I recently started this show with only 2 episodes out so far and I'm loving the suspense. There's 13 mins per episode and less if you count the songs. If you're into suspense, supernatural horror, this may be your thing. Lockdown Zone Level X follows the story of Ryoka who finds herself trapped in her room unable to leave because of the entity known as X is in the building. Isolated from the outside world, she tries to make sense of what is going on with her cell phone as the only linked outside.
Is it really that good?
The animation is an acquired taste as the transitions can remind me of "reading" it like a webtoon. I even confused this art style for a manhwa until I've seen the sourced material from a manga. The characters upgraded in the visual side being more stylized than the source material. Between the manga and the anime, I say you're not missing much if you don't see the source material, there are some minor alterations in how the events played out but it turned out for the better in my opinion. Something like explanations delivered via texts in the manga are delivered verbal and paired with chilling music only added to the tension for better visual story telling.
True to its genre as a suspense supernatural horror, the pilot episode felt like something of a horror game plot taking inspiration to the feeling of isolation and being kept in the dark. Ryoka is trapped in a room isolated in darkness. Her only lifeline to the outside world is her mother who updates her with minute details that begs more questions than the answers she provides. And as much as how the mother tries to be reassuring to calm Ryoka, it felt like it's just adding more to the tension of trying to figure out the unknown because creature X is an unknown entity on top of the building.
Since the series is ongoing with only a few materials translated to English were released, I say it's better to just wait for the anime weekly than binge read. It's too early to make strong recommendations from the first 2 episodes but I like it so far and hope it doesn't become a let down later on.
Thank you for your time.
