District Zero (Japanese: 会則零 Hepburn: Kaisoku Rei, lit. "Code Zero") is an American-Japanese Anime production written by Alec Verdo, who wrote it as a "fictional autobiography", and produced by Dragonoid Productions. The series began in 2014 and ran for a total of 7 seasons with the last season airing in 2021. The show utilizes a non-traditional animation style, by using 3D-animation and realtime-rendering, as well as using motion-capture technology from the third season on.
District Zero is set in a world where a dystopian society lives in a lawless district, controlled by militaristic factions incubating the local youth as students under their respective banner in an effort to become the leading force of the District. The story follows the life of Alec Thorn from childhood until adultery and his endeavour through the cryptic world that shapes the person he is.
A successor to District Zero was revealed in 2022, called District One. It would be the last series worked on by Dragonoid before their rebrand to Studio: PRAYER IN 2028.
Background[]
Due to the autobiographical nature, District Zero incorporates a lot of thematic and philosophical viewpoints into its story. The story's protagonist is a reflection of the writer and his chronological storyline has a lot in common with the writer's life. The common thread of the story features key events, locations and characters that are all inspired by real world equivalents. This also causes a lot of character interactions and events to be literal interactions or symbolic variants, like deaths of characters being the end of that person's significance in the writer's life.
The name "District Zero" references the hometown of the main character, as the word is a term for an outlawed District, which caused the lawless nature of the town. The setting is located in an uncharted world, as even the developers have never revealed official maps of any part of the setting. This caused communities online to draw the maps themselves with clues from the show, becoming increasingly difficult as the show continued.
District Zero incorporates a large variety of genres, creating a unique and distinct meld. While initially mostly a dystopian thriller, the series later incorporate elements from apocalyptic fiction, military-action, science-fiction, cyberpunk, psychedelia, science-fantasy and horror. Due to the autobiographical nature, it also has a lot of political, satirical and philosophical elements. This mix-mash of genres creates District Zero's unique vibe and adds extra dimensions to the world's mysteries, as it's realistic portrayal of science is sometimes undercut by high-fantasy inspirations, while trying to maintain a sense of realism without ever explicitly explaining.
The story's most prevalent thematic is Melancholy, with the story being written as an epic tragedy and the world being unsettingly dark and depressing. This is to highlight slimmers of light and hope in character's life. However, the story is consequent in having anything good not last long, let alone forever. This highlights the melancholic message of the story, as striving to make it in the world seems to be striving to keep on suffering for it. Yet, the characters never acknowledge this paradoxical motivation, showcasing the views of the writer on human nature and fate.
With the setting of District Zero set in a dystopian society, the story evolves overtime to show what holds the fabric of society together without ever explicitly explaining it. A common comparison of District Zero's world's functioning is drawn with Carl Schmitt's theory of The Political. New sides to the world are revealed as the show progresses, revealing more of the world's functioning. To keep the mystery high, shedding light on subjects raises more questions than it answers. The writer explained that he never intends to fully explain the structure of the society to give the watcher a similar sense of awe and ignorance as the main character, something he says is pivotal for people's lives in the real world.
Seasons[]
- District Zero Season 1
- District Zero Season 2
- District Zero Season 3
- District Zero Season 3.5
- District Zero Season 4
- District Zero Season 5
- District Zero Season 6
- District Zero Season 7
Characters[]
- Main article: District Zero/Characters