Ingress: The Animation (2018–2019) User Reviews (19)

Looks good, sounds great but plot goes a little funny

[kamh-50999 · 7/10 · 10 October 2020]

At first, I thought it was amazing. The plot starts out pretty strong, I was enjoying the mash up of matrix/ghost in the shell-ish vibes but I'd in the final quarter of the show, the plot kinda went a bit off the reservation.

Without going into details, I felt like the plot changed direction too quickly and started taking you down a road that was a bit cheesier than what I'd initially expected. The story pretty quickly wiped out a bunch of the central plot points and pretty much regrouped with something a lot more bizarre and harder to support.

They also started succumbing to cheesy gimmicks and events to drive the story forward that I felt were a bit misplaced. I know believability isn't a big deal to an anime dealing with such odd themes but there did come a point where I felt they pushed it too far. The whole world uniting to defend against evil sorta thing.

The beautiful visuals, it's really cleanly animated and I always enjoy when a show gets a soundtrack right. Quite a fun mix of edgy sounding techno and dramatic electronic.

On the whole, worth a watch. I struggled with the final few episodes but by that point my heart wasn't in it anymore.

Solid entertainment but nothing special

[dj_mack · 5/10 · 10 May 2019]

I started the series because I played Ingres back in the days. The show captures the feeling quite well and has a good "old-school" drawing style (akin to Ghost in the Shell, Akira, ...). The music is quite good and the first couple of episode are interesting and push you to watch more. And here comes the but: As the show progresses I got the feeling of watching an ad for Ingress and Android Phones at some point. The characters where just not written well enough (the good youngster, his powerful damsel-in-distress love interest, the tough support, the sadistic antagonist) to maintain an innovative story line and thus it got quite linear and predictable. Overall a series to watch if there is nothing else to watch. But otherwise again a Netflix production which overpromises. If you are looking for a good anime series on Netflix, watch Castlevania instead.

Wasted potential

[nmahir · 5/10 · 17 May 2019]

It could have been a great anime but final 3 episodes are boring they don't do the heavy lifting as the final episodes should do. Last episode was a long game advertisement and the final boss fight was disappointment.

Same plot as charlotte

[natashabrazier-77866 · 6/10 · 6 May 2019]

I know it's hard to create a show thats different and original, but please. If u going to do something, don't go so similar, i know he technically doen't steal the power, but still, it has the same concept. It would have also been nice to see it in 2d, i know its in development, i also didn't mind it, it was the fact that it could have been done beautifully with 2d, having so many different array's of colour and wonder, that we just can't accomplish with 3d animation at this moment in time, maybe in the future it could be made better. But as of now, its an ok show, i really don't mind the soundtrack.... but yeh....

Not bad but the cliffhanger needs to be resolved

[WeAreLive · 7/10 · 19 May 2020]

The story as follows

The story follows special police investigator Makoto, who has the power to read the memories of objects he touches. While investigating a laboratory explosion that was researching an unknown substance called "XM", he touches the ring of a woman who was the sole survivor of the explosion and sees a horrifying vision that embroils him in a massive conspiracy.

I found the animes story a bit confusing to follow but i thought it was still very different then what i am normally watching.

Also it had good visual with a pretty good dub.

If you want to watch a decent CGI anime this is available on netflix both dubbed and subbed.

Mediocre and disappointing

[Snootz · 5/10 · 28 April 2020]

The tale has been told many times before, and much better. I won't get into spoilers (although doing so would make this review much easier). Suffice to say the animation is mediocre, the story line done and done before, a basic "hero needs to save the world from evil overlord" type scenario (however that is accomplished). I found myself yawning halfway through, and still yawning at the end. Ho hum, yet another good guys vs bad guys gun battle-- and another-- and another. Throw in some mysticism hokum just for kicks along with some global-scale explosions. People with super powers yada yada.

Suffice to say there's nothing new here, move along, move along. Thus the "mediocre" 5-star rating. People who give such animations 10 stars are either associated with the film or don't have a clue about rating cinema. Just so it's said: 10 stars is best of the best, astounding film making. 1 star is gutter trash Z-class no-redeeming-factors slop. The extremists need to learn there are rating stars in between-- and need to learn how to better judge where a film belongs in that 10-star range. Giving this level of film 9 & 10 stars is the same as saying, "I don't have a clue how to properly examine and review a film."

In short, it was an unimpressive presentation throughout. Even adrenaline junkies likely will be giving this one a thumbs down.

Difficult Story to Follow, but a Decent Advertisement

[kylerally · 9/10 · 15 May 2019]

The show in and of itself is entertaining, the animation and story give a "ghost in the shell" vibe. If you've played the game it's a fun anime to watch and catch back on.

I personally enjoyed the characters. It's not often you see characters portrayed as human with abilities they don't understand, and where said abilities only give a slight edge over others.

They picked a good soundtrack. Sound quality otherwise was on point.

A good show if you've played the game, a decent show if you have not.

Not bad if you like to watch someone else walk through a game tutorial

[refuserefuse · 3/10 · 20 June 2020]

The first episode was so slick compared to most anime with the exception of a borderline awful english dub for the first character to speak. I don't binge much especially on initial episodes but this made me play the next episode, despite some just plain lazy writing. Batman vs Superman level of of just say any words that any human capable of language would say in your situation completely resolving it instead of something inhumanly stupid or literal nonsense to keep it from resolving.

But holy cow it tanked. It went from slick chase (though unfortunately stemming from lazy writing) one minute to literal video game tutorial the next. Disembodied lady talks to him on the phone, tells him to pick a side in some eternal struggle (it doesn't matter which side) by pressing one of two buttons on his regular smartphone and then using to shoot invisible portals that power the man pursuing them. Swipe, swipe, swipe on the phone, pew pew pew go the portals. More of this. The summaries act like the identity of this lady is an intriguing mystery but she is clearly just the standard video game tutorial lady.

