Petrified for five hundred years, Willem Kmetsch wakes up to find he has nothing left in a world where his kind is extinct—a world that sees him as unnatural.
To survive, Willem takes on a job as a weapons caretaker only to discover that these are something more—they’re young leprechaun girls with the power to wield the mighty “dug weapons,” the only hope against the seventeen beasts. And they’re ready to die for their purpose. A fact that doesn’t sit right with Willem and leads him to care for the girls, especially the eldest, Chtholly. Soon, the girls begin to develop a desire to live and love until suddenly, something within Chtholly breaks.
What happens when weapons develop a will to live, and what will happen to the world they’re meant to save?
Review
Worldend had a promising premise about the end of humanity and the other races left standing to fight the beasts. Humans were to blame but none survived that they knew about. Willem was frozen and slept for centuries and awoke as one of only a hand full of humans left in the world. His hidden abilities and his true identity were steeped in secrecy. However, the series never fully realizes its potential with a short 12 episodes for the series.
Much of the time is spent with the young fairy girls he is trying to protect. While we get hints of the overall backstory and cause of the world being in the state it is in, we never get the full true. In some ways I felt like our two leads were Renton and Eureka from Eureka 7. However, this series lacked the hard core seriousness and heartfelt light moments that Eureka 7 managed to have.
Tragic fantasy sci-fi has an uphill battle when it comes to satisfying its audience. And with only 12 episodes, WorldEnd didn’t have the time it needed to really flesh out the story. What ended up happening was a rushed ending and a lack of satisfaction in the story. Worldend is based on a light novel of the same name. The title “WorldEnd: What are you doing at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us?” sounds a bit like a dating advertisement.
The animation quality is good and the voice cast is also well done. The battle scenes are fun to watch and well done too. The story had a lot of potential but wasn’t given the episodes needed to flesh it out for viewers. We would rate the series as a C+. Its worth streaming on FunimationNow or Crunchyroll but not a collection keeper.
Worldend is available on Blu-ray/DVD combo back with digital download Sept 25th.
