Mageinta

First Impression:
I haven't even watched 10 minutes of episode 1 and I can already tell it's going to be one of THOSE shows. How do I know this? Character names revealed: Adam, Eve, Cruz Schild (Cross Shield). There is a mechanized murder machine designed to kill "Needless" and do you know what's it called? "The Testament". The first big damn hero to come through is a PRIEST. So, like Neon Genesis Evangelion, I know I'm in for some kind of Christian symbolism-laden series.

Review:
Okay, so I was totally right in my first impression. There's christianity everywhere, and it actually starts to annoy me. Adam and Eve are "created for each other", there's an evil corporation called 666, the big bad returns to the world through the 666 gate. Unlike NGE, which was totally a mind#$@! that I seriously doubt was intended for kids, Needless is a typical shounen anime with your typical shounen elements like extremely flat characters and superpowers. The superpowers are your standard class of superpowers: fire control, water control, gravity control, etc. and obviously someone's going to have the ability to copy other superpowers and it's going to be broken as all get-out and OF COURSE it'll be
one of the main characters and likely the bad guy will either have it or have a morepowerful version of it. Lo and behold, shounen never lets me down.

The characters are for the most part flat, and show no signs of development throughout the series. Actually, that's only partly true. You see flashbacks, and then you compare the flashback to the guy you see today and wonder, "Where the $#@! did someone go wrong?".

You follow Cruz Schild, a powerless baby brother that lost his sister in episode one after which he is rescued by "a priest", though as a man who was raised Catholic, he looks nothing like what I would consider a priest. Also, none of the priests I know of go on suicide missions holding grenades, but maybe the Monty Python is strong with our priest. Our priest is a complete pedophile and a violent moron, par for the course. He's the "Adam" and his partner "Eve" is a complete airhead. So let's look at our shounen checkbox list.

1. Call to adventure via family death - check
2. Moronic muscle dude - check
3. Someone that likes little girls - check
4. Female lead is a dumb broad - check

There are other characters to fill out the board if you're playing shounen bingo. Obsessed with power, obsessed with money, the guy everything happens to because he was unfortunate enough to not make his saving throw on comic relief, evil group in control of the country, double-crosser, etc. I don't believe lack of character can break a show but plenty of character certainly makes it. But because this is shounen I shouldn't expect much. Hoohah.

Can I also point out that the characters look like they're either made of jello-balloons or bricks? Unappealing and somewhat jarring.

The fight scenes are rather plain. If turn-based combat ever entered the real world, this is what I would expect it to be like. What annoyed me the most was when they'd yell their powers every time they used them, and they'd use them like 5-6 times a fight so it's not like you're missing anything if they opted to not yell them the third time onward. In fact, I might even venture so far as to say that Needless suffers from DBZ syndrome, where you spend a disproportionate amount of time yelling your attack or just yelling. I'm rather disappointed that the powers were very generic. There was a bit of science in there which I really appreciated (physics major woot woot) though it wasn't prolific enough to make a standing impression.And actually, while we're on the topic of what annoyed me, PANTY SHOTS. THERE ARE SO MANY OBVIOUS SHOTS THAT WERE MADE JUST TO BE PANTY SHOTS. I get that it's supposed to be exciting(?)... actually I don't get that. But maybe that's because I'm a 21 year-old man watching a shounen anime.

What about the story? The story feels a bit rushed. It's not terribly unpredictable, as there are hints of the double-crosser quite early in the show. There wasn't actually anything that made me spit-take my strawberry milk. Someone gets kidnapped and the big bad happens to throw a party at the place where the kidnapped is taken to. Rather convenient, and look! He also invited everyone to come with the consequence
of not coming being DEATH. So everyone goes there to rescue the kidnapped and it's almost like stop the big bad is an optional side quest but not really because the series doesn't have enough episodes to be that developed.

All that aside, there are some genuinely amusing parts of the show and while as a whole I think it really is just a kids show, there are some moments that were fun even for me. The story has a pretty decent foundation, and if the series were maybe twice as long, they could probably properly expand upon all of the little details that I thought could've make it great. The overall tone is light, and while the show may think it's being funny, it really isn't. But maybe that's the somewhat mature 21 year-old talking, since I most likely am about twice as old as the target audience. All-in-all, I say it's a weak show, not something that I'd watch again.