Maia wants nothing, then she gets everything she doesn't want, then the show spends 24 episodes proving that was exactly what she needed. The early episodes feel scattered, comedy undercuts drama, fanservice distracts from character work, but by episode 20 you realize every throwaway joke was laying groundwork for why these people matter to each other. A show about misfits who find their actual family in the wreckage of their ideal lives, told with enough humor to make the heartbreak land harder.
In a future where rising seas have left the Earth mostly water, with scattered islands and floating cities, fifteen-year-old orphan Maia Mizuki hopes to enter the elite paramilitary Ocean Agency. After failing her entrance exam, her life spirals fast: evicted, robbed, taken hostage and shot. Two women named Rena and Shizuka come to her aid. They belong to Nereids, an unconventional help-for-hire group. With nowhere else to go, Maia signs on and takes whatever work comes in, from hunting wanted criminals to tracking down lost cats, and the results rarely go as planned. More members join along the way, and midway through, a subplot tied to the name Daphne begins to matter to Maia. The mix of comedy, drama, mystery and science fiction suits viewers who like humor alongside a slowly unfolding puzzle.
