Dimension W Review

The world of science fiction allows for all realms of possibility to be broken and shaped into anything your mind desires. Yuji Iwahara does just that by taking us on a journey that seems interesting at first, but leaves you scratching your head towards the end, but somehow, it all makes sense. It’s time to take a look at Dimension W!

Let’s go!

The Story

The scientific world made an amazing breakthrough discovery. There is a dimension beyond the normal X, Y, and Z dimensions. This new dimension, which they labeled W, contains limitless energy. New Tesla Energy, the company behind the discovery of this dimension, created devices called Coils which can utilize that energy. Over 60 towers have been erected across the globe which act as a power source for these coils.

Enter Kyouma Mabuchi, a collector who goes around and retrieves counterfeit (illegal) coils from those who do not wish to be tied to or traced by New Tesla Energy. During one of his collection missions, he runs into a very human-like robot named Mira who ends up being a collector alongside Kyouma. However, Kyouma’s past comes back to haunt him as he’s sent on a mission to investigate the numbers – special coils which have the power to harness people’s memories. The numbers lead Kyouma and Mira on one final task that unravels the mystery behind Dimension W.

For a twelve episode series, they sure packed a ton of information into this show. Some of it felt a bit rushed, especially the ending, but in the end it still all made sense. The series is very misleading, however, as it begins you off in such a way where you would believe this would be a hi-tech mercenary show akin to something like Black Lagoon or Gangsta, but it ends up flipping that notion upside down and then conveniently throws it out the window by presenting a sci-fi story that is much grander in scale.

It gets very deep into Kyouma’s character, how Dimension W was created, the role certain scientists played in its creation, as well the true power of the coils themselves. You get to understand that the coils do so much more than simply power devices. In fact, one coil named Genesis, becomes the focal point of the show as this coil, using Dimension W’s energy, can create or re-create anything in existence.  Genesis can even bring loved ones that have passed on back to life making it kind of like a personal genie that can grant your every wish.

That’s just an example of how far into science fiction this show strolls, but even through it all they find a way to make all of it believable. Dimension W is a show that draws you into its story by hooking you with an interesting premise and then really tests the limits of your imagination the further the series progresses. The story was pretty unique and I highly enjoyed it!

The Characters

The one part about Dimension W that I felt was rushed was the development of all their characters as it’s tough to balance story, action, and character development over the course of 12 episodes. This is where I wished Dimension W had 25 episodes so we could get more time dedicated to knowing these characters, but still, their backstories were highly impactful and well thought out! Let’s take a look at them!

Warning: There may be some spoilers contained within.

Kyouma Mabuchi

As stated in the story section, he’s a coil collector that absolutely hates coils. He was in love with a girl named Miyabi who needed an operation to save her life. During her operation, a coil went wild and she ended up dying in the process. Kyouma, who was part of New Tesla’s Grendel unit, was sent to Easter Island in order to investigate a strange occurrence involving the Genesis Coil. After an incident on that island, Kyouma awoke with partial amnesia and couldn’t remember all of the details of that mission. He only knew that Miyabi was dead and that coils took everything away from him: his love, his teammates, his friends and his memories.

The amount of mental tragedy experienced is enough to break anyone and I think it’s due to his partial amnesia that Kyouma was able to stay sane. He has a pretty tragic backstory and the reason why he’s a collector becomes validated more and more as you learn about his past. Although he has a seething hatred for coils, Kyouma’s mentality is pretty laid back although he does give off that Shikamaru (Naruto) vibe where everything he has to do is a pain in the ass to him, but he does it regardless because that hatred for coils drives him forward. He’s probably one of the most interesting main characters I’ve seen this season that you can’t help but feel sympathy towards.

Mira Yurizaki

She is a robot that was created by Professor Shidou Yurizaki. Shidou is a former founder of New Tesla Energy who disappeared after the death of his wife and daughter. He uses their deaths as fuel for his research in which he created Mira. When he is hunted down by New Tesla, he sets Mira free and uses a device to destroy all coil technology within a certain radius, also taking his own life in the process. It is his death that drives Mira to become a collector alongside Kyouma as she wants to know more about the coils that took her father’s life.

