s a mismatch of genres with conflicting audiences that almost no one should like. It’s something that has the potential to be up my alley. There’s a large collection of similar genre-conflicting works that I could consider favorites and work well. This ultimately doesn’t. A large reason can boil down to that nothing in this show has a purpose. There’s purposeful things that the show tries to say, but there’s nothing in the characters or the world to justify any of it. The characters themselves are fine conceptually, but there’s nothing in the in-between to give the view any sort of connection with them. They act as a sort of skin to another type of trauma dump that Nyalra wants to convey. Each character gets at least one episode to shine, less so with Nechika who seems kinda underutilized compared to the others. Even the titular Ame gets a lot more backstory in comparison to the game. A lot of the runtime focuses more on the past than the now, which in turn leaves the interpersonal relationship and bonds between the characters more to be desired. This is especially true for the Karamazov group, who acts as a sort of found family in which they can rely on each other. This is told to us more often than it’s shown. It’s constantly hammered into your head that these girls are like a family, but nothing they say or do make them very likable or their relationship feel genuine. Something that the show constantly repeats is that this is a story about normal people, but these characters talk like anything but. So much of the show consists of philosophical babble, often cut by a gag or something completely different. There’s no other word for the dialogue in this anime other than babble. No one in this show speaks like a human being. The girls, other than being another vessel for trauma, are just spouting Nietzsche quotes. Often in relation to either human bonds or internet culture as a whole. It’s one thing for an anime to have strange or unorthodox dialogue, but nothing they say is ever really interesting. I find the works dealing with internet culture to be fascinating, especially in the Reiwa era. There’s a lot less focus on the concept of disconnect and more on the mass hysteria from said disconnect. The hysteria is prevalent, but with none of the intriguing commentary. The social commentary it does provide is shallow and painfully obvious. You don’t need this anime to teach you that talking to people is important or to stay happy. This kind of philosophical talk is prevalent the entire runtime. It’s never woven into the story in an interesting manner, feeling preachy and pointless. The real sin of this series is that it has no identity. It’s a mismatch of genres, but that mismatch serves no purpose other than that Nyarla really likes these genres. Kangel and Lolipop are the core “otaku” characters and serve as a vessel for a lot of the anime references and humor shown in the series. An otaku centric work having references is fine, but these references feel like harassment more often than not. A character will often spurt out a series that Nyalra just so happens to love. Sometimes the reference will be so obvious that you can do nothing but roll your eyes. A prime example of this is the second to last episode that ends with a shot similar to the last shot of Gunbuster. If you know the importance of that scene, it feels very offensive to reference it in something other than for a funny gag. Another example, and probably the breaking point for me, was when it cut to a live-action scene that was very much Terayama influenced, only for the character to say “btw did you know this is a Shuuji Terayama reference?” The anime will feature abstract attempts at humor before it goes off on babble again. There is a large disconnect in the scene to scene aspect. You never have any time to adjust yourself to any individual scene before they just thrust you into a completely different genre. Sometimes this comes in the form of NGO’s use of mixed media that it loves to do. You’ll see a cut to a live-action scene or the characters will pop up in a funny art style. This feels like another form of harassment as these scenes come seemingly out of nowhere. There is no way to describe it other than that it feels like a Family Guy cutaway gag. The worst of it is the anime’s attempt at shock. It’s not very often, but when it does happen, the anime hits an all time low. One of the most notable influences and defining aspects to both NGO as a game and anime can be its “denpa” elements. Denpa as a description for works has been gentrified to hell and back. I’ve known about the term for as long as I could remember. Sometime in the past few years, an emergence in curiosity for the term and everything associated with it have boomed. All of a sudden, anything slightly psychological is denpa. What does and doesn’t classify as denpa is shaky, but an aspect that is never mentioned is for the work to disrupt…

if you feel like youre emotionally 15 and into edgyslop laced with yamikawa aesthetic, this is exactly the anime for you. anime who is completely so wishy washy with their own ideals and always goes half ways addressing every issue ever. there's no story, there's no plot, there's no nuance. its all just shots of "wow this could be potentially cool" but the placing of the scene is so awkward. this anime is just reference after reference after reference after reference and carricature stereotype of people in humanity and internet. its a very one sided view thats filled with immaturity of someone who refuses to grow up (which makes sense how nyalra is like on his hazedenki blog lmao). having a character who wants to be a 'kid' forever by staying in the internet is one thing, having ALL characters who share the same values of this gets... really exhausting after few episodes. nyalra is not 'good' at writing story, making a game is a different case where the game doesnt really have a deep story. every story he writes feels like massive projection of something he experiences or something he sees from a bystander standpoint. i feel he's making up reasons if he gets criticized that the anime is bad, he would make excuse because hes writing on his new visual novel. But someone like him cannot create anything original and it's going to be another 'quirky hype moments and aura' and people will sweep that under the rug once more and refuse to see his actual issue of being unable to write a story at all.

