Takopii no Genzai タコピーの原罪

| Episodes: 6 | Score: 8.8 (136259)

Updated every at | Status: Finished Airing

Type: ONA

Streaming: Crunchyroll | Netflix | Ani-One Asia | Bahamut Anime Crazy

Synopsis

A squid-like creature, known as a Happian, leaves his home planet with the desire to spread happiness across the universe. He lands on Earth, but quickly finds himself in danger of captivity by its inhabitants. Fortunately, he is found by an unsmiling little girl named Shizuka Kuze, who feeds him and names him Takopii. Feeling indebted, Takopii decides to do everything in his power to bring a smile to her face. The task is easier said than done, however. Shizuka is bullied by her classmates, she does not have a father, and her mother is never home—though the gravity of these issues flies over the naive Takopii's head. Even so, Shizuka does have one source of happiness: her dog Chappy. The connection Shizuka and Chappy share only increases Takopii's desire to make the girl smile. While Takopii's attempts to lift Shizuka's spirits lead to unintended consequences, he is determined to take things into his own tentacles, test his understanding of human beings, and achieve his goal of spreading happiness. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Voice Actors

Ueda, Reina

Mamiya, Kurumi

News

Reviews

teVi_9
09/04/2025, 03:40 AM
- First 3 episodes: 9/10: _ Trauma central. A good premise and a promising story of what is to come and how things will be resolved. - Episode 4-5: 7/10: _ It starts giving the vibe of old people trying to justify their shitty behaviors on past trauma. "I did all of this horrible stuff and almost killed you multiple times, but you have to understand that I love you and you should feel grateful, actually!" They tried their bestto spin it on children because they get the most sympathy, but that should not justify any of the horrible things done in the anime. No shit that people aren't just born evil. Even Shizuka turns into a manipulative, derranged psycho in the end. But let people face their consequences! - Episode 6: 3/10: _ It walks back on everything it tried to convey. The anime has no identity. It's not social criticism. It disregards the most important lesson of life -Your actions have consequences- by giving an unrelatable solution to a very realistic situation you could find in everyday life. We don't have a time machine to fix all of our problems, and a time machine shouldn't even work like that. - I won't talk about animation because it's not the focus of anime like this. *Final view*: "This person treats you like shit because they were treated like shit by someone else, but it's all good because that's how life works!" is the entire thing. It's such a nothing burger, it almost feels like propaganda to stop people from standing up for themself. Such a unique thing for the Japanese hierarchy system. The anime tried to grab your attention and sympathy points just so they could throw it all out the window at the end. I finished it feeling like I learn nothing. "Don't complain because others have it worse" could be used in such manipulative ways.
maoginko
09/03/2025, 09:07 PM
Takopi's Original Sin is nothing short of a masterpiece. So many anime and other forms of media depict child characters in a very one dimensional way, forcing them to fit some kind of archetype or mold. While we as a society want to always perceive the young ones among us as innocent and adorable, Takopi's Original Sin isn't afraid to show the darkest depths and many different sides of the children at the forefront of the show as a result of their home lives. Showing these children commit cruel acts upon each other and other living beings and even showing the rawness of their mentalstates isn't something just any show can do. This show isn't afraid at all to make you extremely uncomfortable and challenge your levels of empathy and critical thinking. This show is a bleak reminder that how we treat the children around us effects them deeply. It shows us that even as young as 4th grade, children can and do struggle. The voice acting, animation, and story were incredible and I felt that through having an even more naive character (Takopi) there, it really contrasted with the main characters and hammered home the theme of doing right by our children so they can maintain the innocence we want them to have. This show doesn't take the torture porn or exploitative route that many who try to portray these topics do, but instead handled it with great care while also not taking it easy on the viewers. Even with an alien, I would argue this is one of the most realistic and down to earth series depicting this type of subject matter. It's absolutely gut-wrenching in a way that makes you look inward and question the world around you.
Drewgoza
08/29/2025, 06:55 AM
- This is My Anime of The Year - After hearing such high praise about this anime, I decided to check it out. Seeing it was only 6 episodes, I figured, “Why not?” Didn’t think I’d stumble on another “12-episode” Masterpiece. Takopis Original Sin is an anime that utilizes unique cinematics, top-notch animation, and gripping abstract storytelling to its fullest extent. It intricately creates a unique environment that only truly exists around the 4 main characters shown in the anime. Not only does its story divert expectations, but it leads us as viewers on an emotional goose chase, dreading what may happen next. It manages to create scenes wherethe watcher feels trapped in a space with whoever is on screen, mainly because of its high-quality sound design and the anime's style as a whole, which allowed for scenes to be more experimental with the artistic direction. Additionally, the voice acting was PHENOMENAL. If there was another story I could compare this to, it would be "Goodnight Punpun." These two stories feature an out-of-place creature as one of the main characters, have darker themes, and explore existentialism in their own ways. However, Takopi can accomplish this in a light 6 episodes, compared to what would most likely be 2-3 seasons for Punpun. Talopis Original Sin is a darker-themed anime on the surface, but at its heart, there is a real message it's conveying to its audience: Life is a struggle, and we all struggle in it. Instead of hurting each other, we have each other to lean on. It's beautiful, it's heart-tugging, and most of all, it's reflective of the state of the world we currently live in.
Pursueth
08/28/2025, 11:12 PM
This is kinda like the "13 reasons why" of anime. No, I'm not elaborating on that. Actually never mind I'll elaborate a little bit. Takopi wrestles with three main ideas: inhibited trauma, inherited trauma, and inherent trauma. Children are used as vessels to portray the loss of innocence and the heinous capacities of evil that reside within them, mirroring the environments that raise them and cultivate differing modes of "values" (debt, perfection, etc.) This marks a bold and stark departure from the usual rose-tinted image of children we hold; of perfect angels with inherent capacity for good. Takopi, taking a chaotic neutral stance on this, positstime and again the value of "communication." In what begins as the premise of "Inside Out," Takopi exists as an ignorant "happiness merchant," a chaotic invoker of smiles who does not understand the broad spectrum of emotions. This creates numerous instances of "humour," childlike juxtaposition of adult life and childish ignorance. What thrusts Takopi into self-actualization parallels the reality of our three miserable children; in which its persistence in trying to iron things out via "talking" is met with the cruel reality of these ruinous lives. At this point in the show, you wouldn't be wrong to expect the psychological probing to expand a little "further" than nature vs nurture. After all, there has to be a narrative value beyond just "life sucks, amirite?" The show then, in a desperate attempt to retain engagement, expands horizontally by dropping head spinning plot revelations about the supernatural machinations of Takopi. And while that lengthens the plot, the breadth remains paper thin. None of these events catalyze into a proper exploration of trauma or psychological degradation, or bullying, or anything really, instead discarding the odd juxtaposition of humour and tragedy, it goes full blown tragedy, with events upon events of loss in all forms imaginable. Then the show climaxes with magical self-sacrifice being the ultimate bringer of happiness. So, people can't heal on their own, can't reckon on their own, instead they need a third party to intervene, reset, and usher in understanding by turning into a ghost of influence... creepy. The show in general has this odd sentiment regarding foils and equivalency between abuser and abused. Since the narrative at this point only successfully ties Naoki's perfectly realised one-episode arc, then disintegrates into timeline mumbo jumbo, it cannot handle contextual clues necessary to establish justice and catharsis between Shizuka and Marina. Instead, the show leans on its tacky "hurt people hurt people" messaging, reducing its foundation to a mere afterthought as the two forgive each other and bond over their mutual agony, supposedly. Social commentary cannot work without establishing and analysing the structural makeup of people's lives. Takopi broadly gestures towards this by sketching out parental roles and negligence that brings about pain and hatred in otherwise pure souls. Yet this effort collapses every adult into cartoon caricatures. One might argue that this is wholly from the perspective of kids, but hyper-subjectivity without an established framework offers little insight. What does perspective reveal without grounding context? With no social blueprint bar implications? With neither precision nor scaffolding? The text then merely circles back to its single truism; trauma is cyclical. hammered home with no dramatic finesse. The result feels less like hardened social critique and more like kitsch at best, exploitation at worst. Now the question is: what is the thesis of this show? The wrong answer is "communication may not heal us, but it is still a worthwhile step to take." The right answer is "children are all evil hellspawns. I hate children. Fuck them kids." There is something to be said about how far this show goes in hyper engineering despair at every given turn. There needs to be some form of lapse that doesn't register as "haha this is all tonal whiplash btw wink wink" while you sit there in wait for the next gruesome scene of someone dying. Even Midori, for all its mundanity compared to its reputation, at least nourishes its scars with stretches of relief and hope. Takopi's attempts at any empathic maturity betray themselves as inauthentic and shallow. There's nothing more to be said. Nothing here unfolds with organic realism. It is inconsequential, and answers little in way of people dealing with similar issues. It's an exercise in obscene, emotional tedium. A seemingly proverbial examination of suffering conflated with cruelty manufactured to implausibility. Misfortune as pretext. Sensationalism: the anime. Dope ass animation though phew. The merch sales are going to be through the roof for that pink octopus.
Sharur
08/12/2025, 12:17 PM
People basically worship what they don't understand. If you look at this anime very logically, you will realize that you are not following a deep and meaningful story at all. Maybe the author was looking to write a very meaningful story, but he did a very poor job of conveying this work. But the majority are like this, because it has a dark and psychological atmosphere, we definitely don't understand it and it is beyond our comprehension, so it is a masterpiece, but they never think that maybe the author's work is really so weak that even he himself cannot fully execute what is in his mind. If youspend some time and analyze the story of the anime, you will really realize that in the end this show did not present you with anything special and the story in the final episodes was just put together.
elumizu
08/03/2025, 07:29 AM
What begins as a cute alien’s journey to spread happiness on Earth quickly spirals into a nihilistic descent filled with despair, trauma, and questionable time loops. Takopi’s Original Sin is the kind of story that asks, “What if Doraemon came to visit the most emotionally damaged child imaginable, and also had no idea how human morality works?” It plays out like a tragic short film, with no real comfort, only escalating acts of desperation wrapped in innocent logic. Structurally, the narrative moves in relentless beats of misery, never pausing long enough for reflection. The time-loop mechanic, while intriguing on paper, is used less as atool for insight and more as a reset button for further suffering. There’s little sense of escalation beyond “worse than before,” which flattens the impact of its own twists. Takopi himself remains a static character: the point, apparently, is that he learns nothing about humanity. But when the protagonist doesn’t grow, and the children around him (Shizuka, etc.) are written less as full personalities and more as embodiments of pain, the story leaves the audience with nowhere to go emotionally. Parents are drawn not as flawed humans but monsters, that are cold, inhuman, and stripped of nuance. Somehow it’s not a study of broken families anymore, but a study of cruelty. The worldbuilding leans on its sci-fi trappings, alien gadgets, time travel, but these elements feel loosely integrated with little internal logic. They’re props for the plot’s spiral, not pillars for a believable world. The visual style is deceptively soft like rounded faces, warm tones, and childlike designs. This contrast between innocence and horror can be effective, but here it often feels manipulative, as if weaponizing cuteness to amplify discomfort without offering depth. The core moral value is muddled. The story gestures at “Don’t forget to be happy,” but this message feels misplaced when surrounded by unrelenting misery and no path to healing. Without introspection, the psychological label becomes a misnomer. There’s no exploration of the mind, only trauma as spectacle. Enjoyment is minimal unless one finds value purely in the extremity of its premise. As a one-time watch, it might shock. As a rewatch, there’s little to discover beyond the first impact. It lingers, maybe, but more like emotional rot than resonance. In the end, Takopi’s Original Sin confuses showing cruelty with understanding it. It risks normalizing pain for its young shonen audience, romanticizing tragedy without the care or responsibility such themes demand. For everyone who takes away something positive, many may walk away with only the echo of negativity and that’s a dangerous legacy for any story to leave behind.
Joimz
08/02/2025, 10:30 PM
I absolutely loved the way they portray each characters in this show, and the way they all have a cause and effect to each of them. Of course, not all people is going to enjoy it, definitely if they cannot put themselves into the characters' shoes and/or experienced something similar, but for me personally, it is peak writing. Though I believe some would have a few words to say about the anime's ending, I can still enjoy it to the fullest. I would say this anime is about bullying and abuse, but more than that, it is about bad parenting, and that we all canlearn a lesson about it, how our actions can influence others' behavior. However, since this is my first time reviewing an anime in this site, feel free to seek out other opinions. Again, a must watch from me, I have not seen an anime that can have an effect like this in a long time.
Ryan_the_Bread
08/02/2025, 07:58 PM
Not since the first time I pulled down my girlfriend’s pants, only to be greeted by a penis larger than my own, have I been so confused about what to do with, or how to feel about, this thing dangling in front of my face. Takopi’s Original Sin is a confounding show with good intentions; equal parts harrowing, nonsensical, and affirming. The show itself has about as good an understanding of compelling drama as its namesake does of the human experience. Some advice to aspiring comic book writers, mangaka, or anybody in any kind of creative storytelling medium, really: There are two very easy things youcan do to ensure audience investment in a character. 1. Make the character in question a moeblob (or similar “cute” thing with smaller proportions) with starry-eyes. Everybody loves to root for a tiny, pure, and earnest creature whose design is also (conveniently) ripe for merchandising. 