Terror in Resonance (2014) User Reviews

Viewer patience is greatly rewarded

[Kenyip85 · 9/10 · 13 December 2014]

I almost gave up on this anime, because it starts off very slowly, and requires patience to get through the first half, but if persevered, the second half more than makes the whole watching experience worthwhile.

At first, this anime appears to resemble a typical cat and mouse chase of criminal masterminds, but the second half reveals that much more complexity and helps you develop more empathy and connection with all the characters involved.

Overall, I feel that it could have been structured a lot better if more character development and contextual hints were revealed earlier in the plot, but I guess this way, the ending feels even more surprising and satisfying in a strange way.

Definitely worth watching, but not a classic like Bebop or Champloo

[ottoniven23 · 8/10 · 29 September 2014]

When I saw the poster advertising this show on the internet I was immediately intrigued. I googled the show and then saw it was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (of Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop). Knowing then that my initial interest was well founded, I began to watch. From the opening minutes the thing that struck me most was the art. It is absolutely gorgeous. It's so vivid and beyond anything I have seen before. On that front this show is perfect

Story-wise this is also very strong. Far from shonen anime, this is deeply rooted in reality and the present day. It features terrorism, a topic not usually explored in this medium and it is refreshing to find it so well done.

This series started amazingly and had me hooked, but as the episodes went on I found myself watching out of habit rather than eager anticipation. The plot was rushed and REALLY could have done with at least 25ish episodes rather than the meager 11 we got. Also, Lisa Mishima as a character is mostly predictable and even annoying throughout the series. When learning about her home-life, I thought we would get a 3 dimensional character, not a snivelling weakling who ends up causing trouble for everyone.

In fact, most characters are pretty standard. There aren't really any characters apart from Five who are actually that interesting. Overall, this is a high quality anime, but lacks in a few areas which holds it back from greatness. If you are expecting Death Note 2.0, you are going to be disappointed. It is not as complex and thrilling as DN, although it looks much better and doesn't have a shitty second half like DN had.

Good Points: Art Style, Story, Ending Bad Points: 1Dimensional Characters, WAY too short

The whole show breathes quality but somehow I didn't get involved

[guy-schellens-41-715308 · 7/10 · 24 October 2014]

The first episodes create an interesting premise: a mysterious terrorist group, nuclear threat, manipulation, government conspiracies, yep we're in the 2010's...

Everything is beautiful animated, the music's really great and at any moment you expect this show to really gain momentum and explode. But in my humble opinion this just doesn't happen.

The main characters are quite sterile, I didn't end up caring for them.

A lot of elements covered in the story were already explored in numerous other (anime) works. Some twists are quite far fetched and silly.

And when the plot is finally revealed... well there weren't surprises.

Everyone can see so much work, dedication and love went into this series, so it is still worth to check it out.

Terror in Resonance

[noemi-epresi · 19 August 2014]

Okay, so Terror in Resonance (残響のテロル) has only began airing on July 10, 2014 but to tell the truth? Hell, yeah! This anime is high-quality if it's comes to entertainment and thrill! Shinichirō Watanabe (director),Kazuto Nakazawa (character designs) and Yoko Kanno (music) just nailed a perfect balance and it's staying. Oh, it's staying! I love this anime and I can't stand the time I have to wait until I can see the next episode! I'm not saying these because we have a name Shinichirō Watanabe here, who is responsible for Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Space Dandy - thus quality isn't really a question now - but because these guys just made something that so rare, masterful you could say.

I don't know guys, maybe I'm a little too passionate about this series but I really don't mind. It got me.

Superb!

