Gatchaman Crowds - If Zooey Deschanel Had An Iron Man Suit

Speculative Review of Gatchaman Crowds

By James U.

Speculative Review at a Glance:

Rating as of Episode 5:

2 out of 5

Highest Point:

Certain stories focus on the average citizens rather than the main cast. The bystander’s point of view can get pretty immersive and enhances the believability of the setting.

Lowest Point:

A very unrelatable and uninteresting main character. She’s almost too perfect to the point that she devalues the other characters because everything she does is always right anyway, even though she acts on a whim almost all the time. Her happy-go-lucky demeanor even when things go south, while admirable and very shounen hero-like, still doesn't make her fun to watch since it seems like she’s not taking things very seriously even when people’s lives are at risk.

Recommendation:

It’s been a while since I've seen a Henshin Hero type of anime. While I’m a total sucker for such things, it’s not enough to pull me into it. There are just too many things that drag it down, plus it’s only meant to run for 12 episodes. It’s filled with bad cliches, it’s kinda bland, and the main character is insufferable. I don’t recommend it.

Overview

Gatchaman Crowds is a transformation superhero sci-fi anime set in modern-day Japan. It’s loosely based on the old 70s anime Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (It was localized as G-Force: Guardians of Space). It’s directed by Nakamura Kenji, a guy who storyboarded Karas and directed that weird economy-based combat anime C: The Money of Soul and Possibility of Control. Crowds started airing July 13, 2013 and is scheduled to have 12 episodes.

Kakumeiki Valvrave; There's Something Off About This Sunrise-Produced Mecha

Kakumeiki Valvrave Quickie Review

By James U.

Kakumeiki Valvrave (Valvrave the Liberator) is a new sci-fi mecha anime produced by Sunrise (of Gundam fame) and directed by Matsuo Kou (Rozen Maiden, Red Garden, and Storyboard for Gundam 00). It started airing April 12, 2013 and is expected to have 12 episodes.

High school students Tokishima Haruto and his classmates were having a normal high school day until the militaristic country of Dorisa attacked their space colony; a collection of city spheres in owned by JIOR, a neutral country in the middle of a space war between Dorsia and ARUS. In the midst of the chaos, Haruto falls into the cockpit of JIOR’s experimental Gunda-- I mean superweapon and proceeds to cut through those invading fools.

If that bit of premise sounds familiar to you, it’s because it practically copies almost every other Gundam premise in the genre. Case in point: the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Gundam SEED, Gundam AGE, and probably a lot more mecha titles that escapes me at the moment. While it’s pretty cliche, it does have some fantastic animation, and a likable cast (more or less). As fun as Valvrave is, there’s just something about it that puts me off that I can’t quite put my finger on. Expect a Speculative Review after the fifth episode or so.

Sword Art Online Review

By Alex M.

Review at a Glance:

Rating: 3 out of 5

An interesting premise in a not-oft used setting which is somewhat ruined by a mediocre cast and plot.

Highest point: The implications are astounding. What if MMO’s were for realz? Barring a massive sociological experiment, Sword Art Online might yet be our closest guess.

Lowest point: Spot-the-hentai subplots. Many of the subplots and minor character archetypes appear to have been ripped directly from animated erotica (especially in the second season), ruining the gravity SAO appears to be going for.

Recommendation: SAO is intriguing but ultimately insubstantial. It starts strong but ends poorly, watch the first season and skip the second.

Overview

Sword Art Online (ソードアート・オンライン) is an Action Science-Fantasy anime produced by A-1 Pictures Inc. under the direction of Tomohiko Ito, of Seikimatsu okaruto gakuin (Occult Academy). It began airing in July of 2012 and is based off of an incredibly popular series of light novels of the same name. Sword Art Online was the top selling light novel series in Japan for 2012 and was authored by Kawahara Reki, the man behind the Dengeki Novel Prize-winning: Accel World.