I started this series expecting a good psychological thriller because of how much people hype it up online, but honestly I didn’t expect it to affect me the way it did. This anime feels incredibly grounded. No exaggerated anime logic, no unnecessary fanservice, no forced drama. Everything feels human, and somehow that makes it even more disturbing.
The atmosphere is probably one of the best I’ve seen in anime. There’s this constant feeling that something is wrong even during calm scenes. A simple conversation in a quiet room somehow feels more tense than action scenes from most thrillers. I watched a lot of episodes late at night and there were moments where I genuinely had to pause and process what just happened.
Johan is easily one of the most terrifying antagonists I’ve ever seen, not because he’s loud or violent all the time, but because of how empty and unreadable he feels. The scary part is how he manipulates people without even needing to do much. Sometimes his presence alone changes the entire mood of an episode. Few anime villains have that kind of effect.
What surprised me most was the side characters. At first I thought some episodes were just random detours, but almost every character ends up mattering in some way. The world feels connected and alive. Even characters who appear briefly have their own struggles, personalities, and impact on the story. It made the journey feel real instead of just being centered around the main cast.
I’ll be honest though, this anime requires patience. The pacing is slow at times, especially in the middle. But instead of trying to rush to big moments, it carefully builds tension piece by piece. And once everything starts coming together, you realize why the story was written that way. By the final episodes, I was completely hooked.
The ending left me with so many thoughts and questions. About morality, identity, trauma, and whether evil is something people are born with or shaped into over time. Very few anime manage to make me sit silently after the credits roll, but this one did.
74 episodes sounded intimidating before I started. After finishing it, I honestly wished there was more.
Easy 10/10 for me.
