Active Raid ends on a bang in its episode 12, though hardly an ending as a summer season is announced, and it leaves you with thoughts as you review anime. For some people anime becomes a consistently enjoyable medium that can always ‘be’ and cause enjoyment. I know a lot of people have said they enjoyed Sentai works and it allowed Active Raid to resonate with them in a sense I tend to find myself lacking recently. As a reviewer, do you review a show to review how you enjoyed it or how other people might enjoy it in another context? So to properly review Active Raid you should understand my background of anime: I enjoy mecha shows that allow for certain emotions to be played. My favorite gundams were the cheesier ones like G Gundam and I even enjoyed Gundam 00 season 2 because I really liked two characters. I tend to hone in on one thing about a show and so long as that part ends up well I enjoy it. If I can’t hone in on anything my enjoyment tends to go down or the show itself must exist as generally compelling in the lore. So how did I review Active Raid and what about it seemed to be enjoyable or not?
Well, Active Raid had one big issue for me: I didn’t care about most of the cast. This was more or less because they developed everyone for an episode and then they’d lean on that development, it was all pretty standard. People had really cool stories like being secret gamblers or important exes and it’s not as if it was lacking in the attempt to try. Active Raid is for all intents and purposes something that could probably be legitimately enjoyed by someone: it is not a completely terrible anime, it is by no means unredeemable, it has a pretty good sound track and I love their art style.
So what do I not like about it? Well, the atmosphere is a huge problem. I tend to feel the exact same no matter the situation I’m in even in the finale. When important details happen I rarely react as dramatically as I think I will, and I have to watch every episode several times to maintain an emotional connection to anyone. I was hardly ever intimidated even when I worked really hard to go, wow, the villain did something of extreme significance! For example, part of the trope of this show is that the squad both genuinely screws up but also saves the day without receiving any recognition or appreciation. The thing is, I don’t really like anyone or feel like watching. I don’t anticipate every week with glee, I didn’t want to see how things turned out, and I tended to feel as if I was watching only to make sure that it was written, not because it was something I wanted to do.
Simply put, the best way to describe Active Raid is as a meal you order at a restaurant that you expect to like but don’t quite enjoy. By all means, there should be nothing wrong with it. You got the ingredients, several people seem to frequent the restaurant, but it’s just not what you were hungry for. Even the ending which I wanted to see made me feel as if there was a bland empty show ending. I can’t in good faith recommend a show that made me feel tired to watch and actually felt like a task. I can’t even say I will cover the next season of it because I honestly don’t want to. I really feel as if Active Raid might be the kind of show some people could like, but as someone who tends to enjoy anime with action, romance, and a genuine emotional attachment to characters- I can forgive a lot. I can forgive a plot I don’t enjoy or that isn’t really good for a connection that means something to me. But as it stands, all of Active Raid failed to connect to me personally.
Oki’s Final Thoughts: If you can find a connection to Active Raid’s characters and plot in the first three episodes then it will more than likely be a show you will connect with, but if you find yourself bored with the premise and characters early on then the show will not be capable of giving you something more or growing passed the original concept in the following episodes.
Rating: 5/10, a flat average rating.
Oki