With the finale of the first season finally unveiled, it has now become apparent that the Gene of AI — a series dedicated to the question of determining AI's place in modern society — does, in an incredibly poetic fashion, struggle with determining its own place on a landscape of modern anime. Which, while undoubtedly a sad thing, was honestly something to be expected.
For the duration of the majority of the season, the story was kind of struggling to choose in which direction exactly does it want to go.
Does it want to be more of a thought experiment that offers its audience a variety of different vignettes that present various scenarios about robots and humanity that challenge both the viewers and the characters in order to showcase a gradual change in their worldview?
Or does it want to be a character study of Sudo?
It is the latter that the series most struggles with as, despite nominally being the main hero of the story, Sudo Hikaru does come off as a kind of a really bland, flat and uninspired character who does not present much of anything on his own. But at the same time can become much more entertaining when paired with anyone else from the main cast — especially Risa (although their romantic interactions did feel somewhat unnatural and forced).
Weirdly enough, the finale does echo this exact idea, by bringing back a side character from an opening episode who returns to pretty much explicitly make a point that it is our connections with other people that define who we are. And while this statement does make a lot of sense in the context of the show's universe — it hardly remedies the utter boringness of Sudo's entire arc, which, at this point, is beyond saving.
Another very puzzling change comes at the end when, instead of properly wrapping up everything and putting a nice bow on it, the show decides to not only end on a cliffhanger, but a cliffhanger that teases a serious shift in tone with Sudo's potential transformation into an… action hero? It's not a mess per se — but it is extremely unexpected and not in the best of ways.
Was The Gene of AI a pleasurable watch? It certainly was, but calling it 'a hidden gem' — as some folks are already doing on the internet — would most certainly be an overstatement.
Do androids dream of electric sheep?
With the finale of the first season finally unveiled, it has now become apparent that the Gene of AI — a series dedicated to the question of determining AI's place in modern society — does, in an incredibly poetic fashion, struggle with determining its own place on a landscape of modern anime. Which, while undoubtedly a sad thing, was honestly something to be expected.
For the duration of the majority of the season, the story was kind of struggling to choose in which direction exactly does it want to go.
Does it want to be more of a thought experiment that offers its audience a variety of different vignettes that present various scenarios about robots and humanity that challenge both the viewers and the characters in order to showcase a gradual change in their worldview?
Or does it want to be a character study of Sudo?
It is the latter that the series most struggles with as, despite nominally being the main hero of the story, Sudo Hikaru does come off as a kind of a really bland, flat and uninspired character who does not present much of anything on his own. But at the same time can become much more entertaining when paired with anyone else from the main cast — especially Risa (although their romantic interactions did feel somewhat unnatural and forced).
Weirdly enough, the finale does echo this exact idea, by bringing back a side character from an opening episode who returns to pretty much explicitly make a point that it is our connections with other people that define who we are. And while this statement does make a lot of sense in the context of the show's universe — it hardly remedies the utter boringness of Sudo's entire arc, which, at this point, is beyond saving.
Another very puzzling change comes at the end when, instead of properly wrapping up everything and putting a nice bow on it, the show decides to not only end on a cliffhanger, but a cliffhanger that teases a serious shift in tone with Sudo's potential transformation into an… action hero? It's not a mess per se — but it is extremely unexpected and not in the best of ways.
Was The Gene of AI a pleasurable watch? It certainly was, but calling it 'a hidden gem' — as some folks are already doing on the internet — would most certainly be an overstatement.