It could've been worse, thats how im starting this It is there to look good and to make you go „oh, i got that reference“ a couple times and thats also what its doing good. We have movie references like „A clockwork orange“ we have anime references like „Initial D“ and obviously song references in the episode titles. There are these great segments in a couple episodes where the animation style changes to something like a more western looking cartoon, stop motion etc. and those segments alone are like a 10/10 idea The music is also great being slightly remixed songs of the ones for the game and its PR mainly by Aiobahn which we all already knew would be bangers regardless. Those are the positives but the negatives kinda win me over, it is too corny to be takes seriously by me but not corny enough to justify and explain it away by saying „its supposed to be like that, thats the point“. The connections to the game arent enough for me, they reference a single ending and some of the characters and thats basically it. Ame/KAngel dont feel like theyre important until way too late in my opinion she is only there sometimes and gets talked about in the first half. I had 2 episodes that I did like above a 7 and those were Ame‘s childhool episode and the second to last one but besides that the story felt stiff and unnecessary. The new characters all got an episode at least to build their character with a backstory and goals but they didn’t feel necessary or underused in the end which is kinda sad since again, the story does focus on them for the most part and sidelines KAngel All in all i dont think youre missing out in skipping this one, you will have fun if youre here to appreciate a really really amazing art direction and nothing more

I was really excited for this as a huge fan of the game but every week that went on I slowly realized, man there is really nothing valuable being said or added to any of the characters arcs aside from kache slightly. If i wanted to just be watching high people trip out I’d just do drugs with my friends. I have a hard time relating to any of them because they are just characters. Its like an edgy 13 year old tried to make something deep but cant see anything outside of their own problems. Theres no deeper exploration of any of the characters mental statuses and it all comes off as shallow and preachy. I dont even feel like rooting for the main group cause they feel so pretentious.

I have never disliked a show enough to write a review until now. Let me try and answer a few questions you may have on wondering if you should watch this or not. 1 ~ I liked the NSO game and KAngel. Is this show about that? -> No. It is "about" (really the show isn't about anything and nothing happens) these 3 caricatures of denpa/otaku subculture being rich and famous streamers and how much they know about the meaning of life and epic obscure references in place of original creativity. I could not, as hard as I try, over-emphasise how cringe these references are, since a solid like 1/4th of this show consists of references. 2 ~ Oh, well are they interesting characters? Do they grow and form relationships and change? -> No. They lecture you about the same things the whole show, and in-between meaning of life lectures they'll lecture you about misreadings of The Brothers Karamazov and the story of Jesus & Judas. 3 ~ I like references to movies and books and animes. Why wouldn't I like how the NSO anime does it? -> Because in place of things happening ands the plot moving, you'll just get a TLDR of Night on the Galactic Railroad etc. It's like the creator googled "cool references to include" and just threw a bunch in by name-only. Take the episode titles, which are named identical to songs from the 80s, but don't get excited they'll play the song or talk about it at all, because they won't. It's completely hollow. Or when they just flash the name in bold on screen CRIME & PUNISHMENT for no reason other than just saying the name of the book. Imagine if I served you a scoop of vanilla ice cream and called it "the For Whom the Bell Tolls special", and if you asked why it's called that I defend it by saying it's deep stuff and I'm really smart for calling it that, and then I make up the plot since I haven't read it and lecture you on my made-up plot for a book I haven't read. And then I like throw the ice cream on the ground and walk away or something. 4 ~ Well, what does the show have going for it? Is there anything good? -> Not really. The art is interesting at times, because they went really avant-garde, but it doesn't make up for anything and there is still CGI, weird moments of crayon drawn characters, IRL footage etc that could only make you assume that they spent the episode budget and had to scrape by for the last 5 mins of the episode. The post-credits scene after the last episode was really cool. 5 ~ I wasn't convinced the show isn't worth watching. Is there anything else distasteful that would help me not waste my time watching this? -> The anime touches on topics like drug abuse, self-harm, and delusions, among other serious mental health problems. The depictions are, at best, unserious inclusions for shock value (no shortage of pills and slit wrists animated), and at worst, active perpetrations of continued misunderstanding of mental health disorders. I will not elaborate on this too much, but I do think it's worth remembering that in the NSO game, these topics were also depicted, but as part of the mechanics of the game and not to preach at and lecture you. They reflected the dynamic status of ame-chan's stress and as punishment/band-aid solution for giving her too much stress, and you also could avoid them. In the NSO anime, they are topics which are depicted just 'cus they are shallow references to denpa culture, alongside all the other shallow inclusions. Episode 11 is particularly uncomfortable, and not in a way where you're supposed to feel uncomfortable to better feel empathy or whatever, but in a way where.. what they're doing here is just uncalled for. 6 ~ Anything else? Pet peeves? -> There are techno-ish remixes of classical music which frequently play, Pachebel's Canon in D is a big one. I did not like the remixes. -> The overuse of vaporwave and pop-art ruined both a little bit for me. I don't think I can ever take a Roman statue or a Mondrian wall seriously after this. -> I feel like the most interesting part of livestreaming worth exploring is the distance and skewed representation between a streamer and a viewer. Like how they can digitally alter their appearance or do all this stuff not possible in the real world. But the anime just takes the chars and turns them into idols doing concerts, like K-pop. They even call it streaming when.. it's not.. it's a live stage with a bunch of people in the stands.. it defeats a major point of the game which is KAngel being something intrinsically online, inhuman, unworldly etc.

