(22 episodes)
What’s it about ?
A high school club dedicated to building a giant robot, in a near future where the tech just about allows that sort of thing.
Characters
Akiho, the club’s leader. Her sister founded it a few years ago, and there was much progress at the time ; since then, it’s kinda floundered, and there’s only two members left (one of which never does anything). Still, she’s very enthusiastic about it.
Kaito, her kinda-boyfriend (I think), who spends a lot of his time playing videogames (so well that he’s been flagged as a possible cheater) and can’t be bothered helping much. He’s vaguely supportive and that’s it.
The vice-principal isn’t too keen on this pipe-dream-club, and is sneaky enough to promise them more budget if they knuckle down do a little something for a robot show. Which is set in a week. Oh, dear.
If the paratext and the brief flash-forward are any indication, the club is soon going to fill out with many more members.
Production Values
Perfectly alright ; the way the tech is portrayed makes the club’s goal ambitious but just within the range of plausible.
I also love Kaito’s augmented-reality phone app, a gimmick which would never look right in real life but is a lot of fun in animation.
What did I think of it ?
Re-adjust your expectations : yes, this comes from the same visual novel studio as Steins;Gate ; no, this doesn’t have the same blurry grit and paranoia-inducing atmosphere at all. This is much closer to something like, say, last season’s Tari Tari : a “save our club” story with a geek-friendly theme.
On this level, it’s perfectly enjoyable, and I’m always up for a series that looks like it’s going to deal with the practical aspects of building and operating a giant robot.
