All of my reviews contain spoilers for the reviewed material. This is your only warning. 880https://magicplanetanimedesign.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/rpy6veo.jpg BACK ARROW its name proudly and pointedly stylized in all capital letters is a gem. Not a gem in the hidden gem sense where its a fantastic show thats underappreciated by the masses although certainly some might say it is that also but a gem in the way that you might call your quirky friend whos a little too into conspiracy theories a gem. Its not the best show of the Spring 2021 season and not a personal favorite I more respect it than anything else but its among the most unique. Its also by far the one I most expect to pick up a cult following. On one level BACK ARROW is a perfectly logical synthesis of the previous work of its two main creative minds Gorou Taniguchi creator and director of Code Geass on the one hand and Kazuki Nakashima scriptwriter of a number of Studio TRIGGERs most famous work notably Kill la Kill on the other. The result as anyone familiar with both of these things might guess is a decidedly strange fusion. BACK ARROW is political silly grandiose philosophical and ridiculous. This puts it in the same broad thematic space as most of its parent anime like the aforementioned Code Geass and Kill la Kill as well as some work in a similar vein say Symphogear. Its not quite as good as any of those but it manages to make a strong showing of things regardless. BACK ARROW concerns the geopoliticsand eventually the cosmologyof a world known as Lingalind. It is surrounded in its entirety by a massive wall. Were it not for the presence of mecha conjured up via magic circlets called Bind Warpers Lingalind would be a fairly typical fantasy setting for an anime. I suspect this is deliberate as one of BACK ARROWs aims is to explore the logical conclusions of such a setup. There are two main nations Rekka and Lutoh respectively loosely based on China and a general mishmash of Western Europe as well as a number of smaller powers. The mecha are powered by a force known as Conviction and each owner of a Bind Warper has a statement that they hold as a sort of personal code which changes their mechas form and what it can do. As an example Atlee a greenhaired sheriff girl has a conviction of Ill manage somehow 880https://i.ur.com/HTf8Fan.jpg None of this is all that complex on its own. However when BACK ARROWs title character Back Arrow a homophonic pun name on baka ero perverted idiot arrives Supermanstyle in a capsule from the sky things quickly change. Across twentyfour episodes Back Arrow goes on a capitalJ Journey across and eventually beyond Lingalind. Along the way he helps dramatically reshape the worlds political landscape and eventually comes face to face with a man named Rudolph who claims to be Gods arbitrator. What this means in practice is that Rudolpha villain so deeply goofy that at one point he drinks wine with his shouldersplans to destroy the world. 880https://i.ur.com/mHqw34o.png Things go well and truly off the rails as the series enters its latter half and if youre the sort of person who values sheer scale above all else BACK ARROW will be a likely anime of the year contender for you. BACK ARROWs only main flaw is a sort of inarticulateness. It is fairly hard to say what the point of the series is exactly until its very end. Ultimately it is the same message that almost all of Nakashimas work imparts no matter how great the force that holds us down by coming together we can overcome it. A simple message of unity in the face of any odds met that settles well with BACK ARROWs inherent silliness. An acquaintancehttps://twitter.com/customzaku/status/1405979672098246658 put it best Nakashimas main strength as a writer is to script things that make enough sense internally even if they sound completely wild and dumb when taken out of context. I could sit here all day and relay miniature stories of conviction particles and nested giant mecha and baby gods but thered be no point. These things tie together surprisingly well in the moment but make little sense outside of them. This is the man who penned what was translated as kick reason to the curb after all. 880https://i.ur.com/uK1yNXq.jpg You understand by now whether or not youd get anything out of BACK ARROW. If it is a minor work in its creators body thereof that really only speaks to the strength of the competition. I suspect in the months and years to come those who would appreciate it will indeed find it. It has a magnetism to it and like attracts like. Dont be surprised if five or ten years down the line you see BACK ARROW topping a lot of underrated anime lists. Until then it flies on like an arrow in the face of an angry god. Notes Disclaimers Usage of Anilists review feature does not constitute endorsement for Anilist as a platform the Anilist community or any individual member thereof or any of Anilists policies or rules. All views expressed are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons groups or organizations. All text is owned by me. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.