Dimension W – Review

It seems like a lot of people really, really wanted Dimension W to be a great show. It had every promotional advantage you could hope for, and it inhabited an extremely fan-friendly genre space, but the show just didn’t have the strength to follow through. Today I’ve got a sturdy review of this unfortunate anime stepchild. I hope you enjoy it!

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode notes below.

Episode 1

Dimension W, a mysterious dimension they’ve been harvesting energy from in these coils

The creator, Dr. Shido Yurazaki, suffered some mysterious fate

Everyone’s transitioning to electric energy

The character designs are very distinctive

New Tesla Energy developed the system

Ah right, illegal street coils

The backgrounds are quite nice, though not terrible evocative – just decent paint jobs on live action photography

Some odd shots where the character is contrasted against single color backgrounds with an exaggerated shadow. I don’t really think it’s that effective?

Kyouma Mabuchi’s our MC

Slight bits of terrific animation

Quite a dramatic setpiece for the doctor’s death

Episode 2

Loser, a beloved thief who’s never successfully stolen anything

Her little robot cat ears are pretty great

Mary’s a lot of fun

Okay, now we’ve got some solid palette shift highlight shots

They keep hammering in that Kyouma hates coils

Loser’s flashy victory screens are great. And more solid animation

The animation isn’t just “good,” it’s really lively. The characters dance around like they’ve got real weight and balance to them, shifting on their feet very well

This episode is also balancing the two MC’s conflicts well

Kyouma was a part of some legendary special ops unit

Loser was almost destroyed by New Tesla

He uses his fake heists to mask what he’s actually stealing, presumably special coils

“That’s a key coil. One of the Numbers”

Some solid comedy with the girl denying her robotic nature

The illegal coils cause some kind of dimensional collapse

Episode 3

Mira’s the robot girl

A reasonable slice of life episode so far

The Numbers are beta coils that don’t draw energy from the towers, and pull too deeply from Dimension W

New Tesla COO Claire Skyhearte releases Kyouma from police custody

Welp, time for the stupid haunted house arc

Episode 4

And now there’s the goth loli investigator, Elizabeth Greenhouse Smith

Al also shows up. This show’s world is fraying pretty fast

And now they’re fighting???

The two of them are Beasts of Grendel

Kyouma being a dick to Mira isn’t endearing or funny, it just makes him unsympathetic

Apparently one of the Numbers is involved, which I guess can just do generally supernatural stuff

Pretty consistent fanservice throughout this show

Mira gets caught in some sort of ghost story

The tragedy of 21 years ago is somehow caught within Dimension W, and they can sort of flip between the two realities

And now Mira’s chained up. Awesome

Episode 5

Apparently the novelist’s past shadow self killed his current real self. Okay

Kyouma’s off fighting water ghosts

Oh nice, Mira frees herself

Actual water is their weakness

Apparently the goth loli also works for Loser, or is the same sidekick as before

And now we’re getting into rape territory for the backstory. Great

She kills the rapey dude

God this backstory is ridiculous. He kills a second guy and makes the dam flood the village just so he can get rid of the evidence for the first death? God damnit

Marisa, his sister, is actually Inamari, the girl he thought died. DUN DUN DUN

Apparently the Numbers are capable of creating temporary alternate realities. I suppose that kind fits with how they split people into crazy Cronenbergs

“The Wind of Africa,” a prince who rules a big robot-producing nation, arrives

Prince Salva

Apparently he loves slaves, and can bind the women under his control. More rapey stuff

Episode 6

Kyouma picks up Lu, a mostly robot boy who seems to be Salva’s brother, and then goes to his usual kimono store

Kyouma lost his memories

Random drama with Salva. He seems to be challenging Collectors

Episode 7

Kyouma’s memories

Young Kyouma becomes friends with a girl named Miyabi

Time for some fridging

She gets Boneitis, so now he wants to get her a cybernetic body

He gets into Grendel in order to save her

Subuki, the clothes shop owner, is Miyabi’s sister

So his wife was killed by coils. ‘K

Easter Island, the final battlefield of the war. Apparently it become a Dimension W-infected island, but now Salva wants Collectors to investigate a potential anomaly there

Introducing a bunch of super-Collectors. A nice dramatic choice

Fifty million dollar reward!

Wait, Numbers go for ten million in the underground? Dang

Yeah, alternate potential timelines become energy in Dimension W

Episode 8

Salva falls into a coma on approach, but has a video saying the contest goes on

I am here for sharktooth cowboy catgirl

The depiction of the Void is pretty intimidating

Kyouma is SUCH A DICK

Episode 9

Loser shows up and does some Loser stuff

Loser invented the energy shield

“That lapse is an insult to my wife.” Oh my god not another one

The orb zaps Kyouma and now he’s in a flashback

Salva as well. They’ve also got evil spirit-selves hounding them

Oh no, Salva got Iwai hurt

God this backstory is stupid

The show’s animation sure has dried up

The scientists are revolting against the executives and none of this has any grounding

Why is Kyouma even fighting this shadow self?

Kyouma flying past spirit whales I guess

Dimension W is MEMORIESSSS

“Believe in your memories.” ‘kay

Spirit Miyabi does something to fuck up this scientist villain we just met

So Kyouma always sees Miyabi in Mira, because her body was made to fit Miyabi

Episode 10

THE ULTIMATE MEGA-COIL

Looots of exposition

Really not a particularly satisfying fight

Alright, some decent animation of Kyouma losing control

Episode 11

Julian (Loser) was the successful live teleportation

And Kyouma actually teleported without a hitch, grabbing Genesis himself

Episode 12

Oh my god, they’re going for a “the Kyouma I know” angle. Fuck Kyouma

The magic of possibilities! Everything is okay because more possibilities resulted from them!