(24 episodes)
What’s it about ?
Space mecha.
Characters
Our heroes are a team of mecha pilot trainees, known as the “Rabbit Team”, but mostly as the “Fail Five”, as they just don’t work well together. There’s Asagi the aloof ace who runs into battle without thinking, Ataru the nerdy gunner, Tamaki the childish and boy-crazy point-girl, Key the jaded analytical girl, and Izuru the “leader” (whom nobody acknowledges as such).
Lt Suzukaze, their training officer, isn’t the last one to constantly remind them that they’re crap. So she’s very surprised to learn the brass want them to immediately go on the frontlines with cutting-edge mecha to save their assieged forces from the dastardly baddies.
The catch is that those experimental mecha are very unstable, and they only need to distract the enemy for half an hour so that everyone can be evacuated. Hence why they send disposable newbies.
What nobody expected is that (1) Izuru would decide to play hero to save all those civilians the brass “accidentally” forgot to mention wouldn’t be evacuated, and (2) that he’d actually pull it off, frightening the aliens enough to force their retreat.
Yay ?
Production Values
Very impressive. It’s got tons of budget for the mecha battles, and it shows (although the CG is very obvious).
I also really like the recurring narrative device of quickly sliding the camera horizontally to catch each of the five’s reaction/quip on whatever is happening. It’s funny and the animators vary the facial expressions enough to make it work.
Overall Impression
Well, this was fun. It’s also completely empty of substance, with everyone being depicted with broad strokes verging on caricature. But it does establish its premise and characters properly, so there’s that.
I’m however mildly concerned by how it tells us rather than really shows us how the 5 really suck, especially as they seem surprisingly competent for their first real battle.
Still, it’s a decent effort, and unapologetic about what it is. As popcorn entertainment, it works.
