This is a twelve episode series taking place in the future, where society has risen up thanks to technological advancements and the world is much closer-knit than before. We follow a hermit of sorts named Kyoma and a sidekick robot named Mira as they try to fight crimes and get their memories back. Because that's what you do in the future, apparently.
The premise here isn't really all that strong, or new. The titular "Dimension W" does play into the story in all the major ways and is the greatest influence over the plot of every episode, though it's tough to describe what exactly this dimension does for us. Unlike the other "dimensions" (which are shown on this graph here):
Dimension W houses tons and tons of energy, which is what fuels the future tech that we see throughout the series. Apparently it's meant to be used as an electronic source, but there are certain "coils," which are the catalysts for bringing Dimension W into our world, that can replicate things that can only be akin to sorcery. These coils can simulate the dead coming back to life, allow one person to commune with someone in a completely area, and possibly provide for the transportation of matter and life itself. How does it do these things?
Because it's another dimension. And that's the best explanation you'll get, so already we're on a bit of a weak standing. Because there is no set definition and limitation for what this energy source can do, it's easy to say that it can do anything. This basically relieves us of any real tension for someone who has a coil, and eventually coils just devolve into a typical Shonen-style of "everyone has a unique power they can use" through Dimension W.
For the characters, the premise is also pretty basic. Kyoma is a Collector of coils, working with a third-party member who also studies them. Thus, for the first half of the series, he goes out and hunts them in various places from various people, and the series is quite episodic in this regard. The only real thing to come out of these episodes is showing the lack-of-limits that Dimension W has and to introduce Loser, who would be an anti-hero of sorts for the series.
Kyoma himself isn't a very interesting protagonist. He has no memory for much of the series but we know that he served on a military force prior to the series starting, since he has expertise with darts and is able to leap around like a superhero. His attitude is bland, since he's always just brooding around. He hates coils for reasons he won't explain but that allude to his past and thus he relies on old technology. Rather than a car that runs on Dimension W energy he has one of the few remaining gasoline vehicles around, and collects old tech like that.
It's clear that Kyoma does have a good-natured heart, since he does regard some of the younger characters with a little bit of kindness (going so far as to keep kids safe) but it doesn't show all that often and when it does come around it doesn't really make all that much sense and feels forced. It's just not interesting to watch and by the time his character does start to develop, the little that there is, it's only because of plot elements and nothing that he actually does.
The problem with making a story about characters missing their memory is that the character will only grow once the backstory is filled in, not while it's being filled in. Sure a major part of their past is missing, but that doesn't meant they're stuck in just one place. If anything, the new memories should help fuel the progressing character dynamic. That's sadly not the case here.
Mira is our secondary protagonist and female lead. She's a robot powered by a coil and promises to help Kyoma find missing coils as that was the request of her creator. Her past is also a mystery as she is unsure how or why she was created. Mira is a strange beast, though, as she clearly has human emotion but the show will always point out that she's just a robot and shouldn't be capable of these things. It's never explained how she is capable of feeling these emotions and at time she doesn't feel robotic at all. If that's the case they may as well have just made her a human with cybernetic implants. For story purposes I know why Mira was made into a robot, but robots just don't have that level of emotion. You could argue that the AI is constantly evolving or it's just something to do with Dimension W, but the fact is that they keep referring to her as a basic robot that shouldn't be capable of these things.
However, Mira is the more interesting of the bunch when they do get that struggle of robot vs. human down right. She wants to feel more and she wants to understand the human heart but is unable to because of her limitations. That doesn't make much sense when she cries out in pain or sadness, but it does make for some funny moments here and there. Mira is the source of most of the series's comedy, but it's very sparse. She also houses all of the fan-service, which luckily (or unluckily if that's your thing) only sticks around for the first few episodes.
The rest of the characters are bland or boring except for Loser, but we only get to see his backstory and motivations later on toward the end. The only really interesting part of the series was when they went to the lake hotel and there were spooky ghosts. It doesn't make much sense, but it was cool to see and a fun mystery to try to unravel before you realize "oh wait I don't get this but at least it looks cool."
And that's just what you need to think when watching this show. It was one of the better looking anime from last season and still looks great now. There are bright, flashy colors and the animation quality hardly ever drops despite some of the fast-paced action sequences we see. They even incorporate CGI pretty well, which is something rare to see nowadays.
The music stands out to me a little as well. There is no opening theme but the closing theme was pretty cool and the best songs were the ones during the fight scenes. The music and style of the show went well, though for some reason every time I think of the closing theme I feel like it'd be more appropriate during Cowboy Bebop. I'm not sure why that is and I feel like I'm wrong in that regard.
Anyway, Dimension W is a pretty average series all things considered. It looks really good, but once you get passed that it's just your basic story about two people having to get along and work together to find their memories and save the day as usual. The characters aren't very interesting and the makings of the world presented don't make too much sense. It feels rushed toward the end, too, so I do wonder what an extra episode or two would have done to help that. It probably wouldn't have saved this show from being what it is, though: just average.
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