2. Have horrific things happen to them routinely. Either it should kill, suicide, and/or just be made to abjectly suffer. Nobody wants to see a baby fed to a wood chipper, y’know? This strategy is as effective as it is uncreative. Summarized above is Takopi’s Original Sin’s entire ethos, essentially. The “point” is basically realized in episode 1 when Shizuka David Foster Wallaces herself with the Reconciliation Ribbon; Takopi’s good intentions are to be routinely squandered, often in a darkly ironic fashion. Long story short, if you’re on the fence, you should probably just knock this one out; you don’t stand to lose much time even if you don’t actually end up enjoying the show and, chances are, you will anyway. In macro, as I see it (since you can only write a review from your own perspective), the changes ultimately visited upon the world and characters don’t wind up feeling like enough to justify/warrant all the trauma, heartbreak, tears, parental abuse, and bloodshed seen and experienced throughout. For such a bombastically animated and, just generally altogether, well-produced show, its thematic messaging, conversely, rings pretty mutedly. In other words, dare I say, it’s kind of a nothingburger–a very pretty and occasionally affecting nothingburger, but a nothingburger nonetheless. Part One: Volume Takopi’s Original Sin achieves a lot of what it does through volume. Not, like, mathematical volume; I mean through just how big, messy, and violent its proceedings are. The portrayal of bullying is turned up to 11, the domestic violence on display is turned up to 11, the characters and how they respond to the stresses of their lives, always, is at 11. As much as I respect the show for not pulling its punches, the impact of these topics and their scenes start to wane when, towards the end, you realize you’re witnessing Shizuka, Naoki, or Marina’s, like, sixth emotional breakdown in a third of as many hours. It insists upon itself. Not helping this is the show's length; as much as the brevity is appreciated to not let things potentially drag out unnecessarily, it does often result in the feeling of watching a montage of misery rather than actually, properly engaging with a well-told story… So, I guess I did also mean mathematical volume–the most fucked up, particularly psychologically damaging things happen to these kids at the drop of a hat, and eventually this begins to eat away at engagement. The pacing and structure is, overall, reminiscent of the motions of a yoyo; you’d have to basically forget each preceding episode in order to believe that one of the kids (or Takopi himself) *won’t* hit an emotional brick wall immediately after things start looking up for them. Part Two: Actual Psychopathy If I were to single out what I think is the show’s biggest fault, I’d point to its understanding (or lack thereof) of psychopathy and the types of people these kids (but mostly Shizuka and Marina) usually turn out to be. That’s not meant to sound as callous as it probably does, and it’s not like them hosting a plethora of mental illnesses and disorders is *their* fault, but, literally, this is how serial killers are made. A big theme of the show is how the type of behavior that is visited upon you as a child (parental abuse/neglect and bullying, all so extreme as to almost border on parody) is usually what you end up propagating in life later on. Takopi directly points this out to Marina. This is a good theme explored well (to a point), but the conclusion the show ends up reaching with it strikes me as dishonest, if not forced–if not completely facile and unreasonable. The OP hints at reconciliation with Shizuka and Marina, which is fine. The first problem arises about half an hour after you see it for the first time when (and I’m leaving some irrelevant details out, I know) Marina, with “prompting” only a sociopath would respond to, beats Shizuka down without mercy or apparent hesitation and disfigures her. First red flag firmly up. My thoughts when seeing this were, roughly, “Jesus Christ, that is a serial killer in the making! I don’t think this is just something the Power of Friendship will be able to fix.” Was I right or wrong? I’ll just say that a lot of OPs give a pretty good top-down view of what’s within the show itself and that I, ultimately, gave it pretty much the exact right amount of credit–hint: not much. Both Shizuka and Marina fulfill (at least) a third of the Macdonald Triad. For those unaware of what that means; broadly speaking, it’s not good! And the path through it would be extrication for both of them from their current situations and extensive therapy and medication–friendships are nice, but they’re kind of already fucked. Actually, Marina fulfills that third probably more than Shizuka does; it’s played for laughs, confoundingly, but Marina’s shown to be abusive towards Takopi, too–a totally sentient and feeling creature. Just like with Your Lie in April, slapstick comedy doesn’t pair well with serious, harrowing depictions of parental abuse. Your neck’s liable to get broken from the tonal whiplash. Part Three: Abuse, and how NOT to exhaust your audience with it The portrayal of abuse and dysfunction in Takopi’s Original Sin is affecting at first, but also quickly repeating and, eventually (unfortunately), comedic. What begins as an unnerving glimpse into a broken family, so brimming with resentment, mental disorder, and a predilection for violence that it’d make the Mansons blush, before long morphs into impressively contrived and cliched combat, marked by redundance and absurdity. “What’s wrong with you?! Do you REALLY think your dear mother should be drinking Steel Reserve?! NO! I demand THE BEST beer! If you don’t run to the store to get me some Miller High Life, the Champagne of Beers as we all know, I’ll carve your face with this broken bottle and put my cigarette out on your arm! “No, Mommy, I’m so sorry, I just-” “And ANOTHER THING! You’re ugly and I hate you! *sobs* Why do you hate me, my darling offspring?!” I, like, barely had to modify an actual scene from the show to achieve this dialog. That’s the nuance we deal with eventually. Shizuka is a latchkey kid taken to an immoral extreme–she’s all but just outright abandoned, and Marina’s mother is more a trope with a bad haircut than any actual character. The violence and trauma that it results in strains under the weight of its own artifice. To summarize, I *get* it (why oh why can I not italicize in reviews?). Maybe you’ll get TakopiTSD, but it’s hard not to guffaw at the abuse after a certain point. Part Four: We Need to Talk About Takopi Takopi, his design, misplaced optimism, and occasionally endearing misunderstanding of humanity, is definitely one of the best things the show has to offer; I imagine plushies of him sell like hotcakes. That being said, his thoughts and actions frequently left me buffaloed. He pretty quickly becomes intimately acquainted with violence and human anger, but these concepts also seemingly leave his mind as soon as he internalizes them. Anger not directed at Takopi (even after he’s internalized the concept) is not anger he concerns himself with, confusingly. He’s dealt first hand with violence, but seems almost completely unable to recognize it if he’s not directly involved. It reminds me of Violet Evergarden and how the writers of that just kind of made her feel whatever whenever the story or someone’s arc needed progressing. Takopi’s a less egregious example, but the same lack of a line of logic to follow is there; why he thinks/does what he thinks/does is oftentimes puzzling, more through flimsy writing than his trademark naivety. The entire crux of the story relies on him just being kind of dumb and forgetful. There’s a huge twist towards the end that he’s at the center of, the absurdity of which is the entire reason I feel comfortable even telling you about it; you’d never guess what it is and it’s sloppily foreshadowed. The only thing this twist serves to do is hammer the themes home even more–you can stop! The nails of thematic messaging were already firmly embedded in the plank that is the story! If the argument is that it helps us see things in a new light, sure, but it does that by basically fabricating an entirely new scenario. I find it akin to a Dragon Ball what if–what if Marina-chan was betrayed and trapped in the Time Chamber? Part Five: Naoki, and the stereotype of the strict Asian parent taken to a comical, but also somehow dull, extreme Naoki’s entire arc, which takes up a good chunk of the middle portion of the show and is about as smoothly inserted as a penis would be into a fleshlight made of sandpaper, is boring, largely unimportant, and exhausting; by the time we introduce a *fourth* comically evil parent, the bandwidth of my caring has already snapped. The fallout of it affects Shizuka for all of a femtosecond and doesn’t provide enough of a contrast to the rest of the cast’s dreary lives to feel worthwhile. Admittedly, episode 4 may be the peak of the series’ directorial efforts; some crazy perspective work emphasizes how alone and stressed Naoki feels, and some animation later on left me genuinely dumbstruck. It’s such a shame, then, that the writing doesn’t do its fair share. You’re literally never given a reason to hate (or even be suspicious of) Junya, Naoki’s older brother, unless you choose to subscribe to the same schizo views that Naoki has on him. It’s like how MAGAts allow themselves to be whipped up into a frenzy over immigrants, despite immigrants never having actually done anything to them, let alone take their jerbs. This robs Naoki’s arc of any sort of catharsis; his brother never deviates from being just a chill ass dude. The subversion that Naoki’s struck with just blows by the audience; it's literally the "they all hated me" meme. I know that guilt, pressure, anger, and a burgeoning paranoia rack Naoki’s mind, but still; his brother clearly cares a *great deal* about him, so their schism (entirely caused by their moustache-twirling villain of a mother, I get it) never feels authentic. Thank you, next. Part Six: Morality Takopi’s Original Sin’s understanding of morality, psychopathy, and criminology is naive to the point that it becomes difficult to seriously: 1. Remain invested in Shizuka and Marina’s stories. And 2. Believe in what the story asserts as it relates to their trauma and how they’re to move through/past it. That’s not as apocalyptic as it probably sounds–hell, I still ended up giving the show a 7 when it was all said and done (though it’s hanging onto that by a friggin’ thread). Simply put, and without spoiling anything, knowing what I know about sociopathy, psychopathy, criminology, and what the stresses Shizuka and Marina are subjected to *do* to a developing mind–I just cannot reconcile what they’ve been through and who they are with what the show asserts they end up becoming. Yeesh, that was a word salad. Put another way; the math ain’t mathing. The moral and criminological naivety reminds me of Monster, where Urasawa does everything in his power to convince you that no! Tenma was totally right to keep *not* pulling the trigger on Johan! Please just ignore all of the dead bodies left in his wake, many of whom wouldn’t have died needlessly if Tenma had just fucking shot Johan any of the multiple times he had the chance. How humanistic! Takopi’s thesis is just as detached from reality. The mundane ending–especially with consideration to how muted/lowkey the themes eventually become–all run totally counter to how I would ever believe things with these two individuals would play out thereafter. That’s not to say that realism = good; oftentimes I’m more of a proponent for believability within a certain verse over straight realism, but Takopi’s world is, ostensibly, ours as well. Covid hit them the same, childhood bullying results in the same neuroses, familial and societal pressure mounts for them the same, etc, etc,. It’s inherently dishonest to expect your audience to buy into your world (sans all the high strangeness, obvs) as being almost exactly like our own and then asserting that, nah, in a scenario where, in any other universe, what would be a supervillain origin story just… isn’t. It reminds me of the Evangelion manga’s ending and, much as I love it, that’s probably not a good thing. It’d also be one thing, with the anticlimax, to really, truly, deeply explore Shizuka, Marina, and (to a lesser extent, much as I don’t like him he’s more fleshed out) Naoki’s suffering and really bring the audience along on a one-way trip to Hell, but the show doesn’t fulfill that premise completely. Instead of any profound mediation on anything they’re going through, the show’s more than happy to just keep having bad shit happen to them. To summarize my whinging, the ending neither fits the overall tone of the rest of the show, nor does it serve as enough of a change to warrant the belief that things *actually* turned out the way they did. For those that have already seen it, even if you disagree with me, I hope you can see where I’m coming from. For the uninitiated, don’t let my perspective cloud your thoughts; odds are you’ll greatly enjoy it! Like I said before though, I do genuinely respect the show for not shying away from depicting the awful things it does. Much as it’s not exactly clever, it’s still never, like, *pleasant* to see a 10 year-old girl get ragdolled by her mother, or for another one to feel such hopelessness that she takes her own life. It’s distressing, and that’s not a feeling many contemporary anime inspire within me, so I feel like I have to be appreciative. Beyond that, the art and animation truly is gorgeous. It’s able to achieve a sketchy, broken up look without using an ugly filter or just *being* ugly. Scene composition is exquisite, the character animations are regularly stunning (though also occasionally confounding, why is Marina making such a goofy face in the scene almost directly after she disfigures Shizuka?), and, as mentioned before, no scene is truly allowed to drag. The actual audio/visual components of the show are all top notch. Chef’s kiss. Strange little show, this. What begins as affecting and confronting turns nonsensical. The very visceral suffering the characters experience quickly repeats itself, leading your mind to drift. While I’d never (on account of the audio/visual aspects, premise, and initial buildup) think to call it an outright *bad* show, I’m still not sure if I’m comfortable giving it a full pass. The rest of this review may seem overwhelmingly negative, but that’s only because I feel like the writing ultimately lets down an otherwise great premise and I feel like it’s the most prescient aspect to dissect. If I were to compare this show to another–that’d probably let people know where they stand on this without having even seen it yet–I’d compare it to Wonder Egg Priority; that endearing little disaster of a coming of age sprinkled with high strangeness as well. I think that probably had more potential than this, but it also squandered far more of that potential than Takopi ever gets around to. If, in spite of the fall, you enjoyed WEP overall and appreciated what it was doing and were able to connect with its characters, then you’ll likely enjoy Takopi, too. If not, then you may prefer to stay clear. If nothing else, I hope the reception to this means we get more stories like it. Not *exactly* like it, mind you, but more stories in the sphere that at least show an inkling of interest in being actually mature and visceral. At its worst, Takopi’s Original Sin is still a far more spirited use of the medium than something like “I Was Reincarnated as a Buttplug in 8th Century Bosnia!”
nycReaching
08/02/2025, 07:38 PM
Somewhere between Look Back's delicate, cinematic approach, and Made in Abyss's disturbing, exaggerated approach, you can find TOS's way of delivering deep pain, deep trauma and tragic situations. The 'magical' part of the show is charming and cute, but it's not really here to build lore or story depth. Instead, it provides the backdrop needed to unlock complicated, emotional moments. The characters have different aspects: good, bad and unclear. They are shaped by their experiences in obvious and not obvious ways. What they're going through constantly cuts into your heart, making you feel deeply about what they're going through and if it could possibly get better (or worse). Weeklyrelease culture creates a certain buzz and attention, which can work well for popular, trending shows, but sometimes media needs to be consumed because it compels you, because it makes you curious, and it may take time to digest it and appreciate its qualities. This show isn't a new hype train to jump on, it has a particular message and a very distinct style. It can reach many, but not everyone is supposed to like it. I like having my emotions dumped into a blender. I like when stories take bad situations and pull them into surprising directions. It's weird, disgusting, beautiful, silly, painful and special. TOS is a new classic that people will be talking about for years.
JaesDBreigh
08/02/2025, 04:53 PM
This was cheeks. Double caked up. Save yourself the time and skip it. Let’s keep it a buck, spoiler free, and to the point. “Shock factor doesn’t cover for poor plot and weak character development.” The one thing I liked about this show, was it had the stones to get dark and not play the soft game. Kudos. But that’s where the goodness ends. LOL this is just a show that depicts bad parents…reeallly bad parents. People might get off on the emotional trauma and make it more relatable than it needs to be….but all the parents in this show are cheeks. They make life difficult fortheir kids, but that dang octopus was one of the most annoying naive characters I’ve ever witnessed in anime. Not a single character in the show was likeable enough to make a favorites list for me. The plot was DRY. Each episode took an unexpected twist so I’ll give them that…but it still gave try hard. Let’s make a dark show, with bad parents…and use kids….and make it a steins gate Rip off. It’s like when you have 1 ingredient but don’t know how to cook so you make a pretty bland and dry dish that relies on shock factor and unpredictability to save it. Then the people who like it, are new to food or like the one ingredient in the bland food. BUT IT AINT FOOLING ANYONE WITH SENSE. I respect that the show didn’t shy away from the dark, and didn’t hide that people could be really crappy….but….it was weak. I’m thinking that the hype of this show comes from the inexperienced and young. Dark animes aren’t new. This just was not good. I wanted it to be. I tried to come up with reasons to give it a higher score. Steins gate did some of the aspects of this show better. This anime tries hard to be something it’s not. Good. Seems odd some have said there wasn’t enough warning when there’s a warning before every episode lol but still, after finishing, I wish I had a Time Machine so I can undo wasting my time with this one. Tomato. Tomato.
hadiahmed13
08/02/2025, 11:17 AM
This has got to be the best 6 episode anime of all time, i have never seen anything like this, the story is 10/10, the animation is 10/10, the voice acting is 10/10, the direction, colors, music, cinematic sequences, emotional impact, ending, everything is a 10/10. I think that the message that was given in this anime is really hard to understand mainly because of the structure of the anime and how the episodes tell story, but its the most beautiful message and it made me so happy even though the theme of the anime is a lil dark. If you wanna be amazed every episode byplot twists and insane story telling with good animation i would 100% recommend watching it, it is personally the most unique anime i have watched in a while.
Ba-Cii10
08/02/2025, 07:50 AM
