No one should sleep on this. It's easily the best show of 2023 hell it's even up there with the best and I've seen all the best anime has to offer.
The story starts with Kiruko and Maru traveling through a post apocalyptic Japan, it might seem like a normal adventure and explorative based story but it comes of deeper as the story progresses. We also get to witness another story in the same anime which gets you pondering when's it's all gonna add up.
The Main Characters are very detailed and there's no abnormality in their patterns or decision making, every form of grief is processed realistically and time is allocated for healing, This kind of structure flows with the other part of the story making it feel like one huge orchestral rendition with no room for errors. You know Maru and Kiruko have goals but you still completely get all the reasons for their detours and their strong personalities, nothing feels forced while at the same time the anime treats you to a perfectly crafted world, relatable in world characters, stunning animation and wonderful soundtracks.
Outside the plot, the story also creatively addresses some of the main real-life social issues from gender norms, artificial intelligence, environmental sustainability, governmental malfeasance, and classism.
All above would be enough for a 9 but the anime had to keep the audience guessing with the complexity of the second part of the story and how it shaped the first. Always seeing what seemed like the end of characters in the 2nd story always felt bothering and mind blowing if you tried putting 2and 2 together.
So far they've created a stunning foundation and I'm really hyped to see how it all plays out.