Anime Review: This ugly yet beautiful world

Review This ugly yet beautiful world aka Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai Written by Warpshadow Rating good/ very good

For a time Gainax was known for making shows heavy with pychobabble and avant-garde directing. Then all of that changed and they began doing fan service. What happens when you combine the two? You get something like Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai.

One day while on a delivery route Takeru and Ryou see a mysterious light fall from the sky. They go and investigate the light and find that a girl comes out of it. Takeru names the girl Hikari and monster attacks her and Takeru transforms to protect her. Hikari's very existence is a mystery but she likes Takeru very much. Maybe another girl named Akari who was found in the wilds by Ryou may have some link to her?

For what at first glance looks like a fan service show This ugly and beautiful world is surpisingly philosophical especially at the end. However make no mistake this is a fan service complete with the requisite beach episode, hot springs scene and whatnot. The philosophical end of the story is sort of light, not for those looking for something especially deep but probably won't twist viewer's minds into a pretzel. The fact that this show concentrates on a few character relationships as opposed to the often seen "harem" set up is a plus as well. This isn't a show to expect all that much from but it is still kind of nice.