Nobody seems to know what to make of KADO: The Right Answer, and that includes the production team. Like the anisotropic, KADO’s dimension beyond our own universe, the show contained multitudes: it was a deliberately paced political thriller one minute and a twist-laden character drama the next; its visuals shifted between traditional 2D animation and CG, the latter of which ranged from downright stunning to “average ATLUS game;” and while it was just sort of okay sci-fi, it eventually revealed itself to be way more engaging as a gender-equal harem show.

Fellow Crunchyroll contributor Dee Hogan has made more than a few jokes about the should-be-existent KADO dating sim; and I confess, she had me at dating. But now that the series is over? I’m downright convinced that this show came over from an alternate universe where it was based on Toei’s successful sci-fi visual novel.

It has all the hallmarks of a VN adaptation: the main character, Kojiro Shindo, is hypercompetent in his field and a constant source of admiration despite being fairly bland in personality; the early plot is quite talky and concept-driven, but the important plot twists come down to how far Shindo’s relationships have progressed with his potential love interests; and the show’s ending plays on each of those relationships without quite playing on a happily-ever-after with any of them. In other words, KADO the anime gave us the Neutral Ending.

This is my first post for Crunchyroll! You can read the rest there.