-🟡Summer 2025 The sin of this anime is being an irresponsible story and cheap show-pi Sigh...I put this anime off for a long time, and all this time it exuded an aura of uniqueness, which made me have high expectations, but unfortunately, this anime didn't live up to them-pi. It's a perfect example of the saying "less is more"-pi. What should have been a responsible bow to difficult topics turned out to be a spectacle of violence-pi....... Plot: "Into the bleak life of a little girl comes Takopi—a charming, naive alien from the planet Happy who wants to spread happiness on Earth."Takopi undoubtedly speaks about some truly important things. These are things that should be obvious to anyone who hasn't come from the planet Happy, but reality often proves otherwise. Takopi tells the story of how violence breeds violence, of trauma and empathy, of children too unhappy and of an octopus too happy to See that the world is more nuanced and not everything is as it seems at first glance. On paper, it sounds good, but this anime isn't a tribute to trauma or anything. It's more of a show that tries to give you a dopamine rush as quickly as possible through a fest of violence. This isn't because the world is like this, it's because the author has cheaply set up the world so that this violence is unavoidable. Although "set up" is an understatement, he simply ignored certain things. For example, he didn't attempt to investigate why society doesn't react to the suffering of the youngest. IT SIMPLY DOESN'T REACT. Don't ask questions. We'll spend most of the time spoon-feeding you and explaining the psychology of the characters. We'll repeat the same scenes of violence that bring nothing new, but we won't answer this one important question... why these children are condemned to suffering. Even ignoring the fact that a one-dimensional, unfeeling society is boring, that should be simply explored. However, all this anime does is make it seem stupid. unreliable and inconsistent. Because, you know, society is insensitive and ignorant, but only to amplify the suffering of a specific character. It's hard to take seriously an anime where one character goes to school covered in dirt and bruises (clearly beaten by someone), their desk in class is scratched, their home is a den, and the adults ignore it (you know, there must be suffering), and at the same time, another character is bitten by a sad girl's dog and starts screaming. Suddenly, a second later, a gang of adults show up in exaggerated fashion to help, and then the dog, which is all the sad girl has left, is put down because society has become too concerned (you know, there must be suffering). This isn't a commentary on society; it's part of the show. The topic of bullying at school and domestic violence in this anime very easily falls into exaggeration, blandness and borders on black comedy, most of the time focusing mainly on physical violence, the approach to it seemed really shallow, the sad girl will always be sad and submissive until the moment when her personality simply changes 180° without any announcement (and twice), but it doesn't matter, the point is that in the bullying storyline, the sad girl is just a cute stuffed animal that you hit and it will always react the same, without any nuance, lack of anger or any of the traits she showed later in the story "look, sad girl is sad" and it goes on and on, it's not deep, it's a simplified and boring picture where the bully in his role as a bully will always be one-dimensionally evil without any inhibitions, only to completely forget about his uncontrollable character in a scene that is supposed to show his perspective "oh, he's not really evil" and make him look like The same stuffed animal that takes the beating. And ultimately, it honestly wouldn't bother me that much, if it weren't for the fact that it's all anime has and keeps repeating it. Yes, this anime really loves to waste the viewer's time with scenes of violence that add nothing. We don't get any new information, they don't contribute much to character development. It's just violence for its own sake, not a responsible approach to tackling difficult topics. There are only four main characters in this anime, three children and an octopus. The vast majority of the rest (unfortunately, including the parents) are plot devices meant to intensify the suffering. Of these three children, only one received a well-written storyline that, despite being overly expository, was handled in a truly satisfying way and led to something. The others, as I described above, were simply boring, repetitive extremes that lead nowhere until a deus ex machina climax. And it's all Takopi's fault. Instead of creating a plot where the characters gradually begin to understand certain things, we focus on the octopus, who is written as the stupidest and most naive being in the entire universe, and who begins to understand basic things that the anime revealed almost at the very beginning, too late. What Takopi is going to accomplish is obvious to the viewer from the very beginning, as the anime practically dangles it in front of their noses. However, the viewer has to wait for the octopus to reach these conclusions and change something. However, it doesn't do so quickly enough because the author wrote him as an idiot who won't understand anything quickly enough for the anime to endlessly repeat its fest of violence. There's no other reason why this process is so slow. We don't get new layers during this time; we simply repeat what we already know practically from the beginning. The concept of the magical octopus was written to make a positive resolution impossible. The message is that magic won't solve problems, and there are no magical or naive shortcuts. NO, the author artificially set everything up so that it's impossible. That's his choice, as is the entire worldbuilding in this anime, not a real exploration of this topic. The entire world in this anime is set up so that everything ends tragically, and even this supernatural element is limited by the often inconsistent stupidity of the octopus. You have magic, but it's limited so that a positive resolution is impossible, so why introduce magic if it doesn't change anything? Unless it's just to give these characters new tragic events, resetting the previous ones by going back in time. Oh no! Wait, we have the finale, and it turns out that magic can solve all problems after all, and we arrive at this, of course, with something completely unforeseen. Once again, thanks to the overused time travel, all the significant consequences of Takopi's actions disappear. The final flaw of this anime is its obvious "crybait," you know... - Children crying in every episode. - Ultra-dramatic, hopeless situations in every episode. - Excessive, "unnatural" dramatic dialogue delivered in a broken child's voice in every episode. - Increasingly sad music during dramatic scenes IN EVERY EPISODE... I think so, because I admit that at some point, the whole drama just blended into one for me. XD So, yes, the viewer is saturated with scenes like this, which at some point causes numbness (although the dialogue and escalating music sometimes do the trick). I don't know if it's just me, but I actually laughed out loud while watching the last episode. All of this makes Takopi seem like a show rather than a responsible and honest story. Before watching the first episode, I was surprised that this anime was labeled shounen, but it quickly became clear why. Finally, the animation...it's beautiful, but considering everything I've written before, it's a triumph of style over substance. This anime is carried by the animation, which emphasizes the characters' emotions at every turn and truly draws you into this world, making it seem alive. In summary: I thought this anime was mediocre. From a certain point on, the scenes of violence (which this anime relies on to a large extent) became repetitive and didn't change anything significantly. Aside from the boy and the octopus, which were written so as to irritatingly avoid reaching the obvious conclusions that this anime spoon-fed us most of the time, the characters lacked development, the parents were ignored as plot devices that intensified the suffering, and the sad girl (then suddenly psychopathic) and the blonde girl didn't go through any real path, only for everything to be resolved positively in the end with a deus ex machina. XD So yes, the hype was obviously exaggerated -pi But ultimately, despite its flaws, I liked this octopus -pi. It's kind of funny because it didn't come across even for a moment in my review -pi, but oh well... you can like MID anime, which is perfectly reflected in the 9+ rating on MAl-pi. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐❌❌❌❌❌
Kenopsyc
08/02/2025, 07:32 AM
This anime is honest, it doesn't use its visceral themes just for shock value, and it managed to convey its intentions well. Story: (6/10) It's pretty solid and literal; situations shape people, no one is entirely good or evil. Unfortunately, the narrative hinges on the negligence of an entire school, and has a forced ending. Visuals: (9/10) This is where the anime shines, the art style is unique, it matches the anime well and helps create a distinct atmosphere, and the animation is lively and consistently present. The direction is excellent and dynamic, making all the scenes even more interesting.Soundtracks: (8/10) It's creative and playful, creating a interesting contrast with the work's heavier themes and enhancing certain moments. Characters: (8/10) The main characters allow you to sympathize with them and understand their behaviors and decisions, as these are consistent with their respective situations. The parents aren't overly awful, they're just bad parents, and some of them aren't intentionally bad. They don't get much screen time, but the little information we're given about them ends up being enough. They are not the main part of the show, and they fulfill the role they represent well. Overall: (7/10) The only thing that really drags the show down is a narrative that leans on certain conveniences and a lackluster ending. Everything else is at least exceptional. So even though the story left me with mixed feelings, I’d still say the overall experience was a positive one. I enjoyed it, and I’d easily recommend it. Yeah... looks like it’s my review that’s giving off mixed feelings.
Hoppitot
08/02/2025, 01:22 AM
This was funny as shit. It feels like watching an episode of Mr.Bean but instead of falling around and generally just failing at everything, the MC always gets the most miserable experience. The authors capability of miserymaXXing is truly incredible. If there's a happy moment, it's only there to build up kinetic energy for the eventual fall into misery. I don't want to spoil my favorite moment, the "original sin" but it truly was the epitomy of misery porn. Leading up to it you think "and now he's gonna do fucking X or what lmao" AND THEN HE ACTUALLY DOES IT. Honestly props to theauthors for actually following through on all the suffering scenes and not just stall/cut away like some romance anime when things get spicy. The ending of this show really hammers in the fact that the author just wanted to make it a suffer fiesta but felt forced to give it a happy ending somehow. As much as I can say that I don't recommend this I have to admit, I almost laughed the same amount to this as "A Funny Montage" -pewdiepie 2013. Takopis original sin is the Solo Leveling of suffering.
Supersonic_Pain
08/01/2025, 09:54 PM
I've mentioned this before but I like to follow Weekly Shounen Jump. See if there's any new big hits I can get on the ground floor of, read the entertaining trainwrecks, and read some unfortunate casualties of the cutthroat table of contents. And one of the more notable flameouts was The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins. Made by the same guy (guys?) who made this anime, it was an incoherent mess where everyone bawled their eyes out because their lives just sucked SOOOOO much. But they already made a successful series (this one)? How could this be? Was this just a fluke? Them trying to overcorrect from initiallypoor ratings in WSJ? Lo and behold, we come to today, where Takopii's Original Sin finally gets its anime. ...yeah, I'm sorry, fraud watch, this show is only better than Ichinose because it wasn't canceled partway through. If you take a look at my favorites, it is clear that I am no stranger to "everything sucks and we are fucked" anime. I love Devilman Crybaby. I love Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. They're not as nihilistic but I also greatly enjoyed Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction and Fullmetal Alchemist 2003. I am fine with "edge". This show is just boring and depressing but not in a good way, it's just exhausting. And that's the main word for it. This show is fucking EXHAUSTING. No character is likable. I liked Takopii but the problem is his goal is to make the other (unlikable) characters happy so I couldn't even root for him. Shizuka is introduced as a bullying victim and yup, that sure sucks, but she's shown to be an antisocial psychopath who is willing to turn on anyone when they aren't down for it with her. Marina is a dickhead bully and her home life sure does suck but she never gets better or even gets the chance to be better. Naoki Did It All For The Nookie. I guess I sympathized with him the most but he's a smart guy who gets a crumb of the POTENTIAL to get pussy and he instantly agrees to any fucked up shit Shizuka asks him to do. Really, the problem is the kids are all antisocial assholes who have bad home lives and suffer and cry and that's the extent of their characters. As soon as Naoki gets any sort of positive attention, he is basically written out of the story. Speaking of which, it doesn't really have anything to say thematically. I presume the takeaway was supposed to be "people are a mix of good and bad" and "happiness is achieved by talking things out" but here is my rendition of what would've happened if Shizuka tried to talk to Marina. Shizuka: "Hey, I heard your home life is kinda shitty-" *Marina pushes Shizuka to the ground and stomps on her* Marina: "And whose fault is that, you little slut? You homewrecker?" *Shizuka cries because this is Takopii's Original Sin* Anyway, the adults are cartoonishly evil. That's all there is to say about that. The only "good" adults are the ones who are barely in the story at all. Every other adult is shown to be so evil, they'll rip off your fingernails for getting a 99 on a test instead of 100. I've heard that Takopii is supposed to be some sort of fucked up take on Doraemon what with the gadgets and helping a little kid out but outside of the Happy Camera, they aren't really all that relevant? We see them a total of like once each. Maybe this could've worked as a black comedy where Shizuka is more actively a villain protagonist and we see her, like, use a Happy Water Gun to shoot up her school or something, but it's not really funny either. I laughed a couple of times (at very inappropriate times... at least I presume) in the first episode but then the tedium of just how fucking EXHAUSTING this show is to sit through got through to me and I stopped laughing, I stopped tearing up, it was just a boring, miserable experience. It's monotonous, none of the characters are likable, it doesn't seem to have anything to say, it's just so bad. This show has good production value and a... unique art style. I don't personally care for it but it wasn't unwatchably bad. The ending is weird too. They throw a 11th hour plot twist in the 5th of 6 episodes and then don't really do anything with it. I suppose you could call it a bittersweet ending but the bitter didn't work because I didn't believe in the chemistry between the characters and the sweet didn't work because I felt it was pulled out of their ass. I'd say this show needed more episodes to cook but to be honest, I think the show is kind of unsalvageable. The concept of Doraemon being given to some edgy teen using the gadgets to do some Heathers shit could be pretty fun but it's not a black comedy, it's just misery porn in the worst way. I guess Takopii (the character) was cute enough to not make this a 1 but God... God, man, fuck. This show is awful. The modern day Elfen Lied and just like that show, give this shit a skip.
bvnn_
08/01/2025, 08:41 PM
Takopi's Original Sin. A fun little twist on a everliving Dark Genre. It's truly amazing when ENISHIYA actually elevated some scenes from the Manga to the Anime. The delivery on the message per episode is superbly done and it's very enjoyable. It left you wondering and questioning the actions these children will do after the event. I love how ENISHIYA projects the sorrowness of Shizuka, the helplessness of Marina, and even the disengaged of Azuma. All has been potrayed in a well crafted matter. The ending hits hard for me because at the end, Takopi's can't save everything and everyone. He can't save Marina's householdproblem and her parents divorce. He can't save Shizuka loneliness and neglected feeling from an absent mother and a missing father. He can't save Azuma from the pressure of his mother. But, essentially he can change one thing is that to break that cycle and make a new positive cycle. He makes sure that Marina and Shizuka have each toher to back themselves and reconciliation the broken friendship and ultimately stopping the bullying. He also creates the ending where Azuma can express himself and have true friends to talk to. This ending is a bittersweet ending where he can't change their condition but their action. It's amazingly captured the psychology of Psychology Restorations with talking toward each other. Overall it's a great movie.
prakhargr8
08/01/2025, 08:14 PM
"Not even a six-legged extraterrestrial from the happiest planet can bring you happiness, only you have the power to save yourself." Takopi's Original Sin is perhaps one of the most brutal, raw, painful yet powerfully captivating anime. Right from the beginning, it entrances you with its doodle-octopus alien. The story starts with the perspective of an elementary schooler being bullied for apparently no mistake of hers. Yet she still has a soul to care for a weird-looking animal who she didn’t expect anything in return. This same soul is ripped, shredded, and losing as the plot progresses. The alien had only one aim: to make peoplearound it happy, but it failed to abide by its only rule. Then starts a sequence of rewinds to correct what it deemed to be its fault. It mirrors the "Observer Effect" by showing how its wish for a better ending has dire consequences until it involves itself, and the story takes a much darker turn. Human characters are tested at every turn of the road. There are people on the verge of breaking, people who break others, and the already broken. The same things that make a person are soon lost as situations unfold. It forces you to question - But who’s really at fault? Is it the girl who has lost all sense of right and wrong because she lost a close one, or the bully relentlessly targeting the daughter of her mistress for stealing her dad away? The mistress, who isn’t concerned about the welfare of the child? The cheating husband? The mother who is forcing her pain on her daughter? The boy who is willing to take part in crime just because he was never shown genuine affection? The mother for whom children are only an emblem in society? What was the alien’s mistake? Breaking the rule of the planet? Getting itself involved? Wishing happiness for everybody? Doing wrong in an attempt to make others happy? But in the end, it’s these good intentions of the alien that somehow help the characters to do what they wish, ultimately implying that sometimes, trying to force happiness upon others is the wrong way to go about it, but it might still set them on the path to discover the string they have lost by themselves.