Obviously this probably stems from it's mobile game origin but A. This is in anime, duh. B. If this is supposed to showcase the game it appears to be an AR equivalent of pong. C. The tutorial of an AR equivalent of pong being interjected out of nowhere into the anime I was enjoying has about the brick wall effect on the plot of changing channels and pretending that whatever was on the other channel was part of the same show.

But this it was slick so I held out for the third episode but this was more video game nonsense and lazy writing nonsense.

Lazy writing profiled below if you need examples for reference

A la The Matrix, Idiot gets a messages from his computer and phone to go save Girl which literally ends with "Only you can help her."

Despite this when he reaches the girl, and encounters Agent who is also trying to rescue the girl and asks him, "who told you to come here?" Idiot responds with "She did" referring to the unconscious girl in bed. Clearly computer entity just said "only can save her" one minute of screen time ago. I mean it's so bizarre I have to assume Idiot is trying to hide how he actually found Girl and lying to Agent. But no, Idiot really just is that stupid. Later when he is with the Girl and gets more messages he has to realize finally that they aren't coming from Girl. Apparently really fixated on his first natural assumption that computer entity is the unconscious girl in the bed speaking about herself in the third person.

More of this each time Idiot and Girl encounter Agent. Agent: Why did you abduct this woman? Are you an agent? Girl: (says nothing about not being kidnapped) Idiot: Agent?

Long pause

Conveniently attacked by gunman

You would think that there is enough information to realize if Agent asking Idiot why he kidnapped Girl that Agent is probably not trying to kidnap Girl. And then they get shot at by people probably indicating that they at least are facing the same enemy as they watch Agent take out all the baddies creating all the space for them all to clarify in two sentences what should be obvious already. Idiot and Girl instead run from Agent.

To be clear Idiot is not actually written to be an abnormally stupid character. The writers just can't find a better way than temporarily lobotomizing their characters to keep up the dubious tension of Idiot and Agent continually failing to realize that they have the same objective.

This kind of inept writing being overlooked to the point it is pervasive in American shows and movies. Sad to see in Japanese shows even given that they are Netflix projects based on a mobile game.

Solid sci-fi Anime

[badcgishark · 9/10 · 12 May 2019]

I really enjoyed this series. I am not familiar with the game it is based on and it seems that you don't really need any previous knowledge of the game to enjoy the show.

The animation, story, characters, world-building, are all solid. It's an easy to follow story that focuses on just a handful of main characters. I've noticed a trend of recent Anime series focusing on dozens of main characters without much focus (e.g. Seven Deadly Sins) and it felt good to focus on about half a dozen characters, each with their own story arcs and character development. All of the main characters are well-rounded with motivations that make sense and some possible plot holes are explained and fixed as the series progresses and gives the viewer more information, which I think is a nice touch. While it isn't necessarily groundbreaking, it is a great series that hits the mark more often than not and is another solid addiction to the Netflix Anime collection.

Razoable

[klauzbilana · 5/10 · 20 April 2020]

This anime is razoable. Is a comercial of a game but is little good

INGRESS IS THE FUTURE

[scott-monahan · 10/10 · 30 April 2019]

Download the scanner, watch the show, go to an anomaly, protect your city, strengthen your faction, see the world. This is not just a show, it's the tip of the iceberg to a deep and rich universe of adventure.

Beautiful animation and amazing storytelling!

[zombeynana · 10/10 · 14 May 2019]

To keep it short, the style of Ingress The Animation is basically like a modern version of anime like Ghost In The Shell, very similar to the charming 90s artstyle but in modern 3d. Personally I am really amazed by how beautiful everything looks and how smooth the story is told. I can highly recommend watching it to anyone that was/is interested in the App and like to watch modern Anime.

Surprisingly great!

[andrejy601 · 10/10 · 16 May 2019]

Great OST, good written roles, really good scenario. Would watch again :)

I haven't watched an anime like this in years

[joeypm · 10/10 · 12 February 2020]

This show is sci fi at finest with a unique story and hopefully it gets a second season

Fine anime. Awesome AR game.

[latinrank · 10/10 · 5 May 2019]

The Ingress anime story is fine. Makes a good introduction to the real aim of the series: get you to download the augmented reality game (Ingress Prime) and start playing with some background story. Dont miss it. A good combo.

An underrated masterpiece that deserves a second season

[mbponcelet · 10/10 · 23 November 2019]

Great storytelling, faithful to the features of the game itself, outstanding voice acting. An intimidating villain, gorgeous visuals intense fighting Sequences And moments of suspense as well as an amazing concept.

As a fan of The game and now the series, This deserves a season 2. 10/10

Dope

[jonathanpeaden · 8/10 · 21 May 2021]

Very cool Anime. Good story and character development. The soundtrack is so good.

MMXX James Bond!

[m_winship · 9/10 · 22 October 2020]

Awesome freaking series; the story line is similar to X-Files in Japan with terrific rock soundtrack to boot. If you follow Sarah's special telepathic powers of seeing the invisible, you'll have no problem following the story line. As the series continues, so do the mysteries and action. James Bond in MMXX or 2020! You'll have a lot of fun with this, so tune in, turn on, and tune out, and you'll blow your mind at the nifty psychedelia and light shows. Enjoy and Pax, Murf

Generic junk, kickass sound though

[verydarkmagic · 7 August 2022]

The plot is generic urine. Same as characters. Visually it has a lot of annoying colorful particle diarrhea.

I did like the sound effects and music selection though. Honestly sound is the only part about this show that doesnt suck.