[abbyearle · 10/10 · 7 December 2014]

"Zankyou no Terror" is truly a masterpiece. It handles moral ambiguity and anti-heroism with rarely seen grace. It is respectful to the characters, fleshing them out, highlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly alike. It is respectful to the viewers, allowing them to come to their own conclusions about the characters, or the moral justification of their actions. It is powerful enough on its own to allow the viewers to feel emotion naturally, rather than forcing the characters' emotion onto them. The plot is beautiful and excellently executed. The ending leaves the viewers with a sense of satisfaction and hope, rather than leaving them feeling like there was more to be done or said. The voice acting is wonderful, minus failed attempts at "Engrish" a number of times. Elements of the animation, such as the dynamic lighting and imperfect "camerawork," give it a very realistic atmosphere. The soundtrack is excellent, complementing the atmosphere of each scene flawlessly. "Zankyou no Terror" is a work of art that should not be missed!

You just want to know what will happen next

[ashwinb1 · 10/10 · 26 September 2014]

Few episodes, a well written story and a tense plot. I kept waiting each week for a new episode. Every now and then there comes an anime which literally changes your thoughts about anime (and by that i mean Japanese anime only). Your are surprised by the potential this medium has for story telling. Two terrorists, a girl who gets involved with them and a detective on the chase. Sounds simple but the execution of the story and the ending will just amaze you. Only 11 episodes which can be binge watched. Give it a try.I am waiting for new shows from this writer and the production team. Zankyou no Terror is one of my favourite animes.

Sets the barrier so, so high

[juliejacobsen99 · 10/10 · 2 April 2016]

Re-entering a period of anime obsession, I honestly couldn't ask for a better start. Everything about this series is so well written, composed and planned out: The plot is unique and catching from the very beginning, humoristic and dead serious, the music is fantastic; so unusual yet emotional, and despite the characters being a little stereotyped, they didn't fail to amaze me with their strong personalities and relationships. It's been a while, since I watched an anime that really 'got' me the way that Zankyou no Terror did, and unfortunately it makes it hard for other thriller-anime to compete. Call me a fan-girl, but I am so stunned from the show at the moment, that I can't watch another one without feeling that Zankyou keeps mocking them down immediately. Repect. What a masterpiece. What a clean masterpiece.

Terror in Resonance

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 27 September 2014]

In the opening scene of this anime series somebody steals a quantity of plutonium from a reprocessing plant; the only clue is the word 'VON' painted on a wall. Jumping forward six months two boys who refer to each other as Nine and Twelve post a mysterious message saying that Tokyo will be blacked out at 3pm; in the message they call each other Sphinx One and Two. They set about planting bombs in a government building; here they come into bump into Lisa Mishima and tell her she will either die or become a collaborator. So begins a series of terror attacks where government infrastructure is targeted but nobody is killed. Former detective Shibazaki manages to solve their various riddle so is put on the case. He isn't the only one investigating though and it looks as though the others are going to launch fatal attacks to draw Sphinx out into the open!

This animated thriller was one of the season's best series; there is a degree of mystery and both Sphinx and the police have sympathetic characters especially when we learn what drove Nine and Twelve to take the actions they do. Given that the series was directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, of 'Cowboy bebop' and 'Samurai Champloo' fame it will be of little surprise that this is a quality series; however the lack of levity may be; this isn't a funny show and it isn't meant to be. There is however plenty of tension and more than once it looks as if a key character might be killed off. Overall I'd say if you like serious, suspenseful anime you should check this out.

These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.

It was alright

[Koumiho · 6/10 · 9 March 2019]

Would I watch this again? Nah. Was I entertained? I guess so. Would I reccomend? Eh. Could it be better? Yeah.

Terror in resonance is about two young guys who plant different bombs around Tokyo, while the police scramble to find out who, where, and why. Along the way they meet some girl named Lisa who's a really weak character and doesn't do much now that I think about it. Then there's Five, a woman with wild hair who wants to... play games?