RomanRonin
08/01/2025, 10:36 AM
Takopi's Original Sin is a uniquely captivating anime, but rather than shower it in praise, I'm going to cut against the grain and explain why I think it's a bit more flawed than others may lead you to believe. However, before I get to my criticisms, let me begin with the positives that even a cynic like me can admit. In terms of production values, the show is a masterpiece. The OST is perfectly fitting, contrasting naive joy against brutal reality in a way that really makes you feel that eerie sense of unease at pivotal moments. The visuals are stunning, with bright and vividcolors being contrasted against the gritty and dirty realities in which these characters live. Enishiya nailed the juxtaposition of idealism and realism key to interpreting this work in animation, perfectly balancing the two in a way that highlights the message of the show without getting in the way, and never falling short. This is further supported by great VA work across the board. Their raw emotion really added to each and every scene. With that out of the way, let's get into my main issue with the anime: the story. Takopi's Original Sin is a tragedy about the lives of children impacted by the careless decisions of their parents. By the time Takopi arrives on Earth, the ramifications of these decisions have already gone too far to be fixed. The anime really wants you to understand this fated doom, hammering the point for a good portion of its runtime. No matter what Takopi does, some character suffers the ultimate price in order for another to benefit. The problem is that rather than really focus on the nuance of doomed circumstances and the role of characters' agency within them, the anime chooses to just hammer in the misery nail. Each and every time the plot works towards a potential resolution by the characters, some other element of misery is hammered in. In a vacuum, this would be fine. Actions have consequences, and it's foolish to think that an action has only positive consequences. However, the story does the exact opposite. No matter what the characters do, there are only negative consequences. There are NEVER positive consequences, at least as a net sum, by any of the changes caused by Takopi's meddling. This is just outright unrealistic, and is an attempt to further drive up the hopeless misery and pull on the user's heart strings. This leads me to another flawed aspect of the story: its insularity. Besides the main cast and their parents, no characters impact the plot, and no characters are impacted by the plot. Shizuka is bullied relentlessly by Marina and no one cares. She has to buy a new stationary board every day and yet the stationary store owner doesn't recognize this. I get there are children who suffer in silence, but the anime magnifies this to such a level that it feels practically impossible for others not to notice. It is a cartoonish level of apathy that breaks the suspension of disbelief. These attempts at magnifying the trauma as much as possible actively get in the way of the plot, too. I've already mentioned that the level of abuse Shizuka (and to a lesser extent, Marina) endure is just not feasibly left unnoticed by others. Azuma as a character introduces some plot inconsistencies. When he's first introduced, he is one of the few that notices Shizuka's abuse, but he never does anything significant about it. This just doesn't make sense with his later established personality as a white knight seeking someone to save. There are also plot holes relating to Takopi's gadgets, some of which could have actually helped try to resolve the conflict but are just thrown aside like gags. A bit of a minor spoiler, but among these gadgets, one enables time travel, and this leads to a whole slew of time-related issues. These issues are not only plot-related, but also impact the flow. How time actually works seems clear at first, but eventually it gets so messy that the rules become unclear. It's not so messy that it's impossible to understand or anything, but it just isn't as clearly presented as it could have been. What I've said so far might seem like incoherent rambling to some, but I'm trying my best to avoid actual spoilers in a show where my issues lie with the plot itself, so forgive me. If I'm being fair, none of these criticisms are outright devastating in themselves, but taken as a whole, a watcher may become annoyed with the frequency at which the show rounds around details in order to make an emotional moment. This, in my opinion, is the main reason why this show is being so consistently heaped with praise by others, and it's the reason why I think we should be a bit more measured in our approach to it. For emotional moments and captivating visuals, this show is fantastic and is worth the watch. But, if you're expecting a philosophically deep show that delves into the balance between agency and circumstances, this isn't it. Takopi's Original Sin is thus the squandering of what could've been an all-time masterpiece by over-insisting upon emotional impact at the cost of narrative tightness.
Marinate1016
08/01/2025, 09:16 AM
Anyone can have a child, not everyone can be a parent. At its core, Takopi's original sin is a story about the negative impact bad parents can have on their kids and the cycle of abuse. It's a deeply uncomfortable, but all too real story of parental, emotional and physical abuse. The trigger warning that plays before each episode isn't just for show, this is a deeply unsettling story that will shake you to your core and shows you the absolute worst of humanity. It’s often misunderstood that good writing=making you feel good. No, good writing makes you feel. It makes you connect with thestory and elicits a reaction, positive or negative from characters’ actions. Very few people have ever done as good a job as Taizan 5 here. Let me be clear, this is a masterclass in writing, build up, twists, multi faceted and characterization, and we haven’t even talked about the incredible production values. This is one of the best 6 episode runs in anime history and the perfect binge watch. Not too long, not too short, just enough time for you to sit down and realize how NOT to raise a child. A few minutes into episode 1 of Takopi, I knew we were onto something special. The movie-like feel to the production values, the direction, the voice acting and the overall premise instantly hooked me. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the same sort of story experience I had watching Dededede where the show draws you in with the cute character designs and then just breaks your heart with some of the most soul crushing twists ever. This is really one of those shows where you have to experience it. I can’t even properly begin to do this story justice in an explanation without spoiling major plot points, so I’ll just focus on the core themes and my reactions to them. As I mentioned earlier, Takopi is a story about the cycle of abuse. The saying “hurt people hurt people” has never been more applicable. Trauma doesn’t just disappear, people pass it onto those closest to them, their kids, and it teaches them that the way to deal with their problems is to lash out or hurt others, just like their parents did to them. I can’t tell you how many times I just wanted to yell and throw something at my TV when watching this because of how cruel, callous and downright terrible some of the people in this story are. Yes, I fully understand that people can’t control their circumstances. Victims of abuse often end up passing that on because that’s literally all they know. Still, I don’t think this absolves several characters of their sins(pun intended). I believe everyone should be accountable for their actions and while we understand why the characters lash out the way they do, that doesn’t make it right or mean I have to like them. There’s a lot of victims of abuse in the real world who don’t go down the paths some of these characters do. I think we can all choose to be better and Takopi is a story of when people don’t. I could go on for hours about how shitty the people in this story are and why I disagree with some of the common arguments out there defending them, but that in and of itself just proves why this series is so great. The characters are complex, everyone’s flawed and frankly there’s no one who’s fully innocent. Just like in real life, everyone exists in a shade of grey. That’s a testament to how well written this is. Depending on who you ask, you’ll get so many different answers about everyone in this story. Who’s the hero, who’s the villain, etc., but ultimately that would be missing the point. This isn’t really a story with good or bad people, it’s a story about broken people who compound their mistakes until they reach a point of no return, all wrapped up with some nice sci-fi/time travel hijinks. It’s sort of like a much more down to earth Re:Zero or Summertime Render. It’s just one of those stories that comes around every few years, makes its mark and you’ll be talking about it for years to come. For it to be only 6 episodes and do well, the production quality had to be on point and all I can say is, Enishiya take a bow, please. Out of the 6 episodes, 3 of them are in the running for the best directed episode of the year and several are among the highest rated of the year on IMDB. This was artistry of the highest caliber and most of these episodes felt like poetry in motion. The storyboarding, character animation, cinematography, direction, voice acting, this is how to make an all-time great 101. I think that if you take a look at the anime score and the manga score you’ll see how great a job the staff did with elevating the source material, which is already an amazing story in its own right. Several of the big twists and emotional scenes were taken to another level thanks to the director and how he framed certain elements or the storyboarding techniques they went with, particularly episode 4 and 5 come to mind, but really throughout the show has unreal quality. Congrats to every single member of this team for making one of the best anime of the year and honestly, one of the best anime of all time. Regardless what anyone says, I’ve been team Shizuka from the start and will continue to be on her side forever. She’s such an interesting case study of just how far you can push someone before they snap. So many people and institutions failed her, how can I blame her? On the other hand, the way Marina’s character was handled made me empathize with her as well. Phenomenal writing from the author that constantly makes you evaluate your prejudices and challenges you to become a more sympathetic person. One of the best written stories you’ll see. Takopi’s original sin gets 10 out of 10.
IWearClothes
08/01/2025, 07:49 AM
Takopi’s Original Sin is not the latest misery porn, nor is it an exercise in mere shock value. It is not exploitative of its sensitive subject matter and it does not aim to subvert conventional perspectives of death. It is not abstract or surreal. These are not what encapsulate Takopi’s Original Sin. It is, more or less, the inverse of each. Its gut-wrenching depictions cannot be surreal because they are literal. It cannot be totally abstract because it mirrors its own face value. It is exempt from accusations of exploitation because its dark events are seen from an overlooking view and earned by the narrative.It is too meaningful in how it deals with trauma to warrant reactive, emotionally illiterate labels like “trauma bait”. The many tragedies of Takopi’s Original Sin are witnessed by the most unbiased observer imaginable; a cutesy, alien octoblob, entirely naïve to the ways of human nature. Therein lies the true horror which the series proves beyond any shadow of a doubt: humanity itself, viewed through no lenses whatsoever. On display here is a one-to-one facsimile of a species that wakes up and chooses violence every morning—a ruling handed down by the infinite cosmos above. Takopi’s Original Sin could only be more direct with this theme by having the characters look at the viewer and say it out loud. Extreme conflict is a complex idea when seen through interpersonal relationships—through the people who instigate it among themselves—but it’s oh so simple when viewed from above. That flipped perspective is perhaps the series’ most impressive achievement. Only humans can see “humanity” with unblinded eyes because only humans understand what that entails to the fullest extent. An outside observer instead sees a bigger picture, the ups and especially the downs of humanity, laid bare and stripped of all pretense. The title character Takopi (read: just a little guy) points this out in the anime by completely failing to understand negative human emotions. Jealousy, hatred, contempt, wrath. Each time, Takopi can only process these emotions with one invariable result: confusion. This is a story where literal magic can’t save humanity from itself, a pessimistic and bleak outlook that parallels real-world sentiment. The failures of the adult characters are reflected in the lives of their children, and the anime treats this transmission of trauma as both a spectacle and a thesis. It’s an age-old problem presented with modern bluntness. Magic doesn’t mean shit when the worst problems we can conceive of are orchestrated and perpetuated by ourselves; we’ll keep pressing the suffer button regardless. If Takopi is confused simply by the existence of cruelty, then Shizuka, the main human character, is defined by it. She doesn’t ask why people hurt each other because she already accepts that’s the world she lives in. In contrast to Takopi’s blank-slate perspective, Shizuka is a child who knows far too much, far too early. She is a truly pitiable gamin predominantly concerned with survival—nowhere near privileged enough to actually try to flourish in life. It’s a striking contrast that goes especially well with the fact that Takopi practically becomes her shouldermon, cleverly nailing that Pikachu and Ash Ketchum sort of dynamic. More excellent contrast is that the child characters’ designs are just as adorable as Takopi’s. Armed with only their moe essences and the clothes on their backs, they must struggle hopelessly against inheriting their parents’ very worst tendencies, alone in the dark in a society that only pretends to care. Now, this theme posed by the narrative is certainly not black and white; human nature is not reduced only to its basest evils in this anime. It is bluntly pessimistic while managing to avoid cynicism, as Takopi’s tame innocence (mostly) deflects any would-be mental scarring. He doesn’t have to endure many of the horrors before him because he’s oblivious—impervious, even—to them. He’s a chronically upbeat creature from a place straight up named Planet Happy, unwittingly serving as a tentacled island of optimism in a rough sea of despondency. Takopi is an almost ludicrously simple character, and his simplicity makes it so that the narrative barely needs to try to actualize this design. Takopi doesn’t remain this naïve forever though, as he does have a capacity for learning and begins to experience inner moral conundrums. And so, Takopi is not a symbol solely for optimism or determination. Instead, he acts as an extensive microcosm where all sorts of symbolism can gather and read differently depending on viewer interpretation—taking a page from the Andrei Tarkovsky school of storytelling. Through this lens, Subject A is not always Symbolism B; it can represent a multitude of takeaways depending on the viewer. It’s easy to see, then, that there is more to Takopi than a first glance might suggest. The optimistic threads aren’t limited only to Takopi, anyway. Hope still has a constant spotlight on it. An outstretched hand or a shoulder to cry on can be found if only the characters look for them; there’s always a light in the dark. Even in an anime so dense with philosophical quandaries and deep-seated character studies, the animation often steals the show. Whether that be through cogent first-person snippets, a reorganizing of backgrounds to signal a dream-like passing of time, or even something as simple as a sudden flip of the color design, these ephemeral visual concepts work in tandem to create awe-inspiring set pieces. It’s also a Chekhov’s Gun playground; everything and everyone has a preordained reason for showing up. If it’s shown, it’s used in some way down the road. Frankly, there are so many interesting things going on in some episodes that other details become easy to miss. Characterization might seem to take a backseat to the ingenious animation, not because it’s trying to compensate for anything with fancy visuals, but because the animation can get so involved that it tells an additional story on top of the main narrative. This dual narrative is not always present, and in this intentionality, it is all the more discernable when it does show up—a brilliant, simultaneous interplay of two worlds colliding to create hair-raising sequences. The musical score is merely serviceable, but the sound design is great. Use of the latter is always careful and sparing—for example, an intense buzzing noise to aid in depicting quickly mounting overwhelm, only there for as long as it needs to be. In no uncertain terms, the production goes sicko mode and is easily good enough to rival the eclectic story content. In retrospect, Takopi’s Original Sin is a forceful, visceral, and no-frills examination of humankind. It’s not really concerned with delivering some lofty message or ominous warning. It simply holds up a mirror and asks us to confront what the glass reveals: our own capacity for cruelty, our own complicity in suffering. At only an intimate six episodes, it sets these ideas out on display in true scorched-earth fashion, leaving no room for padding as its opposing worldviews compete to dominate the narrative. Misery for misery’s sake? Spectacle for spectacle’s sake? This anime flies in the face of such shallow takeaways; it actually has something to say. Malevolence. Compassion. Nihilism. Determination. These are what encapsulate Takopi’s Original Sin. Oh, the horror.