A very brave story to tell that's sadly not very good. There's a decent amount of engaging things about it, and all of them are bastardized beyond belief by the writing team's absolute inability to follow up on any of them. You want a reference-filled, dynamic work? Sure. The references don't mean anything though. You want a social critique from the perspective of society's most vulnerable people? Sure. They have nothing important to say though. You want a character-driven story? Sure. There is no story, it's all characters now. You want to expand the universe? Okay. The universe is unrealistic torture porn now. I'm sure that in better hands, the concept of the NGO anime could've been executed better. As it stands right now, the game itself has much more poignant messaging and doesn't bore you to death. Also, it's just a much better way to explore the topics the anime tries to deal with. Why? Well, When people at the edge of society desperate to turn their life around are talking, it's engaging. It's like an underdog story, and every failure is an indictment of society as a whole. It's an implicit social critique. The game does this especially well with the endings - they're all somewhat depressing, and that makes the point come across really well! The anime is nothing like it. When the protagonists of the anime, people who are already incredibly successful, prattle on and on about how deserving they are of their exceptional success, it comes across as pretentious, self-righteous drivel. Seeing them succeed and get their happy ending just shows how pointless waxing melancholic was. They're not likeable, but I think we're supposed to root for them at some point? It's downright insulting when the "normal person" character tries to convince us over and over again that our idol protagonists are "kind". Painfully out of touch, and the ending was especially insulting. Who watches NGO to see people live happy lives at the end? I don't want an empty platitude of an ending that refuses to critically examine anything! I thought we were supposed to critique otaku culture? Critique the system that lets people slip through the cracks and exploits them until they're miserable? I mean, I guess there's a lot of torture porn of it, but the conclusion is that it's whatever since they became happy in the end. And nothing had to change for that to happen! Yay! In short, an utter failure of messaging. Unfocused, derivative, ignorant and inconsistent. At least the soundtrack slaps (especially the ending, please listen to it).

tl;dr: + Banger ED + The one girl’s brothers + They tried (which sounds passive-aggressive but unironically, for all its many, many faults, I’m glad the show wasn’t some cookie-cutter 5/10 VN adaptation like I initially expected) + Eventually parks the car at a decent ending - Obnoxious directing - On a similar note, has no faith in the audience to pick up what they’re putting down - Unlikable cast - Overeggs the pudding in terms of despair Needy Girl Overdose is an abject failure of a show that has a good idea (and message) deep down at its core but fails to convey its point in a way that makes the show entertaining. It’s a show that actively puts you in a bad mood (not in a good way) and it fails to make a single likable major character. I genuinely did want to like this show but it’s just rotten. — There’s something I’m going to call “the despair boundary” where if you continue piling Bad Stuff past that, it stops being, like, a show you take seriously and it just becomes comical and/or exhausting. I love shows that know how to wallow in its own despair but can still make it entertaining. I don’t mind dark themes but if you’re standing in a storm, you’ve gotta have something to make it worth being soaked. The thing with NGO is you sit there and because the author insists on vomiting out everything he wants to say so it’s out in the open with no sense of subtlety, you gotta sit there and listen to how the girls cut themselves, how they abuse meds, how they could get raped, how they prostitute themselves (both metaphorically and at times, literally), etc, etc. And, like, yeah, these things happen and I’m sure that idols and VTubers and the like have experienced everything that happens in this show. But you can’t just throw that shit out there raw and not provide any entertainment to back it up. I like me some despair in my show but at some point, it just becomes formless black sludge if that’s all it is. For example of a show trying to do similar themes, I thought Oshi no Ko knew to do stuff other than The Dark Side of the Entertainment Industry to build a rapport with the characters so you’d feel something when they Dark Side of the Entertainment Industried. There are 5 main girls and they all blend together in a giant slightly cold soup of vomit, blood, just every bodily fluid from every orifice. Like yup… they’re social outcasts whose lives suck. It’s not my fault your life sucks, OG, tf you want me to do about it? It’s not like they don’t technically have their own personalities but it’s one of those shows where trying to remember the specifics about each character is like pulling teeth. It’s just, like… idk, man. I could tell you the difference between Nechika and Michica but none of the characters really stick out to me at all. Like, yesterday, I was working on a tier list of some other series’ characters and I didn’t quite care for the sequel series so I just threw them all in one tier and said “I equally give no shits about them” That’s how I feel about NGO’s cast. Do I like Ame-chan more than Nechika? Do I like Michica more than Kache? …uh… I dunno, man. I will propose this question: Why should I like any of these characters? There was a show last season whose trauma had more to do with stuff I’ve been through and because it didn’t otherwise do the legwork to appeal the cast to me, I didn’t care about them. This trauma, like, idk, yeah, man, it sucks for them but it’s not really something I experienced myself and they didn’t otherwise really do anything that successfully connected them to me so I cared so I’m just kinda here watching people I don’t care about suffer for the majority of 13 episodes. I’m going to be fair to this show because, like, it’s not like they don’t do ANYTHING to try and endear you to the characters, I feel like it’d be a mischaracterization to say that it’s literally 100% pretentious symbolism and despair porn. The problem is, at least to me, none of the endearment stuck and a lot of it is wrapped in some unpleasant flavor anyway. It’s just a crass and juvenile show when it’s trying to go about the shit it does. It’s perfectly encapsulated in the last few moments of the OP where it goes from KAngel doing a peace sign to a middle finger. It genuinely felt to me like it had a contempt for everyone watching, the characters in the show, itself, it just had the most rancid aura to the point where I was SNEERING during the show because it just was such a, like, awful show not even to WATCH (although that too) but TO BE AROUND. It’s the entertainment equivalent of listening to your parents fighting in another room. To the show’s credit, it does eventually, after a long journey, park at a decent message about true happiness only existing in your own mind and you should go out and take it for yourself, etc, etc. Good message (although naturally, he does explicitly say this for those in the back). I agree. But at some point, it becomes, for me, too little too late. It’s like if you tried to drown me in a fish tank and then after I spit a goldfish out of my nose and start heaving for breath, I get one of those little Dum Dum lollipops. Even towards the end, it’s just a storm of despair and misery and an okay final episode at the end (although even then, it had a lot of elements that annoyed me) can’t negate that on its own. I said a couple paragraphs ago that “the author insists on vomiting out everything he wants to say”, let’s talk a little bit more about that. I kinda knew from E1 that this show was likely gonna be bad because it spends its time just throwing everything he wants to say at the wall just boom boom boom like no subtlety no nothing, he NEEDS you to know how he feels about the internet and shit. And, you know, some great shows have weak starts. I’m not saying you gotta be perfect from the word go. I was willing to write E1 off as, like, a clunkily written primer to what he’s trying to say so he can just get the thematic shit over with and he’d be able to tell a story. …a-ha So, full disclosure (this late on…), I’ve never played Needy Streamer Overload (put a pin in that, because that actually will come back), I don’t know if this is just… how he writes, but it cannot help itself but to be completely transparent about everything he wants to say. There is like one episode where they just keep repeating the same point, word for word, about how they’re trading youth/beauty for money. Fine, like, thematic statement but you’re not supposed to just say that shit out loud, dawg. From E1 to E13, he will unapologetically explain everything he’s trying to say. I think the funniest one, to me, though was when they were teeing up Poison Denpa Girl☆Purple Lollipop (written without additional comment) to be the Judas to KAngel’s Jesus, right? And the name of the episode is Antichrist Superstar, right? Like, they’re referencing the Marilyn Manson (which, of all things, this will come back too, put a pin in this) album that’s referencing the Andrew Lloyd Webber (and Tim Rice) musical called Jesus Christ Superstar about Judas and Jesus. And you can kind of already tell that that’s what they’re going for anyway. They’ve already been talking about inverted crosses and killing God (which like I’m not saying you gotta be on your knees every Sunday or shit, by all means, I don’t give a shit, but you know… it’s kinda passe and cringe at this point to be like aggressively anti-religion to the point where you’re doing that shit, at least that’s how I feel) but Lollipop has her little monologue. And there are several points where anyone who has spent 2 minutes at a college Christian group or Sunday School or just anyone who’s listened to Lady Gaga before could tell you “oh, so Lollipop is Judas” And they just keep going, including, if you needed a dead to rights clue, mentioning 30 pieces of silver. So like anyone who has been within 30 meters of a Bible could tell you she’s Judas. And then she just …

