A GREAT PREMISE AND VISUAL QUALITY ANNIHILATED BY TERRIBLE STORYTELLING AND CHARACTERS 1000https://i.ur.com/yp6aZHn.png MINOR SPOILERS MAJOR SPOILERS HIDDEN STORY The story starts well with a very interesting premise of the rebellion of a faction of the Moon people against the Earth specifically Sapientia an AI responsible for improving every aspect of the life of the Earthlings in recent years but at the expense of the life of the Lunarians. The premise and the first episodes trace the beginning of a political war plot between these 2 factions but too soon although still sufficient the general story veers towards the classic space battle shonen SPOILER But the critical point of Moonrise is not so much in this partially disappointing change of direction but rather in the terrible way of telling it. From the first episodes although with potential a strange management of the timelines is noted: flashbacks flashforwards timeskips jumps back and forth are too pressing disconnected and that ruin both the immersion and the initial characterization of the characters. If this situation of time jumps noticeable from the beginning remains a secondary flaw until halfway through the series because the plot has potential there will be time to stabilize things etc. from a certain point onwards the narration takes a really bad turn. Too many elements to explain begin to be added too many characters are not yet well defined too many plot twists that prove useless in the long run but above all the number of episodes available in which to explain these things begins to decrease. In the first half although limping the story is interesting enough to involve the viewer in asking questions and theories but the excessive wanting to bite off more than one can chew progressively removes any emotional involvement until it becomes a series of I watch and hope that at a certain time someone will explain something. Too much time wasted on useless concepts and too little time given to well delineating the cornerstones of the story such as Sapientia and the SEEDs which are almost never talked about despite their key role because the focus must be: kidnapping the strong character helping and saving friends stopping deaths etc. The series ends with an incalculable amount of unanswered questions which in a SciFi weigh even more an ending without head or tail for most of the characters but above all the feeling that the authors wanted to do something that they are not capable of doing. 1000https://i.ur.com/UbyV91E.png CHARACTERS The characters suffer from the terrible storytelling perhaps even more than the actual story. In the first half they do not seem very characterized and remain in stereotypes but they give an idea of a cohesive group talking about those of the team and secondary characters at least sympathetic. When chaos takes hold however they also fall into confusion strange interactions relationships difficult to understand. As said above they ignore the key topics of the story such as Sapientia including the villains and this leads to never having clear their objectives and to empty their actions of meaning. The relationship between Rhys and Jacob is one of the critical points of the series. Their relationship is in constant oscillation between love and hate especially because of Jacobs incomprehensible actions and this leads Rhys to often be inconsistent hateful and impossible to frame. A significant interaction of the problems of the series is in the early stages between Zowan and Georg. SPOILER: Even the villains suffer from very little uniqueness and some of them like Wyse Crown you dont even understand what theyre doing there. Many plot twists related to the characters are weak because no information is ever given about them and its difficult to empathize with them. 1000https://i.ur.com/OmTbzvN.png ANIMATION AND MUSIC Qualitatively the series does not disappoint and presents 18 solid episodes but above all very consistent in terms of animation. The fights are dynamic and intense. The excellent success of the action aspect also comes from a satisfying musical management with SciFi music very in theme and that elevates the key moments of action with emotion. The art direction is also of excellent quality which is very important in a space setting. The CGI is of an excellent level for Wits standards and is never distracting or annoying to watch. Excellent how it does not fall into the error of overanimating the 1st episode and then going downhill you can see that it had an orderly and wellmade production. The highlight is definitely Yasuyuki Ebaras episode 10 and I believe it is his first role as ED in his career apart from episode 3 of the same series. Chapeau https://i.ur.com/ovDTV2F.mp4 CONCLUSIONS AND QUESTIONS In closing Moonrise certainly starts with a great premise but the serious writing flaws affect the developments and characters too heavily leaving a sense of incompleteness in many elements and the feeling that managed in a different way it would have been a story that would have had its say maybe not to be a pillar of animation but still an enjoyable series. I leave here at the bottom a series of questions and plot points not explained or that I missed in which case I invite you to DM me to report the mistakes They are all Major Spoilers so open at your own risk: SPOILER P.S. I am not a native English speaker so I apologize for any mistakes 1000https://i.ur.com/wkLLUnc.png