Takopii no Genzai タコピーの原罪

| Episodes: 6 | Score: 8.8 (136259)

Updated every at | Status: Finished Airing

Type: ONA

Streaming: Crunchyroll | Netflix | Ani-One Asia | Bahamut Anime Crazy

Synopsis

Voice Actors

Ueda, Reina

Mamiya, Kurumi

News

Reviews

teVi_9
09/04/2025, 03:40 AM
- First 3 episodes: 9/10: _ Trauma central. A good premise and a promising story of what is to come and how things will be resolved. - Episode 4-5: 7/10: _ It starts giving the vibe of old people trying to justify their shitty behaviors on past trauma. "I did all of this horrible stuff and almost killed you multiple times, but you have to understand that I love you and you should feel grateful, actually!" They tried their bestto spin it on children because they get the most sympathy, but that should not justify any of the horrible things done in the anime. No shit that people aren't just born evil. Even Shizuka turns into a manipulative, derranged psycho in the end. But let people face their consequences! - Episode 6: 3/10: _ It walks back on everything it tried to convey. The anime has no identity. It's not social criticism. It disregards the most important lesson of life -Your actions have consequences- by giving an unrelatable solution to a very realistic situation you could find in everyday life. We don't have a time machine to fix all of our problems, and a time machine shouldn't even work like that. - I won't talk about animation because it's not the focus of anime like this. *Final view*: "This person treats you like shit because they were treated like shit by someone else, but it's all good because that's how life works!" is the entire thing. It's such a nothing burger, it almost feels like propaganda to stop people from standing up for themself. Such a unique thing for the Japanese hierarchy system. The anime tried to grab your attention and sympathy points just so they could throw it all out the window at the end. I finished it feeling like I learn nothing. "Don't complain because others have it worse" could be used in such manipulative ways.
maoginko
09/03/2025, 09:07 PM
Takopi's Original Sin is nothing short of a masterpiece. So many anime and other forms of media depict child characters in a very one dimensional way, forcing them to fit some kind of archetype or mold. While we as a society want to always perceive the young ones among us as innocent and adorable, Takopi's Original Sin isn't afraid to show the darkest depths and many different sides of the children at the forefront of the show as a result of their home lives. Showing these children commit cruel acts upon each other and other living beings and even showing the rawness of their mentalstates isn't something just any show can do. This show isn't afraid at all to make you extremely uncomfortable and challenge your levels of empathy and critical thinking. This show is a bleak reminder that how we treat the children around us effects them deeply. It shows us that even as young as 4th grade, children can and do struggle. The voice acting, animation, and story were incredible and I felt that through having an even more naive character (Takopi) there, it really contrasted with the main characters and hammered home the theme of doing right by our children so they can maintain the innocence we want them to have. This show doesn't take the torture porn or exploitative route that many who try to portray these topics do, but instead handled it with great care while also not taking it easy on the viewers. Even with an alien, I would argue this is one of the most realistic and down to earth series depicting this type of subject matter. It's absolutely gut-wrenching in a way that makes you look inward and question the world around you.
Drewgoza
08/29/2025, 06:55 AM
- This is My Anime of The Year - After hearing such high praise about this anime, I decided to check it out. Seeing it was only 6 episodes, I figured, “Why not?” Didn’t think I’d stumble on another “12-episode” Masterpiece. Takopis Original Sin is an anime that utilizes unique cinematics, top-notch animation, and gripping abstract storytelling to its fullest extent. It intricately creates a unique environment that only truly exists around the 4 main characters shown in the anime. Not only does its story divert expectations, but it leads us as viewers on an emotional goose chase, dreading what may happen next. It manages to create scenes wherethe watcher feels trapped in a space with whoever is on screen, mainly because of its high-quality sound design and the anime's style as a whole, which allowed for scenes to be more experimental with the artistic direction. Additionally, the voice acting was PHENOMENAL. If there was another story I could compare this to, it would be "Goodnight Punpun." These two stories feature an out-of-place creature as one of the main characters, have darker themes, and explore existentialism in their own ways. However, Takopi can accomplish this in a light 6 episodes, compared to what would most likely be 2-3 seasons for Punpun. Talopis Original Sin is a darker-themed anime on the surface, but at its heart, there is a real message it's conveying to its audience: Life is a struggle, and we all struggle in it. Instead of hurting each other, we have each other to lean on. It's beautiful, it's heart-tugging, and most of all, it's reflective of the state of the world we currently live in.
Pursueth
08/28/2025, 11:12 PM
This is kinda like the "13 reasons why" of anime. No, I'm not elaborating on that. Actually never mind I'll elaborate a little bit. Takopi wrestles with three main ideas: inhibited trauma, inherited trauma, and inherent trauma. Children are used as vessels to portray the loss of innocence and the heinous capacities of evil that reside within them, mirroring the environments that raise them and cultivate differing modes of "values" (debt, perfection, etc.) This marks a bold and stark departure from the usual rose-tinted image of children we hold; of perfect angels with inherent capacity for good. Takopi, taking a chaotic neutral stance on this, positstime and again the value of "communication." In what begins as the premise of "Inside Out," Takopi exists as an ignorant "happiness merchant," a chaotic invoker of smiles who does not understand the broad spectrum of emotions. This creates numerous instances of "humour," childlike juxtaposition of adult life and childish ignorance. What thrusts Takopi into self-actualization parallels the reality of our three miserable children; in which its persistence in trying to iron things out via "talking" is met with the cruel reality of these ruinous lives. At this point in the show, you wouldn't be wrong to expect the psychological probing to expand a little "further" than nature vs nurture. After all, there has to be a narrative value beyond just "life sucks, amirite?" The show then, in a desperate attempt to retain engagement, expands horizontally by dropping head spinning plot revelations about the supernatural machinations of Takopi. And while that lengthens the plot, the breadth remains paper thin. None of these events catalyze into a proper exploration of trauma or psychological degradation, or bullying, or anything really, instead discarding the odd juxtaposition of humour and tragedy, it goes full blown tragedy, with events upon events of loss in all forms imaginable. Then the show climaxes with magical self-sacrifice being the ultimate bringer of happiness. So, people can't heal on their own, can't reckon on their own, instead they need a third party to intervene, reset, and usher in understanding by turning into a ghost of influence... creepy. The show in general has this odd sentiment regarding foils and equivalency between abuser and abused. Since the narrative at this point only successfully ties Naoki's perfectly realised one-episode arc, then disintegrates into timeline mumbo jumbo, it cannot handle contextual clues necessary to establish justice and catharsis between Shizuka and Marina. Instead, the show leans on its tacky "hurt people hurt people" messaging, reducing its foundation to a mere afterthought as the two forgive each other and bond over their mutual agony, supposedly. Social commentary cannot work without establishing and analysing the structural makeup of people's lives. Takopi broadly gestures towards this by sketching out parental roles and negligence that brings about pain and hatred in otherwise pure souls. Yet this effort collapses every adult into cartoon caricatures. One might argue that this is wholly from the perspective of kids, but hyper-subjectivity without an established framework offers little insight. What does perspective reveal without grounding context? With no social blueprint bar implications? With neither precision nor scaffolding? The text then merely circles back to its single truism; trauma is cyclical. hammered home with no dramatic finesse. The result feels less like hardened social critique and more like kitsch at best, exploitation at worst. Now the question is: what is the thesis of this show? The wrong answer is "communication may not heal us, but it is still a worthwhile step to take." The right answer is "children are all evil hellspawns. I hate children. Fuck them kids." There is something to be said about how far this show goes in hyper engineering despair at every given turn. There needs to be some form of lapse that doesn't register as "haha this is all tonal whiplash btw wink wink" while you sit there in wait for the next gruesome scene of someone dying. Even Midori, for all its mundanity compared to its reputation, at least nourishes its scars with stretches of relief and hope. Takopi's attempts at any empathic maturity betray themselves as inauthentic and shallow. There's nothing more to be said. Nothing here unfolds with organic realism. It is inconsequential, and answers little in way of people dealing with similar issues. It's an exercise in obscene, emotional tedium. A seemingly proverbial examination of suffering conflated with cruelty manufactured to implausibility. Misfortune as pretext. Sensationalism: the anime. Dope ass animation though phew. The merch sales are going to be through the roof for that pink octopus.
Sharur
08/12/2025, 12:17 PM
People basically worship what they don't understand. If you look at this anime very logically, you will realize that you are not following a deep and meaningful story at all. Maybe the author was looking to write a very meaningful story, but he did a very poor job of conveying this work. But the majority are like this, because it has a dark and psychological atmosphere, we definitely don't understand it and it is beyond our comprehension, so it is a masterpiece, but they never think that maybe the author's work is really so weak that even he himself cannot fully execute what is in his mind. If youspend some time and analyze the story of the anime, you will really realize that in the end this show did not present you with anything special and the story in the final episodes was just put together.
elumizu
08/03/2025, 07:29 AM
What begins as a cute alien’s journey to spread happiness on Earth quickly spirals into a nihilistic descent filled with despair, trauma, and questionable time loops. Takopi’s Original Sin is the kind of story that asks, “What if Doraemon came to visit the most emotionally damaged child imaginable, and also had no idea how human morality works?” It plays out like a tragic short film, with no real comfort, only escalating acts of desperation wrapped in innocent logic. Structurally, the narrative moves in relentless beats of misery, never pausing long enough for reflection. The time-loop mechanic, while intriguing on paper, is used less as atool for insight and more as a reset button for further suffering. There’s little sense of escalation beyond “worse than before,” which flattens the impact of its own twists. Takopi himself remains a static character: the point, apparently, is that he learns nothing about humanity. But when the protagonist doesn’t grow, and the children around him (Shizuka, etc.) are written less as full personalities and more as embodiments of pain, the story leaves the audience with nowhere to go emotionally. Parents are drawn not as flawed humans but monsters, that are cold, inhuman, and stripped of nuance. Somehow it’s not a study of broken families anymore, but a study of cruelty. The worldbuilding leans on its sci-fi trappings, alien gadgets, time travel, but these elements feel loosely integrated with little internal logic. They’re props for the plot’s spiral, not pillars for a believable world. The visual style is deceptively soft like rounded faces, warm tones, and childlike designs. This contrast between innocence and horror can be effective, but here it often feels manipulative, as if weaponizing cuteness to amplify discomfort without offering depth. The core moral value is muddled. The story gestures at “Don’t forget to be happy,” but this message feels misplaced when surrounded by unrelenting misery and no path to healing. Without introspection, the psychological label becomes a misnomer. There’s no exploration of the mind, only trauma as spectacle. Enjoyment is minimal unless one finds value purely in the extremity of its premise. As a one-time watch, it might shock. As a rewatch, there’s little to discover beyond the first impact. It lingers, maybe, but more like emotional rot than resonance. In the end, Takopi’s Original Sin confuses showing cruelty with understanding it. It risks normalizing pain for its young shonen audience, romanticizing tragedy without the care or responsibility such themes demand. For everyone who takes away something positive, many may walk away with only the echo of negativity and that’s a dangerous legacy for any story to leave behind.
Joimz
08/02/2025, 10:30 PM
I absolutely loved the way they portray each characters in this show, and the way they all have a cause and effect to each of them. Of course, not all people is going to enjoy it, definitely if they cannot put themselves into the characters' shoes and/or experienced something similar, but for me personally, it is peak writing. Though I believe some would have a few words to say about the anime's ending, I can still enjoy it to the fullest. I would say this anime is about bullying and abuse, but more than that, it is about bad parenting, and that we all canlearn a lesson about it, how our actions can influence others' behavior. However, since this is my first time reviewing an anime in this site, feel free to seek out other opinions. Again, a must watch from me, I have not seen an anime that can have an effect like this in a long time.
Ryan_the_Bread
08/02/2025, 07:58 PM
Not since the first time I pulled down my girlfriend’s pants, only to be greeted by a penis larger than my own, have I been so confused about what to do with, or how to feel about, this thing dangling in front of my face. Takopi’s Original Sin is a confounding show with good intentions; equal parts harrowing, nonsensical, and affirming. The show itself has about as good an understanding of compelling drama as its namesake does of the human experience. Some advice to aspiring comic book writers, mangaka, or anybody in any kind of creative storytelling medium, really: There are two very easy things youcan do to ensure audience investment in a character. 1. Make the character in question a moeblob (or similar “cute” thing with smaller proportions) with starry-eyes. Everybody loves to root for a tiny, pure, and earnest creature whose design is also (conveniently) ripe for merchandising. 2. Have horrific things happen to them routinely. Either it should kill, suicide, and/or just be made to abjectly suffer. Nobody wants to see a baby fed to a wood chipper, y’know? This strategy is as effective as it is uncreative. Summarized above is Takopi’s Original Sin’s entire ethos, essentially. The “point” is basically realized in episode 1 when Shizuka David Foster Wallaces herself with the Reconciliation Ribbon; Takopi’s good intentions are to be routinely squandered, often in a darkly ironic fashion. Long story short, if you’re on the fence, you should probably just knock this one out; you don’t stand to lose much time even if you don’t actually end up enjoying the show and, chances are, you will anyway. In macro, as I see it (since you can only write a review from your own perspective), the changes ultimately visited upon the world and characters don’t wind up feeling like enough to justify/warrant all the trauma, heartbreak, tears, parental abuse, and bloodshed seen and experienced throughout. For such a bombastically animated and, just generally altogether, well-produced show, its thematic messaging, conversely, rings pretty mutedly. In other words, dare I say, it’s kind of a nothingburger–a very pretty and occasionally affecting nothingburger, but a nothingburger nonetheless. Part One: Volume Takopi’s Original Sin achieves a lot of what it does through volume. Not, like, mathematical volume; I mean through just how big, messy, and violent its proceedings are. The portrayal of bullying is turned up to 11, the domestic violence on display is turned up to 11, the characters and how they respond to the stresses of their lives, always, is at 11. As much as I respect the show for not pulling its punches, the impact of these topics and their scenes start to wane when, towards the end, you realize you’re witnessing Shizuka, Naoki, or Marina’s, like, sixth emotional breakdown in a third of as many hours. It insists upon itself. Not helping this is the show's length; as much as the brevity is appreciated to not let things potentially drag out unnecessarily, it does often result in the feeling of watching a montage of misery rather than actually, properly engaging with a well-told story… So, I guess I did also mean mathematical volume–the most fucked up, particularly psychologically damaging things happen to these kids at the drop of a hat, and eventually this begins to eat away at engagement. The pacing and structure is, overall, reminiscent of the motions of a yoyo; you’d have to basically forget each preceding episode in order to believe that one of the kids (or Takopi himself) *won’t* hit an emotional brick wall immediately after things start looking up for them. Part Two: Actual Psychopathy If I were to single out what I think is the show’s biggest fault, I’d point to its understanding (or lack thereof) of psychopathy and the types of people these kids (but mostly Shizuka and Marina) usually turn out to be. That’s not meant to sound as callous