This show could be better. Is it good? Eh. Is it bad? That's a bit too far. This show is the definition of "alright". In the beginning I hated the two main guys, because I just thought of them as weird edgy teens who somehow had the smarts to create and detonate bombs throughout Tokyo, without anyone having caught on to them whatsoever. In the end, I still didn't really care for them. Sure, they had that tragic backstory, and yes they didn't want to kill anyone, but other then that I still considered them villains of some sort (especially since they destroyed millions of dollars in property damages, all to spread the message that they really could've gotten through with their first bombing.) I also thought it was weird they were all about not killing anyone, and yet they highly considered killing Lisa, whom they forced to be an accomplice. On to Lisa, I thought she was really weak. She's bullied (just cause) and has an unstable mother (who we never hear from after Lisa runs always). She's also a bad cook. What I really don't get is why shes hanging out and living with two terrorists. Seriously, why?? I know she's troubled and weak cause of being bullied, but I don't think she has mental issues. The cop guy who smoked a lot was cool. That's all I have to say on him. And finally, on to the lady with that onion looking hair. She's sorta there, just cause?? In the end she has no bearing on the outcome of the plot. It's like she's there to spice things up. Yeah I like her, but she's just there just cause. Also I don't understand her motives. Yeah she wants to play a game with twelve (or whatever the glasses terrorists number name is) but like, why? Why is she doing all this. She's got the Americans on her side, but for what?? I guess she was just there to dick around. These characters are something else.

Overall, I think some parts of this are nonsensical or illogical. Let's say I lived in Tokyo or some other major city with lots of people. If two terrorists started bombing around to spread a message, putting people's lives at risk and ruining millions of dollars in property, as well as unleashing an atomic bomb over the city, causing everyone to evacuate and shutting off the electricity (how did two 17 yr olds do this again?) and miraculously killed no one, all to spread some message about how they were experimented on as kids, I'd still hate the heck out of them. They really could've just dropped one bomb, said their piece, and left. This might be because of 9/11, (which I was reminded of a lot in this show), but if someone is willing to dick around with some bombs, I don't care what they have to say. I don't really care about the ending. It was sorta entertaining though. But if ten years passed and I forgot everything about what happened in this show and had the chance to watch it again, my response would be "eh."

Very well constructed story

[adityapatruni123 · 10/10 · 4 October 2014]

The anime is a psychological thriller about two teenagers who've been victims of a certain experiment and cause terror in the city of Tokyo. They call themselves "Sphinx".

The anime is an excellent thriller for a shounen. It has a strong start and gets the viewers interested. However, the main part of the story starts in the last few episodes. A couple of episodes in the middle might seem boring, but once you're done with it you'll forget about them.

The anime has one of the most emotional and epic endings of any anime I've seen. This anime definitely deserves a 10/10 rating.

The anime has an amazing soundtrack which gets viewers quite emotional. This anime is one of the best that came out in 2014. All those who didn't like it too much should watch the whole thing again.

Those who've given this a rating of less than 8 (I know it's their opinion but...) probably didn't watch the entire series. The last 3 episodes especially, are really good (Don't get me wrong all the other episodes are really good too).

Good start but ending wasn't satisfactory

[Misss25 · 6/10 · 16 March 2022]

The story evolves two boys who are executing terrorist attack on several places of Japan. They are known as ''Sphinx'' and telecasting videos about attacks and giving puzzles to police to stop it. Police officer, Shibazaki is called on to solve these. However, as the time goes, Shobazaki is happened to learn about their horrifying past. He assumes, this might lead them to do this heinous acts. He digs into deeper and find involvement of big person and their experiment on children.

Okay, from staring to this point was perfect but what can I say about the ending!!! Five involvement is good and her puzzles and perplexing them was amazing but she killed herself at the end.. Why? Just because all she wanted in her entire life was to defend Twelve and finally,she did it. So,maybe for her, nothing left in her to go on living!!! Then the US forces involvement and killing Twelve and Nine is also dead somehow naturally. I don't know how? Both Twelve and Nine wanted to show the world how they live their life for a moment (the last atom bomb was actually for this) but both are dead now.. I thought, Nine would live to show and tell the world about their miserable life. But, this didn't happend... :)

Best Anime of Summer 2014

[suntropmm · 8/10 · 4 July 2016]

I'll start this review by saying I started watching this show with no prior knowledge about the writers and the premise, so I had no idea what to expect. What I found was a mature and compelling story that kept me entertained throughout the season.

