Anime Review: Empire of Corpses

So I watched the Empire of Corpses, which belongs to the trilogy of works by the late Itoh Keikaku, dealing with all sorts of existentialism issues. The premise is about a world where humanity can reanimate corpses and use them as cheap labors and soldiers, effectively building a strong economy around what used to be worthless. It’s trying to retain a degree of seriousness but mostly fails because of the constant morbid imagery and the mindless explosions which is something you would expect to see in a B grade action flick.

The animation is done by studio WIT, and it looks amazing, yet overused at this point since they keep reusing the same setting in their works: An 19th century steampunk Europe, with zombies. The music is ok, although forgettable, while the dialogue is mostly infodumps, making the exposition very amateurish.

The characters are nothing to remember for and the only thing that stands out is their names. They are all based on famous people from history and literature, making everything feel like a hunt for references and derivates. There is practically nothing fresh about this concept; even the premise is essentially Frankenstein taken to a global level.

The plot feels to the most part like watching the second Ghost in the Shell movie. Gorgeous to look, pretentious to listen to, and absolutely no commitment to give a crap about anything that is going on in it. The characters say stuff as if reading an essay written by a high schooler attempting to sound wise, then something blows up, they go to a different place, sit down, and continue their boring couch philosophies.

It may not sound like a big issue but trust me, it’s impossible to give a shit when there is a war going on, the main characters as standing in the back, reading books, and talk about the meaning of life while zombies are chewing each other to a second death. They are talking about people who are not even alive, nor take part in the battle.

As if that wasn’t enough of a problem, the last third loses all sense of logic and becomes about magic crystals and spells that make you switch bodies. Everything becomes possible, you can’t take anything seriously, the resolution is a ridiculous cop out, and you are essentially watching Guilty Crown all over again. Final verdict, it’s awful, don’t you dare give it a good score.