as it probably does, and it’s not like them hosting a plethora of mental illnesses and disorders is *their* fault, but, literally, this is how serial killers are made. A big theme of the show is how the type of behavior that is visited upon you as a child (parental abuse/neglect and bullying, all so extreme as to almost border on parody) is usually what you end up propagating in life later on. Takopi directly points this out to Marina. This is a good theme explored well (to a point), but the conclusion the show ends up reaching with it strikes me as dishonest, if not forced–if not completely facile and unreasonable. The OP hints at reconciliation with Shizuka and Marina, which is fine. The first problem arises about half an hour after you see it for the first time when (and I’m leaving some irrelevant details out, I know) Marina, with “prompting” only a sociopath would respond to, beats Shizuka down without mercy or apparent hesitation and disfigures her. First red flag firmly up. My thoughts when seeing this were, roughly, “Jesus Christ, that is a serial killer in the making! I don’t think this is just something the Power of Friendship will be able to fix.” Was I right or wrong? I’ll just say that a lot of OPs give a pretty good top-down view of what’s within the show itself and that I, ultimately, gave it pretty much the exact right amount of credit–hint: not much. Both Shizuka and Marina fulfill (at least) a third of the Macdonald Triad. For those unaware of what that means; broadly speaking, it’s not good! And the path through it would be extrication for both of them from their current situations and extensive therapy and medication–friendships are nice, but they’re kind of already fucked. Actually, Marina fulfills that third probably more than Shizuka does; it’s played for laughs, confoundingly, but Marina’s shown to be abusive towards Takopi, too–a totally sentient and feeling creature. Just like with Your Lie in April, slapstick comedy doesn’t pair well with serious, harrowing depictions of parental abuse. Your neck’s liable to get broken from the tonal whiplash. Part Three: Abuse, and how NOT to exhaust your audience with it The portrayal of abuse and dysfunction in Takopi’s Original Sin is affecting at first, but also quickly repeating and, eventually (unfortunately), comedic. What begins as an unnerving glimpse into a broken family, so brimming with resentment, mental disorder, and a predilection for violence that it’d make the Mansons blush, before long morphs into impressively contrived and cliched combat, marked by redundance and absurdity. “What’s wrong with you?! Do you REALLY think your dear mother should be drinking Steel Reserve?! NO! I demand THE BEST beer! If you don’t run to the store to get me some Miller High Life, the Champagne of Beers as we all know, I’ll carve your face with this broken bottle and put my cigarette out on your arm! “No, Mommy, I’m so sorry, I just-” “And ANOTHER THING! You’re ugly and I hate you! *sobs* Why do you hate me, my darling offspring?!” I, like, barely had to modify an actual scene from the show to achieve this dialog. That’s the nuance we deal with eventually. Shizuka is a latchkey kid taken to an immoral extreme–she’s all but just outright abandoned, and Marina’s mother is more a trope with a bad haircut than any actual character. The violence and trauma that it results in strains under the weight of its own artifice. To summarize, I *get* it (why oh why can I not italicize in reviews?). Maybe you’ll get TakopiTSD, but it’s hard not to guffaw at the abuse after a certain point. Part Four: We Need to Talk About Takopi Takopi, his design, misplaced optimism, and occasionally endearing misunderstanding of humanity, is definitely one of the best things the show has to offer; I imagine plushies of him sell like hotcakes. That being said, his thoughts and actions frequently left me buffaloed. He pretty quickly becomes intimately acquainted with violence and human anger, but these concepts also seemingly leave his mind as soon as he internalizes them. Anger not directed at Takopi (even after he’s internalized the concept) is not anger he concerns himself with, confusingly. He’s dealt first hand with violence, but seems almost completely unable to recognize it if he’s not directly involved. It reminds me of Violet Evergarden and how the writers of that just kind of made her feel whatever whenever the story or someone’s arc needed progressing. Takopi’s a less egregious example, but the same lack of a line of logic to follow is there; why he thinks/does what he thinks/does is oftentimes puzzling, more through flimsy writing than his trademark naivety. The entire crux of the story relies on him just being kind of dumb and forgetful. There’s a huge twist towards the end that he’s at the center of, the absurdity of which is the entire reason I feel comfortable even telling you about it; you’d never guess what it is and it’s sloppily foreshadowed. The only thing this twist serves to do is hammer the themes home even more–you can stop! The nails of thematic messaging were already firmly embedded in the plank that is the story! If the argument is that it helps us see things in a new light, sure, but it does that by basically fabricating an entirely new scenario. I find it akin to a Dragon Ball what if–what if Marina-chan was betrayed and trapped in the Time Chamber? Part Five: Naoki, and the stereotype of the strict Asian parent taken to a comical, but also somehow dull, extreme Naoki’s entire arc, which takes up a good chunk of the middle portion of the show and is about as smoothly inserted as a penis would be into a fleshlight made of sandpaper, is boring, largely unimportant, and exhausting; by the time we introduce a *fourth* comically evil parent, the bandwidth of my caring has already snapped. The fallout of it affects Shizuka for all of a femtosecond and doesn’t provide enough of a contrast to the rest of the cast’s dreary lives to feel worthwhile. Admittedly, episode 4 may be the peak of the series’ directorial efforts; some crazy perspective work emphasizes how alone and stressed Naoki feels, and some animation later on left me genuinely dumbstruck. It’s such a shame, then, that the writing doesn’t do its fair share. You’re literally never given a reason to hate (or even be suspicious of) Junya, Naoki’s older brother, unless you choose to subscribe to the same schizo views that Naoki has on him. It’s like how MAGAts allow themselves to be whipped up into a frenzy over immigrants, despite immigrants never having actually done anything to them, let alone take their jerbs. This robs Naoki’s arc of any sort of catharsis; his brother never deviates from being just a chill ass dude. The subversion that Naoki’s struck with just blows by the audience; it's literally the "they all hated me" meme. I know that guilt, pressure, anger, and a burgeoning paranoia rack Naoki’s mind, but still; his brother clearly cares a *great deal* about him, so their schism (entirely caused by their moustache-twirling villain of a mother, I get it) never feels authentic. Thank you, next. Part Six: Morality Takopi’s Original Sin’s understanding of morality, psychopathy, and criminology is naive to the point that it becomes difficult to seriously: 1. Remain invested in Shizuka and Marina’s stories. And 2. Believe in what the story asserts as it relates to their trauma and how they’re to move through/past it. That’s not as apocalyptic as it probably sounds–hell, I still ended up giving the show a 7 when it was all said and done (though it’s hanging onto that by a friggin’ thread). Simply put, and without spoiling anything, knowing what I know about sociopathy, psychopathy, criminology, and what the stresses Shizuka and Marina are subjected to *do* to a developing mind–I just cannot reconcile what they’ve been through and who they are with what the show asserts they end up becoming. Yeesh, that was a word salad. Put another way; the math ain’t mathing. The moral and criminological naivety reminds me of Monster, where Urasawa does everything in his power to convince you that no! Tenma was totally right to keep *not* pulling the trigger on Johan! Please just ignore all of the dead bodies left in his wake, many of whom wouldn’t have died needlessly if Tenma had just fucking shot Johan any of the multiple times he had the chance. How humanistic! Takopi’s thesis is just as detached from reality. The mundane ending–especially with consideration to how muted/lowkey the themes eventually become–all run totally counter to how I would ever believe things with these two individuals would play out thereafter. That’s not to say that realism = good; oftentimes I’m more of a proponent for believability within a certain verse over straight realism, but Takopi’s world is, ostensibly, ours as well. Covid hit them the same, childhood bullying results in the same neuroses, familial and societal pressure mounts for them the same, etc, etc,. It’s inherently dishonest to expect your audience to buy into your world (sans all the high strangeness, obvs) as being almost exactly like our own and then asserting that, nah, in a scenario where, in any other universe, what would be a supervillain origin story just… isn’t. It reminds me of the Evangelion manga’s ending and, much as I love it, that’s probably not a good thing. It’d also be one thing, with the anticlimax, to really, truly, deeply explore Shizuka, Marina, and (to a lesser extent, much as I don’t like him he’s more fleshed out) Naoki’s suffering and really bring the audience along on a one-way trip to Hell, but the show doesn’t fulfill that premise completely. Instead of any profound mediation on anything they’re going through, the show’s more than happy to just keep having bad shit happen to them. To summarize my whinging, the ending neither fits the overall tone of the rest of the show, nor does it serve as enough of a change to warrant the belief that things *actually* turned out the way they did. For those that have already seen it, even if you disagree with me, I hope you can see where I’m coming from. For the uninitiated, don’t let my perspective cloud your thoughts; odds are you’ll greatly enjoy it! Like I said before though, I do genuinely respect the show for not shying away from depicting the awful things it does. Much as it’s not exactly clever, it’s still never, like, *pleasant* to see a 10 year-old girl get ragdolled by her mother, or for another one to feel such hopelessness that she takes her own life. It’s distressing, and that’s not a feeling many contemporary anime inspire within me, so I feel like I have to be appreciative. Beyond that, the art and animation truly is gorgeous. It’s able to achieve a sketchy, broken up look without using an ugly filter or just *being* ugly. Scene composition is exquisite, the character animations are regularly stunning (though also occasionally confounding, why is Marina making such a goofy face in the scene almost directly after she disfigures Shizuka?), and, as mentioned before, no scene is truly allowed to drag. The actual audio/visual components of the show are all top notch. Chef’s kiss. Strange little show, this. What begins as affecting and confronting turns nonsensical. The very visceral suffering the characters experience quickly repeats itself, leading your mind to drift. While I’d never (on account of the audio/visual aspects, premise, and initial buildup) think to call it an outright *bad* show, I’m still not sure if I’m comfortable giving it a full pass. The rest of this review may seem overwhelmingly negative, but that’s only because I feel like the writing ultimately lets down an otherwise great premise and I feel like it’s the most prescient aspect to dissect. If I were to compare this show to another–that’d probably let people know where they stand on this without having even seen it yet–I’d compare it to Wonder Egg Priority; that endearing little disaster of a coming of age sprinkled with high strangeness as well. I think that probably had more potential than this, but it also squandered far more of that potential than Takopi ever gets around to. If, in spite of the fall, you enjoyed WEP overall and appreciated what it was doing and were able to connect with its characters, then you’ll likely enjoy Takopi, too. If not, then you may prefer to stay clear. If nothing else, I hope the reception to this means we get more stories like it. Not *exactly* like it, mind you, but more stories in the sphere that at least show an inkling of interest in being actually mature and visceral. At its worst, Takopi’s Original Sin is still a far more spirited use of the medium than something like “I Was Reincarnated as a Buttplug in 8th Century Bosnia!”
nycReaching
08/02/2025, 07:38 PM
Somewhere between Look Back's delicate, cinematic approach, and Made in Abyss's disturbing, exaggerated approach, you can find TOS's way of delivering deep pain, deep trauma and tragic situations. The 'magical' part of the show is charming and cute, but it's not really here to build lore or story depth. Instead, it provides the backdrop needed to unlock complicated, emotional moments. The characters have different aspects: good, bad and unclear. They are shaped by their experiences in obvious and not obvious ways. What they're going through constantly cuts into your heart, making you feel deeply about what they're going through and if it could possibly get better (or worse). Weeklyrelease culture creates a certain buzz and attention, which can work well for popular, trending shows, but sometimes media needs to be consumed because it compels you, because it makes you curious, and it may take time to digest it and appreciate its qualities. This show isn't a new hype train to jump on, it has a particular message and a very distinct style. It can reach many, but not everyone is supposed to like it. I like having my emotions dumped into a blender. I like when stories take bad situations and pull them into surprising directions. It's weird, disgusting, beautiful, silly, painful and special. TOS is a new classic that people will be talking about for years.
JaesDBreigh
08/02/2025, 04:53 PM
This was cheeks. Double caked up. Save yourself the time and skip it. Let’s keep it a buck, spoiler free, and to the point. “Shock factor doesn’t cover for poor plot and weak character development.” The one thing I liked about this show, was it had the stones to get dark and not play the soft game. Kudos. But that’s where the goodness ends. LOL this is just a show that depicts bad parents…reeallly bad parents. People might get off on the emotional trauma and make it more relatable than it needs to be….but all the parents in this show are cheeks. They make life difficult fortheir kids, but that dang octopus was one of the most annoying naive characters I’ve ever witnessed in anime. Not a single character in the show was likeable enough to make a favorites list for me. The plot was DRY. Each episode took an unexpected twist so I’ll give them that…but it still gave try hard. Let’s make a dark show, with bad parents…and use kids….and make it a steins gate Rip off. It’s like when you have 1 ingredient but don’t know how to cook so you make a pretty bland and dry dish that relies on shock factor and unpredictability to save it. Then the people who like it, are new to food or like the one ingredient in the bland food. BUT IT AINT FOOLING ANYONE WITH SENSE. I respect that the show didn’t shy away from the dark, and didn’t hide that people could be really crappy….but….it was weak. I’m thinking that the hype of this show comes from the inexperienced and young. Dark animes aren’t new. This just was not good. I wanted it to be. I tried to come up with reasons to give it a higher score. Steins gate did some of the aspects of this show better. This anime tries hard to be something it’s not. Good. Seems odd some have said there wasn’t enough warning when there’s a warning before every episode lol but still, after finishing, I wish I had a Time Machine so I can undo wasting my time with this one. Tomato. Tomato.
hadiahmed13
08/02/2025, 11:17 AM
This has got to be the best 6 episode anime of all time, i have never seen anything like this, the story is 10/10, the animation is 10/10, the voice acting is 10/10, the direction, colors, music, cinematic sequences, emotional impact, ending, everything is a 10/10. I think that the message that was given in this anime is really hard to understand mainly because of the structure of the anime and how the episodes tell story, but its the most beautiful message and it made me so happy even though the theme of the anime is a lil dark. If you wanna be amazed every episode byplot twists and insane story telling with good animation i would 100% recommend watching it, it is personally the most unique anime i have watched in a while.
Ba-Cii10
08/02/2025, 07:50 AM
