The story of High Rise Invasion is about Yuri, a high school girl who was one-second dosing off in class, the next awakens on a building rooftop. Confused, she is suddenly attacked by a man with an ax, wearing a smiley-faced masked trying to kill her! After escaping she is quickly pursued by another masked killer, this time a woman, who leads Yuri to the edge of the rooftop. Yuri then realized that these psychos want people to commit suicide, by pushing them to the edge of survival and leading them to the edge of a rooftop.
Now the story of the show is gripping. These masked people come out of nowhere and have no explanation on why they do what they do, creating a mystery box for the show. Its shown later that these masks are technology, and brainwash whoever looks at the back of them. It gives vibes of the purge mixed with the walking dead, but in an anime world.
Unfortunately, the characters don’t do much at all to service the plot. The main character Yuri isn’t special in any way, giving us no real connection towards her. She makes instant-kill decisions that quickly change her character in a matter of seconds. It was just bad writing and character development. The side characters don’t do much either. Yuri meets a girl who isn’t masked but still tries to kill Yuri, then seconds later Yuri trusts this girl with her life and she becomes the main side character. Nothing was earned. I also didn’t for Yuri’s brother because the show gives you no reason to. The only interesting character was The Masked Sniper, who hunts down Yuri in the first few episodes, then later gets attacked to other masks due to his being cracked.
The music in the show has an EDM/ROCK soundtrack which I didn’t hate and is sometimes catchy. But like the theme song, it has no inspiration and is just meh. Also, needless fan service is heavy in this show, which is a personal pet peeve. The only place the show has creativity is the overall lore of the masked people and their want for suicide, which I did find engaging. All in all, the show has some interesting ideas, but not enough substance at all to keep me in.
The Musical Hippie 