Bye Bye, Earth is a 2024 anime based on the light novel by Tow Ubukata and Kim Hyung-tae. I was excited for it as soon as I read the description. I have a soft spot for female-led fantasy tales. I also love anime with anthropomorphic animals or people with animal features. Furthermore, the music was composed by Kevin Penkin, whose work I admire immensely. This anime had so much potential to be amazing.
Unfortunately, Bye Bye, Earth failed to deliver a worthwhile story. The series had major issues in execution despite sounding nearly perfect on paper. It’s disheartening when an anime that could have been 9/10 only doesn’t even make it to 7/10, but such is life. Most of what went wrong was in the storytelling. Without further rambling, let’s review some specifics of Bye Bye, Earth.
Contents
Story
Score: 5/10
Belle Lablac seems to be the only creature in this world who is humanoid without any nonhuman animal features. No cat ears, no fox tail – nothing! In this realm populated by anthro-animal people and sex-shifting mermaids, young Belle was regarded as a freak of nature and given the title “Faceless,” (or “Featureless” according to Crunchyroll’s translation.) With her magical sword Runding, Belle sets off on a journey to figure out what she is and hopefully find her people.
Before she can even leave the country of Schwert Land, Belle is required to serve as a solist, which is like a warrior/knight for the King. If she serves well and can pass a test at the end, she will be granted the status of Nomad and be allowed to leave legally. The first season is all about Belle’s time in Schwert Land, getting involved in the strange wars and corruption of the court. While there, she meets a cat-boy named Adonis and they become close as they try to figure out each other and their confusing world.
The most serious problems with this anime lie here in the story category. To start with, the pacing is unusual and inconsistent. The first episode or two did an excellent job setting up what Belle wants to do and the mysteries she must solve. But then the next eight episodes drop the topic of what Belle is and focus instead on her connection with Adonis as well as the dark magic and politics of Schwert Land. In other words, the story slows way the fuck down, promising to take seasons before answering the most significant questions laid out in the premise.
For many viewers, this was a dealbreaker. They cared much more about the central mystery of Belle than her emotional character arc in the city of Park. For me, this wasn’t the biggest issue. I think Schwert Land is interesting and I enjoyed the character development for Belle and Adonis. The worst problem for me was the confusing or non-existent exposition. This anime absolutely sucks at world-building and telling you what the hell is going on. I found the story and fantasy elements extremely vague and/or difficult to grasp at all times. And I wasn’t even stoned.
I understand wanting to avoid long-form exposition dumping, but a simple rundown of the magic in this world or a brief statement of the situation during a battle would go a long way. As things were, I felt frustrated as I failed to comprehend the plot at key points. There were several other issues, including the narrative’s failure to incorporate the important themes it suggested. (For example, this anime doesn’t do the best job with idea of free will.) But I think I’ve ranted enough about this category. Let’s move on to some other aspects of Bye Bye, Earth.
Visuals
Score: 8/10
LIDENFILMS studio was responsible for the stunning visuals in Bye Bye, Earth. As with most modern anime, there were moments of terrible 3D, usually for shots of armies. But compared to many I’ve seen, the CG sins of this anime were not so bad. And that is literally my only complaint about the visuals in Bye Bye, Earth. Other than that, the art and animation are excellent. I would give them 9/10 if only some of the battles had a little more dynamic movement. As it was, 8/10 seems fair for visuals.
The visuals featured beautiful fantasy settings and backgrounds, memorable and impressive character designs, a bold color pallet I enjoyed, and cool-looking effects for magic. The sword designs were often kick-ass as well. Most of the time, the face expressions in this anime are very genuine and emotive. I loved the character design for Adonis especially. I’m just a sucker for cat-people, I suppose. Nothing else comes to mind right now, but the art and animation were all around excellent in this series.
