'Re:Creators' Fails Its Promising Premise

What if anime characters suddenly start popping out in the real world?

That’s the intriguing premise of Re:Creators (also stylized as Re:CREATORS), a 22-episode anime series about a high school boy named Sota, an otaku and an aspiring manga artist, who is mysteriously drawn into the world of the anime show he’s watching on his tab.  He witnesses the heroine of the anime, Selesia, engaging in a mecha battle with an enigmatic enemy named Altair.   Before he can recover from the shock of what just happened, he is returned back to the real world – Selesia in tow.

Soon, other anime and video game characters begin appearing in the real world, and it seems Altair is the one bringing them.  Once they realize their situations, the characters become keen of meeting their creators.  Some are in awe of them, while others loath them for creating worlds of suffering and darkness, simply for entertainment.  Eventually, the creations split into two factions.  The more embittered ones side with Altair, who intends to destroy the real world, while others like Selesia team up with their creators in order to stop Altair.  Meanwhile, Sota discovers Altair’s true origin, and that he might have had a hand in it.

This should have been a great anime based on the potential of the whole concept.  From it, I was expecting fantastic characters, unique storytelling, and thought-provoking themes.  I was optimistic of it, that’s why it’s one of the spring season anime I picked up early this year.  Unfortunately, it didn’t immediately hook me.  I found the first episodes underwhelming.  The story and characters fail to engage me.  But I held on, hoping it would eventually get better.  It didn’t.  Summer season arrived, bringing new anime series – much more enjoyable and fascinating ones.  Thus, Re:Creators was pushed down my watching list.  Nonetheless, since I had already watched more than half of the season at that point, the obsessive completionist in me made me watch it till the end.

I think the key problem is that it’s too crowded with characters.  And it’s probably why the narrative feels exhausting and messy.  It would have been a different case if I got to like and connect with the characters.  But though some have cool character designs and backgrounds, not a single one is remarkable and endearing.  Everyone is too clichéd and one-dimensional.  Though I understand that, in a sense, it was the whole point, that they embody the qualities of the respective genres they came from.  Nevertheless, they were thinly-written characters with unrewarding, pretentious arcs and were hard to get invested on.  Thus, when some of them started getting killed, I didn’t care at all.

To be fair, Re:Creators isn’t entirely awful; it had its entertaining moments.  And it’s definitely not the worst anime I’ve seen in a while.  But it’s easily the most disappointing.  I had high hopes for it.  It had tremendous promise.  But, as it turns out, there’s a considerable discrepancy between its promise and execution – a deficit that I find hard to forgive.