Heavenly Delusion

If I had to describe Heavenly Delusion with just one word, it would be unsettling. It combines two storylines reminiscent of the recently aired The Last of Us. However, due to its strangeness and absence of zombies, I would instead compare it to the game series Fallout. The second storyline with the school is something between The Promised Neverland and From the New World, and both storylines are very unsettling right from the first episode. A single look at the local school will make you feel that something is wrong, and Kiruko and Maru's first encounter with the strange creature will put you on edge. Plus, from the first hints, you start to feel uncomfortable about how the two storylines may be interconnected. New unsettling questions keep coming, but the answers to them are even more unsettling. Kiruko has a secret, which is extremely unsettling. Watching her examine her own body and connecting it with her secret is uncomfortably unsettling. The children at the school are strange, the whole school is strange, everything feels very unsettling, and when the local authorities' agenda starts to reveal itself, it becomes extremely unsettling again. The moment you realize how the two storylines are linked and start to wonder if you saw Kuku twice in the episode entitled "Kuku," everything becomes even more unsettling. And then there is the ending with moments that are not just unsettling but downright unpleasant. However, the way some characters deal with them is again very unsettling. Is it the end? Not at all; I want to know more. Leaving me without all the answers is – you guessed it – unsettling! In short, I have to praise this series; there is always something happening, and it always hits you hard. I was intrigued by the world and its characters, and everything felt well thought-out in terms of the story and its impact on the viewer. I would also like to mention the high production value, with the animation definitely being among the best of the season. Except for one episode where the style visibly changed, it was fairly consistent. So, the experience was not always entirely pleasant, sometimes slightly beyond what I would like to see. However, I am still curious about what will happen next, even though I know it will continue to be very unsettling. 8/10 (06/24/2023)