Anime review: Nazca

A group of Japanese people discover that they are the reincarnation of ancient Incas.

In theory it shouldn’t be that bad, at least there is an original concept that could provide plenty of drama when the allegiances of the past conflict with those of the present, the setting is also very original, the Inca empire is not something that we see every day. Therefore it’s noteworthy how they managed to make so many mistakes.

But first let’s talk a little about the tone. This is clearly on opera aimed to a female audience, no offence intended here, in Japan there is a clear division between stuff aimed at male and stuff aimed at females (there is also stuff for older male, older female, young boys etc.). So the actual fighting and generally the plot advancing stuff is not very abundant while we get plenty of angst, weeping lovers and that odd homosexual undertone that apparently fascinates so much Japanese girls.

The main problem is the general unlikability of practically everyone. This is a big problem because in a work like this one, where the relationships are the main focus, the characters need to be better that these thinly detailed sketches. The main bad guy wants to destroy the world for unfathomable reason, his present mind so completely obliterated by his past self that he became a caricature of a villain, even bursting up in the more stale “evil laughter” that you can imagine.

The ancient Inca society is left completely devoid of any interesting characteristic, actually is missing any defining trait at all apart from a mystical access to a mysterious super energy of dubious utility. The design of the Inca costumes is Campy in a “Oh my god what they were drinking that day!” way. I really have no idea who they thought could root for somebody dressed in s long leotard and incredibly long feathers...

I must admit that the animations are nice, detailed and high quality but this only means that I can see all the ridiculous details of the setting.

Terrible stuff indeed.