This is horrible. I questioned my own knowledge and understanding while watching this; it's really stupid. As a denpa fan and someone interested in literature, this anime feels like trying to talk to a 13 year old adolescent about life while their biggest problem is their crush rejecting them. I am fairly sure that the writer doesn't even know what they are talking about. some bits makes sense and are disturbing (not in a bad way, considering this is some sort of dark psychological anime), but its flaws are bigger than its good sides for me, so I cannot recommend it. There are way better denpa anime out there, go watch them. At least they make sense. ps. I dont usually use mal, i just logged in to write a review so i dont add the things i watch here.

I can understand why lots of people didn't enjoy this, it's not for everyone, people may talk about how confusing or pretentious it is, about how it philospphizes too much, about its unusual style or how it doesn't focus much on Ame/ Kangel. Well, I guess they may be right, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still an amazing story, with a style that emulates a lot of works creating something completely new, with great animations and music which brings together a wide range of cultures, while also being a great social commentary and one of the best portrayals of mental illness and self-help, I've seen lately. It's confusing? Yeah, but it's also one of the closest things to the masterpiece Serial Experiment Lain ever aired, I'd even say a spiritual successor. Pretentious? Maybe, but can you create something entirely new and avant-garde without being pretentious? The things it talks about, as well as the way it talks about those things, aren't something everyone can understand or like. It's weird, it's one of those things you can't say you've fully understood after you watching at least twice, pausing and rewinding during certain scenes. That's because it's not just an anime or some simple story. Like the game (which I heavely reccomend playing first) it's more like a photo, or rather a puzzle in which you have to put the pieces together to know the whole picture. I honestly like how Ame isn't even the protagonist in a variety of episodes becoming more like a plot driving character and even an antagonist, but that's what Kangel always has been if seen from the right perspective. But if you want to know her, to understand her and see where she and the other characters may end up, you have to sit and focus on 13 episodes of chaos, confusion, grotesque scenes, monologues, some cute intermissions and lots of scenes you can't know whether they are real or metaphorical. And if you are able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, it's all worth it. Bless.

