Rewind

When I first started Sukasuka I thought it would just be another happy family show in which an unconventional family would go about their daily lives, but with a touch of magic here and there.

As the series progressed, it became clear the writer didn’t seem to have an idea in which direction he, she or otherwise wanted to take the story.
Bear with me while I try explain:

It starts off with the only remaining human named Willem being encouraged by his goblin acquaintance to finally get a job, which he does.
He ends up working at a warehouse presumably guarding weapons, but is instead greeted by a bunch of children, introduced as Leprechauns. These Leprechauns are overseen by someone from the Military (Willem) and a troll in a maid outfit.
There he slowly but surely learns the truth about what went on while he was asleep.If this wasn’t enough, he also comes across three matured Leprechauns, called Fairies.These beings are capable of wielding weapons formerly only humans could, recognizable by their ability to sprout beautifully colored wings from their backs. They are raised for the sole purpose of defeating the monsters which are said to be responsible for wiping out the humans.

If a monster is unable to be defeated by regular attacks, a Fairy is expected to blow herself up and take the monster down with her. The next Fairy to be blown up is a blue-haired female named Chtholly. (Un)fortunately for her, Willem finds a way to save her, this does not come without a cost. Over time she will lose more of her signature traits and become someone else entirely, putting her on a tight deadline.

Willem, being the only remaining of his kind, of course wants to save Chtholly. Not because he genuinely cares for her well-being, but because he doesn’t want to lose “yet another person”, projecting his past onto her. Now over time he does end up falling for her and luckily for him, she has taken a liking to him also.

So to set this straight: we have the plotline of Willem being the only remaining human, and also Chtholly’s route through dementia.

We aren’t done yet. There is more. Sadly there is more.
It turns out that a very long time ago, humans ruled the surface. “Visitors” from outer space were sent to the surface to do something about the humans, seeing them as dangerous beings.
One of these Visitors was a child named Elq.

Elq had three guardians, one of which Willem fought years ago presumably when he was still part of some adventurers’ party. One of his comrades later took Elq’s life.
Upon dying, Elq didn’t know what happened as she was too young to grasp what living or dying meant.
Instead she admired the person who had penetrated her with a blade, bewildered by the idea of dying for someone you cared for, and wanting to experience something like this.

Meanwhile in the future, the third and final member of Willem’s old adventurer’s party been using the souls of deceased children to generate an unlimited supply of Leprechauns in order to reign over the surface once again. Elq’s soul being used as fuel for our blue-haired female’s existence. When Chtholly used too much of her energy and didn’t end it by blowing herself up, this allowed Elq to take back what is essentially hers.

If you thought this was over, you were wrong. Very wrong.
Willem came across a weapon specifically designed to slay humans (why you’d want to have a weapon like that, I have no idea, ask the author), seeing how it was used to slay beasts with, he realized the beasts were in fact humans all along.
So there’s the plotline of Elq and Chtholly, Willem finding out the truth, and his old comrade teaming up with a bad guy in a petty attempt to get revenge which ultimately goes nowhere.

The story ends with Chtholly and Willem presumably having died in the desert. The series itself rubbing salt in their wounds, showing that their sacrifice was pointless and that whatever caused them to suffer will continue to make others like them suffer also.

Long story short: while there was a lot of potential, none of it was fully acted upon.
Had the author taken one of the plotlines and expanded upon it, it would’ve perhaps made a better story.
The way it is now makes for a convoluted mess. The animation staff tried whatever it could to make it work, but ultimately still failed to make a good enough enjoyable series.
Having a story about child soldiers is a good idea, sure it’s a controversial subject but when executed well it could make for a good story. Same goes for terminal patients. It’s been done countless times before and it’s been proven to work. Tales about aliens presumably wiping out humanity have also been done to death, making millions in the box office, so it’s not like the building bricks weren’t there. They simply weren’t utilized to their fullest potential. Perhaps it would’ve been better to at most combine two of these, or make them into three different stories. Less is more.

What I did like, however, were some of the visuals.
The wing action was absolutely stunning at times, and some of the sceneries were a treat also.
Most of the action scenes themselves weren’t bad, but they were short and cut enough to let the audience know those aren’t its strength.

Another thing I really appreciated was the humor sprinkled around here and there. It made Chtholly and her companions much more likeable characters than they would’ve been otherwise.

All in all, watching something with such potential work itself down the drain like that can definitely get kind of painful at times, therefore I cannot give it any higher than a 6/10.

If only.

And that, ladies, gentlemen and whoever else may be watching from a phone or keyboard, is my review of Sukasuka.
Hope to see you around next time also.

Ja ne~