In what one can only assume is the completed series (for now), Re:Creators; the original anime by Fate/Zero director & Black Lagoon creator Ei Aoki & Rei Hiroe respectively follows the story of Sōta Mizushino an aspiring artist embroiled between a battle of anime, manga, and video game characters brought into the real world by a vengeful creation known as Altair/Military Uniform Princess looking for revenge against the world who abandoned her creator. As Sota and the creations of the fantasy worlds they came from meet their creators, they must learn to work together to defeat Altair and the creations who have taken her side in the battle against the human “gods” who created them.

Re:Creators is a 2017 seinen anime series, it is produced by Troyca and licensed by Aniplex Inc., it is currently available for streaming via Amazon’s Anime Strike platform.

Editor’s Note: This review contains near complete to complete spoilers for Re:Creators’ entire series. 

The fictional becomes reality in Re:Creators.

Re:Creators is an odd case of an original anime series having a high level of quality not at the mercy of it’s source material. Yes there is a companion manga which technically hit the market first, but Re:Creators is most certainly an anime franchise first and foremost. There’s rumors that the anime was delayed due to studio Troyca failing to obtain the rights to licensed anime, manga, and video game characters as this was meant to be a major crossover series, but this has yet to be confirmed. The series is completely meta in almost every way imaginable, so the rumor really isn’t that far fetched upon completion of it’s run.

The three “lead” protagonist Meteora (left), Sota (middle), and Selesia (right). Lead is in quotes for a reason, but we’ll get into that later.

THE GOOD: Re:Creators is a seinen series with a bit of a message, that message is that creators of beloved fictional characters often have a child/parent-like relationship to them and try to take care of their creations like any parent would (or should) their child. However, even with the love creators have for what they create, it is often up to audiences to decide how certain elements of these creations are made acceptable going forward. The series takes a rather emotional turn five or so episodes in when the creations Sota encounters begins to meet and interact with their creators. Having learnt of the death of her creator Meteora was struggling between her decision to save the real world opting to watch it burn. Upon playing her own game and enjoying it as an audience member, she ultimately decides to stick by Sota and the others realizing the power of creativity.

From magical girls to mechs, nearly every genre is featured in Re:Creators.

Soon after the main cast begins to get fleshed out the series takes on a much darker tone, especially after the introduction of Magane Chikujoin; perhaps one of the most evil (yet understandable) characters of the season. Magane is a character who while on the surface seems evil for the sake of it, is actually just interested in seeing how humans live in any given situation, and often stirs the pot just for the sake of seeing how someone would react to a certain moment regardless of how dark or twisted it is. One such moment includes convincing Alicetaria February; a creation aligned with main antagonist Altair, that her friend the innocent & naive magical girl Mamika was killed by Meteora, for no reason other than being curious as to seeing how she’d choose to act, though in reality Altair was the person who killed Mamika, the latter of whom begged Magane to inform Alicetaria of this fact in her dying breath. Despite being neutral in most cases, Magane’s independence made her a threat to both sides, especially due to the fact that she’s extremely intelligent, perhaps even more so than Altair.

Altair declares war on our “horrific” world.

Some moments which highlight’s Magane’s brilliance includes: her finding & killing her creator with zero help, being able to quickly deduce that she was in the real world and her powers were in full effect here, basically trolling Yuya into giving his power to her, and being able to remain undetected by the Japanese Government while the creations were being hunted in an effort to group them in to aide in the defeat of Altair. Speaking on Re:Creators going dark, it was essentially in “zero fucks” mode by the halfway point, though considering that Rei Hiroe is a co-creator of the series it’s not entirely shocking. However, I must admit that I was a tad stunned that they killed off Mamika as quickly as they did. She was a character of high morals and one of the most likable in the series.

One of the most evil of evils in anime.

The musical score featured a mix of high action and emotional instrumentals and lyrical insert songs for the higher produced action scenes. The entire soundtrack was composed by acclaimed music composer Hiroyuki Sawano, who’s previous work includes Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill, Blue Exorcist, and The Seven Deadly Sins just to name a few.

Altair faces Selesia.

A viewer who appreciates the “behind the scenes” aspect of entertainment might be far more inclined to enjoy Re:Creators as the series is 100% meta. From references to industry worker struggles, deadlines, and other heartbreaks creators go through, Re:Creators provides a far deeper look at how hard these men and women work prior to any documentary could have even given us. You really get a feel of the connection the creators have for both their creations and fans. The emotional break down some creators go through after witnessing their creations die in the final climax with Altair was beautifully executed & performed by the voice actors. Selesia, who was initially viewed as one of main leads, dies episodes prior to the finale after being unable to decide how to handle her lover Charon, who had sided with Altair. She in the end decides to do a murder-suicide to stop Charon from hurting the others, as well as stop herself from continuing to fight. As a viewer, this was one of the biggest heart breakers in the series next to Mamika’s death.

Re:Creators is a seinen, but that doesn’t mean it’s all about dark tone and super violence.

THE BAD: The ending is pretty predictable by episode 19 or so, which might be a problem, but it’s executed well enough that most won’t care. Certain characters (mainly Magane) don’t get an ending come the finale episode, but it’s likely Troyca is planning an OVA or second season featuring these characters.

An anime original worthy of a watch.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Next to Made in Abyss, Re:Creators ties as my anime of the season. It’s a shame that support for both are at a bit of a stand still due to the Anime Strike exclusivity, however if there were two reasons to give the service a try, those series are definite standouts. Re:Creators’ behind the scenes like vibe of Japan’s entertainment industry through the eyes of creators and those working in the field provide an unexpected emotional outlook on a form of media we love and of which many have spent hours & years of time with as viewers. Otaku Dome gives Re:Creators a 98 out of 100.

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