Whatever you've thought of their quality up until now, Netflix's original animated series have definitely rocked the boat in some way, whether by assembling an international production team ("Castlevania"), putting an X-rated twist on a classic franchise ("Devilman Crybaby") or, uh, inspiring people to take selfies with huge Toblerone chocolate bars ("Neo Yokio").

"B: The Beginning" marks a less auspicious milestone in the streaming service's original animation lineup: It's Netflix's first anime to feel, well, normal.

OK, maybe "normal" isn't quite the word. "B" is, after all, populated by a cast of deranged psychopaths, who have been committing a rash of murders in the fictional quasi-European country of Cremona. Chief among them is "Killer B," a mysterious serial killer who scratches a B-shaped mark into every crime scene.