Children of the Whales, to use it’s proper name, is a decent show. It’s definitely one of the most distinct and intriguing shows I’ve seen in a few years with regards to concept, art and setting. However it has what could very well be considered a fatal flaw – it’s way too fucking slow. There will be spoilers ahead you’ve been warned.
I have two theories as to why Children of the Whales is so slow. One is that, as others have noted, it is trying to be a very emotion driven series and thus moves along at a glacial pace to build up scenes and make certain deaths emotional. I think that if that’s true then it is wholly misguided. This approach would make sense if people died rarely but Children of the Whales is one of the most violent shows airing this season – it has easily 10 times the body count of the death battle show Juuni Taisen. This contradictory approach just doesn’t work. For example Sami’s death was supposed to be really hard hitting but it wasn’t, at least not in and of itself. Sami had a fair amount of screentime but most of Falina’s, the Mud Whale’s, inhabitants are boring. They live boring peaceful lives and the majority of them die of natural causes in their twenties and thirties anyway. Sami was not interesting and so her death doesn’t really mean anything. it’s also poorly timed. She dies in the assault on Falina which kills dozens of people on the tiny floating island.
Now the attack itself was a huge emotional success I think. In contrast to the bland Sami having a death scene which totally lacked impact the attack itself and the indiscriminate slaughter that followed hit like a heavy punch to the gut. The boring peaceful lives of Falina’s people was shattered by the robotic, systematic violence of the attackers and they died in their droves. In fact they survived because the enemy retreated and gave them a week to prepare on purpose. In hindsight it’s kind of annoying that almost no one fights back against the attackers once we learn about the self defense force and the force’s captain, who is likely stronger than any enemy soldier by miles, but whatever the long scenes of remorseless slaughter get the point across and the future of Falina suddenly looks very grim.
What follows is a few episodes of preparation and then the counterattack on Skylos, the enemy ship. The assault itself was fine up until Ouni and the Skylos’ captain get involved. The ambush on Falina’s sneak attack squad was perfect if all to predictable and it was over in a flash – as it should have been. But when Ouni comes in and starts turning the tables the enemy captain shows up and shoots in him the leg. Then he holds him at sword point and calls him worthless. Then he hands the lieutenant the sword and lets him cut Ouni, but he doesn’t die because Ouni’s friend Nibi jumps in and they have an action scene so slow that not only is there a ton of dialogue but the out numbered Ouni and Nibi have time to turn away from their attackers and help each other. Then Nibi inevitably dies and Ouni goes berserk and unlocks new powers and kills everyone -the end.
Keep in mind that only four people from Falania are present through an episode and a half’s worth of time spent in one room and there are like 20 Skylos people. The fight should have been over in a minute or two tops and we’ll give it five minutes due to dialogue interrupting the flow of the action. Yet somehow this takes around 20 minutes to conclude and it ends in the way that it basically had to anyway. Nibi’s death was also drawn out to be emotional but it was so obvious that it didn’t matter. Once again the real emotional impact came from the ambush where the majority of Falina’s attack force is wiped out, though seeing Ouni go berserk was satisfying enough to make some of the overlong buildup worth it. But the main problem still stands, Children of Whales is rife with pacing best described as glacial – in sharp contrast to the aforementioned Juuni Taisen whose episodes have started to fly by in recent weeks.
The other theory I have is that there is just not enough material. I mean this comes from a manga so theoretically it should have plenty of story to work with but there is the possibility that the manga is not very long. Alternatively perhaps there is a short simple kind of introduction to the series before it gets way more complicated and the staff decided to only tell the simple part of the story knowing they would never be able to get through some of the complex stuff in time. Or maybe the manga is slow as shit too. Point is I think part of the reason why Children of the Whales is so slow is that they episodes are really stretching the manga chapters for one reason or another. Because the setting certainly suggests the world of Children of the Whales is much larger and more complex than the tiny Mud Whale we’ve been mostly restricted to so far. My assumption is that Children of the Whales is supposed to go into more an epic grueling adventure where Falina travels the world in search of protection and potentially to free the world from the emotion draining Nous who seem to me to be the root of most of the greatest horrors the world of this story has to offer.
Obviously there’s no way in hell they can manage that in 12 episodes so maybe they are settling for a clean and self contained arc which has a “read the manga” ending.
For all the ragging I’ve done on the show so far I don’t think it’s entirely bad. I like the art style a lot and the setting would be perfect for a grand adventure show a la Log Horizon or Magi. And the tone of the show very much reminds of me of Shin Sekai Yori, a show which put a ton of emphasis on mystery elements, psychic powers and the suppression of information between generations. Children of the Whales is nowhere near as dark and unnerving as Shin Sekai Yori but it has powerful dark elements of it’s own and the idea of following a formerly pacifist society being thrust into war by a genocidal foe is awesome. Likewise the enigmatic Nous and their goals, true natures and whatnot would be fascinating to explore. Sadly the show will not last long enough for that but we can dream.
Speaking of dreaming, here’s my ideal 12 episode version of Children of the Whales. Imagine if we tightened up the pacing a bit and got what has taken the show 9 episodes to take 6 episodes and then have a huge timeskip and have the back half of the season follow the surviving main characters as adults leading Falina, which due to decades of attacks and struggle has become a society defined by violence. Think about it, the kids are already being forced to become killers – some kindergarten kids killed the pink haired psychopath in episode 8 – and they are fighting an enemy so lacking in empathy that not only does it kill anyone it sees regardless of age, intent and capability but they send child soldiers of their own to fight in droves. Such a deranged and implacable foe would almost certainly cause Falina to become a remarkably warlike society in order to survive.
Ultimately I think the weakness of Children of the Whales is that it is almost certainly going to be great in the long term but the anime doesn’t get to be long term. So instead they have to interest us with a simpler arc which has an easily packaged and digestible conflict while still introducing some elements which would be the real intrigue later down the line. However this conflict is perhaps too short as it is and so the anime really has to slow down to not overstep the intended stopping point. This is a real shame but it’s what we have. I love a lot of the ideas in the story but unless you can sit through some very slow episodes I’d recommend you give this show a pass.
Mistakes Cheerio for Chesto 