-🟡Summer 2025 The sin of this anime is being an irresponsible story and cheap show-pi Sigh...I put this anime off for a long time, and all this time it exuded an aura of uniqueness, which made me have high expectations, but unfortunately, this anime didn't live up to them-pi. It's a perfect example of the saying "less is more"-pi. What should have been a responsible bow to difficult topics turned out to be a spectacle of violence-pi....... Plot: "Into the bleak life of a little girl comes Takopi—a charming, naive alien from the planet Happy who wants to spread happiness on Earth."Takopi undoubtedly speaks about some truly important things. These are things that should be obvious to anyone who hasn't come from the planet Happy, but reality often proves otherwise. Takopi tells the story of how violence breeds violence, of trauma and empathy, of children too unhappy and of an octopus too happy to See that the world is more nuanced and not everything is as it seems at first glance. On paper, it sounds good, but this anime isn't a tribute to trauma or anything. It's more of a show that tries to give you a dopamine rush as quickly as possible through a fest of violence. This isn't because the world is like this, it's because the author has cheaply set up the world so that this violence is unavoidable. Although "set up" is an understatement, he simply ignored certain things. For example, he didn't attempt to investigate why society doesn't react to the suffering of the youngest. IT SIMPLY DOESN'T REACT. Don't ask questions. We'll spend most of the time spoon-feeding you and explaining the psychology of the characters. We'll repeat the same scenes of violence that bring nothing new, but we won't answer this one important question... why these children are condemned to suffering. Even ignoring the fact that a one-dimensional, unfeeling society is boring, that should be simply explored. However, all this anime does is make it seem stupid. unreliable and inconsistent. Because, you know, society is insensitive and ignorant, but only to amplify the suffering of a specific character. It's hard to take seriously an anime where one character goes to school covered in dirt and bruises (clearly beaten by someone), their desk in class is scratched, their home is a den, and the adults ignore it (you know, there must be suffering), and at the same time, another character is bitten by a sad girl's dog and starts screaming. Suddenly, a second later, a gang of adults show up in exaggerated fashion to help, and then the dog, which is all the sad girl has left, is put down because society has become too concerned (you know, there must be suffering). This isn't a commentary on society; it's part of the show. The topic of bullying at school and domestic violence in this anime very easily falls into exaggeration, blandness and borders on black comedy, most of the time focusing mainly on physical violence, the approach to it seemed really shallow, the sad girl will always be sad and submissive until the moment when her personality simply changes 180° without any announcement (and twice), but it doesn't matter, the point is that in the bullying storyline, the sad girl is just a cute stuffed animal that you hit and it will always react the same, without any nuance, lack of anger or any of the traits she showed later in the story "look, sad girl is sad" and it goes on and on, it's not deep, it's a simplified and boring picture where the bully in his role as a bully will always be one-dimensionally evil without any inhibitions, only to completely forget about his uncontrollable character in a scene that is supposed to show his perspective "oh, he's not really evil" and make him look like The same stuffed animal that takes the beating. And ultimately, it honestly wouldn't bother me that much, if it weren't for the fact that it's all anime has and keeps repeating it. Yes, this anime really loves to waste the viewer's time with scenes of violence that add nothing. We don't get any new information, they don't contribute much to character development. It's just violence for its own sake, not a responsible approach to tackling difficult topics. There are only four main characters in this anime, three children and an octopus. The vast majority of the rest (unfortunately, including the parents) are plot devices meant to intensify the suffering. Of these three children, only one received a well-written storyline that, despite being overly expository, was handled in a truly satisfying way and led to something. The others, as I described above, were simply boring, repetitive extremes that lead nowhere until a deus ex machina climax. And it's all Takopi's fault. Instead of creating a plot where the characters gradually begin to understand certain things, we focus on the octopus, who is written as the stupidest and most naive being in the entire universe, and who begins to understand basic things that the anime revealed almost at the very beginning, too late. What Takopi is going to accomplish is obvious to the viewer from the very beginning, as the anime practically dangles it in front of their noses. However, the viewer has to wait for the octopus to reach these conclusions and change something. However, it doesn't do so quickly enough because the author wrote him as an idiot who won't understand anything quickly enough for the anime to endlessly repeat its fest of violence. There's no other reason why this process is so slow. We don't get new layers during this time; we simply repeat what we already know practically from the beginning. The concept of the magical octopus was written to make a positive resolution impossible. The message is that magic won't solve problems, and there are no magical or naive shortcuts. NO, the author artificially set everything up so that it's impossible. That's his choice, as is the entire worldbuilding in this anime, not a real exploration of this topic. The entire world in this anime is set up so that everything ends tragically, and even this supernatural element is limited by the often inconsistent stupidity of the octopus. You have magic, but it's limited so that a positive resolution is impossible, so why introduce magic if it doesn't change anything? Unless it's just to give these characters new tragic events, resetting the previous ones by going back in time. Oh no! Wait, we have the finale, and it turns out that magic can solve all problems after all, and we arrive at this, of course, with something completely unforeseen. Once again, thanks to the overused time travel, all the significant consequences of Takopi's actions disappear. The final flaw of this anime is its obvious "crybait," you know... - Children crying in every episode. - Ultra-dramatic, hopeless situations in every episode. - Excessive, "unnatural" dramatic dialogue delivered in a broken child's voice in every episode. - Increasingly sad music during dramatic scenes IN EVERY EPISODE... I think so, because I admit that at some point, the whole drama just blended into one for me. XD So, yes, the viewer is saturated with scenes like this, which at some point causes numbness (although the dialogue and escalating music sometimes do the trick). I don't know if it's just me, but I actually laughed out loud while watching the last episode. All of this makes Takopi seem like a show rather than a responsible and honest story. Before watching the first episode, I was surprised that this anime was labeled shounen, but it quickly became clear why. Finally, the animation...it's beautiful, but considering everything I've written before, it's a triumph of style over substance. This anime is carried by the animation, which emphasizes the characters' emotions at every turn and truly draws you into this world, making it seem alive. In summary: I thought this anime was mediocre. From a certain point on, the scenes of violence (which this anime relies on to a large extent) became repetitive and didn't change anything significantly. Aside from the boy and the octopus, which were written so as to irritatingly avoid reaching the obvious conclusions that this anime spoon-fed us most of the time, the characters lacked development, the parents were ignored as plot devices that intensified the suffering, and the sad girl (then suddenly psychopathic) and the blonde girl didn't go through any real path, only for everything to be resolved positively in the end with a deus ex machina. XD So yes, the hype was obviously exaggerated -pi But ultimately, despite its flaws, I liked this octopus -pi. It's kind of funny because it didn't come across even for a moment in my review -pi, but oh well... you can like MID anime, which is perfectly reflected in the 9+ rating on MAl-pi. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐❌❌❌❌❌
Kenopsyc
08/02/2025, 07:32 AM
This anime is honest, it doesn't use its visceral themes just for shock value, and it managed to convey its intentions well. Story: (6/10) It's pretty solid and literal; situations shape people, no one is entirely good or evil. Unfortunately, the narrative hinges on the negligence of an entire school, and has a forced ending. Visuals: (9/10) This is where the anime shines, the art style is unique, it matches the anime well and helps create a distinct atmosphere, and the animation is lively and consistently present. The direction is excellent and dynamic, making all the scenes even more interesting.Soundtracks: (8/10) It's creative and playful, creating a interesting contrast with the work's heavier themes and enhancing certain moments. Characters: (8/10) The main characters allow you to sympathize with them and understand their behaviors and decisions, as these are consistent with their respective situations. The parents aren't overly awful, they're just bad parents, and some of them aren't intentionally bad. They don't get much screen time, but the little information we're given about them ends up being enough. They are not the main part of the show, and they fulfill the role they represent well. Overall: (7/10) The only thing that really drags the show down is a narrative that leans on certain conveniences and a lackluster ending. Everything else is at least exceptional. So even though the story left me with mixed feelings, I’d still say the overall experience was a positive one. I enjoyed it, and I’d easily recommend it. Yeah... looks like it’s my review that’s giving off mixed feelings.
Hoppitot
08/02/2025, 01:22 AM
This was funny as shit. It feels like watching an episode of Mr.Bean but instead of falling around and generally just failing at everything, the MC always gets the most miserable experience. The authors capability of miserymaXXing is truly incredible. If there's a happy moment, it's only there to build up kinetic energy for the eventual fall into misery. I don't want to spoil my favorite moment, the "original sin" but it truly was the epitomy of misery porn. Leading up to it you think "and now he's gonna do fucking X or what lmao" AND THEN HE ACTUALLY DOES IT. Honestly props to theauthors for actually following through on all the suffering scenes and not just stall/cut away like some romance anime when things get spicy. The ending of this show really hammers in the fact that the author just wanted to make it a suffer fiesta but felt forced to give it a happy ending somehow. As much as I can say that I don't recommend this I have to admit, I almost laughed the same amount to this as "A Funny Montage" -pewdiepie 2013. Takopis original sin is the Solo Leveling of suffering.
Supersonic_Pain
08/01/2025, 09:54 PM
I've mentioned this before but I like to follow Weekly Shounen Jump. See if there's any new big hits I can get on the ground floor of, read the entertaining trainwrecks, and read some unfortunate casualties of the cutthroat table of contents. And one of the more notable flameouts was The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins. Made by the same guy (guys?) who made this anime, it was an incoherent mess where everyone bawled their eyes out because their lives just sucked SOOOOO much. But they already made a successful series (this one)? How could this be? Was this just a fluke? Them trying to overcorrect from initiallypoor ratings in WSJ? Lo and behold, we come to today, where Takopii's Original Sin finally gets its anime. ...yeah, I'm sorry, fraud watch, this show is only better than Ichinose because it wasn't canceled partway through. If you take a look at my favorites, it is clear that I am no stranger to "everything sucks and we are fucked" anime. I love Devilman Crybaby. I love Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. They're not as nihilistic but I also greatly enjoyed Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction and Fullmetal Alchemist 2003. I am fine with "edge". This show is just boring and depressing but not in a good way, it's just exhausting. And that's the main word for it. This show is fucking EXHAUSTING. No character is likable. I liked Takopii but the problem is his goal is to make the other (unlikable) characters happy so I couldn't even root for him. Shizuka is introduced as a bullying victim and yup, that sure sucks, but she's shown to be an antisocial psychopath who is willing to turn on anyone when they aren't down for it with her. Marina is a dickhead bully and her home life sure does suck but she never gets better or even gets the chance to be better. Naoki Did It All For The Nookie. I guess I sympathized with him the most but he's a smart guy who gets a crumb of the POTENTIAL to get pussy and he instantly agrees to any fucked up shit Shizuka asks him to do. Really, the problem is the kids are all antisocial assholes who have bad home lives and suffer and cry and that's the extent of their characters. As soon as Naoki gets any sort of positive attention, he is basically written out of the story. Speaking of which, it doesn't really have anything to say thematically. I presume the takeaway was supposed to be "people are a mix of good and bad" and "happiness is achieved by talking things out" but here is my rendition of what would've happened if Shizuka tried to talk to Marina. Shizuka: "Hey, I heard your home life is kinda shitty-" *Marina pushes Shizuka to the ground and stomps on her* Marina: "And whose fault is that, you little slut? You homewrecker?" *Shizuka cries because this is Takopii's Original Sin* Anyway, the adults are cartoonishly evil. That's all there is to say about that. The only "good" adults are the ones who are barely in the story at all. Every other adult is shown to be so evil, they'll rip off your fingernails for getting a 99 on a test instead of 100. I've heard that Takopii is supposed to be some sort of fucked up take on Doraemon what with the gadgets and helping a little kid out but outside of the Happy Camera, they aren't really all that relevant? We see them a total of like once each. Maybe this could've worked as a black comedy where Shizuka is more actively a villain protagonist and we see her, like, use a Happy Water Gun to shoot up her school or something, but it's not really funny either. I laughed a couple of times (at very inappropriate times... at least I presume) in the first episode but then the tedium of just how fucking EXHAUSTING this show is to sit through got through to me and I stopped laughing, I stopped tearing up, it was just a boring, miserable experience. It's monotonous, none of the characters are likable, it doesn't seem to have anything to say, it's just so bad. This show has good production value and a... unique art style. I don't personally care for it but it wasn't unwatchably bad. The ending is weird too. They throw a 11th hour plot twist in the 5th of 6 episodes and then don't really do anything with it. I suppose you could call it a bittersweet ending but the bitter didn't work because I didn't believe in the chemistry between the characters and the sweet didn't work because I felt it was pulled out of their ass. I'd say this show needed more episodes to cook but to be honest, I think the show is kind of unsalvageable. The concept of Doraemon being given to some edgy teen using the gadgets to do some Heathers shit could be pretty fun but it's not a black comedy, it's just misery porn in the worst way. I guess Takopii (the character) was cute enough to not make this a 1 but God... God, man, fuck. This show is awful. The modern day Elfen Lied and just like that show, give this shit a skip.
bvnn_
08/01/2025, 08:41 PM
Takopi's Original Sin. A fun little twist on a everliving Dark Genre. It's truly amazing when ENISHIYA actually elevated some scenes from the Manga to the Anime. The delivery on the message per episode is superbly done and it's very enjoyable. It left you wondering and questioning the actions these children will do after the event. I love how ENISHIYA projects the sorrowness of Shizuka, the helplessness of Marina, and even the disengaged of Azuma. All has been potrayed in a well crafted matter. The ending hits hard for me because at the end, Takopi's can't save everything and everyone. He can't save Marina's householdproblem and her parents divorce. He can't save Shizuka loneliness and neglected feeling from an absent mother and a missing father. He can't save Azuma from the pressure of his mother. But, essentially he can change one thing is that to break that cycle and make a new positive cycle. He makes sure that Marina and Shizuka have each toher to back themselves and reconciliation the broken friendship and ultimately stopping the bullying. He also creates the ending where Azuma can express himself and have true friends to talk to. This ending is a bittersweet ending where he can't change their condition but their action. It's amazingly captured the psychology of Psychology Restorations with talking toward each other. Overall it's a great movie.
prakhargr8
08/01/2025, 08:14 PM
"Not even a six-legged extraterrestrial from the happiest planet can bring you happiness, only you have the power to save yourself." Takopi's Original Sin is perhaps one of the most brutal, raw, painful yet powerfully captivating anime. Right from the beginning, it entrances you with its doodle-octopus alien. The story starts with the perspective of an elementary schooler being bullied for apparently no mistake of hers. Yet she still has a soul to care for a weird-looking animal who she didn’t expect anything in return. This same soul is ripped, shredded, and losing as the plot progresses. The alien had only one aim: to make peoplearound it happy, but it failed to abide by its only rule. Then starts a sequence of rewinds to correct what it deemed to be its fault. It mirrors the "Observer Effect" by showing how its wish for a better ending has dire consequences until it involves itself, and the story takes a much darker turn. Human characters are tested at every turn of the road. There are people on the verge of breaking, people who break others, and the already broken. The same things that make a person are soon lost as situations unfold. It forces you to question - But who’s really at fault? Is it the girl who has lost all sense of right and wrong because she lost a close one, or the bully relentlessly targeting the daughter of her mistress for stealing her dad away? The mistress, who isn’t concerned about the welfare of the child? The cheating husband? The mother who is forcing her pain on her daughter? The boy who is willing to take part in crime just because he was never shown genuine affection? The mother for whom children are only an emblem in society? What was the alien’s mistake? Breaking the rule of the planet? Getting itself involved? Wishing happiness for everybody? Doing wrong in an attempt to make others happy? But in the end, it’s these good intentions of the alien that somehow help the characters to do what they wish, ultimately implying that sometimes, trying to force happiness upon others is the wrong way to go about it, but it might still set them on the path to discover the string they have lost by themselves.
RomanRonin
08/01/2025, 10:36 AM