Animation and all the dopamine hitting things were cool but my oh my whoever wrote the christianity symbols is clearly someone who does not understand or know much about Christianity !! it's like no wonder the characters are written that way... look it may have not been for someone like me that is religious and actually believes theres God but i have to say if your gonna write a story about whatever and want to put negativity towards Christianity you have to know your research first.. I never write a review but it amazes me that show made by these producers and hosted by these studios can be created when the writing twist things or just simply gets things wrongs with Christianity. Someone wrote a better review then me saying the same thing if you haven't read that one. You wouldn't really get this review or agree with me if you just don't know God I'm sorry to say I'm gonna be blunt and straight up, I feel bad for people that like to be like these characters and feel like them (that want to go down the same hell that literally the devil wants you to be in). Anyways I don't care if you like this go ahead and go do as you please, it's just ashamed seeing talented writers, producers wtv people were involved in writing this show get religious themes and stories wrong or if they weren't getting it wrong trying to change it.

+ Very inspired visuals! The visual style and editing are a bit reminiscent of Studio SHAFT, where title cards and still frames are used as an unconventional means of communicating story information and character psychology. + Episode 3 is terrific, delving into Ame/KAngel's troubled childhood and showing how mentally unstable people become streamers in the first place. ~ Unfortunately, instead of focusing on the self-destructive tendencies of online streamers, the show is centered on a war for superiority between KAngel and streaming group Karamazov, which makes for a FAR less compelling story. ~ The writing completely falls apart in later episodes. Episode 9 devolves into a fist fight, whereas Episode 10 spends most of its runtime on a Shonen-style action scene. While action can be a fun inclusion to most anime, it makes no sense to add fight scenes into a psychological drama-thriller about online streamers. ~ The story boils down to a lot of didactic lecturing about "the meaning of life," how one can overcome depression and despair through sheer force, and how the internet is just a fake place so you should go out there, make friends and live an ordinary, fulfilling life. YAAAAAAWN. What is this, Ready Player One? Patronizing finger-wagging is NOT a substitute for an actual story. Instead of just TELLING its audience how they should live their life, the show should be dramatizing the life of a terminally online netizen through motive and conflict. ~ Needy Girl Overdose wants to seem revelatory, but has nothing important to say about streaming culture. KAngel's speech about becoming a streamer to look after neglected kids falls flat because most streamers don't have elaborate motives or noble intentions for why they choose to stream on the internet. Streaming really is just a way to make money by playing video games in one's bedroom and/or acting like a degenerate in public. ~ The show also doesn't seem to know what to do with its background characters. Every non-streamer character who is afforded a face and a speaking role is either an otaku loser or some ugly bastard who wants to kill KAngel because of... jealousy, I guess? ~ Kache, the one main character who isn't a streamer, is also poorly utilized. For instance, Kache starts the show working at a hostess club modelled after the Korovo Milkbar from A Clockwork Orange. Yeah, edgy movie reference, whatever. But WHY a hostess club? If the show wanted to highlight the mundanity of work, wouldn't it be more appropriate to have Kache waste her life away at a normal day job? Alternatively, if the show wanted to showcase the dehumanization of selling yourself for money, wouldn't it make more sense to have Kache literally sell herself via sex work? = What begins as a flawed-but-fascinating anime about uncommon topics (i.e. live streaming, dissociation) slowly spirals into a long, boring sermon about how "the internet is bad, m'kay?" There are brief glimpses into the kind of show Needy Girl Overdose could have been—like when the show discusses how work effectively forces us to trade our youth for money, or how online spaces serve as a coping mechanism for NEETs and parasocial loners—but it is impossible to ignore how shallow, unconvincing and toothless the show ultimately is despite its laughably desperate efforts to be edgy. The show's final episode presents us with an alternate ending where we get every possible unhappy outcome, before immediately pivoting to an unnecessary epilogue where everybody gets their happy fairy-tale ending. Sure, nothing says courageous like giving your psychological drama the same ending as Wayne's World. What a waste of time.

Its really good but it makes me legitimately feel insane while watching. When it hits it really hits, there are some amazing scenes but it is a TOUGH watch. Getting through this show is like sprinting a marathon, you will look up and swear you have been watching 20 minutes of the episode and it’s only 7 minutes in. The story is told on a very erratic timeline and hard cuts to different scenes with different art styles with no warning and will jump across events switching between like 4 different characters perspectives in a 20 year time gap in one episode. ALL THAT BEING SAID it’s worth the ride, the moments where it all comes together and a scene resonates with you really hits different because of all the build up and history behind each character. You just have to kick back and watch the insanity and try not to think about it too much to fully enjoy this show. I can’t give it a 10/10 because there really isn’t much of an overarching plot and it can be extremely hard to follow wtf some of these characters be yapping about in their insane rants but I can give it a very solid 8/10 because it knows what it is and is uniquely great at making you feel insane and fall in love with the characters. I would highly recommend this show if you like series like Monogatari or Serial Experiments on Lain but it’s not for everyone. Also CONTENT WARNINGS ARE NO JOKE, read them if you have sensitivities

