Alternative title(s): Heion Sedai no Idaten-tachi
Manga Adaptation by MAPPA
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

The Idaten are gods tasked with defending the world from monsters. But with the last monster sealed away 800 years ago, will they be prepared if a new threat arises?

Jel’s verdict: Do Not Watch This

I don’t know what kind of tone the author was going for with this, but to me it seems like they tried to inject a “dark” and “edgy” attitude into a fun, colorful battle shonen show. It made me think of the kind of edge a 90’s anime OVA would have but not in a good way, more in the unnecessarily violent and misogynistic way.

This culminates in a scene depicting a sexual assault that destroyed any possible value from the rest of the first episode. It’s not just that they included the scene, but it’s depicted in a flippant, almost silly way, as if to downplay the impact of what is happening? I really don’t know what they were trying to accomplish, but it made me feel physically ill after watching it.

Needless to say, I was in no mood to watch the second episode, which released simultaneously with episode 1. It’s a real shame that there appears to be some talented people working on this. I actually loved the visual presentation up until that particular scene. But then you consider the fact that this is a MAPPA production, a studio that is becoming increasingly notorious for abusing its employees, and even that is hard to get behind. The only thing I can do at this point is tell you all not to watch it.