While far from the only works the studio has produced,Production I.G. has a proud historyof creating great science fiction anime, be itGhost in the Shell,Psycho-Pass, or a slew of other projects spanning the 90s and 2000s. For that reason,Heavenly Delusion- as rich a science-fiction story as ever - is nostalgic, while also feeling distinctly modern in its presentation and attitude, and it has paid off beautifully.
Based on Masakazu Ishiguro’s manga of the same name from 2018,Heavenly Delusionis directed by Hirotaka Mori, accompanied by Makoto Fukami penning the series composition. It tells ofa future in which human civilization has fallen, and monsters known commonly as Man-Eaters roam the lands, where two travelers are in search of a place only referred to as “Heaven”.
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An Ever-Growing, Ever-Subtle Mystery
The story contrasts two different stories which are perpetually becoming further intertwined. On one end are Kiruko, a bodyguard for hire, and Maru, a young charismatic man who is Kiruko’s client, searching the wastelands of post-apocalyptic Japan for Heaven. On the other, there’s a facility where gifted children play together, are taught by robots, and know nothing of the outside.
Tokio is a child who liveswhat to them is a completely normal lifeuntil an idea becomes planted in their mind. The “outside” beyond their living quarters, encased in walls, a towering ceiling, and filled with a dense forest, is not the limits of their world. There is an “outside of the outside” and this revelation sets Tokio and their friends on a path toward discovering that truth.
By the end of Episode 1, it seems like this nursery fits the bill for the Heaven our two leads are searching for, and that seems to be the intention on the part of the creators, but it’s never the whole truth. The patient plotting and clean visual parallels between the two stories construe a connection between them, “construe” being the operative word. The audience is rarely given a concrete connection between the two stories.
The beauty ofHeavenly Delusion’s mysterylies in its subtlety, and its respect for the audience’s intelligence to construct our own theories about the numerous questions at the forefront of the plot. What exactly happened to the world to make it this way? More importantly, how are these characters connected to that truth which explains the downfall of civilization?
Kiruko is not just any ordinary girl, but the subject of an experiment that changed who she is on a fundamental level, in search of answers as to why she ended up that way. Maru is not just an ordinary boy, but an agile superhuman whose very touch can kill the Man-Eaters - or “Hiruko” as he calls them - through touch. And the kids in the nursery? Every one of them has powers.
This is a story wrought with misdirection, visual metaphor, and nonchalant reveals that are a testament to the exceptional visual direction throughout.Every pretty background or ambitious scene layoutcreates vivid, lived-in spaces where the smallest details can change the way someone perceives past episodes. Attention is rewarded with stirring revelations.
This is also aided by the story’s cheeky misdirection that helps pull you in during the early episodes. Wherever you think the show is going within the first two episodes is nothing like where you will think it’s heading by the end of the thirteenth. But by then, the mystery won’t really be the biggest thing keeping you watching. Rather, it will be this phenomenal cast.
Making The Most of The Apocalypse
Post-apocalyptic stories tend to be downers, and if this story is a mystery, that fact certainly isn’t. They are wrought with death, often painting the world in drab colors save for when the lush greenery retakes the Earth, and demonstrate humanity at its worst. WhileHeavenly Delusiondoesn’t spare the audience some gruesome deaths and dark subjects, it also has many moments of levity that go a long way to creating a tonally unique take on the post-apocalypse.
Kiruko and Maru are hilarious and have incredible chemistry together on screen, whether it’s scavenging for supplies or getting giddy at the discovery of a pleasant place to sleep. Even within action scenes, their sense of humor helps add a lot of personality and informs their individual talents in the process.
The battles against the Hirukoare the best and most creative in the series. Kiruko’s intelligence and ingenuity are balanced perfectly with Maru’s agile combat prowess. The animation team is more than capable of showcasing the splendor of both styles, whether it’s the satisfying laser blast of Kiruko’s Kiru-Beam or Maru’s beautifully choreographed hand-to-hand fights.
In combat or out of it, the leading duo steals almost every episode. Kiruko’s story touches upon themes of identity in a compelling way, acting as one of the central plots of this season. Meanwhile, Maru’s protectiveness and romantic feelings for Kiruko help create a wholesome bond that mercifully never feels ruined by the unrequited love lingering throughout.
Kiruko and Maru make such an iconic pair that it almost makes the nursery plotline with Tokio and their friends feel a bit forgotten,at least in some of the early episodes. Some manga readers have been displeased with the adaptive changes in the show and the cutting of certain content. As much as the mounting mysteries within the nursery plotline satisfied a craving for suspenseful science fiction, the characters within might not captivate everyone the same.
With that said, the script finds a balance to push along both stories satisfyingly. Considering the kind of story thatHeavenly Delusionis, it’s hard to find the right place to end a season, because there are always going to be loose ends waiting to be tied. Thankfully, the creative liberties thatweretaken helped to conclude the season strong and build anticipation for what’s to come.
Finding Heaven
After Episode 5 aired, I wrote aboutthe subjective nature of the character’s search for Heaven, a dubiously titled destination with very few leads to work with, even by the end of the season. Within this episode, there’s a question posed - as subtly as everything else - about what a Heaven on Earth would look like.
In that same episode, such a discussion comes up after finding a settlement with a lot of modern amenities that the audience takes for granted. From visuals alone, there’s a sense of relief upon discovering things that by all accounts should be lost. Is that Heaven? Chasing a nostalgic pastiche of what once was?
And what of Tokio and their friends? They live in a place that seems like Heaven by comparison, and yet in their ignorance,they’re curious to learn about the outsideout of a desire for a forbidden truth. It feels oddly biblical, suggesting that biting from a fruit of knowledge would mean destruction (though perhaps in this show’s case, it would be a tomato).
If it wasn’t obvious,Heavenly Delusionis about a lot. It succeeds thanks to its character writing and the episodic stories which present the audience with small but powerful character arcs that are the makings of any great adventure. It’s a show about people figuring out what “heaven” is to each of them, and just as often about moving on in the hopes of finding it further down the road. It might be one of the most rewarding shows you’ll watch all year.
Heavenly Delusion is available for streaming on Hulu in North America, Starz+ in Latin America, and Disney+ internationally.
