The Daily Life of a Part-time Torturer – Episode 1

What’s it about? In a world where torture is legal and several contract companies exist in order to punish criminals, our protagionist Sero is a recently hired part-time torturer who enjoys the work that he does and together with his co-workers try to live normal lives while torturing their victims in order to extract information for their clients.  

I’ll admit the premise for this premiere intrigued me because if done right, it could’ve made an interesting commentary about how real world torturers are able to compartmentalize their “jobs” with their everyday lives.  I grew up listening to stories from my parents and their friends about what life was like under dictatorship, so I’m no stranger to what methods torturers used to inflict pain on their prisoners.  I always used to wonder: how any of these torturers were able to go on with their daily lives while knowing they completely ruined the lives of other people? I only mention it because I wasn’t expecting to have deep thoughts like that when watching this premiere.  I’m normally someone who enjoys dark comedy (I really like The Death of Stalin), because for me laughing about terrible things is the best way to process intense topics.  

But the problem with this premiere isn’t that it’s too light-hearted about the subject. It honestly takes itself way too seriously, but still doesn’t interrogate why it’s so normalized to become a torturer and enact violence with such ease.  It treats the job like working retail, but forgets to do anything with the premise after that.  It doesn’t bother to question if the victims they are torturing are truly “criminals,” even to the audience, while the characters follow orders without questioning the system.  The only evident joke in the show is that there’s a subtle understanding between all the main characters that they are all messed up in the head, which is why they can do the “work” without any remorse.  It’s not a particularly funny joke, and it mostly feels redundant by the end of the episode.  The attempts to establish a wacky office environment feels forced and tonally just doesn’t align well with the vibes the show is trying to convey.  

The main characters are mostly forgettable, with the exception of Mike, who looks like a child.  It’s cringily transparent shock value, which I know is the intended effect; but it doesn’t make it any less annoying.  It’s also obvious that this show was meant to be a series of shorts, and they feel stitched together without much care.  It begs the question on who the intended audience is for this show? It doesn’t have as much charm as ‘Tis Time for Torture, Princess, and it feels pretty tough to pitch a hobby anime where handsome men pursue the art of torture.  There’s truly nothing underneath the layers of this show, which is truly a shame because I do think something meaningful could’ve been said about the use of torture in a dark comedy.  

The series also makes it a point to never show the faces of the people they are torturing, which adds an extra level of dehumanization.  I’ll be skipping this one folks and here’s hoping for better offerings this season. In the meantime, check out The Death of Stalin, I promise you’ll have a good laugh!