Only this first paragraph is really a review the rest is musings about thoughts I have on the show. A very cool show with an interesting concept and some cool execution. 3 episodes toward the middle of the show made the whole thing worth watching and the rest was pretty good as well. The music is great the animation is a little wonky at times especially on some of the faces but the wells are interesting scenery and for the most part the show looks great. The plot and mystery are thrilling and kept me hooked so much so that I watched the entire thing in a single 7 hour binge. I fizzle out of interest with a lot of shows but this one held on to me from the beginning. There were a few things in the beginning that I found a little ridiculous and I wasnt fully satisfied with the ending but all in all its a good show. I would recommend this show to any fan of scifi detective series or movies as well as people who want to watch some mystery and maybe even shed some tears along the way. Only spoilers from here on. A few things in the beginning that made me incredulous mostly happened in the Gravedigger case. The whole idea of love and intent to kill being crossed seemed dubious at best and a bullet going through a predrilled hole in someones head was completely ridiculous. Also having the Gravedigger happen to be at the copy cat happen to be a drill hole victim and happen to be spotted by Houndomachi is all very convenient. The middle: Narihisago in the second level id well was by far my favorite point in the series. The bittersweetness of him seeing his family again while convincing himself that this fake world was truly reality hit hard. The appearance of Kiki also deepened the mystery. When I was first watching it I was hoping that her ESP was merely a part of id well and not the true mechanism of the show in reality. Although the basic principle of picking up intent to kill particles and building a map of the subconscious is pretty fantastical I was hoping that it wouldnt lean on something purely supernatural. Also made the Minority Report similarities even more apparent. Fukudas part in the story here is also very interesting. His arithmomania is revealed which ties together the hole in his head his ineptitude as a pilot and serves to further the plot. The end: In the end it is revealed that the chief is secretly John Walker which isnt really that surprising since they had cut the list of suspects to people working at the Kura and in these types of movies it is almost always the old director. The reveal of his evil schemes and intentions was disappointing to me but not show ruining. He claims to have done what he did out of his own sense of justice but it isnt explained all that well. I was expecting a Minority Report esque ending where he created serial killers to justify the existence of his department which I think couldve been interesting. It is also unexplained if he actually used a cockpit to link Kiki to the serial killers or how that process works. Kiki turns out to be a powerful esper with some sort of telepathic ability that allows her to project her dreams on others as well as have people visit her dreams. In the show serial killers come to her dreams every night and kill her encouraged and aided by John Walker. However it isnt really explained how the serial killers get linked to her mind. Couldnt theoretically anyone be projected into her dream? Narihisago visits her dream. Does everyone in the area have the same dream but not notice? Earlier in the show when speculating about the identity of John Walker the Wellside operators throw out that John Walker is manipulating the unconscious of the serial killers using a prototype of the machine. In the end he is encouraging serial killers to act of their impulse in a shared dream with an esper. Im not really sure if thats the same thing but it seemed odd to me. Another problem I have is why does Momoki act so weird once arrested. He knows that he isnt John Walker unless he thinks perhaps he is but only unconsciously. But then he is also adamant that the pilots should be extracted and that the scenario is a trap. That situation was confusing. Another issue I had was with the death of Narihisagos family. The Challenger seems perplexed with the information that he would kill a 14 year old and based on who the Challenger is it does seem confusing. The Challenger is a man who wants to hit and wants to be hit. Hes challenged a sumo wrestler and an mma fighter. Somehow he got his hands on Kiki which if he plans to kill her seems like it would pretty directly interfere with Walkers plans. Challenging Kiki doesnt fit with his other known kills but that can be attributed to a desire to actually fight her after fighting her in his dreams which is alluded to when Kiki says that he is the type who also wants to be hit and feel it which doesnt happen in the dream. But why would he kill Muku? And why would he do it in Narihisagos house as opposed to the arena beneath his house? Without explanation the Challenger killing Muku seems very random and doesnt really fit. Houndomachi identifies that each of the killers have a specific way of killing that has a chance of getting the killer caught. I was hoping that it would be revealed that John Walker put the Challenger up to the task of killing Muku with the intention of turning Narihisago into a serial killer that kills serial killers as a way to wrap up Walkers own method of killing which would be to make people do things that would eventually lead to them being killed in this case serial killing. The serial killers are afraid of John Walker in their unconsciousness but it isnt really developed why they would be afraid. Unless the unconsciousness is fearful of what Walker is turning them into but that isnt entirely satisfying. I think John Walker couldve been taken in a different direction that wouldve been more satisfying or could have been explained better. He is one of the main mysteries of the show and the reveal of who he is isnt entirely unexpected and his motivations arent particularly intriguing nor does the whole situation actually make much sense. If they had gone a different route with him perhaps using a more sensitive version of the device that picks up intent to kill to identify potential killers and then somehow using cockpits and the well tech to manipulate their unconsciousnesses I think that would have been more interesting. I think in this version of the story Kiki isnt an esper. Instead she could be someone from John Walkers past that he killed that he then shares with serial killers or perhaps she is John Walker himself. Maybe she convinces the serial killers to kill her when she is in their unconsciousness which unlocks their ability to kill. The person who convinced them to do it is lost in the unconscious but the memory of her corpse remains. I think something like that couldve been more intriguing and then it also doesnt have to rely on the mostly unexplained ESP of one girl. The timeline is also a little confusing. Two and a half years ago the Challenger killed Narihisagos daughter and captured Kiki. In reality before he was apprehended Narihisagos wife committed suicide. The investigation eventually learns who the Challenger is and Narihisago kills him to get revenge. Kiki is found in the basement so apparently she has been in there a while at this point because she was in there before Muku was killed. Kinda confusing. Kiki is then at the hospital and this is all before the founding of Kura. The doctor is then at the hospital with Kiki working on the well technology prototype but before Kiki was in the hospital Walker influenced the challenger to become a serial killer so he must have had some sort of version of the well tech earlier. Very perplexing. Although I have questions and the show didnt go in some of the directions I wanted it was very entertaining and gripping. Because it was so gripping Ive been thinking about it a lot and thats probably a reason that I have developed so many questions about it. Sadly I think many of my questions dont have answers that can be found within the show.