Yeah, it’s an actual masterpiece. Even just on a basic structural level the pacing, art direction, and sound design are all perfect. Even the fanservice elements feel countered by how desexualized Ryuuko is as a character: despite being made to dress like a JoJo character and despite how much literal male gaze is portrayed with how characters react to and leer at her, Ryuuko herself doesn’t play into normal horny tropes of being uncomfortable (and even in the first episode is way more “this sucks and is bad, actually” than the sort of gross blushing and panting discomfort anime does all the time) or excited, she’s just pissed off at everything and almost everyone around her and in full generic-shonen-final-battle mode all the time. She’s like if Goku had to fight in a thong, and thought that that sucked and was gross but quickly became too preoccupied with fighting to care anymore.
Yeah, it’s an actual masterpiece. Even just on a basic structural level the pacing, art direction, and sound design are all perfect. Even the fanservice elements feel countered by how desexualized Ryuuko is as a character: despite being made to dress like a JoJo character and despite how much literal male gaze is portrayed with how characters react to and leer at her, Ryuuko herself doesn’t play into normal horny tropes of being uncomfortable (and even in the first episode is way more “this sucks and is bad, actually” than the sort of gross blushing and panting discomfort anime does all the time) or excited, she’s just pissed off at everything and almost everyone around her and in full generic-shonen-final-battle mode all the time. She’s like if Goku had to fight in a thong, and thought that that sucked and was gross but quickly became too preoccupied with fighting to care anymore.