Visual Novel Adaptation by A.C.G.T.
Streaming on Crunchyroll

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Top 10 Anime Fights Set In Nazi Germany

Jel’s verdict: How do you say “don’t watch this?” in German?

This episode was incomprehensible without context, and even after doing a bit of research I can’t really tell you what Dies Irae is about. What I can tell you is this debut is an “episode 0” prologue, sending us back to the start of World War II and introducing our villains…. or at least I hope they’re villains. I am REALLY not in the mood to be asked to sympathize with Nazis right now (or ever) and they sure are trying to make them look cool here. ANYWAY, The proper series will take place in present day Japan so it would probably best to judge Dies Irae after the first proper episode.

That said, putting no effort into making your story accessible to anime viewers not familiar with the source material is a bad way to start. A good portion of the episode is two super powered crazy people fighting super powered Nazis and until the most super powered Nazi takes them down. We have no idea who these people are or what they are fighting for, and therefore have no reason to care. Vague first episodes can be fine, but with so many other things to watch and do you have to give me something to get attached to and that does not happen here. So unless you’re somehow a fan of the visual novel, I’d say skip it.

Zigg’s Verdict: Nazis, I hate these guys

It doesn’t matter if the Nazis are meant to be the good guys or the bad guys. It doesn’t matter if the Nazis are meant to be the good guys or the bad guys. What matters is that this is an entire episode about trying to make Nazis look as cool as and badass as possible, as long as your definition of ‘cool and badass’ is rooted in a particularly adolescent outlook. The quality of the writing (schlock), the animation (garbage), or the general attempts at story building (nigh incomprehensible) are entirely irrelevant in this context. When your blonde haired, blue eyed main character, who is delivering extended monologues on how awesome and unfeeling he is, is named after this guy, I’ve got no time, attention, or sympathy for anything you have to say. Grow up.