Post-apocalyptic settings in anime offer that irresistible blend of despair and curiosity, like when you can’t help but look at that last slice of pizza even though you are supposedly on a diet.
Heavenly Delusion originates from a manga that first hit the shelves in Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon back in January 2018. By February 2024, it had been packaged into 10 tankobon volumes. The manga’s eerie narrative and distinctive art style caught enough eyes to warrant an anime adaptation, undertaken by none other than Production I.G. In April 2023, the anime community was served a fresh plate of existential dread with the anime adaptation of Heavenly Delusion.
The 13-episode series paints a bleak future where humanity is just barely clinging to life, battling not just the elements but also creepy, otherworldly creatures with a taste for human flesh known as Hiruko. We follow Maru and Kiruko, two teenagers trekking through this nightmare landscape on a mission to find “heaven.” And if that wasn’t enough to pique your interest, the series also explores themes of gender identity and the lengths we’ll go to protect the ones we love.
So, where can you watch Heavenly Delusion?
Heavenly Delusion is, frustratingly, not available on Crunchyroll. Instead, this dark horse of the Spring 2023 anime season found its stable at Hulu and Disney Plus (because Disney is on a mission to own everything, but promote nothing).
It’s a damn shame, because Heavenly Delusion is the kind of anime that deserves the spotlight. But maybe this is for the better. There’s something oddly satisfying about being part of a niche fandom, even if it means having to explain the plot to your normie friends and enduring their blank stares.