2023 has been an incredibly rich year for anime so far, celebrating the return of countless fan-favorite titles, including Jujutsu Kaisen and Vinland Saga, as well as the emergence of quite a few new series that took the community by storm. One of the year’s most unexpected grand successes was Production I.G’s Heavenly Delusion, an incredibly unique and content-dense sci-fi mystery based on Masakazu Ishiguro's 2018 manga. An ever-expanding tale of a world clad in ambiguity, Heavenly Delusion follows two equally captivating storylines – one is set in a post-apocalyptic Japan and follows two kids searching for an illusive “heaven” while fighting off enigmatic monsters known as Man-Eaters, and the other exploring the secrets of a sinister futuristic school isolated from the outside world.

A refreshing take on both science fiction and dystopian action adventure, Heavenly Delusion enthralled viewers with its magnetic characters, unadulterated violence and gore, gorgeously peculiar visuals,...