I didn't plan on reviewing this at all until I just popped it in and finally watched it (I've been meaning to get around to several more anime to watch and this was one of them). The first episode didn't necessarily hook me, but there were so many elements just within that episode alone that I thought would be good enough for a review. The series itself was also something of a roller-coaster and even now I still sort of struggle with my precise thoughts on it.
It isn't the most original series in the world and many of its basic premises stem from other works or just basic cliches that you've seen not just in anime, but science fiction and fantasy in general. Many of those elements are downplayed for the sake of character growth and inspection, which is good until they start to resurface.
Towa no Quon stars Quon as our primary protagonist. He is an Attractor and is one of the best. Attractors are a group of super-humans that have strange Abilities and are sometimes able to control them. Quon has dedicated his life to protecting all Attractors from the Order, which is basically a huge government ruled by a council that has taken over much of the world. As far as our setting is concerned, the subsection of the Order that hunts our Attractors is known as Custos, run by a man named Kamashiro.
Right off the bat you can tell that this isn't very original. It's a dystopic future (though that element isn't played up very much) where certain members of humanity are forced into hiding. Thankfully, though, there isn't much of an "uprising" element as much as there is a metaphor of prejudice that exists. I think if I can make the best comparison, I would say that the story of Towa no Quon is very similar to the elements of "Days of Future Past," a famous X-Men story where robotic Sentinels were sent to hunt down mutants.
And hey, we do have robots hunting Attractors. Kamashiro has designated five cyborgs with the task of taking down the heavy-hitter Attractors. I liked to think of the cyborgs as basically his version of evil Power Rangers. They had different colors and just sort of sat around until their big boss told them to move on and kick some butt.
What Towa no Quon lacks in an original story it makes up for in the way that it tells this story. After all, it's hard to avoid being unoriginal these days. I thought it was interesting that none of the Attractors wanted to openly rebel and just attack Custos unless it was absolutely necessary. It would be a fight they couldn't win. Not only that, but they live in a secret hideout that could be exposed if they overextend themselves. Keeping that in mind, many of our characters are actually pretty intelligent without them even having to show us that.
Plus they use their powers in ways to progress the story. Each episode, running at about 42 minutes, for the first half focuses on some new Attractor being found. With each episode we get to see someone new from the main crew showing off their Abilities. It helped service the story as well as give insight to who they were as a character. Most of the characters' powers are a reflection of who they are as people, and I'll get to examining that in a minute.
The story is pretty strong up until Episode 5, the penultimate chapter, where it returns to being somewhat generic once again. There are hints that it would go that route but for the most part it's pretty good about staying true to its roots and not really telling a full narrative but rather each episode leading into the next because of a series of consequences. The narrative it does tell just devolves by the end and the ending itself is forced and contrived, sadly not living up to what came before it.
Few of the characters felt boring to me. It's hard to say that Quon is entirely interesting given his actions. It doesn't really matter if a character has a complex backstory if they don't really make anything of it. There are some moments where we see Quon struggle as a character but he always resorts to being a typical anime male protagonist of "Yes! I can do this for my friends to help protect everyone!" while never suffering any major consequences. The brief flashes that we do see of him considering himself and where he stands are far and few between.
The most interesting character of the show was a member of the WTOC, the Cyborg Epsilon. It's tough to say why because of spoiler reasons, and I feel that he carried the show through its best parts. Episodes 3 and 4 are the best of the series, in my opinion, and it's no coincidence that he would be at the centerfold of both episodes. The Cyborgs themselves weren't complex but their makings were. It always seemed they were more man than machine and that was a nice twist. They also never bothered with fixing the "man" side of the cyborgs. Why try and override the will of man when they could just destroy the Cyborg and recreate a brand new one? It's something that's brought up, but due to there being so many other things, the Custos are forced to settle.
The characters are all able to show who they really are through their powers, which was something I found pretty interesting. Here's a quick run-down:
Yuri (who looks exactly like Artemis from Maria the Virgin Witch): Uses super-speed. She always wants to be so many places with so many people at once, and her powers reflect this by granting her speed to be with all these people.
Takao: Teleportation. He never likes settling anywhere and never seems comfortable with the environment he's in. His teleportation allows him to not have to settle, but the problem is that being too far from home, aka teleporting, will often lead to him hurting himself as he jumps too early.
Kiri: Healing powers. Kiri is soft-spoken and is a young motherly figure for the group, and is always watching after the children. Like a mother, she has an impeccable to heal any wounds that someone may have and sooth their ravaged soul.
Tei: Telepathy. Tei is also soft-spoken but seems to always be in the know of things, and always wants to help people in a troubling time. Her telepathy is indicative of this as she is always empathetic to how a person is feeling, therefore driving her to help them out.
There are others, sure, but these are the ones that stand out the most and are the characters that are often the most central to the ongoing plot of an episode, if not the series as a whole.
One thing that this show does masterfully is handle consequences. Few things go unresolved between episodes and questions raised or hinted at do get answers eventually. Sometimes the answers aren't the most satisfying, but at least they're there. It was just really cool to see some very small moment in Episode 1 play out later to affect something in Episode 4. Epsilon's development actually begins in Episode 2 in a way that you don't suspect as having any real relevance until later on in Episode 4 when we learn more about his life before becoming a member of the WTOC. Some subplots are kind of boring and don't lead anywhere, but others are really cool to see through to the end and watch the characters explore who they are.
On a technical level this show looks really good, rivaling the likes of Sword Art Online which came out that same year. The action scenes are very fluid despite some breaks, and none of the characters ever look the same or can be confused for another. The art alone stands out with bright colors and the backgrounds are all pretty lush. The animation is fast when it needs to be but goes well with the pacing of the series.
The music, done by Kenji Kawai, is limited and some of the songs, like the main battle theme, are memorable. Sadly, it's nothing I'll go out of my way to listen to, but it did help in parts and did make the fighting scenes and some of the dramatic moments tense. The music with vocals, when placed correctly, really did hit home and could often be incredibly emotional.
Towa no Quon is by no means perfect and has elements that you've undoubtedly seen before, but was overall a fun ride. It started pretty bland, and ended that way too, but the middle is where the real heart of the series is, even hitting some very intense and nail-biting moments between Episodes 3 and 4 combined. It was gorgeously drawn and animated with a good score to boot. If you're looking for something not all that long to watch one day, and probably pretty, cheap, I'd say give it a shot. And if you haven't checked out too many science-fiction or fantasy series yet, this is a pretty solid starting point.
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