Kamitsubaki City Under Construction (henceforth Kamitsubaki) is one of the worst types of disappointing anime: the type that gets your hopes up because it actually started out being pretty cool. Kamitsubaki opens up in a city, very suddenly, in the throes of some apocalyptic disaster that results in tons of people (including our protagonist's parents) turning to dust. Years later, the world is a vastly different place, with swaths of it now sporting the quintessential “nature has taken over” post-apocalyptic look. And following a violent incident, our protagonist Kafu learns that there are monsters called tesseractors, and that the only ones who can stop them are the witchlings, which, as it turns out, she's one of. More specifically, the witchlings stop the tesseractors with their voices.

Despite what you might expect, Kamitsubaki has more in common with something with a more overt darkness like Madoka than musical magical girl series like Mermaid Melody: Pichi Pichi Pitch or Symphogear that, on paper, feel like the more obvious things to compare Kamitsubaki to. This isn't to say that neither Mermaid Melody nor Symphogear have their dark moments (they absolutely do), just that Kamitsubaki is a lot more grim in its tone, subject matter, and even in its overall aesthetic. For example, it's a lot bloodier than you're probably expecting it to be. It's no Higurashi or Another, to be clear, but there's still a surprisingly violent streak to Kamitsubaki. And that streak is strong and recurring enough that I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone who prefers their anime without gore. More specifically, I wouldn't recommend this anime in general, but especially so if you'd prefer to avoid graphic violence.

Speaking of which, if I didn't start this review out by calling this anime “disappointing,” this is about the time when many of you'd probably be thinking something along the lines of, “This sounds sick! I'm loading up the first episode now—I have to watch this!” But instead, alas, you're probably just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Wait no longer, because it brings me no joy to report to you that after those first few episodes, this anime quickly devolves into an overly-complicated mess.

It's at this point that it might be helpful to point out what you could call the “source material” of this anime. Namely, the KAMITSUBAKI STUDIO YouTube channel. Before the release of this anime, the universe of Kamitsubaki comprised mostly of songs and games. And while I've since listened to a few songs, I'll admit to not having played any of the games. And I can't help but wonder whether or not it would've helped my understanding of this anime if I had some familiarity with the games, especially, because I truly can't tell whether or not this anime was made to bring in new fans with little or no previous experience with Kamitsubaki.

The story of the Kamitsubaki anime is barely cohesive since it moves at a breakneck speed, and quickly becomes nigh impossible to follow—even with the limitless power of the rewind button. To call it “confusing” doesn't even begin to do it justice. The introductory episodes, which so carefully take the time to explain and ease the audience into the universe, made me think that Kamitsubaki was made precisely for newcomers like myself in mind. But everything that followed made me question that—after all, maybe this makes more sense to people more familiar with the music and/or the games? But then, if that's the case, why make such comprehensive introductory episodes? And also, perhaps more importantly, why lull new fans into this false sense of security just to rip the rug out from under them? It makes no sense either way, which makes poor writing and composition feel like the obvious culprits here.

To reiterate: this is all the more disappointing because the first few episodes build up what looks like a really interesting story, filled with equally compelling characters. And while there are plenty of attempts at giving each girl her moment in the spotlight, and some are a bit more endearing than others, it's hard to disentangle them from the cacophony of clutter that is the main storyline. Why is so-and-so doing such-and-such? What does that tell us about her as a character? How does it impact everything and everyone else? More often than not, it's hard to say!

As though to rub salt in the wound, Kamitsubaki's visuals instantly grab your attention with their bold, highly saturated, and contrasting colors. Yes, it's CGI, and plenty of anime fans won't like it based purely on that merit. But I've seen actual terrible anime CGI—KamiErabi GOD.app, KamiKatsu, and dare I mention the infamous legend of EX-ARM—and let me assure you, this isn't that. This isn't even in the same galaxy as genuinely (and often, laughably) ugly anime CGI. Quite the opposite, actually—it's no Land of the Lustrous, but movements are usually on the smoother side (key word is “usually,” but still), its style works well in 3D, and it looks pretty good all things considered. It's not quite the best, but it's still easily one of the better-looking CGI anime out there, for sure.

The music is a whole other can of worms. You'd think particular attention would be given to making the music in this show the best it can be, seeing as how music is the bread and butter of the KAMITSUBAKI STUDIO channel, and it's, well, a show about witchlings who sing to defeat their enemies. But for the most part, the songs aren't so much the highly-produced numbers you'd see in an idol anime. Rather, it's mostly the girls just sing-speaking with a limited amount of background music. They usually feel less like completed songs and more like rough drafts. But even the more fleshed out song numbers, on the rare occasions when you're treated to them, are nothing terribly memorable—let alone the showstoppers you'd expect from a musical anime like this.

Kamitsubaki is the type of anime that wears its ambition on its sleeve, and with a clearer vision of what it wanted to accomplish and how it would do that, it could've been something really special. The worst part of all this was that there were discernible crumbs of good ideas throughout Kamitsubaki. I'm not entirely sure I wouldn't watch another attempt at making an anime set in this universe. I'd just want to know for sure this time that it's made with series newcomers in mind, and that the overall execution is stronger.