(25 episodes + 1 OVA)
What’s it about ?
Hello again, Sunrise ! This time around we’re going for the “paranoid sci-fi thriller” brand of mecha.
Characters
Takuto, our protagonist, was an ordinary electronics college student until he tried investigating the disappearance of his girlfriend. Not that their relationship looks particularly great anyway from an outside point of view ; he feels a bit possessive and dismissive of her own aspirations. (Being voiced by Souichiro “K1” Hoshi doesn’t help.)
Maki, said girlfriend, already had made an habit of burying herself into work as the assistant to one of the professors. (Healthy relationship, I said !) As it turns out, she just accompanied him when he went to ground after his research became too hot. They did leave a trail on purpose for Takuto to follow, as they want him on board to complete their micro-team (as they’re bio-engineers).
Dr Noguchi is the kind of scientist who names his resurrected alien mecha “Frank” and shouts “It Lives !” during the reactivation process. (Points to Chafurin for hamming it up to hilarious levels.)
It won’t surprise anybody that the reactivation is a disaster, and Takuto is the lone survivor of this mess.
There’s a coda with a blonde girl finding Frank in the mountains, because obviously we’re not done with it.
Production Values
Perfectly okay ; again, you can’t go wrong with Sunrise doing mecha action.
Overall Impression
Well, this was certainly intriguing. It’s all well-trodden territory, but apparently we’re still early into the setup phase, as the synopsis I can find for the show hint towards something a bit more complex than what we’re seeing yet. Hopefully they’ll find a way to make Takuto compelling enough to carry the show now that the rest of the cast is dead.
What worries me a bit more is that this is a conspiracy show, and those tend to do badly with regards to delivering a satisfying ending. 25 episodes should give it enough rope, but I’m still a bit on the fence.
Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 12