Starting off, this show is not for everyone, and if you don't like it, I can't fault you. On the other hand, I quite enjoyed this show, way more than I imagined I would at the beginning, so here I am writing a review for random strangers on the internet. This show truly feels like a fever dream, I cannot meaningfully describe this show in any way that captures it's insanity, take that how you will. The star of the show, KAngel, is really interesting to watch, the contrast between how she acts as KAngel and Ame is equal parts fascinating and disturbing, she is so fucked up mentally you can't help but watch in horror and pity. I really liked all three members of Karamazov, both individually and as a group, each one has their own aesthetic and their own set of issues. And then there's Kache, she doesn't play a huge role all things considered, but she does play well the role of a normal ass person in the middle of the insanity between the streamers, overall she's nice but not that interesting. The plot is quite strange and confusing, being quite difficult to tell what's happening at times, but the art direction in this show is fucking phenomenal, I cannot praise the creativity of it enough. The soundtrack for this show is another thing I cannot praise enough, every single song is an absolute bop. You might enjoy this show, you might not, truly the only way to know is to watch it, I personally enjoyed it, but I can see how many might not.

Needy girl overdose the anime, (NGO) an adaptation of a video game tries, but ultimately fails at trying to portray something new and philosophical. For reference, I have not played the NGO game, but I have seen videos on the meaning behind the endings. The show heavily uses Dostoyevsky's book names alongside some features, yet it reflects nothing on the story past first appearances, as a matter of fact I'm willing to say this was just thrown in; considering this is not really in the game, solely because 'it is cool'. Some praise is the visual design, in which they use a mix of different animation styles, but this is not enough to carry a STORY. As for the pacing, it is horrendous, I can count with my right hand's fingers the main story beats. I feel as though there is too much in-depth character development which should have just been cut, because I do not initially know or care who the other main characters are considering they are not in game. I watched the first episode and in the first half of it, I did like that the catalyst character took the story away from KAngel (the game's protagonist) despite the brief uninspired world building, which ended up not mattering. However, the true main character of the anime, KAngel had to show up in the later half of ep 1 to just spew garbage. I already have a ~14 hours game to play so I can understand her character, it was unneeded. The plot revolves around her- I do not think it was intentional (from the game we already know she is narcissistic, ergo the world revolves around her) she just takes more focus from other characters. She appears every now and then to just drop her malignant thoughts to the viewer, as some manic pixie girl who watched a few too many little dark age edits. Thought-provoking, profound statements such as 'God is not real' are used, unfortunately I'm not 14 so I do not find this deep- this is all it boils down to, shock value. For all I know this is in fact intended for Japanese people, who are not exposed to these ideologies, (considering it is a past Buddhist, primarily agnostic society) to get an easy way to reflect on themselves and learn about Christianity. But seriously, the story throws around nihilistic worldviews when marionetting Dostoyevsky OF ALL PEOPLE. Perhaps, I am 'The Idiot' because, this show in fact is both a criticism and veneration of the unarguably sick ideology of the doped up streamer living off NEET buxx. Thinking back on what I watched, I'm questioning if this is a self insert show for kookily lesbian teens. The later episodes go off on wild side tangents, which are too vague to realistically understand what is being told to you the viewer. I think my media literacy license has expired, but in-between me falling asleep in the latter half I did not retain anything worthwhile. Do not worry though, every character gets a good ending because they stopped being on the internet! Is this an analogy for growing up? I don't care. Realistically, someone in the group should have died from overdosing. This was a waste of my time, leaving me popping blood vessels at the sheer 'stupidity' at the dialouge and writing. So in short, big 2/10. I would have written more, but this doesn't deserve my attention to that degree. Also, the writer is making a new IP, called 'Other Sister Paranoia'- I pray that this when released stays as niche as possible, because more eyes should not be on this guy's works.

(Spanish review on my list) This anime isn't for everyone... it's not a pretty anime, it's not easy to understand, it's not made for enjoyment, much less for passing the time, it's not an anime that presents things in a simplified or easily understood way, it's not an anime with a story it wants to tell... this is definitely not an anime that's pleasant to watch or for all audiences. There are three types of audiences who will watch this anime: 1. Average people, you and I, normal people with normal lives, whom life has treated well and who don't have serious or psychological problems, and are just living life one step at a time. This anime will be difficult for us to watch; it won't resonate with us, nor will it deal with pleasant themes or topics we experience, much less ones we can identify with. 2. People with psychological, social, or emotional issues in their lives, experiencing difficulties or problems addressed in this anime... This anime can either help these people see they're not alone and offer them comfort, or it can ultimately plunge them deeper into their misery. The constant stream of conversations and jumps around without providing a digestible way to process the topics it covers might just make them feel worse. (I mean, I can't vouch for this; I'm not an extrovert, I don't interact with many people, and I certainly haven't done any field research on what I'm talking about. I'm just making assumptions from the comfort of my screen.) 3. Influencers, public figures, or people in the mass media called the INTERNET—these are the people for whom this anime was made and for whom it is highly intended... You and I, average otaku, aren't going to identify with it because we don't experience everything that comes with being a public figure: the stress, the psychological pressure, the euphoria, and the need to satisfy an audience that will never be satisfied. It's the environment that pushes you to consume certain substances or do certain things, sometimes for ease, sometimes for attention, other times because it's the only way to stay "sane" in that ruthless world... For everyone growing up in that world of fame, for everyone who has sunk or who has ever tried or dreamed of dedicating themselves to this... this is the anime for those kinds of people. It's that dark side that we all know exists but that few dare to talk about, and that people in similar situations probably need to address. Needy Girl is a controversial anime, but that's what makes it good. I don't think it aims to be a popular anime, nor does it strive to be flashy, but I do believe it can be an anime that helps someone in need. The final message is what gives this anime a satisfying conclusion. There are infinite possibilities in our lives. While the anime does have a "happy ending," it does so because that's what it wants us to have. This same anime tells you that everything could have ended much worse at many points. Everything can go wrong in our lives, but within all those infinite possibilities, we can be happy. We can't change the world, we can't disconnect from the internet, but we can decide how it will affect us and we can try to move forward day by day, with the help of our loved ones and with the support of what we do. You don't need to be famous, you don't need to stand out, you don't need money, fame, popularity, or charisma... you just need to give your best every day and be at peace with who you are and what you do, connect with the people around you, and lean on those who love you... ultimately, within all these infinite possibilities, you are happy in more than one. What are you doing to make that possibility a reality?

