Mid-Season Impressions: The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace

<p>The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace is probably one of the most conflicting anime I&&num;8217&semi;ve seen this year&period; It premiered later than most<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;anime-impressions-miss-kobayashis-dragon-maid-s&sol;"> other anime<&sol;a> that already set up their foundation as well as their fan base this season&comma; which gave it a bit of a disadvantage&period; However&comma; the anime solved this problem by premiering the first two episodes at the same time&comma; both of which succeed in shocking and captivating the viewer in multiple ways&comma; but admittedly with varying degrees of success&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;allthefujoshiunite&period;files&period;wordpress&period;com&sol;2021&sol;08&sol;2021-08-10&lowbar;13-07-54&period;810&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">The Idaten Emerge<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The anime follows a species of super-powered deities called the Idaten who have defended the earth from all manners of demons and kaiju that seek to destroy it&period; 800 years after a fierce war between the two forces&comma; only a handful of them remain&period; The current generation of Idaten were born during a time of peace and thus have nothing to fight for or against&period; That is until one day&comma; when a new generation of demons who had already inserted themselves into mankind surfaces&comma; and the two immediately clash and begin a long&comma; drawn-out war&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;images-geeknative-com&period;exactdn&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;07&sol;01194202&sol;Itaden-Deities-in-the-Peaceful-Generation-banner-2&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace episode 3" width&equals;"1275" height&equals;"710" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">The Morally Grey War<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The anime presents this war in the most engaging way I&&num;8217&semi;ve seen in a long time&period; Each of these factions has members with their own role&comma; from combatant powerhouses to perceptive researchers&period; The first few episodes highlight each of them exceptionally well as we learn the Idaten have the upper hand in strength&comma; highlighted with a character like Rin&comma; the oldest Idaten who boasts unstoppable combat prowess&period; In contrast&comma; the demons have the upper hand in both manpower and knowledge&comma; highlighted with characters like Oobami and Miku&period; The first being an old scientist and leader of the demons&comma; while the other is the most perceptive of her kind&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We also see how they&&num;8217&semi;ve managed to start a war amongst the humans and how they&&num;8217&semi;ve used this war to accomplish their aim of repopulating themselves with human bodies&comma; signifying how cruel but calculated this species are&period; And while you&&num;8217&semi;d think that the Idaten&comma; our supposed heroes in this story who are meant to protect the humans&comma; would care about the atrocities being committed&comma; they instead take a more indifferent outlook towards it&period; This is especially shown through Ysley&&num;8217&semi;s statements early on in the anime noting that their presence is only needed for more critical situations as deities need not get involved in human wars&comma; all the while not knowing then that these wars weren&&num;8217&semi;t started by humans at all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;somoskudasai&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;07&sol;1-48&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Highs and Lows<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The actions these two groups make prove a point about them from the get-go&period; It proves that this is less of a story about heroes or villains and more of a saga about these two arrogant and powerful beings&period; Yesley&&num;8217&semi;s statement that powerful beings or deities usually don&&num;8217&semi;t bother with the dealings of smaller creatures and usually only take advantage of them made quite an impact on me and encapsulates the major theme of the anime&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Unfortunately&comma; the anime is also a bit tone-deaf when executing some of its grimmer narrative points&period; I say this&comma; of course&comma; because of the odd&comma; shocking&comma; and completely unnecessary rape scene we see at the end of the first episode&period; I can only imagine that this scene may have been included to display the cruelty of both humans and the demons the Idaten are going up against&period; However&comma; the way in which this was executed &lpar;almost satirically&comma; if I may add&rpar; fell incredibly short and is amazingly toned deaf&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Even if this scene would be given a reason behind it later in the anime&comma; the fact that the victim was brought back in another episode &lpar;almost unphased by the whole ordeal&rpar; and then made light of by another character didn&&num;8217&semi;t help get that point across in the least&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;imgur&period;com&sol;JdqwGyZ&period;png" alt&equals;"The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">A Godly Production<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>But while I definitely overestimated the anime&&num;8217&semi;s writing&comma; I also underestimated its production quality&comma; which is seen chiefly through its action scenes&period; Each and every one of the numerous action scenes looks incredible&period; The movements are swift and fluid&comma; and the backgrounds are colorful and highly aesthetic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Character designs are also drawn notably different from most anime — they’re outlined with cartoonish properties amidst vibrant colors&comma; which unironically match the absurd amount of intense yet almost cartoonish violence shown in every episode&period; The anime also boasts a surprisingly excellent soundtrack&comma; with its background music being a major highlight besides its incredibly catchy opening&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pbs&period;twimg&period;com&sol;media&sol;E9V7oFMVcAAif&lowbar;I&quest;format&equals;jpg&amp&semi;name&equals;large" alt&equals;"The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Final Thoughts<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Overall&comma; despite some significant writing flaws&comma; The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace is quite an intriguing anime&period; This is mainly due to its stark contrast to the usual characters we see in anime&period; There is no central hero or character to cheer for or empathize with — there&&num;8217&semi;s Just these two similar but different beings playing out this pseudo-war between themselves with their own unique methods and strategies&comma; and I enjoy watching almost every part of it so far&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace is currently streaming on <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;crunchyroll&period;com&sol;the-idaten-deities-know-only-peace" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Crunchyroll<&sol;a><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Have you seen Idaten yet&quest; What are your thoughts on inter-deity wars&quest; Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;