Heavenly Delusion: A show that keeps you on the edge of your seat

Spring 2023 was home to a whole catalogue of great anime. We had the likes of Oshi No Ko, Vinland Saga, Hell's Paradise, and so much more. I obviously held high hopes for the three mentioned, and they managed to exceed those with comfort. Yet it was the adaptation of Masakazu Ishiguro's Heavenly Delusion that surprised me the most.

The music of this anime is by Kensuke Ushio, the famed composer of the soundtracks of A Silent Voice, Devilman Crybaby, and Chainsaw Man. His work blends with the scenes and gives everything a unique taste. Joy, despair, longing, and loss – Ushio is able to accentuate and amplify all these. The action scenes and their crispness feel like music sometimes too. The realistic movements of the characters, coupled with the smooth choreography of the scenes, feel fresh and exhilaratingly dynamic.

The strongest point of this show, however, is the plot. Or plots, if you will. Two separate plot lines exist, and the audience is left to scramble their wits and discover the place where one meets the other – the dot where the two lines converge. The scenes transition between two starkly different settings. On one hand, we have an eerie, utopian orphanage, or the "Inside", where Tokio, Mimihime, and other children celebrate each day of their simple childhoods shrouded by the blissful blankets of innocence and safety.

Then there is the "Outside" a dystopian world that has been ravaged by a calamity of such great magnitude that its origins have become the subject of legends. Even as civilisation strives to reclaim a semblance of normalcy, two teenagers, Kiruko and Maru, wander in a world infested with monsters. The former hopes to run into a dear friend from her past, while the latter seeks to find the "Heaven" he has been told about. 

That society of children, guided and looked after by nurturing adults, may seem perfect at first glance, but a disturbing presence hangs from the roof, ever-present, ever-watching, yet seen by almost none. The distortions become apparent little by little. The adults talk in hushed whispers and secret meetings. The children play around under the glare of CCTV cameras, yet they are never seen. Things happen that shouldn't. The drawing of a baby in its mother's womb is considered weird; after all, according to a certain innocent girl, real babies don't have faces.

Heavenly Delusion is an excellent psychological thriller that demands your imagination to fill in the gaps it intentionally leaves. At the same time, the show can be light-hearted when it wants to be. In addition to being exceedingly endearing, the interactions between Kiruko and Maru are always a joy to watch. You laugh alongside them as they poke fun at each other. When they hope, you hope alongside them. And when they suffer – hopes crushed, dreams defiled – you can almost imagine that hurt within yourself.

Heavenly Delusion is one of those shows that has compelled me to think and feel, both to unexpected depths. In particular, two characters, whom I won't mention by name, have lingered in the back of my mind ever since then.