Takopi's Original Sin is a uniquely captivating anime, but rather than shower it in praise, I'm going to cut against the grain and explain why I think it's a bit more flawed than others may lead you to believe. However, before I get to my criticisms, let me begin with the positives that even a cynic like me can admit. In terms of production values, the show is a masterpiece. The OST is perfectly fitting, contrasting naive joy against brutal reality in a way that really makes you feel that eerie sense of unease at pivotal moments. The visuals are stunning, with bright and vividcolors being contrasted against the gritty and dirty realities in which these characters live. Enishiya nailed the juxtaposition of idealism and realism key to interpreting this work in animation, perfectly balancing the two in a way that highlights the message of the show without getting in the way, and never falling short. This is further supported by great VA work across the board. Their raw emotion really added to each and every scene. With that out of the way, let's get into my main issue with the anime: the story. Takopi's Original Sin is a tragedy about the lives of children impacted by the careless decisions of their parents. By the time Takopi arrives on Earth, the ramifications of these decisions have already gone too far to be fixed. The anime really wants you to understand this fated doom, hammering the point for a good portion of its runtime. No matter what Takopi does, some character suffers the ultimate price in order for another to benefit. The problem is that rather than really focus on the nuance of doomed circumstances and the role of characters' agency within them, the anime chooses to just hammer in the misery nail. Each and every time the plot works towards a potential resolution by the characters, some other element of misery is hammered in. In a vacuum, this would be fine. Actions have consequences, and it's foolish to think that an action has only positive consequences. However, the story does the exact opposite. No matter what the characters do, there are only negative consequences. There are NEVER positive consequences, at least as a net sum, by any of the changes caused by Takopi's meddling. This is just outright unrealistic, and is an attempt to further drive up the hopeless misery and pull on the user's heart strings. This leads me to another flawed aspect of the story: its insularity. Besides the main cast and their parents, no characters impact the plot, and no characters are impacted by the plot. Shizuka is bullied relentlessly by Marina and no one cares. She has to buy a new stationary board every day and yet the stationary store owner doesn't recognize this. I get there are children who suffer in silence, but the anime magnifies this to such a level that it feels practically impossible for others not to notice. It is a cartoonish level of apathy that breaks the suspension of disbelief. These attempts at magnifying the trauma as much as possible actively get in the way of the plot, too. I've already mentioned that the level of abuse Shizuka (and to a lesser extent, Marina) endure is just not feasibly left unnoticed by others. Azuma as a character introduces some plot inconsistencies. When he's first introduced, he is one of the few that notices Shizuka's abuse, but he never does anything significant about it. This just doesn't make sense with his later established personality as a white knight seeking someone to save. There are also plot holes relating to Takopi's gadgets, some of which could have actually helped try to resolve the conflict but are just thrown aside like gags. A bit of a minor spoiler, but among these gadgets, one enables time travel, and this leads to a whole slew of time-related issues. These issues are not only plot-related, but also impact the flow. How time actually works seems clear at first, but eventually it gets so messy that the rules become unclear. It's not so messy that it's impossible to understand or anything, but it just isn't as clearly presented as it could have been. What I've said so far might seem like incoherent rambling to some, but I'm trying my best to avoid actual spoilers in a show where my issues lie with the plot itself, so forgive me. If I'm being fair, none of these criticisms are outright devastating in themselves, but taken as a whole, a watcher may become annoyed with the frequency at which the show rounds around details in order to make an emotional moment. This, in my opinion, is the main reason why this show is being so consistently heaped with praise by others, and it's the reason why I think we should be a bit more measured in our approach to it. For emotional moments and captivating visuals, this show is fantastic and is worth the watch. But, if you're expecting a philosophically deep show that delves into the balance between agency and circumstances, this isn't it. Takopi's Original Sin is thus the squandering of what could've been an all-time masterpiece by over-insisting upon emotional impact at the cost of narrative tightness.
Marinate1016
08/01/2025, 09:16 AM
Anyone can have a child, not everyone can be a parent. At its core, Takopi's original sin is a story about the negative impact bad parents can have on their kids and the cycle of abuse. It's a deeply uncomfortable, but all too real story of parental, emotional and physical abuse. The trigger warning that plays before each episode isn't just for show, this is a deeply unsettling story that will shake you to your core and shows you the absolute worst of humanity. It’s often misunderstood that good writing=making you feel good. No, good writing makes you feel. It makes you connect with thestory and elicits a reaction, positive or negative from characters’ actions. Very few people have ever done as good a job as Taizan 5 here. Let me be clear, this is a masterclass in writing, build up, twists, multi faceted and characterization, and we haven’t even talked about the incredible production values. This is one of the best 6 episode runs in anime history and the perfect binge watch. Not too long, not too short, just enough time for you to sit down and realize how NOT to raise a child. A few minutes into episode 1 of Takopi, I knew we were onto something special. The movie-like feel to the production values, the direction, the voice acting and the overall premise instantly hooked me. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the same sort of story experience I had watching Dededede where the show draws you in with the cute character designs and then just breaks your heart with some of the most soul crushing twists ever. This is really one of those shows where you have to experience it. I can’t even properly begin to do this story justice in an explanation without spoiling major plot points, so I’ll just focus on the core themes and my reactions to them. As I mentioned earlier, Takopi is a story about the cycle of abuse. The saying “hurt people hurt people” has never been more applicable. Trauma doesn’t just disappear, people pass it onto those closest to them, their kids, and it teaches them that the way to deal with their problems is to lash out or hurt others, just like their parents did to them. I can’t tell you how many times I just wanted to yell and throw something at my TV when watching this because of how cruel, callous and downright terrible some of the people in this story are. Yes, I fully understand that people can’t control their circumstances. Victims of abuse often end up passing that on because that’s literally all they know. Still, I don’t think this absolves several characters of their sins(pun intended). I believe everyone should be accountable for their actions and while we understand why the characters lash out the way they do, that doesn’t make it right or mean I have to like them. There’s a lot of victims of abuse in the real world who don’t go down the paths some of these characters do. I think we can all choose to be better and Takopi is a story of when people don’t. I could go on for hours about how shitty the people in this story are and why I disagree with some of the common arguments out there defending them, but that in and of itself just proves why this series is so great. The characters are complex, everyone’s flawed and frankly there’s no one who’s fully innocent. Just like in real life, everyone exists in a shade of grey. That’s a testament to how well written this is. Depending on who you ask, you’ll get so many different answers about everyone in this story. Who’s the hero, who’s the villain, etc., but ultimately that would be missing the point. This isn’t really a story with good or bad people, it’s a story about broken people who compound their mistakes until they reach a point of no return, all wrapped up with some nice sci-fi/time travel hijinks. It’s sort of like a much more down to earth Re:Zero or Summertime Render. It’s just one of those stories that comes around every few years, makes its mark and you’ll be talking about it for years to come. For it to be only 6 episodes and do well, the production quality had to be on point and all I can say is, Enishiya take a bow, please. Out of the 6 episodes, 3 of them are in the running for the best directed episode of the year and several are among the highest rated of the year on IMDB. This was artistry of the highest caliber and most of these episodes felt like poetry in motion. The storyboarding, character animation, cinematography, direction, voice acting, this is how to make an all-time great 101. I think that if you take a look at the anime score and the manga score you’ll see how great a job the staff did with elevating the source material, which is already an amazing story in its own right. Several of the big twists and emotional scenes were taken to another level thanks to the director and how he framed certain elements or the storyboarding techniques they went with, particularly episode 4 and 5 come to mind, but really throughout the show has unreal quality. Congrats to every single member of this team for making one of the best anime of the year and honestly, one of the best anime of all time. Regardless what anyone says, I’ve been team Shizuka from the start and will continue to be on her side forever. She’s such an interesting case study of just how far you can push someone before they snap. So many people and institutions failed her, how can I blame her? On the other hand, the way Marina’s character was handled made me empathize with her as well. Phenomenal writing from the author that constantly makes you evaluate your prejudices and challenges you to become a more sympathetic person. One of the best written stories you’ll see. Takopi’s original sin gets 10 out of 10.
IWearClothes
08/01/2025, 07:49 AM
Takopi’s Original Sin is not the latest misery porn, nor is it an exercise in mere shock value. It is not exploitative of its sensitive subject matter and it does not aim to subvert conventional perspectives of death. It is not abstract or surreal. These are not what encapsulate Takopi’s Original Sin. It is, more or less, the inverse of each. Its gut-wrenching depictions cannot be surreal because they are literal. It cannot be totally abstract because it mirrors its own face value. It is exempt from accusations of exploitation because its dark events are seen from an overlooking view and earned by the narrative.It is too meaningful in how it deals with trauma to warrant reactive, emotionally illiterate labels like “trauma bait”. The many tragedies of Takopi’s Original Sin are witnessed by the most unbiased observer imaginable; a cutesy, alien octoblob, entirely naïve to the ways of human nature. Therein lies the true horror which the series proves beyond any shadow of a doubt: humanity itself, viewed through no lenses whatsoever. On display here is a one-to-one facsimile of a species that wakes up and chooses violence every morning—a ruling handed down by the infinite cosmos above. Takopi’s Original Sin could only be more direct with this theme by having the characters look at the viewer and say it out loud. Extreme conflict is a complex idea when seen through interpersonal relationships—through the people who instigate it among themselves—but it’s oh so simple when viewed from above. That flipped perspective is perhaps the series’ most impressive achievement. Only humans can see “humanity” with unblinded eyes because only humans understand what that entails to the fullest extent. An outside observer instead sees a bigger picture, the ups and especially the downs of humanity, laid bare and stripped of all pretense. The title character Takopi (read: just a little guy) points this out in the anime by completely failing to understand negative human emotions. Jealousy, hatred, contempt, wrath. Each time, Takopi can only process these emotions with one invariable result: confusion. This is a story where literal magic can’t save humanity from itself, a pessimistic and bleak outlook that parallels real-world sentiment. The failures of the adult characters are reflected in the lives of their children, and the anime treats this transmission of trauma as both a spectacle and a thesis. It’s an age-old problem presented with modern bluntness. Magic doesn’t mean shit when the worst problems we can conceive of are orchestrated and perpetuated by ourselves; we’ll keep pressing the suffer button regardless. If Takopi is confused simply by the existence of cruelty, then Shizuka, the main human character, is defined by it. She doesn’t ask why people hurt each other because she already accepts that’s the world she lives in. In contrast to Takopi’s blank-slate perspective, Shizuka is a child who knows far too much, far too early. She is a truly pitiable gamin predominantly concerned with survival—nowhere near privileged enough to actually try to flourish in life. It’s a striking contrast that goes especially well with the fact that Takopi practically becomes her shouldermon, cleverly nailing that Pikachu and Ash Ketchum sort of dynamic. More excellent contrast is that the child characters’ designs are just as adorable as Takopi’s. Armed with only their moe essences and the clothes on their backs, they must struggle hopelessly against inheriting their parents’ very worst tendencies, alone in the dark in a society that only pretends to care. Now, this theme posed by the narrative is certainly not black and white; human nature is not reduced only to its basest evils in this anime. It is bluntly pessimistic while managing to avoid cynicism, as Takopi’s tame innocence (mostly) deflects any would-be mental scarring. He doesn’t have to endure many of the horrors before him because he’s oblivious—impervious, even—to them. He’s a chronically upbeat creature from a place straight up named Planet Happy, unwittingly serving as a tentacled island of optimism in a rough sea of despondency. Takopi is an almost ludicrously simple character, and his simplicity makes it so that the narrative barely needs to try to actualize this design. Takopi doesn’t remain this naïve forever though, as he does have a capacity for learning and begins to experience inner moral conundrums. And so, Takopi is not a symbol solely for optimism or determination. Instead, he acts as an extensive microcosm where all sorts of symbolism can gather and read differently depending on viewer interpretation—taking a page from the Andrei Tarkovsky school of storytelling. Through this lens, Subject A is not always Symbolism B; it can represent a multitude of takeaways depending on the viewer. It’s easy to see, then, that there is more to Takopi than a first glance might suggest. The optimistic threads aren’t limited only to Takopi, anyway. Hope still has a constant spotlight on it. An outstretched hand or a shoulder to cry on can be found if only the characters look for them; there’s always a light in the dark. Even in an anime so dense with philosophical quandaries and deep-seated character studies, the animation often steals the show. Whether that be through cogent first-person snippets, a reorganizing of backgrounds to signal a dream-like passing of time, or even something as simple as a sudden flip of the color design, these ephemeral visual concepts work in tandem to create awe-inspiring set pieces. It’s also a Chekhov’s Gun playground; everything and everyone has a preordained reason for showing up. If it’s shown, it’s used in some way down the road. Frankly, there are so many interesting things going on in some episodes that other details become easy to miss. Characterization might seem to take a backseat to the ingenious animation, not because it’s trying to compensate for anything with fancy visuals, but because the animation can get so involved that it tells an additional story on top of the main narrative. This dual narrative is not always present, and in this intentionality, it is all the more discernable when it does show up—a brilliant, simultaneous interplay of two worlds colliding to create hair-raising sequences. The musical score is merely serviceable, but the sound design is great. Use of the latter is always careful and sparing—for example, an intense buzzing noise to aid in depicting quickly mounting overwhelm, only there for as long as it needs to be. In no uncertain terms, the production goes sicko mode and is easily good enough to rival the eclectic story content. In retrospect, Takopi’s Original Sin is a forceful, visceral, and no-frills examination of humankind. It’s not really concerned with delivering some lofty message or ominous warning. It simply holds up a mirror and asks us to confront what the glass reveals: our own capacity for cruelty, our own complicity in suffering. At only an intimate six episodes, it sets these ideas out on display in true scorched-earth fashion, leaving no room for padding as its opposing worldviews compete to dominate the narrative. Misery for misery’s sake? Spectacle for spectacle’s sake? This anime flies in the face of such shallow takeaways; it actually has something to say. Malevolence. Compassion. Nihilism. Determination. These are what encapsulate Takopi’s Original Sin. Oh, the horror.

Takopii no Genzai タコピーの原罪

Summer 2025 Simulcast List [Update 8/7]

Summer 2025 Preview

'Takopii no Genzai' Unveils Additional Staff, Theme Songs, First Promo for June 2025 Premiere

'Takopii no Genzai' Announces Additional Cast Pair

Main Cast, Staff, Promo for 'Takopii no Genzai' Revealed

Manga 'Takopii no Genzai' Gets Anime

Takopii no Genzai タコピーの原罪

Summer 2025 Simulcast List [Update 8/7]

Summer 2025 Preview

'Takopii no Genzai' Unveils Additional Staff, Theme Songs, First Promo for June 2025 Premiere

'Takopii no Genzai' Announces Additional Cast Pair

Main Cast, Staff, Promo for 'Takopii no Genzai' Revealed

Manga 'Takopii no Genzai' Gets Anime