Heavenly Delusion (anime) (2024)

Heavenly Delusion (天国大魔境, Tengoku Dai Makyō^?) (officially known as Tengoku-Daimakyo The Animation) is a Japanese TV anime series based upon a manga series by the same name by Masakazu Ishiguro.

The series is directed by Hirotaka Mori, written by Makoto Fukami, with music composed by Kensuke Ushio, and animation produced by Production I.G.^[1][2] In Japan, it aired weekly on Tokyo MX, HTB, RKB, TVA, MBS, BS11. The series has been licensed by Disney for international streaming on Disney+; holding the distributions rights for the series worldwide.^[3]

Story[]

Within the safety of the walls, youths are raised in a nursery-style setting by robots. While life there may appear stale on the surface, the children are full of potential and curiosity. In many ways it is like a slice of heaven. The outside world is a hell-scape. It is almost entirely void of anything mechanical and is now inhabited by bizarre, yet powerful super-natural beings. Maru, with the aid of Kiruko, is out there crisscrossing what was once Tokyo for heaven. But after searching for so long, maybe heaven is more of an untenable dream than a potential reality.

Episodes[]

Episode #	Title	Original Air Date
Episode 1	Heaven and Hell	April 1, 2023
	Summary: Japan has collapsed after an unprecedented disaster. Kiruko, a handyman in Nakano, Tokyo, is on a journey with a boy named Maru to "Heaven" at the request of a certain woman. Meanwhile, children live in a lush green school surrounded by walls. Tokio receives a mysterious message, "Would you like to go outside out there?" and asks his first question about the "outside world."
Episode 2	Two Confessions	April 8, 2023
	Summary: Maru and Kiruko were asleep as if they had fainted at an inn they had stopped at. When they awoke, they found a bird-like monster named "Hiruko" had landed on the ground. The two then fights Hiruko at a night with low visiblity. At the school, Tokio is thinking about the "outside world". Meanwhile, Shiro receives an unexpected photo of Mimihime.
Episode 3	Kiriko and Haruki	April 15, 2023
	Summary: Five years ago, Asakusa was bustling with the entertainment of electric kart racing. Haruki, who lives in an orphanage, is happy with her sister Kiriko, a racer, Robin, whom she looks up to like an older brother, and her friends who live together. One day, Haruki witnesses a cannibal during a race, and in order to help his sister and Robin, he takes on the challenge of exterminating the cannibal by himself.
Episode 4	Kuku	April 22, 2023
	Summary: Tokio is taken by Kuku to see the baby. Strange adults, a strange room, and a 'baby with no face'...... this is the 'outside of the outside'? Tokio is puzzled. Then the intruder detection alarm goes off. Meanwhile, Maru and Kiruko face off against Haruki, who is a simulation of a fish, on a boat with nowhere to run. What is the strategy that Kiruko devises to deal with her ineffective Murder Beam?
Episode 5	Day of Fate	April 29, 2023
	Summary: Maru and Kiruko returns to Tokyo only to find themselves in a crowded tent city. While playing in a video game arcade, Maru is spotted by the neighborhood watch and ends up staying in an empty room. Kiruko gathers information on her own, and hears rumors of a kidnapping group called the "Ministry of Reconstruction". At the school, Tarao's condition worsens. Meanwhile, Sawatari discovers a child's footprints on the wall of the incubator room.
Episode 6	100% Pure Water	May 6, 2023
	Summary: Maru and Kiruko are on their way to the Immortal Order, where the "Doctor" is said to be. On the way, they end up staying at a hotel run by a girl named Totori. They leave their luggage and head to fetch 100% safe water, but there they find a badly wounded vigilante who had attacked them in the tent city and collapsed. Meanwhile, Asura, who is supposed to be dead, appears in front of Tokio, who is resting in the infirmary because he is not feeling well.
Episode 7	The Immortal Order	May 13, 2023
	Summary: Maru and Kiruko comes to see the "doctor" of the Immortal Order. However, the person who approached them was the Liviuman, an organization that is hostile to the Immortal Order. The Liviuman has an intense dislike for the treatment provided by the Doctor and makes a request to the two. The two accepts the request, but Kiruko seems to be losing her cool, unable to dismiss the possibility that the Doctor in Asakusa.
Episode 8	Their Choices	May 20, 2023
	Summary: After exterminating Hirukos, Maru and Kiruko are visited by Usami Shun, a "doctor" in the Immortal Order. They receive a request from Usami to "save someone" and are led to a room with a canopy. There, they are led to a room with a canopy, where Mizuhashi is said to have seen "a person who is being kept alive by a machine. Eventually, Usami reveals a certain fact.
Episode 9	Children of the Nursery	May 27, 2023
	Summary: Usami has a button with the same pattern as the mark on the Kiru-Beam. Maru and Kiruko decide to go after the mark again, but on the way, they encounter an informant named Juuichi who is looking for resources. They buy some information from him, who seems to know something about the mark. Meanwhile, an emergency meeting of the staff is held at the school.
Episode 10	The Walled Town	June 3, 2023
	Summary: Maru and Kiruko decide to go to the Ibaraki facility of the Takahara Academy. They were on their way to Ibaraki, when Juuichi asks them to confirm the life and death of his baby in the town of wall. Since they were on their way to Ibaraki, they accept the request and arrives in the Walled Town, which is said to be ruled by a woman, but the situation is somewhat different from what Juuichi had told them.
Episode 11	The Test Begins	June 10, 2023
	Summary: Maru and Kiruko, having received a van from Juuichi, head over for the Ibaraki facility. Meanwhile, the academy welcomes new 5th year students. Mimihime notices that Ohma is alone and calls out to her, but Ohma says that she would be a nuisance to everyone. Meanwhile, Sawatari is troubled by what the headmaster has in mind.
Episode 12	Outside of the Outside	June 17, 2023
	Summary: Maru and Kiruko arrives at a marketplace as prosperous as Asakusa. It was a town managed by the Ministry of Reconstruction, which they had heard rumors about. They visited the Ministry of Reconstruction in search of the town's unique currency and learned that Robin Inazaki is in this town. Meanwhile, the Takahara Academy is suddenly attacked by an unknown person.
Episode 13	The Journey Continues and Begins	June 24, 2023
	Summary: Maru rescues Kiruko from Robin. The students of the Takahara Academy are able to get outside the walls, later they are taken far away on a boat with Aoshima to a city. Sawatari brings one of the children to Tokio but the director tries to take the child. Later, when the Ministry of Reconstruction inspects the facility, they find no one there, there is only a creature similar to a Hiruko attached to the dead body of a woman who disappeared three months before. Maru and Kiruko talk near a river and Maru confesses his love again. They keep searching for heaven.

