'Tengoku-Daimakyo' review: Charming yet mysterious post-apocalyptic anime

New Disney+ original anime 'Tengoku-Daimakyo' has enough intrigue and mystery to satisfy fans of Japanese science fiction anime. – Photos: Disney+ Hotstar

“From the masterminds behind Ghost In The Shell!!” the press release for Tengoku-Daimakyo proudly proclaimed. And with that, my interest in this brand new Disney+ Hotstar anime series was instantly piqued.

To be exact, Tengoku-Daimakyo (loose translation: Heavenly Delusion) is produced by Production I.G., the anime studio behind Psycho-Pass and Ghost In The Shell, and is based on the manga series of the same name by Masakazu Ishiguro.

Admittedly, Ghost In The Shell is a show that sets an extremely high bar, but based on the first three episodes of the series so far, Tengoku-Daimakyo has the potential to be a cult classic in the same right.

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The story is set in the ruins of Tokyo, 15 years after the world has been brought to its knees by an unprecedented disaster, with only small, isolated clusters of civilization left standing.

A young girl named Kiruko is thrust into a quest to find a place called ‘Heaven’ when she meets the dying guardian of a boy named Maru and is given a cryptic request to ‘take this child to Heaven”.

With next to no information to go off, Kiruko and Maru, set off on a journey in search of this mysterious ‘Heaven’, meeting all sorts of strange human survivors along the way while trying to avoid “Hiruko” - a strange creature who hunts the remaining members of the human race.

Meanwhile, we also see a mysterious enclave within a walled area where a group of children with enhanced abilities live blissfully unaware of what is beyond their walled surroundings.

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Like many Japanese sci-fi anime, Tengoku-Daimakyo takes its time to get going. The first two episodes aer slow-burning ones, helping to build the world, introduce the characters and the world they live in, as well as building the mystery of Kiruko and Maru’s backgrounds.

There is also a charming slice-of-life aspect in the way they navigate this post-apocalyptic world that is quite interesting, especially in the people and communities they encounter along the way. And we haven’t even got into how that strange walled community of children fit into this yet.

The main protagonist, Kiruko, has a quaint, steely charm that hints at something deeper behind her backstory. Indeed, this is revealed in the third episode, a revelation that flips the whole story on its head and adds even more intrigue to the overall plot.

Make no mistake about it, this is no Ghost In The Shell, but Tengoku-Daimakyo has enough intrigue and mystery to satisfy fans of Japanese science fiction anime, and does just enough to keep you watching thanks to its charming leads, the slice-of-life aspects, and the way it builds its central plots and the world.