Anime

So looking at the title: Literally translated "towa" is eternity, "yuugure" means dusk or twilight

Of course we now know Towasa is the name of a character, but the construction of her name means "eternity-ness", i.e. "having the quality of eternity"

I think Towasa is not a common Japanese name, so I think it's a very deliberate choice by the writer(s).

You figure that's going to come in sometime.

While we're on the subject of names, Akira means "bright," "clear," or "intelligent" (which he certainly is) and can also mean "wisdom," "strength," or "enlightenment"

According to this

The name's etymology reflects core values in Japanese culture, where clarity of thought and brightness of character are highly esteemed qualities. Akira emerged from classical Japanese naming practices that often incorporated aspirational qualities parents wished for their children.

Wow, that was really good, even the "will they or won't they" mini-arc of scenes that I usually hate.

The animation and art weren't super high quality, but writing was good.

Oddly enough, I found that the AIs were the most interesting character(s), differentiating themselves from the stock protagonists, as a whole, even if the AIs were not as identifiable as individuals.

I'm hoping that Dove, and maybe the smart speakers, survived the apocalypse and find out what happened to them.

The brief interjected scenes of a POV moving down the narrow pedestrian walkways seemed oddly foreboding, and seemingly unrelated to later events.

That sure was something. With this being considered a prologue (episode 0, I guess), I assume it's just setting up the characters and world before it really gets going. I wasn't completely sold yet, but I will say that the ending of the episode was enough to have me give it another episode or two before deciding if I'll watch it or not. It does remind me a bit of ATRI from last year, but hopefully much better. The main protagonist is at least a bit more likeable right off the bat.

Color me intrigued at least. The whole way through the episode I was convinced that Akira was actually an android, and that was going to be the reveal. I am guessing that I was right, but he is an android now after a time skip and some kind of AI-war took place.

One thing that I noticed is that the almost the entirety of the episode had this weird distortion to it, like it was being shown on a curved screen. I can't remember any other show that had this kind of non-rectangular aspect ratio like that. I think it did a good job at visually conveying that this is a flashback to the viewer without resorting to something like a narrator telling us it was.

@rikka@ani.social

In fact, the only time that the curved screen effect was not present was at the end, after Akira reawakens and sees the city in ruins. There we are back in full 16:9 glory.