Needy Girl Overdose is a show that is fascinatingly bad, which in the world of anime is its own sort of backhanded compliment. Every season there is a tidal wave of the same dull shows doing the same dull thing, and most are skippable or droppable for the same reason we chose to skip or stop watching paint dry. NGO is absolutely not like that–it loudly and boldly finds innovative ways to be awful, to a point where it achieved an infamous spot on my list: the sub-4s that I actually finished instead of dropping. The strange thing is that on paper this is the kind of show I should love. Avant garde psychological artsy-farsty shows with a strong directorial style are my bread and butter. Two of my favorite shows of the past five years are Sonny Boy and Shiboyugi, and those shows get the same critiques this one does. People say that all of them are too abstract, too hard to follow, and too “pretentious.” If those are your opinions, dear reader, then skip the rest of this review and skip this show because this genre is not for you. If, on the other hand, you liked those other two shows I mentioned, then allow me to take an opportunity to explain why this show fails where shows like those succeeded. Generally, good shows–even highbrow experimental ones–anchor the viewer with a strong protagonist. Here’s a question for you: who is the protagonist of Needy Girl Overdose? Think on this one for a moment. At first, it seems like Kache, because she’s the first character we’re introduced to and she’s the most “normal” of them all, so it seems like the show is setting her up to be the audience surrogate. But the show quickly pivots away from her and several episodes don’t have her in them at all. MAL lists KAngel as the “Main,” but she’s one of the most passive characters in the show–her choices don’t drive many of the events in the story. We’re also given almost no information at all to explain why she’s as popular as she is, or what sets her apart from other streamers. I suppose that since this show is a sequel to the visual novel the expectation is you already saw her rise to fame. I disagree with that expectation. For a show to be great, it needs to be able to stand on its own. Functionally then, this show has an ensemble cast, which it’s all the worse for because none of the characters are well-written. Every character is a moody brat, spouting off nonsense about the human condition while sticking to tired anime personality tropes. We have the kuudere with the goth outfit, the androgynous lady-killer, the loud annoying purple loli, and so on. None of them ever talk like real people–they talk exactly the way their archetypes demand. There’s one scene in episode 9 where Lollipop says, “Real people don't have personalities as clean-cut as characters in a novel. We're more complicated than that. More like gradients.” And I audibly burst out laughing at how rich that was coming from one of the most stereotypical characters in the show. Aside from their personalities, the character designs are also boring and uninspired, which clashes hard with the over-the-top directing. Each girl looks like a stock anime girl, and considering the director is also listed as the character designer, I can’t tell which aspect of production he’s worse at. No one is going to be rushing out to buy artbooks of this show like they do with Shinichirou Otsuka and his work on Re:Zero. But there’s an argument to be made that none of the cast are the real main characters at all–the main character is the directing. This is the part of the show that’s gathered the most criticism and comment and it’s what has led people to lump it in with other abstract thinkers in the genre. I want to talk about this because to me a strong sense of direction is the most important thing in a show. Specifically, I want to talk about the comparisons people have drawn between this show and shows by Akiyuki Shinbo and his work with Studio Shaft. It’s immediately evident when starting episode 1 that Masaoki Nakashima has definitely seen some Shinbo shows in his day. Needy Girl Overdose has cutaways to full-screen text just like in Monogatari. It has scenes with paper doll mixed media like in Madoka Magica. It has live-action inserts like in Zetsubou Sensei. Is it wrong to imitate a style you love? Of course not. Shinbo doesn’t have the monopoly on any of those directorial techniques I just mentioned. And good directors can take a style and riff on it. Souta Ueno did that with Shiboyugi which I mentioned at the start of this review–that show felt heavily inspired by Shinbo’s style without feeling pastiche, because Ueno understood why those techniques worked and applied them to a kind of story Shaft probably wouldn’t tell. Nakashima copied all of Shibo’s homework for NGO without understanding why those techniques worked in the first place. Take, for example, the cutaways to full-screen text. In the Monogatari series those cutaways aren’t just for aesthetics–they serve functional purposes for the show. The Monogatari series is loaded with kanji puns, and kanji puns only work in the written–not spoken–Japanese language. Monogatari started as a novel series, so to prevent the puns from getting lost in the jump to animation, Shinbo just flashed the kanji up on the screen and if you read them while listening to the characters talk, it’s funny (assuming you speak and read Japanese). They also sometimes contain lines of dialogue or inner monologue from the books that didn’t make it into the script for the show. By flashing these lines at you, it sneaks a thought into your mind almost subliminally. In NGO, the frames of text that are intercut into the show are just… lines of dialogue from the show. Usually the same line a character is currently speaking or just finished speaking. So, what’s the point of the text? Really, it’s just Nakashima’s attempt to impress the viewer. “Monogatari had random flashes of text on screen, and that show was really smart and influential! So, we have flashes of text on screen, too!” And that’s about as far as Nakashima’s thought process probably went. This kind of thing is what classifies this show as pretentious. “Pretentious” isn’t a look and it isn’t a style; Monogatari isn’t pretentious because it looks like NGO or vice versa. One of the definitions of the word “pretentious” is, “Intended to impress others.” In other words, intention matters. Shinbo’s work is impressive for sure, but it’s impressive because it uses its bag of tricks to tell a more meaningful story. Style has to serve the narrative, not the other way around. Arthouse and experimental anime use creative and unintuitive visuals to make you feel a certain way without you even knowing why. This show doesn’t achieve that because it doesn’t have a clear enough vision of its own theme for the visuals and directorial choices to channel real meaning, and that was never the intention in the first place; the intention was to impress. Pretentious. Nakashima also tries to impress the viewer with his endless amount of references to other pop culture or art house creators. There are references to Queen, A Clockwork Orange, Night on the Galactic Railroad, Initial D, and even a callout to Mamoru Oshii among many, many others. None of them serve the narrative, and references to smarter fiction don’t elevate your work–otherwise Family Guy would be the smartest show on television. Another definition of “pretentious” is, “Marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction.” This is ultimately what seals the deal for me that this show is one of anime’s all-time worst. Within and throughout all this showy style and endless monologues about the human condition is simply a story about streamers. NGO draws analogy between its e-girl characters and Jesus and Judas Iscariot, which I have to say even if you’re not religious, those two things don’t occupy the same strata of “importance or distinction.” It draws analogy between its e-gi…

