I enjoyed it a good deal... but that might put me in the minority. This anime has haters, albeit also fans like me who think it's great. It was polarising, especially if you build up expectations based on the first episode.

It's set in a fantasy-but-SF universe. It has witches... but these are aliens who look like human women, but they're unisex, don't pair up to mate and don't reproduce like us. They get energy from a fruit on a tree. Anyway, they'd co-existed with us for centuries and used their magic to help mankind, but suddenly the Redia Empire started hunting them down and staging public executions. The onlookers cheer and laugh because they think mass hangings are funny.

A man called Adonis vows revenge, which seems reasonable. However...

"Kingdom of Ruins is just trash. With one of the least likeable protagonists ever made. Do not watch it."

"He isn't even enjoyable as villain protagonist. Like most the time he just behaves like an idiot. Which leads to hilarious things like him going 'I spent 10 years planning how to get revenge'... only to then do the most obvious shit possible badly while forgetting about the existence of the thing that caused his teacher to die."

"The whole series is just jerkoff gore, suffering and 'everyone is an asshole' for the sake of it. There's a whole country that sold off their wives and daughters so they could buy sentient sex robots."

"show is super cringe fest how anyone calls it good is beyond me."

"Fucking up a revenge story this badly is honestly impressive"

"While not without its flaws, Hametsu no Oukoku was one of my favourite shows of Fall 2023 and the year as a whole. A really good dark fantasy story."

It's certainly grim. Don't watch this if you'd prefer to avoid gore, executions, cruelty, etc. It's so determined to be horrible, in fact, that some people thought its relentless evil came full circle into cheesy camp comedy. That's very subjective, admittedly, but Shirousagi is definitely funny even after committing what might be the most shocking deed in the series.

For me, the show worked. Wow. I truly hated these people and their celebrations after murdering women. Earth soldiers methodically shooting survivors in the head... yeeesh. The number of likeable people who survive much longer than ten minutes is between 0 and 2, not excluding the protagonists.

ADONIS = yes, he wants revenge. No debate there. However, it's impossible to like or empathise with him for ages, because he wants revenge on EVERYONE. The world. The human race. He's a psycho who wants genocide. He makes disturbing choices.

DOROKA = she's a lovely, optimistic ray of sunshine. That's normal for anime protagonists, but here she's an idiot. You'd estimate her life expectancy at five minutes. Adonis thinks she's a waste of space and has no time for her... but when she's somehow still alive even at the halfway point, she starts changing him. Her goofiness made me laugh. She's cute and lovable. She doesn't belong in this show. She and Adonis become an amusing double act (occasionally) and I enjoyed watching their growth together.

There's some interesting content. Any show this extreme can end up doing surprising things. Adonis's choices on the moon are unbelievable. The sex droid community is horrifying. There's an evil-beyond-belief queen who does cutesy idol performances (interlaced with decapitations) and reminded me slightly of Cutey Honey. Similar colouration, similar figure and a not dissimilar kind of boob exposure, especially the heart motif. The queen's hair is different, though, having civilian Honey's hairstyle but battle Honey's colouration.

This one's brutal. You'll hate most of its cast, or even potentially all of them. Adonis wiping out all life on Earth would feel appropriate. It's also capable of exploitative imagery, e.g. when baddies are being evil. It's kind of show where Adonis hitting Doroka in the last episode counts as light-hearted banter... and that made me laugh. That's wrong of me, but it did. I hope we get a sequel, but nothing's been announced and this season's mixed reception means I'm not holding my breath. I'm considering buying the manga to follow the story, although it's currently on 13 volumes and counting...