Needless Review
by tehnominator
Thursday 21, 2010.
Story: 7/10
Shounen anime have formulas. Rather, they have one formula, and
every anime of the genre seems to add or take away certain tropes to make
themselves "unique". At least, they try to be more unique than the
preceding, popular generic shounen anime. Needless is the kind of anime that
does not add all the typical stereotypes and clichés found in the genre. It
takes them all, multiplies by Vegeta's favourite number, and then guzzles down
so much pubescent testosterone that its pores practically leak stroke-inducing
amounts of adrenaline. All the series really missed was the Red Bull product
placement (no fear, this anime is so MANLY that it has its own brand of energy
drink).
Series like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann immediately come to mind when
one thinks of Needless. Notably, Needless came onto the scene years before the
heaven-piercing and immortalised Gurren Lagann franchise did, but the first
thought any audience might have is that this anime is a rip-off. If anything,
Kamina might have taken a few shouting lessons from Needless' male
protagonist, Adam Blade.
The main story follows a post-apocalyptic Japan (because any other
kind of Japan just wouldn’t cut it) set in the future after the third World
War. What spawns after the war is a group of mutated people known as the
Needless; people blessed with superhuman, nearly god-like powers. There is one
catch to having these powers: a Needless only has ONE power, no exceptions.
There is just one more little thing about being a Needless— the government
wants you captured or dead. And in post-apocalyptic Japan (someone should
trademark this soon), those who govern are the ones who run a pharmaceutical
company. Yes, a pharmaceutical company.
Animation: 6/10
Needless suffers though from its looks. It is an over-the-top anime
and everything about it is just big, big, BIG, including everything from the
guys’ rock-hard, inhumanly-impossible-to-attain-abs and thick, bulging necks to
the girls’ big, bouncy, full… hairdos. Nearly every character seems to suffer
from the restriction of clothing; the men walk around exposing their
plastic-like giant bodies and the girls shake and bounce all over the place in
their varying loli get-ups (depending on if they are lolis, of course—some are
full-bodied women). Also, the costumes these characters wear look like rejected
material from Detroit Metal City. Not even glam rock bands would wear that
stuff. On the plus side, Needless benefits from its colourful palette and comic
book style shading, however, the fights just remain drawn out that even some of
the more impressive battles become dull from seeing the same thing over and
over again.
Sound: 5/10
Unfortunately, Needless has a score that will be enjoyed based
entirely on musical preference. Cheesy 80s glam rock, anyone? It is truly
shocking to know that the OP theme song was made within the last decade. “Modern
Strange Cowboy” does not conjure up the image of nails in a blender-- it is
more like hammers in the garbage disposal. Or ducks in agony. It sounds like a
lot of things, really, and none of them are particular good, especially with
the wailing and whining of the singers. The second OP theme is a small
improvement, and the ED themes are so gooey, sugary and poppy that they are in
complete contrast with the heavy metal background music that came before them.
Also, prepare the ears for several thousand utterances and screams
of English attack names. Needless has some very amusing attack names, some of
which sound like the writers skimmed through an old copy of an Oxford
dictionary and pulled random words. Not so random if one knows the historical
connotations of the attack names, but it is almost a guarantee that this
anime’s target audience will have little to no idea of the history "Little Boy"
or "Dean Drive Fox Hound" pertain.
Characters: 6/10
Adam Blade seems to initially subvert being a stereotype while
encompassing every single personality trait of the “shounen lead”. His problem
becomes his rigidity as a multifaceted character. In short, there is only one
face to Blade, and that’s the face with the broad cocky grin and the furrowed
eyebrows. There is no character development in Needless; its cast simply grows
stronger physically while their personalities remain static save for the
heel-face-turns that so many of them take for the sake of plot twists and
complications. The second male lead is Cruz “Yamada” Schild, a boy made of the
same bones of several young Gainax protagonists who are infamous for starting
off being useless and then growing into veritable badasses (such as Ikari
Shinji of Neon Genesis Evangelion or Simon of Gurren Lagann). Eve stands firmly
as the character with the greatest amount of promise, yet she is put on shaky
grounds and is sorely misused by the anime. She comes with the biggest quirks
(and not to mention, some big physical assets as well) and one of the best
powers, however, she spends a large part of the anime not even fulfilling her
role as a defender of the Needless due to one of the several extremely annoying
plot hacks.
Needless also introduces a sizeable set of supporting characters.
Sadly, most are forgettable, including the bad guys. If the main antagonist was
not also called Adam, then a viewer might just about forget his name (it helps
a little that the good guys grunt his name so often too:
“ARRRCCCLLLIGGGHHHTTT!”). Yet, there is one group in the villains who will
undoubtedly be the most memorable characters of Needless: the Pretty Girl
Squad. These young ladies star as the main attraction in the anime’s yuri
service-filled ED theme sequence. While they certainly attract attention there,
they also manage to grasp the audience within the anime itself. The Pretty Girl
Squad consists of a trio with curious quirks and powers, and their exploits
amount to half of Needless’ entertainment value for two-thirds of the series.
Such a shame that they are naught but side side characters.
Overall: 7/10
Needless can be seen as one of two things:
1. A clever parody of the shounen genre that deliberately utilises
and brutalises the cliches to both titillate and frustrate the audience.
2. A stereotypical shounen anime that tries to be bigger, broader
and bolder than the others by catering to its audience's every desire.
After one of the anime's major arcs that drags on for a small
eternity, one would be inclined to assume Needless is the latter. While it does
manage to be severely entertaining, the fact that it becomes indiscernible
whether it is a parody or serious makes the flaws in the content and
characterisations more apparent. It stops being a prod and a poke, and starts
taking itself rather seriously, especially when it just stops being a power-up
shounen built around never-ending fights and shouting matches and turns into a
government conspiracy anime.
Needless is not essential viewing, but it is for anyone looking to just have a good
time. The gimmicky attacks, the fanservice, and the high energies make this one
truly good watch, but its flaws and shortcomings make it a series that a more critical
audience might dissect and destroy. But in its defence, there is no series like
it that will get you pumped up and ready to shout “Engrish” attack names. At
least it should be seen for those attack names. Nothing beats “Little Boy” or
“Dean Drive Fox Hound”.
Screenshots
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