Most fans that have enjoyed the beauty of all things anime know about one of the worst anime of all time, Mars of Destruction. This strange, nearly 20-minute long movie has been given the title of having some of the worst animation of all time and Ex-Arm might be trying to join its rank.

Ex-Arm doesn’t waste a single moment assaulting your eyes with choppy visuals, weak CGI, and painfully dull character designs. Even the opening—which should get you pumped up for the series—uses old-school character introductions that look ripped from an early 90s anime. Ex-Arm looks bad and this makes everything else to follow look just as bad.

The first episode of Ex-Arm establishes that this series is trying to be a sci-fi action series with ecchi and mature themes mixed in. We have our main hero—Akira Natsume—having become an advanced AI after a tragic truck accident took his life. Akira now must work with a special team—such as the advanced android Alma—using his new AI abilities. The idea of all these elements seems like a solid premise for a series. Sadly, episode 1 doesn’t impress and shows this series quickly fails in almost every regard.

Partially due to the quality—or lack of—animation, Ex-Arm’s action is almost laughably stiff and boring. Watching Akira’s new partners duke it out with various threats reminded us of scenes from a PS1 video game. Even when characters are just talking, Ex-Arm fails at giving any scene impact and that makes every moment of episode 1 boring and tiring.

Ex-Arm’s biggest failure isn’t just the animation or sub-par action but the writing. Episode 1 just isn’t well written, if we’re being completely honest. The first episode of any show should try its best to capture you by making you wonder what will happen to the main cast and where the story could—or might—go. Ex-Arm doesn’t do any of this and fails to make any particular scene thought-provoking. Akira is a flat protagonist that even when he dies after trying to make a noble move—he tries to save a woman being harassed by several men—makes him no more interesting now in his new “body”. Episode 1 failed to make us want to watch the rest of Ex-Arm and we have to wonder if the writing can improve even slightly for this series...

Ex-Arm episode 1 is just that, the first episode. As bad as this first episode might be, there could be a potential plot twist or series development that could save Ex-Arm from being a complete trainwreck. Even series like Hand Shakers pulled a few miracles out in future episodes to save the series and Ex-Arm might be able to do the same.