Politically socially and philosophically if you want to call it that way BEM fails to create the serious plot that it wanted. WARNING: SPOILERS Remember children. Showing vague social stereotypes isnt good if youre trying to make a serious criticism about it. BEM takes place in Libra City which is divided into Upper City the city of the rich and Outside the city of the poor through a bridge. The three protagonists meet on this bridge every night and surprisingly no one ever discovers them there. The three Youkai Ningen save humans from different monsters hoping that in the future they will become humans themselves. The plot doesnt sound THAT bad right? Generic yes but bearable. However its worse than that. As I said earlier the trio thinks they will become humans after saving other humans. Although the idea sounds stupid Bem himself admits it doesnt have much foundation so Ill ignore it. Im more interested in talking about that desire to become humans they have which hardly develops in the course of the whole series. We know they want to be human yes but nothing deeper than that. Personal reasons? No. Moment when they decided to pursue that dream? Nah. Other ideas to get it? To hell with that they want to be human and thats it. Obviously the anime ended without resolving this issue and instead gave us a fight against a giant that came out of nowhere. Finally as the cherry on top we have an open ending that leaves many questions unanswered. We also have the individual stories of each character which dont lead to anything interesting to be honest. I will focus on the three Youkai Ningen Sonia Summers Roddy and Daryl and then I will make a brief summary of what I think of the rest I havent named. First we have Bem the leader of the trio and the poorest since he has almost no personality. Unlike Bela and Belo Bems life revolves around becoming human. However because he isnt the only one who fights against the monsters that lurk the city he practically doesnt possess any trait that individualizes him from his companions. Although we could consider his interactions with Sonia as a distinctive Bela and Bem also have contact with humans and let me tell you the interactions between Bem and Sonia arent memoriable at all. On the other hand we have Bela a Youkai Ningen who attends school to feel more human and interact with them. Believe me every episode focused on her was a torment. Due to her naive nature harsh attitude and avenger complex its difficult to get attached to her. And lets not talk about her relationship with Roddy which was only a tease for 12 episodes. In the end we have Belo the youngest of the trio who hasnt yet passed his edgy stage and makes comments abut humanss nature as deep as a pot of mayonnaise. Dont get me wrong Belo is my favorite out of the three but his structure as a character is just as poor as that of his partners. Belo doesnt want to become human as much as the other two resigning himself that this will never happen. However this doesnt justify his bitter personality or his choice in enviroments he wanders on Outside while Bela studies in Upper Town but we never have a clue as to why the younger of the two chose to settle there. Considering that his personality doesnt develop into something different in the course of the entire series there isnt much to talk about him although it isnt as if the other characters had any development either. But hey If you thought this sounded painful I regret to tell you that these three static monsters were even better treated compared to the secondary characters: Sonia Roddy and Daryl. The reason why I put these three together is because the three play the same role: being flat and onedimensional characters that serve so that the three protagonists can rely on them. Because cmon Sonias goody twoshoes personality Roddys crush and Daryls unreal revenge only served to give Bem Bela and Belo more material to participate with. Thats why its not surprising that they made Sonia adopt a little girl with whom the writers didnt know what to do at the last moment that Roddy got set aside without a clossure of his own and that Daryl got easily forgiven by Belo and then became the head of an organization that controls Libra City even though hes 13 years old. Im not even going to talk about the Mysterious Lady since wed barely met her in one of the last episodes and then she already portrait herself as the main villain. And not to mention Agent Joel Woods who literally had no reason to exist the ridiculously racist Helmut Felt the stagnant and generic Dr. Recycle Belas friends that on the last episode turned out to be bitches or the cartoony villains God. The only characters I would save would be Belos three friends because although they had no development either at least they were kinda sympathetic. To be honest this series can be entertaining if you like to sit down and not think much about what happens. However if you are interested in welldeveloped characters and a promising plot BEM will leave a bad taste in your mouth.