#COMPASS2.0 ANIMATION PROJECT - Episode 1

What’s it about? In the combat providence analysis system called “COMPASS2.0”, heroes work alongside human partners in order to participate in fights that’ll help keep the system operating. A hero known as “13” refuses to help in battles for unknown reasons, but when he’s suddenly teamed up with a new player named “Jin”, they are forced to work together for the sake of the system.

It’s nice to end off my reviews with a show that has nothing going for it. While it wasn’t terrible, I struggle to give a reason why anyone would continue watching this. I’m clearly not the target audience for gacha game anime adaptations, but it would’ve been nice if a bit more effort was made to write a proper narrative. The episode doesn’t even try to tease why “13” doesn’t want to fight in battle tournaments and basically just introduces him as a “problem” to the system. He doesn’t even care about being deleted from the system, much to the annoyance of his friends. The fact that “13” is indifferent to his fate takes away any sense of conflict that could’ve attracted some attention to its premise. The only stand out character is the robotic pigtailed girl who seems to act as a guide for both human players and heroes in the game.

Hero standing next to his human player — This reminds me of *Shugo Chara!* If only I was watching that instead!

If that wasn’t enough to entertain you then you might like the two idol singers introduced half way into the episode. It’s clear that this series is boring and it’s trying to win over any audience in order to garner some viewership. Even “13” friends feel like a cheap knock-off of “real world” superheroes, and their dynamic doesn’t feel natural at all. I also didn’t appreciate how a flamboyant queercoded character was used for laughs, and they don’t bother to do anything interesting with his character. I wish the premiere did a better job setting up “13” and “Jin’s” eventual relationship and how they’ll function moving forward. So far, it’s easy to see they won’t get along at first, but can their eventual budding relationship be the “hook factor” that’ll keep audiences entertained? For now, there’s nothing compelling about our protagonists nor are we offered anything to look forward to in the future. The animation is decent enough to look at, but it’s nothing to write home about.

I didn’t have a lot of patience for this show folks. I constantly kept looking at my clock hoping it’ll be over quickly and that’s not a feeling I want to have for any show. I don’t expect to have my socks knocked off for each premiere, but at the very least I hope it can be entertaining and a distraction during these troublesome times. It’s a shame that this series couldn’t take a page out of successful shows like Castlevania and Arcane in the sense that the writers were able to craft great stories since they had so much lore to work with thanks to the video games. I just feel like this was a wasted opportunity for the writers to not showcase their creativity, but I’m also aware how restrictive production teams can be so maybe that just wasn’t on the table.