Blimey, that was weird.
When Rachel wakes up in a dark basement, she stumbles across an old typewriter that operates itself (maybe a callback to Fringe!). Asking questions such as "who are you?", Rachel does her best to answer before a voice over a loudspeaker announces that she's been designated a sacrifice. Stumbling into an elevator, the young girl arrives on a floor that looks to all intents and purposes like a grimy alleyway. It's not long before she discovers that death stalks the halls...
This is a very atmospheric show, and honestly I wasn't entirely sure where it was going. The first character Rachel meets is a scythe wielding maniac with murderous intent, but promotional images suggest the two will team up at some point, which rather ruined the tension. When she makes it to the next floor, the insanely creepy doctor intent on discussing her eyes genuinely made my skin crawl. After a while his schtick became a tad repetitive and incoherent though, so I was pleased when the story moved on.
It seems that the show will focus on survival horror, and it does a terrific job in setting up a very surreal and oppressive mood. While the animation did, at times, look a bit cheap, the overall dreamlike presentation covered it up before it became distracting. The atmosphere was unlike anything I can recall seeing before in an anime, though shades of Silent Hill are evident in the rust and blood that pervades the basement.
For the change of pace alone, what with all the sports anime I've watched recently, I'd recommend giving this a look. I do hope the setup doesn't become cliche and can pull something genuinely new and daring out of the bag, it's certainly off to the the right start for it.
If I'm feeling brave enough I may dive into episode 2. Though not before bedtime...
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