Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere: Season 1 [Blu-ray] by Section 23

Actors

• Jun Fukuyama
• Minori Chihara
• Ai Matayoshi
• Ami Koshimizu

Format

• Animated
• Subtitled
• Widescreen

Editorial Review

Based on the light novels of Minoru Kawakami, the sci-fi/fantasy series Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere (2011) takes place in the far future, when Earth has become uninhabitable, except for the islands of Japan. Various nations vie to control chunks of the archipelago, guided by the holy book The Testament; what's left of the native population of Japan travels around in the city-ship Musashi. As a predicted apocalypse approaches, Tori Aoi, the president of the Musashi Ariadust Academy student council, leads his classmates on a quest to recapture their ancestral homeland. The crisis begins with Tori's decision to announce his long-standing affection for Horizon Ariadust, although she died 10 years earlier. But she's also a robot “Auto Doll” working at a nearby coffee shop. Until he can make his declaration, Tori busies himself groping the other overendowed female characters. Horizon is tied to the Armor of the Deadly Sins, which rank as the most powerful weapons in the arsenals of the various nations. When their rulers order Horizon to commit suicide, Tori rallies the Academy students to defend her in an all-out battle involving magic, Shinto spells, mecha, hi- and lo-tech weapons, psychic powers, and more. Despite the many Morris the Explainer scenes, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere makes virtually no sense. After noodling around for nine episodes, director Manabu Ono turns the last four into an elaborate, drawn-out battle, but he stages the conflict so badly, it's hard to follow and unexciting. Most of the characters suffer from both underdevelopment and overdevelopment. There are so many students with minimal personalities, they're difficult to sort out; but all the girls have enormous hairdos and outsize breasts. Tori lacks the goofy charm needed in the harem comedy segments: he comes off as such an empty-headed lecher, no sane student would follow him into a game of tag, let alone a war. Perhaps the filmmakers get everything sorted out in the second season of Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, but it seems unlikely. (Rated TV 14VD: violence, violence against women, risqué humor, nudity, potentially offensive racial and religious imagery, alcohol and tobacco use) –Charles Solomon

(1. Those Lined Up Before the Horizon, 2. Innocents at the Table, 3. Commandos in Town, 4. Covert Ops Under the Night's Sky, 5. Graduates Under the Moon, 6. Advocate at the Confession Grounds, 7. Musashi's Knights, 8. Ruler of the Land, 9. The Summit's Flower, 10. The Trumpeter at the Start Line, 11. Musashi's Mr. Impossible, 12. Opposition Against Crossing Over the Parallel Lines, 13. Those Lined Up Above the Horizon)