Mira is a pretty amazing character from a backstory perspective, but not really a lovable character from a personality perspective. She’s a very human-like robot… something akin to what you would see out of Ghost in the Shell, but her personality is just annoying as all hell. I understand that she’s supposed to be a young girl, but I just couldn’t buy into her character just from the way she behaved. I get that because of the way she was created, she has many questions about the world and is a bit naïve, but she really just comes across as that annoying little kid that just likes to cling to your leg no matter where you go. The only satisfaction I get out of this character is when Kyouma keeps referring to her as a piece of junk. That always put a smile on my face.

Mary

She is kind of an underworld boss-type character. You’ve seen these kind before.. the overweight extravagant woman who looks like she’s high society, but she has all the information and dirt on everyone within her grasp. She’s also Kyouma’s contractor whenever a coil job comes up. She tolerates his behavior because she knows his past with Grendel and how he was one of their elite soldiers. No matter how much Kyouma complains, she knows that he’ll get the job done. She’s basically a trope character that can be seen in any number of animes and was pretty underwhelming, even in a support role.

Salva Ene Tibesti

CEO of robot manufacturer Islero and COO of New Tesla Central 60. Known as “The Wind of Africa,” he is introduced about half way through the series and becomes one of the new main characters. He is the one who calls the world’s best collectors to Easter Island in order to find “something special” (i.e. the Genesis Coil.) Salva doesn’t exactly say why he wants that coil, but the collectors don’t care because Salva is offering a very hefty price tag for its retrieval. Of course, Kyouma is one of the collectors that gets involved in this, but for an entirely different reason.

Salva is kind of a ying/yang character. He starts off as something that’s devious, cunning, and hard to trust, but once you understand why he’s doing what he’s doing, he becomes a character you can sympathize with. Even though it doesn’t reflect it at first, his cause is pretty noble, albeit a bit selfish, but once you learn of his reasons you fully begin to understand why he is being so selfish. That reason is our next character.

Lwai Aura Tibesti

He is Salva’s younger brother who grew up during a time where there was civil upheaval. Salva looked to ascend in power in order to quell the people, but in the process, he ends up fighting in the middle of a conflict. Lwai, who wants nothing more than to see his brother, runs out to the streets in order to see him… right when Salva pulls the trigger on a weapon to protect himself and ends up killing his brother Lwai. Lwai becomes preserved in the form of a robot, but not on the same level as Mira. He’s confined to a system back in Africa, but can control multiple robots through signals and radio waves. Kind of like Pein from the Naruto series… without the whole bent on world destruction thing.

Lwai is kind of a heartwarming character because even though he knows what happened to him, he still loves his brother and will do anything to help him. It is that love that drives Salva to find the Genesis Coil so he can restore Lwai and undo the tragic mistake he made so many years ago. Out of all the supporting characters, I think Lwai was my favorite for that very reason. He ends up becoming a pretty cool character in the end and isn’t as annoying as Mira despite the fact that they’re both children, per se.

Loser

Loser is a wannabe criminal who makes it a habit to announce to police when and where he will be committing his next crime. He has a run-in with Kyouma when one of his crimes involves a coil. Loser never accomplishes his goal of stealing anything, but none of that really matters because it’s all a façade. Loser is trying to gather information on the whereabouts of the five special coils known as the numbers. In addition to preserving memories, when the five numbers are gathered, they are said to be able to create a gateway. Loser wants to open that gateway, but for what reason?

I’ve spoiled quite a bit in this anime so in an effort to not spoil anything further, I’ll be a bit vague. Loser is another tragic hero-type character. He ends up becoming my second favorite next to Lwai just because of his past and the reason why he’s seeking the numbers. He plays a very integral role in the overall story despite being a supporting character. Loser is a prime example of what you truly can do with a supporting character and how you can make them relevant and meaningful in the overall scheme of things.