Even in such an amazing season, it managed to shine through as the anime that defined the summer of 2014. Even compared against such great shows as Gekkan shoujo, Tokyo Ghoul, and Aldnoah;Zero, Zankyou no Terror stood on top.

Story: 9/10

There are many stories that focus on anti-heroes and terrorism, yet none have come close to the level of maturity found in ZnT. This shows succeeded in areas that other shows such as Death Note faltered. You will find no edgy character development here; no shonen-esque elements. This is the kind of show that you could quite happily show to any non-anime orientated friends with confidence that they won't leave mid-way through, or that you will have to justify why so-and-so is making unnecessary fan-service.

Art: 10/10

The art style of ZnT perfectly fits the tone of the show. There are many still-life scenes in ZnT, and each one perfectly captures the essence of Tokyo. After seeing Tokyo rendered in both Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo ESP, the realistic calming images in ZnT were a breath of fresh air.

The character design also mirrors the art style: realistic enough to provide a sense of severity, yet different enough to give the show an underlying artistic element.

Despite some background characters lacking detail in some parts, this is expected for the first release of an airing show and does no detract from the overall excellence.

Sound: 10/10

There are very few shows in which I decide to buy the OST, and even fewer in which I will continue to listen to the songs many weeks later. These songs bear a strong resemblance to 'songs from a cold country' which is a phrase that will become clear if you watch ZnT. In short: the sound is beautiful, elegant and very melancholic.

Character 9/10

Both 9 and 12 have starkly contrasting personalities: 9 being blunt and mature with 12 being childish and playful. Lisa describers them as having'a smile like the sun and eyes like ice'. However it goes far deeper than that. Underneath 9's calm exterior lies indescribable grief, and under 12's smile lies a form of severity to match 12s.

At this point many watchers would criticise Lisa fir being 'bland' or simply a plot device. However it is impossible to imagine the show without her. Not only does she create a contrast, with her troubles with her mother against 9 and 12 orphan statues, she shows a great deal of development over the show's progression.

Finally I will touch on the characters in the police force, and how ZnT manages to capture adults in such an appropriate way. The police are neither shown as mindless soldiers, nor as clumsy un-organised oafs, and although the duo play along with them, the police are never antagonised.

Enjoyment 8/10

From episode 1 I was hooked. Now that it is over I feel as if I have gained something from the experience

To summarise, Zankyou no Terror is a high-quality Anime which I recommend to all of you.

Rushed and not well developed

[Ricardo-36 · 6/10 · 26 January 2016]

ZnT is a well produced and generally well written series, with an interesting idea for a plot that borrows elements from real day politics, science fiction and Nolan films sense of doom and escalation (specially The Dark Knight). However, it needed time for character development, mood setting, and time for the story to proper develop and the secrets to be revealed. If they had the budget for 26 episodes, this would have been absolutely genius. However, the characters have so much to do and so little time, they rush to the conclusions and the character arcs feel sloppy (like Five being a thrown away villain, Twelve's relationship with Lisa, her own personal life details, the detective's relationship with his daughter, and the whole school setting, which is inexplicably introduced and abandoned after one scene). Some questions are left unanswered or vague (do the children experiments make them live only a couple of decades?). The soundtrack is competent, but far from Yoko Kanno's best days. The animation is mostly top notch and those familiar with Tokyo will recognize the city's landscape, streets, buildings and atmosphere (down to every inch of detail), with a few cell shaded CG being a bit distracting.

All in all, a good attempt, but a wasted one. One can only dream of a 26 episode epic saga this series could have been.

