English Dub Season Review: Estab Life: Great Escape Season One

In 2021, Gorō Taniguchi announced an original project that would become a mixed-media franchise a year later. That franchise became known as Estab Life, a science fiction action project centering on an ecosystem-controlled future where the city is divided into clusters. Along with the population full of humans, beasts, and other various races, the city has a management AI system that prevents people from going anywhere outside of their given cluster. Can you guys even imagine living in a future like that? I can’t because I wouldn’t last a day living in the same cluster forever.

The franchise consists of a television series and an upcoming anime film written and directed by Taniguchi slated for a 2023 release titled Eiga Estab Life: Revengers’ Road. Both of them are produced by Polygon Pictures. There’s also a mobile game from Square Enix in development known as Estab Life: Unity Memories, which centers on a new cast of characters in the same universe. One of the things in the franchise I’ll be exploring today is the television series that would determine the fate of the mixed-media project’s future.

Estab Life: Great Escape is a 12-episode series that centers on the Escape Shop Extractors, a mercenary group tasked to help clients escape from their clusters and start their new lives in different locations. Equa (Julie Shields) is the positively chirpy leader of the group who has the power of precognition called Fatal Luck that allows her to see into the future. Feles (Alexis Tipton) is an athletic member who uses guns to fight their way out of their problems. Martes (Sarah Wiedenheft) is a humanoid slime girl with strong affections toward Equa. Alga (Anthony Bowling) is a small robot who serves as the technical support for the team. Finally, we have Ulula (Cris George), a deaf wolfman specializing in close combat.

Almost every episode consists of the team performing extraction assignments in different clusters and fighting through security drones to complete them. However, in some episodes, the extractors encounter their own problems outside of their duties, such as keeping Cafe Vostok open in “You Can’t Run from Bonds”. The last three episodes of the season see the extractors going on the run when they are branded as wanted criminals.

This is one of the two shows I watched back-to-back weekly that grabbed my attention, with the other being Greatest Demon Lord. One of the reasons is that this is the first anime show I reviewed that isn’t based on an ongoing manga. Instead, it’s a highly original series conjured up by Taniguchi, the man behind the Code Geass shows and the upcoming One Piece Film: Red. Another reason is its concept, which places the action in an AI-controlled society that forces people to live in a chosen part of the city.

This idea should provide thoughtful commentary on a controlled society amid the show’s mixture of action and slice-of-life. Instead, it’s used as a backdrop for the show’s episodic nature, which is fine as long as the interest in extracting clients is present. Unfortunately for me, that interest constantly falters in providing some pizazz and excitement in the extractors’ misadventures. It improved itself in its final three episodes, but that’s not saying much.

The major issues I had with the series were the repetition in its assignments and the low stakes they provided in its scenarios and characters. Due to the episodic narratives, the show barely explores its characters and world-building further amid their extraction missions. When they do inject some development into its characters, it comes off as rushed or uninspiring. As a result, it becomes challenging for me to feel emotionally invested in the extractors and the city around them. It doesn’t help that Equa’s Fatal Luck made most of its action-packed episodes a bit boring despite the characters being somewhat enjoyable.

However, I will give the show credit for attempting to provide some variety to the season’s formula. The only ones that don’t involve extracting people are “You Can’t Run from Democracy” and “You Can’t Run from Bonds”, both of which saw the characters dealing with Martes being split in two and giving the cafe a makeover, respectively. There’s also its sixth episode, “You Can’t Run from the Leader”, with the extractors tackling an assignment without Equa and her precognitive ability. That one was a bit better than the other extraction-focused missions I’ve seen due to Equa’s crucial role in the team.

Then you have the final three episodes of Great Escape involving the extractors surviving without Equa’s ability. The mild stakes and decent moments of character depth (mainly Equa) help make these episodes a slight improvement over the previous ones. Unfortunately, even with its variety, the show is still a bland yet glossy series of extraction shenanigans that’s constantly on auto-pilot throughout the entire season, with “You Can’t Run from Schoolwork” and “You Can’t Run from Bonds” being the worst of the bunch, story-wise.

The main characters are likable, and the voice cast behind them delivered some decent performances, especially Julie Shields as Equa. However, they’re not enough to overshadow their simplistic personalities. Equa, Feles, and Martes are the only characters that provide some tiny bits of depth throughout the episodes. Although, I can’t say the same for their allies, Alga and Ulula, who rarely have a chance to shine as both supporting characters and comic reliefs. Some of the moments involving the two are amusing. Others, not so much.

Estab Life: Great Escape marks the latest addition to the CGI anime lineup, which has its share of hits and misses in its content. I don’t mind the CGI in anime shows as long as it delivers the same quality as the ones with 2D animation. While the style in Great Escape isn’t a total mess, I wouldn’t say it’s god-tier either. On the one hand, the animation team did well in translating the characters and environments into 3D. However, on the other hand, it can look a bit clunky sometimes regarding the action sequences, which were a tad underwhelming in some episodes.

Overall, Estab Life: Great Escape isn’t the sweet escape I was expecting it to be. While it had some interesting ideas in its themes and plots, they’re squandered by its underwhelming episodic formula that couldn’t escape from its repetition. Despite its characters, average animation, and final three episodes, the show signifies a rough start to Taniguchi’s latest sci-fi anime franchise. Here’s hoping next year’s Estab Life movie can provide the boost needed to get the project back on track.