RUN=DIM

ThatAnimeSnob Aug 21, 2012

3

It’s hard to watch this series without thinking how terrible it is. It practically sums up all the mistakes anime series make over the years. It is more interesting as a collection of no-nos in anime. ART SECTION: 4/10 It’s not the amount of detail that is at fault here; the artwork is on par with most lukewarm mecha series. It’s the form of the animation that you end up disliking.Completely 3D rendered graphics means you either love them or you either hate them. If they aren’t as good as Advent Children or Karas , you pretty much dislike them in a few seconds. The characters look like plastic dolls and their movements make them look a bit like robots. So sure, anime are in theory the same thing, but crude 2D animated images are simply more appealing to the eye than crude 3D objects. The illusion of reality becomes hard to believe if you know it is computerized. In a few words, the fake-looking motion fluidity of the characters and the dehumanizing 3D images make you feel like watching a series about robots; not people. Even if we leave that aside, the battle scenes are too poor to keep you interested and the camera shots are lacking variety in angles. Which means that even the direction of the series is at fault.I must tell you that I have played hundreds of JRPGs, which solely use 3D graphics for being far cheaper than anime cut scenes. This sort of treatment was excused there, since I was playing a game and my expectations were not that high. But having to watch a series without interaction means that I expect good visuals to keep me interested; something this series failed to do quite early. SOUND SECTION: 5/10 Nothing particularly wrong here. Voice acting was dry but bearable, music and sound effects were boring but not irritating. A clear base in scoring for me. STORY & CHARACTER SECTION: 3/10 The Xenosaga games I played on PS2 had equally crude graphics but the amazing story and the perplex characters made up for it. This series on the other hand fails completely to be interesting. For starters, the series is named after the mechas in it. Which is a mistake, since the story is not about fighting robots. Then, the main story is about a war between two factions; but the entire focus is given on the sexual awkwardness of a typical teenager. You could easily take out the mecha element, since it is there just for show. You could also remove the whole warring factions, since they don’t drive the story anywhere. Just keep the leading male and the two chicks that circle him and you got yourself a run-of-the-mill romance. Mechas fighting in space for the future of mankind? Who cares! That was just an excuse to have the characters pilot huge robots while in their teens. A war about the preservation of life as we know it? So what? The leading male didn’t use his head to decide who was right. He just listened to his “lower” head and ran after chicks from both sides that wanted him on their side of the attrition. So, why do you need a grand-scaled story if all the fuss was just the decisions a horny male had to do? The characters are terribly clichéd and even the leading male and his sexual attractions are your harem stereotypes. You know, the “I want to have sex with you but I’m a complete wimp” male, the “I like you, so I kick the shit out of you every time you come close to me” main girl, and the “I’m sad and craving for attention, so I throw myself at anyone I see in front of me” female antagonist. There was even a cool adversary in the series who was easily beaten by the rookie protagonist, although he was an elite fighter and then took a back step from the story and left the romance to bloom for the other three. What a croc! As for the ending, the male saves the day by changing sides for the fifth time and sabotaging the enemy ship. He returns home as a hero, although nobody remembers that he betrayed them for a chick and killed a few hundred of their allies while doing so. And guess what! The first chick that was hitting him and mocking him all the time, succumbs to his charm after dumping her for the enemy and making her feel like shit. As for the rest of the characters… nothing. We are given no info of what happened to them. What a baloney! VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTION: 2/10 Failure as a mecha series; the battles were terrible.Failure as a war drama; the whole attrition led nowhere.Failure as a dramatic romance; unless you believe that women love to be treated like dirt by a dork.Failure as a cast; just an idiot as the leader and a cool guy that was all talk and no action. The rest were cardboards. VERDICT: 3/10 RUN away from this DIMoralizing pile of shit.

Dralha Oct 4, 2009

8

This was an excellent mecha anime done entirely in 3D CGI. It had all the trappings of the classic mecha genre: action, romance, politics, and intrigue, but the visuals made it a truly unique experience. The story revolves around Kazuto, a young mecha pilot with "AI" ability, which is sort of a sixth sense. He finds himself involved in a war between rival corporations for control of space. While I wouldn't want anime in general to move towards 3D CGI, this series was quite a refreshing detour from the usual.