Staff[]

• Direction: Hirotaka Mori
• Series Composition: Minato Takano
• Character Design: Utsushita
• Music: Kensuke Ushio
• Animation Work: Production I.G

Cast[]

• Gen Satou as Maru
• Sayaka Senbongi as Kiruko
• Hibiku Yamamura as Tokio
• Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Kona
• Misato Fukuen as Mimihime
• Shunsuke Takeuchi as Shiro
• Tomoyo Kurosawa as Kuku
• Misato Matsuoka as Anzu
• Yuuki Shin as Taka

Music[]

• Opening Theme: Innocent Arrogance by BiSH
• Ending Theme: Daremo Karemo Dokomo Nanimo Shiranai by ASOBI Doumei

Reception[]

Heavenly Delusion received highly postive reviews from critics and audiences, with praise going to the visuals, interwoven storylines, sense of mystery and character development. Gamerant described it as "one of the most rewarding shows of [2023]" and NME commended the lack of clunky exposition dumps, as well as the engaging mysteries. Asianmoviepulse praised the animation and characters, noting the exploration of topics such as "identity, sexual orientation and coming-of-age". Numerous other outlets have given similar praise to the show, with many labeling it as one of the best animes of 2023.

Trailers[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official Japanese anime site
• Official Japanese Twitter