Audio
Score: 9/10
I have nothing but praise for the audio in this series. The music was composed by Kevin Penkin, the genius behind the soundtracks for Made in Abyss, The Apothecary Diaries, and Rising of the Shield Hero, among others. The instrumental makes for wonderful listening. It truly lights up the imagination. In addition, the opening song is inspiring and catchy. It’s called “Faceless” by Asca. Personally, I prefer the solemn ending song (“I Luv U 2” by LMYK) over the intro. This song is beautiful and soothing yet also haunting.
I don’t want to ramble about voice-acting for long this time, but truly, Bye Bye, Earth featured a talented cast of seiyuu. I’ll mention five of the big names. Protagonist Belle Lablac was voiced by Fairouz Ai, a younger VA known for roles like Jolyn in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Power in Chainsaw Man, and Kikoru in Kaiju No. 8. Her youthful, spunky voice was perfect for Belle. Belle’s father figure and teacher, Sian, was voiced by Junichi Suwabe. His deep, suave voice was well-suited to the character.
A favorite of mine, Kouki Uchiyama, voiced Adonis The Question. Uchiyama is a prolific VA with so many roles I don’t even know what he’s most known for. His voice is cool, slightly hoarse and gravelly – ideal for the edgy love interest. Natsuki Hanae, a VA with a distinct, boyish voice, played Kitty The All. He is best known for voicing Tanjiro in Demon Slayer. Last of all, the angelic Saori Hayami appeared as Shelly. She is a sought-after seiyuu with a sweet, musical voice. She’s had roles in many anime from Demon Slayer to Kakegurui. Clearly, the voice-acting in this anime was extremely impressive.
Characters
Score: 7/10
I liked most of the characters in concept. Some had interesting bits of personality. However, I didn’t connect to any of the characters on a deep enough level to give the category a high score. Also, there were issues with developing the characters. Since there are only ten episodes, there wasn’t much time to flush out the cast. But I’ve also seen anime that do way better with a similar amount of time – for example, Chainsaw Man has excellent character development for a short series. I think Bye, Bye Earth could have done a lot better.
That being said, I did enjoy the characters most of the time, so I wanted to mention a few positives. First of all, I like Belle. Kudos to the series for making a female protagonist who feels like a real person instead of a doll imagined by a 40-year-old incel. I also loved the mer-folk, including Benetto and Tiziano. It’s so cool that they can change sexes. On a final note for this section, Adonis was great. His character journey from Belle’s love interest to Belle’s personal antagonist was fascinating and well-written. Though it wasn’t amazing, the character category was certainly adequate.
Personal Enjoyment
Score: 5/10
Warning: Spoilers and discussion of SA
I wanted nothing more than to enjoy this anime, but it was difficult when I constantly felt confused and disappointed by the storytelling. Bye Bye, Earth could have been truly amazing if only a few things were changed or made clearer. My personal enjoyment rating is low for that central reason. However, I did undoubtedly enjoy the audio, visuals, and most of the characters. This isn’t a bad anime at all, but it could have been much better in my humble opinion.
There is something I wanted to include and wasn’t sure where else to put it, so I guess this category will do. In episode 9, there is a painful and serious scene where Adonis, in desperation and despair, sexually assaults Belle. The psychological aftermath was difficult for Belle. Honestly, I was impressed with the way Bye Bye, Earth handled this part of the story. In no way was Belle’s trauma sexualized for the viewers. Also, the narrative didn’t dismiss or minimize the gravity of the incident.
I’ve seen precious few anime that handle this so well and so realistically. Even though it was tough to watch our strong protagonist suffer, I’m grateful to this stoy for portraying sexual assault as a serious matter that is far too common for women. With that grim subject out of the way, let’s look at the overall score for Bye Bye, Earth.
Overall Score
Score: 6.8 out of 10.0 Magic Swords
The overall score is the average of the scores for the categories we covered in the previous sections. I consider the 6s range “fine” but not quite “good.” This series irked me immensely with its vague, clumsy narrative and wasted potential. I would honestly still recommend this anime just for the soundtrack. In addition, if you love female-led fantasy stories, you might want to try Bye Bye, Earth – but if you’re like me, you’ll just end up frustrated with how much better it could have been.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
Anime Rants 
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