If I had to describe this anime with a single sentence, it would be: "It's like watching Episodes 25 and 26 of Evangelion, but without the story that makes them work." The biggest issue is the direction the series takes from the very beginning. In my opinion, the first few episodes are by far the weakest. The narrative relies almost entirely on long monologues, and the endless references to books, music, movies, and other works end up overshadowing any attempt at telling an engaging story. Rather than enriching the narrative, these references often feel like they're there just for the sake of being references, while the actual plot barely moves forward. It's a shame because the premise had a lot of potential. The pressure of fame, internet culture, and the world of streaming are all fascinating topics that could have made for a compelling story. Instead, the anime approaches them in such a bizarre and abstract way that most of that potential is ultimately wasted. Is there anything positive? Absolutely. The animation and soundtrack are easily among the anime's strongest aspects. Visually, it's gorgeous, and the music perfectly complements the atmosphere it's trying to create. Ame is also a genuinely interesting character despite the show's unconventional storytelling. Episode 3, which focuses on her backstory, is easily one of the best episodes in the series and proves that the anime was capable of telling a compelling story when it wanted to. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the rest of the episodes.

Sparkling and chilling. Somewhere between a masterpiece and the worst experience of your life. But despite its aggressive surrealism and bubblegum-flavored misery, the story has a strong, consistent throughline of hope and compassion. It also punches you right in the face a lot. On paper, it might not seem like anything new. The series explores the messy, hideous, parasocial realities of streamers being used as icons of comfort and community, being vilified and idolized with all the same zealotry and senseless hatred we had in prior religions. But this series goes deeper and darker than most other attempts I've seen on the topic. Listing trigger warnings would take a dozen paragraphs. It has everything that could possibly upset you, me, your uncle, or anyone else. It will inflict discomfort no matter who you are. In its presentation and subject matter, it's unrelentingly strange and difficult. Even in its gentlest moments, it's still something of an assault, in a very effective way. The occasional use of live-action video is especially jarring. The series grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you. It shakes the fillings out of your teeth. This is refreshing on one level, since there are so many anime that genuinely have nothing to say. You might need a little break afterwards to recover with something braindead and comfortable, but yeah, this series has a lot to say. The characters are more intelligent and self-aware than their personas, and they're able to examine their own personal damage and consider the help (and harm) they offer the world. This helps bring interesting insight into an otherwise familiar subject. A lot of the style is purposefully confrontational and overstated, but there's some real bite in some of the smaller touches, too. There's a quiet recurring element where each main character and side character is introduced with their follower count in their name card, casually measuring their entire worth as a person. It's such a perfectly cold and clever touch, underscoring the state of this internet-lensed broken world we live in. I'm really glad I made it through this series. It took effort. I couldn't do it twice. In several places, it's absolutely brutal and unflinching. But I think it was worth it. It may not really be the sort of anime you can like, exactly, but it's the kind you can respect. Good luck.