Good Start, Sloppy Finish

[dotrottenftw · 4/10 · 21 October 2014]

When i first started ZnT, I was instantly hooked by the beautiful artwork and the interesting plot line with the concept of teenagers being terrorists. The story is layered out much like a cop drama, almost like Death Note in a way, with Detective Shibazaki figuring out the mysteries that the boys lay out for him while all the way trying to claw himself back up from his disdained past, giving the story almost two plot lines, and a view from both sides. However, the anime is fundamentally flawed because the author(s) try much too hard to portray the boys as heroes. When Nine agrees to let Twelve take Lisa, the female main, along with them, Twelve says that they could kill her at anytime anyways, giving them an almost sinister feeling. This however, is taken away as soon as episode 5 rolls around and all of the sudden the boys are doing all they can to protect Lisa, shying away from their original objective. In addition, the suspense of the whole "solve the mystery or people are going to die" thing is taken away as soon as we find out the boys are purposefully activating the bombs specifically so that nobody will die, although this propels the plot forward and leads Shibazaki to find out the boys true motives. The clearest example of the trying to make Nine and Twelve seem like "good guys but still terrorists" appears in the last episode, where it is actually messed up the most. The authors want the effect of a nuclear bomb explosion, but at the same time want the boys hands to stay clean. Their solution is to blow it up in the air, creating an EMP effect. Although the boys have seemingly planned out that the airplanes were going to be able to be grounded in time, there is no regard at all given to people on life support, or in operations, who all probably would die because of the loss of electricity. All in all, the anime had a very strong start, but a very bad finish. I wouldn't consider the ZnT anything special.

Good Enough

[PennyReviews · 8/10 · 21 November 2018]

A really enjoyable anime, especially for those who like psychological anime. The characters were complex and mysterious and I liked the humanity in them. The ending was sad. The art really good as well was the action scenes. I do wish there was another season though. So eight out of ten.

Must watch

[nikhilshah-21701 · 10/10 · 17 July 2017]

story starts with 2 friends that were orphan and were trained under the action of US government with extra ordinary abilities. soon the programme was shut down and all the orphan died but these two manage to escape. so they decided to tell their story to everyone by terrorizing the japan. but the ending is really amazing.

BEST ANIME EVER

[mailenromero · 10/10 · 24 April 2019]

Terror in resonance is a masterpiece. This anime has everything: good animation, great music and makes you feel a lot of different things. Although it only has 11 episodes, I could totally have a connection with every participant of the terrorist group. If you are thinking about quiting watching anime, this one will make you change your mind.

The biggest quality gap between aspects of a series I have ever seen

[Protogeist · 8/10 · 11 March 2019]

Terror in Resonance might be one of the more interesting shows I have seen, but not in the way that you would think. I'll explain

I was introduced to Terror in Resonance by it's music. Mainly the bike chase scene in episode 4. And i was amazed by it. The music coupled with the very flowy animation, it has created a place in my heart. Before watching the show, I started listening to many of it's songs, and I decided to watch it. And to be honest, I was disappointed by it. Yes, the music was amazing (One of the best OST's I have ever heard) and the animation is great too. But this is where the interesting part is. I have never seen a show or movie with this much of a quality gap between the different aspects of it's medium. You know, we have Spider-verse, where I didn't like the characters and it's story nearly as much as it's animation and music. Or Franxx's story that takes a huge hit in the second half. But in the end, I still liked all the aspects. I still liked Spider-verse's characters and I still liked Franxx's story as a whole.

But this is the first time where I have loved the production of a show, but actively dislike the characters and story

Cause in the end, this shows is about love and betrayal. Or at least that's what I felt. And unfortunately, I have seen that a thousand times. It doesn't really have much depth. And even with the depth that it has, I have seen that in other stories.

And I was also very disappointed by the characters. They have a very good recipe. But even though the creators could do so much with the characters, they didn't. The main character's motivation was never clear to me. They never had any interesting development. They didn't do anything I wouldn't expect them to do.

But because of the animation and music, I was able to enjoy it. And it has definitely has a spot in my heart because of that. Cause if there's anything a terrible show is, it is being forgettable. And this show definitely isn't

Unnecessary characters

[muthashubh · 6/10 · 12 January 2021]

It was a fun anime to watch. The main characters were written well but there was one extra character , which kinda irritated the hell out of me. I mean who recruits a 15 year old girl, who is shy and doesn't have any real skill ? Its just stupid. And dumb. Tho on the brightside , the detectives in the movie are very well written and their deducing skills are fun to watch. Tho overall, wouldn't recommend it :)

10/10

[tomchaud · 10/10 · 27 February 2018]

This anime broke my heart, i was so upset about the ending, still a nice anime graphics, personnages, such a breathtaking story...AMAZING!

