It always hurts me when an animated project turns out to be bad, not on a technical level, but on a storytelling level. If the designs for the world-building, the characters, the backgrounds, the foregrounds, the action sequences, the expressions on the faces of the characters, and everything else that you are seeing visually are awful, it’s really easy to say that I didn’t like looking at it. I can appreciate the ambition and whatnot, but I don’t have to split hairs over why it didn’t work for me. Things are different when I love everything that I am looking at, but I don’t feel any emotions. Then it’s the fault of either the characters’ motivations, the lack of emotional stakes, or just the needless overcomplication of a narrative that isn’t as complex as the writers think it is. Recently, it has happened with Kung Fu Panda 4, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Now joining this, to be honest, depressing list is Moonrise.
Masashi Koizuka’s Moonrise, written by Koizuka and Tow Ubukata, tells the story of a futuristic Earth that has used an AI technology called Sapientia to bring about world peace. In order to save the planet’s natural resources, Sapientia and a tech company, the Shadow Corporation, have created these orbital elevators to send people to the Moon. That solves the issue of overpopulation on Earth, and it gives humanity direct access to the minerals and elements they’re running out of on Earth. But since the living conditions of the people on the Moon aren’t as good as those on Earth, the former begin to revolt against Sapientia and the Shadow Corporation. Eventually, things come to a boil, and the leader of the lunar rebels, known as the Moon Chains, Bob Skylum, destroys the orbital elevators, causing them to plummet to the Earth’s surface and kill millions. Humans, with the help of the Joint Army, retaliate by sending platoons and fleets of soldiers. Meanwhile, a covert group of elite warriors (Jack, Osma, Duan, Inanna, Zowan, Eric, Georg, and Rhys), called the VC3 squad, attempts to take down the Moon Chains from within. However, a forgotten bond between Skylum and Jack can undo their mission.
On a macro level, Moonrise is about capitalism, fascism, classism, revolution, and the invasive and destructive nature of artificial intelligence. On a micro level, it’s a story about people who were separated by a series of wars finding each other again. That’s a fine enough premise to build a sprawling story around. But the issue with Koizuka and Ubukata’s writing is its lack of focus. Every time you think they are going to make a point about how overdependence on AI could eventually lead to war and genocide, they detract from it to focus on Jack and those around him. Jack, his allies, and his enemies are interesting on paper. But when the time comes for Koizuka and Ubukata to truly dig into what drives them, they put it on the back burner to focus on the war. So, after a point, it feels like Koizuka and Ubukata are so happy to make a show of this scale and ambition that they can’t contain their feelings; hence the storytelling being as scattershot as it is. And while they are free to go haywire about their “original ideas,” I am here thinking I’ve seen some version of this very story in Elysium, Moon, Ad Astra, Cowboy Bebop, and other IPs that have theorized what will happen if capitalism and fascism go interstellar.
Moonrise looks excellent. The action sequences are fantastic. The depiction of the Engrave technology, which can turn a matter called E2 into anything as long as its mass stays the same and also powers these hooded cloaks that allow its user to move in zero gravity with ease, is excellent. The movement of the virtual camera is jaw-dropping. The character designs and character animation are great. That said, I have to mention that some of the “homages” steer too close to ripping off Cowboy Bebop, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack on Titan, Terminator 2, and, for some bizarre reason, The Blob. Maybe it’s not that big an issue, and I was affected by it because I was too bored and exhausted dealing with the show’s odd pacing, time jumps, and nonlinear storytelling. Oh, yes, the nonlinear storytelling. I don’t know who had the bright idea of introducing bloody nonlinear storytelling in a narrative that’s already full of convoluted plot mechanics and a laundry list of eclectic characters, but they need to be pulled up and questioned for this bizarre creative decision. Also, and this is just a personal theory of mine, I don’t think these 18 episodes were supposed to be watched all at once.
If you look closely at the way the story has been laid out over the course of 18 episodes, when the time jumps happen, and when some of the pivotal revelations come into play, this seems like three seasons worth of plot stuffed into one. I don’t know if releasing this show in the form of three seasons, with each season spanning 6 episodes, would’ve made the whole thing slightly more digestible. But binging the show certainly didn’t do it, or me for that matter, any favors. By the end, I was just confused, tired, and apathetic towards the themes and the journey that the characters had been on. So, and this is just a suggestion, don’t try to watch Moonrise all at once; maybe break it up into 6-episode sessions. More than anything, it’ll allow you to appreciate the voice-acting, which is genuinely great. I have watched the show both in Japanese and English. Chiaki Kobayashi, Yuto Uemura, Misaki Yamada, and Aina The End are simply fantastic. Kosuke Takaguchi, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Kori Arisa, Yuka Terasaki, Yu Kobayashi (despite his minimal screen time), Katsunori Okai, Masaki Aizawa, Takehito Koyasu, Arisa Sekine, and Shin Aomori are great. However, my favorite of the lot is Salamandra; the character design, her action sequences, and the voice-acting by Mie Sonozaki are phenomenal.
Moonrise is definitely worth a watch. I mean, Wit Studio has done stuff like Suicide Squad Isekai, Attack on Titan, Bubble, and The Grimm Variations. So, you know that their work is legit. I don’t think there’s a single frame in the whole show that “looks off.” Visually, everything is perfect. And, usually, I give top marks for that. Yeah, when it comes to animated projects, I am very lenient like that. If the story is compelling enough to accentuate the power of the images that are on display, or if it’s simple enough to let me vibe, then I end up being very positive. However, if your storytelling is not only keeping me from enjoying the animation but also tiring my mind, then that’s a problem I just can’t ignore. I think that the screenplay needed a lot of polishing. Instead of releasing all the episodes at once, this should have either been an episodic release or it should’ve had a three-episode-per-week release schedule, much like Arcane. Either way, feel free to give Moonrise a watch and let me know what you thought about it in the comments section below.