Haruka Schmyer

Here is your main antagonist of the series. I could not buy this man as an antagonist AT ALL. He is given the most cookie cutter and generic reason behind turning to the “dark side.” It couldn’t be any more by the numbers (get it?) for this character and I just sat there and cringed when they unveiled his backstory, much like you probably cringed at the terrible pun I just made. Here they had all of these interesting and dynamic characters, but they couldn’t do anything like that for Haruka? It’s like they spent all of their time and energy fleshing out the cast, but then they realized that they needed a warm body as the focus of their hatred and were just like… “okay… evil mad scientist.. GO!”

Come on.. with a series as unique as this, you could have done better with Haruka. I guess if there was anything positive to say about this villain is that he is very determined to get a hold of the Genesis Coil. I’ll give him that much. Plus, how he’s depicted at the end is just, well… kind of laughable. He looked like the final boss of a bad JRPG and in classic, confusing, anime-style, he’s dealt with in ways that make sense, but at the same time make you sit there and mutter “what the…” I, honestly, think he was the worst character of this entire show.

That rounds out the main characters. Towards the end, they just stuffed the show full of other characters like the other members of Kyouma’s Grendel squad, the other collectors who came to Easter Island for the Genesis Coil Hunt and various members of New Tesla Energy. All of which do actually play their own roles in the story, but again, they didn’t feel like they made much of an impact based on how many episodes we were given. If they stretched this to 25 episodes and even gave us some filler on the backgrounds of these characters, maybe I would have cared about them more, but I didn’t. Even when Kyouma had to encounter a former teammate of his, I didn’t care simply because not enough time was given to make me care about that former teammate.

Art, Animation, and Sound

The art style of Dimension W is certainly diverse. From dark and gritty city streets, to colorful sunny days, to high-tech alternate dimensions, this anime goes to a LOT of different places in such a short amount of time. Each scene is amazingly crafted to draw you into the world that is Dimension W. Here’s a couple of examples of some of the imagery seen here throughout the series.

The character designs are also very cool and while I didn’t like Mira as a personality, no one could deny her amazing design. I think she could have been better without that little tail, but I guess they needed some quirk to make her that much more unique and the tail accomplishes that. Every character is recognizable and has their own personalities reflected in their overall designs. Everything from clothing to facial expressions really drove home what kind of personalities a character had, which is pretty hard to do when anime characters, for the most part, have the same face, giant eyes that differ by color, and random hairstyle A, B, C, or D. Dimension W goes out of its way to portray each character uniquely and I think it has some of the best designed characters out of any show I’ve seen this season.

The soundtrack was okay. A lot of music felt flat and just “there.” The OP theme, however, is what got people talking about this show to begin with. “Genesis” by STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION (Hmm.. interesting choice for a song title) was amazing and the dancing Kyouma in the beginning of the opening montage put a smile on my face. This is the same band that brought us the opening for Gangsta. and they stay true to their trance-style techno here as well. Definitely an amazing opening if I do say so myself.

Everything from the opening animation to the fight scenes, to just the special effects looked pretty good. The worst animations were average at best, but when Studio 3Hz/Orange put that extra special attention into their scenes, you could tell. It felt smooth for the most part and enhanced the enjoyment of the series overall.

Overall Thoughts

I really enjoyed this series. I had a feeling I would since the creator is responsible for another well-known sci-fi series called Darker Than BLACK. While Darker Than BLACK was a bit deeper than Dimension W, the two shared a few similarities such as the use of contractors as well as amnesia due to a phenomenon. It’s almost if these were little nods to Darker Than BLACK throughout the series and fans of Iwahara are such to crack that acknowledging smile when they see them.

If you’re looking for a great sci-fi show that will twist your mind, but keep you drawn in, then I highly suggest watching Dimension W. Despite its flaws, they are surely forgivable for all of the positives this series brings to the table! It also kind of makes you ask the question “What if?” Especially when our own scientists are starting to look into theories about things such as alternate dimensions. It’s kind of wild just thinking about it!

It’s an anime that makes you dream, doesn’t it?