Good concept and plot, good beginning, going down gradually

[somadara · 6/10 · 18 March 2023]

I loved the first few episodes of this anime, it was very well done, good animation and good concept with intriguing plot line, it makes you get curious and ask for more.

Then episode 5 happened with it came Five, and it just went down from there, I couldn't enjoy it much from episode 5 the story slowed down, changed from one thing to another,became a pointless chase, and the two female characters in this show are so horrible, one is a useless idiot another is an electrocuted crazy mushroom head as they call her. One has neither use nor any impact on the story she is just there, the other is just there to play a game and somehow make the two main characters "true cliché anime main characters" overall Im kinda disappointed because it had so much potential ans I loved it, I still like it but I expected more.

Incredible

[invisibleunicornninja · 9/10 · 25 September 2018]

This anime is pretty great with amazing animation, an interesting story, well-written characters, and a stunning score. I have no complaints and everything is done very well. I would highly recommend watching.

terror in resonance

[hamzaarifshuja · 7/10 · 14 July 2023]

Tokyo has suffered a truly intense terrorist attack that has left its marks on all aspects of society. When a nuclear weapon is stolen from a secret military base, and soon after, an attack is launched by two strange individuals who have taken responsibility by posting a video on-line, the whole government mechanism has a fit. Soon, a task force is assembled, headed by Kurahashi, with a mission of solving the enigmas the two perpetrators leave, but it is Kenjiro Shibazaki, an ex-detective who has been demoted to the records division, that has the most success in solving them. As we learn more about the two "terrorists," Nine and Twelve, another agenda comes to the fore, while Lisa Mishima, a student, gets tangled with them by chance, and Five, an agent of the FBI takes over the investigation.

I loved this show. It had just the right amount of suspense and character development to make something that just strikes the heart. The story for me was bit slow but ending made it worth watching.. the characters are interesting nicely depicted..

Underwhelming and Confused from start to finish.

[androsx070 · 5/10 · 20 September 2020]

Start with the positives: Whilst the premise of the show, without getting to into the detail of it (something the creators also didn't feel was necessary) is genuinely intriguing. The art style and script are pretty good.

Negatives: The story is so disrupted and unclear it completely ruins the premise. There isn't a clear reason for the protagonists to do what they did. No clear antogonists, if one wants to argue the people who experimented on them or the Americans are antogonists, why were they not targeted by the protagonists, rather than the Japanese people? The protagonists did not get justice, whether that be natural or otherwise, they weren't martyred, nothing changed, they didn't make an impact, or at least if they did, the audience does not feel that catharthis at the close of the series. I don't know the motivations for 5's actions, was she competitive, in love, genuinely spiteful, or simply looking for a bit of a laugh? None of the characters are developed and they don't develop throughout the series. They are 2 dimensional and in many aspects of the show unlikeable (particularly the 'loli' character who's name I've already forgotten). 9 is perhaps the only character who sticks to his morals and principles, as unclear as they are for much of the series. I think the score is spoken much too highly of and the writing of the narrative and story is poor. There is so much more they could have done with this premise. Give this a go if you don't mind being slightly disappointed by what could have been.

I made an account just to review this masterpiece-

[elliotdesgagne · 10/10 · 30 December 2019]

-because it really is a masterpiece. When my friend told me in 2014 that Yoko Kanno worked on another anime's soundtrack, I ran home as fast as I could to check the anime out and DAMN was it worth it.. To this day I still feel the same as I did when I first watched it 6-ish years ago. The quality, the music, the graphics, the story telling, the pacing, the drama, the cliff-hangers, everything is there. I got super attached to the characters, even the ones I disliked story-wise. I'm pretty sure it'll continue to be my favorite anime of all time, and the one that automatically comes to mind when someone asks for an anime recommendation.