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2. Iodine  
Somewhere in the distant future, most of the Earth has been devastated by monstrous "phantom beast" aliens, and teenagers in mecha comprise the main defense force against them. Many adolescents now go to high school while on active military duty, and the series follows one group, Unit 1512, through a short period of their
lives. Specifically, the focus is on Hayami Atsushi, a nebbish young pilot, and his budding relationship with the standoffish new girl, Shimabara Mai. There
is much to like about the show, which fills out its
universe a bit better than most, and succeeds in building several characters that are genuinely interesting to watch. Unlucky Tanabe, uptight Mio,
and playboy Setoguchi are the standouts. On the other hand, there's also a gaggle of gossiping female
techies in the mix, who act like they're in a love-comedy, plus Nonomi, an unaging little girl,
whose contribution to the show seems to be to stand around and act cute. The mood swings wildly from
somber to sappy to silly, and it's often difficult to
reconcile the events of some episodes with others.
All of the technicals of Gunparade March are excellent, and the visuals leave nothing to the
imagination. The biggest problem here is that the
show sets up a lot of material and never gets around to the payoff. The story feels cut off, ending after
only twelve episodes with a disappointingly uneventful finale. There's often a serious disconnect between
the heavier and lighter sides of the story, and the
darker parts are eventually dropped when the romance
kicks into high gear. The series as it is, is
perfectly fine and entertaining, but one can't help
but feel that a lot of opportunities were missed, and
more could have been done with the elements
introduced.
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| 1. FoXdie
Another school kids in big robots go to war with an undefined
alien race type anime, or so it seems when you start watching this 12 part series.
Actually this turns out to be a romantic high school drama with battles thrown
in for good measure. It starts of pretty battle heavy but while the anime progresses
the battles take a back seat and make room for a love story between Hayami (They
could have called him Shinji Hikari and no one would know the difference, except
he doesn't whine like Shinji does) , and Mai (Rich girl turned soldier to get
revenge for a lost love gets in touch with real life again). This
for some might sound like a disappointment but I liked this story much better
this way.
I had trouble watching the first few episodes of this anime purely
for the sheer lack of personality or style it showed during the battles (with
the exception of episode five which really stood out). The main reason for this
is the aliens. They’re a sad bunch of ugly looking misfits from hell with
no identity or sign of intelligence whatsoever, even if their leader is called
a “brain”. (But wait, they do feel????) Mech
design is OK, I like the fact that they look more “real” than usual.
No flashy colours here which adds to realism but distracts from what’s going
on because you don’t know who’s who when things get busy. There’s
virtually no background information on the aliens (Why the hell did they come
to earth), most of the cast (So many, so little time), the mysterious company
of Mai’s family who produces the mechs (I actually thought there was a bigger
scheme going on, but noooo). 12 episodes is just too short. Although
I've got quite a few problems with the show as a whole. I do like it (if only
for episode 5 and the romantic bits in the end). It made me feel good because
of it’s simplicity. The show never pretends to be more than it actually is.
A simple and fun anime. |
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