sometimes i like to try out random shows and report back to yall

first episode rating: 7.5/10

so, im gonna be honest. i watched this pretty much ONLY because of the art. i love me some cutesy designs, and this series colors felt natural and not as eyebleeding as ya typical moe

bonus points for the boy moe. look at this kid. son material.

anyway, from what i can gather out of 22 minutes and a description of the show, the show is about a group of kids who live in this orphanage in this town called Orth (?), which is built around this gigantic freaking pit called the abyss. humans, being the poor curious souls we are, have decided to explore this last true wonder of the world bc this thing is full of all kinds of cool crap but also maneating, flying giant snakes. the orphanage sends kids down to gather relics from the pit to keep the orphanage running.

enter riko, a cute little blond girl who's passionate about adventure and wants to get down real deep in the pit to find her mom/be like her mom, who obviously isnt here, since she lives in a freaking morally ambiguous orphanage.

after she and her friend nat are almost eaten by a previously mentioned snake beast, she is recused by an adorable, mysterious robot boy who is in the screenshot above (//sobs and blushes in parental love)

the robot boy finally comes to, revealing hes just as confused as the audience is about this world and the kid isnt even aware he is a robot. after almost being discovered by the equally adorable "leader" of the orphanage, they run off to the woods/outskirts of town and watch the sunrise as riko explains to reg (she named the robot boy) about the world he finds himself in

how do i truly describe this episode? uh...how about "moe studio ghibli" the backgrounds are just,,gorgeous. amazing. oh holy geez Orth and the abyss are beautiful its hand painted and great ajdhshagh. and i already talked about the colors-its not oversatuated candy colored moe high school girls. it's cute...in a whimsical bit grounded way. the entire show just gave me that childlike wonder that many anime just fail to give me. it really did feel like an american cartoon movie about traveling to another world, with those loving pans of backgrounds and a quiet, soft nature

the mood was...somber, but also childlike. due to the environment and colors, everything had a muted, calming feel to it (the theme song was in english and almost put me to sleep because it was so nice and calming)

it also gave me the feel everything was going to go horribly wrong and im gonna bawl my eyes out over my new children, but yaknow, that's not a bad thing

so, yeah, i really hope this show keeps the quality the first episode had. it was a great, gentle, world building episode that set up our main characters in preparation for the storyline i hope that follows