Yeah, OK, sure. We have another, another offering in the “Girls Who Save the World” genre, but this one has more of an edge than I have seen in other shows of this type, especially with the massively capacious title of “Shūmatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka?” (also known as “Sukasuka”, and its English title “World End” or “What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?”)

It’s been over 500 years since the human race almost went extinct. Some strange creatures called ‘Beasts’ came down and laid waste to it all. Those that survived now make their homes, towns, and cities up on floating islands in the sky to keep out of reach of all but the most mobile of Beasts. Only a group of young girls, dubbed the Leprechauns, can wield the ancient Dug Weapons needed to fend off invasions from those dangerous creatures. (I guess Leprechauns sounds nicer than Gnomes or Ogres or Banshees.)

Brought back to this world, after a suspended animation sleep of about 500 years, is the last human being around, Willem Kmetsch, (him with his lap full). Sadly, these Dug Weapons exert a tremendous strain on the body of the person and his last battle that put him to sleep was so devastating that he can no longer operate the weapons. He is, however, pressed into service to become a caliber of father for these Leprechauns and guide them through the rigors of battle.

He is to oversee the three key Leprechauns who can do the most damage to the beasts, who are, left to right:

Chtholly Nota Seniorious
Nephren Ruq Insania
Ithea Myse Valgulious

(That guy in the center is Limeskin, a senior officer). The last name of the ladies is the name of the Dug Weapon that they wield. There are a few more folks on the cast, those who have weapons and those who have not yet been given one, but this is what we work with. The series is all the turmoil generated in basically helping these current Leprechauns and the future Leprechauns, all of whom are destined to die, as you will either in battle or keel over, because the weapon saps their life force at an alarming rate.

Willem stews continually, as he really cares for these people, understand fully the price exacted from anyone who uses these weapons and that there has to be a better way to achieve goals (but there is none). The Officer Class appears to have successfully protected the Leprechauns from the fact that they are going to die young, although I feel they are aware of it, but no one says anything about it to anyone. Things, as they do, take a turn for the worst, and Willem has to decide what it is he hopes to fully accomplish.

I just don’t know. Some aspects of this are entertaining, especially how we live in this brave new world, but a lot of fighting tropes rise up and tend to dilute the more important messages of the show, like when you sacrifice yourself for the greater good, whose greater good is it? Plus the fact that you basically have a puppy mill for the initiates that are prepped their entire life to be ready to die must be disheartening at best. I felt a sense of despair, in that it seems that humanity (for want of a better word) is never going to get the upper hand in all of this and it is a lifetime of attrition for endless lifetimes.

My review is tainted, in that I am coming across a bit too many GWSTW shows and they blend together into a gooey sameness. Despite some tweaks here and there, it is the same show. But I will not let my deficiencies imperil me. If you are prone to these types of shows, you will have a good time in exploring what goes on. The rest of us should do the two-show test and decide at that point. Binging will help smooth out the rough spots, but it is more of a flip of a coin to see if you choose to do that. It’s not that it will fall apart under the attempt, but some shows just are not as needing of it as other, like this one.

On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork           7 (Typical approach)
Plot                  7 (Ditto Master)
Pacing              8 (Good fight sequences)
Effectiveness   8 (Strong use of flashbacks)
Conclusion       6 (It reaches a ‘coupler point’, but hasn’t ended)
Fan Service      2 (A similar show would be “Okamisan”)
Bingeability     6 (Comme ci, comme ça)

Overall            7 (It’s all too usual)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. I won’t lose another friend.