This is review number three hundred and fifty three. This anime is part of the Winter 2014 lineup. The anime I’ll be reviewing is called Buddy Complex. It’s a thirteen episode anime about a bunch of robots and a guy travelling through time. It’s a lot more convoluted than that, but let’s read on.

Story

This anime follows Aoba Watase as he travels seventy years into the future. In this time, the world is at war when two opposing factions are trying to kill each other. Aoba is thrust in the middle of it all, and he is asked to be the savior of the Free Pact Alliance. With his help, they’ll have a better chance at defeating the Zoglia Republic. He is required to pair with a guy he doesn’t like though, but he has no choice. It’s his and everyone else’s life on the line, and he must do his best to save the world.

Taking the Pants Off

This is an Original Screenplay anime. Yes, be worried. O. Screenplays are shows that aren’t adapted from anything, and they all came from the huddled minds of the animation studio. In this case, the effort comes from Sunrise. Now, let me just be clear about this. When I saw the title poster of Buddy Complex, it reeks of O. Screenplay. You just know it’s an original anime, and it really got me worried. The last original anime I watched from Sunrise is Valvrave and it sucked. I love the first season, but things got compressed and convoluted when the second season came. Original Screenplays are often flawed by design. The reason is because studios often try to do too much to a concept. They already have a good one, like a futuristic Ace Attorney-like anime where wizards are prosecuted, and they just need to develop it some more. Instead of letting that idea grow though, most studios feel anxious thinking that it isn’t enough. So the trial anime about wizards will then have a ham fisted mecha element to it, just because. This happens in a lot of O. Screenplays, and I think Code Geass really started the trend for the over-reaching type of storytelling. Code Geass is a masterpiece, and it had mecha, magic, war and angsty teenagers thrust in the middle of it all. It’s a formula so solid that people still try to replicate it to this day. Off the top of my head, we have M3, AKB0048, Star Driver, Captain Earth, Valvrave and now Buddy Complex. Sadly, these shows aren’t like Code Geass. They try to be as complex and ambitious as Code Geass, but they just plain suck. They can’t stick to an idea, and it ruins the entire show. Potential is there, but it often feels like the creators themselves don’t quite trust that the work they’re putting out will be good enough. I’m quite sick of awful O. Screenplays, to be honest. For some reason, the creators kept falling in the same sand pit. Or are they doing it on purpose? Either way, Buddy Complex had a solid idea but the execution is just bad. The plot points aren’t properly developed, and most of the events just feel hollow and contrived. It’s not a good anime experience. There are some notable positives, but Buddy Complex just misses the mark for me.

This anime also feels like a rehash of Valvrave. I know the comparisons are subtle, but it also bothers me that Sunrise just won’t let the damn concept go. Valvrave is about a bunch of students in a floating rock trying to reach a safe zone where the invading Nazi inspired enemies can’t get them. They are able to fend off their attackers by piloting an ancient mecha where the pilot becomes a vampire afterwards. This provides them with Mary Sue powers that give them an advantage over their enemies. Valvrave also features a duo working together, but L-Elf is part of the Nazi group so trust is an issue. Despite that, he still works great with the main characters who are going through their own guilt trip literally trying to f*ck each other. There’s a scene where a guy pins a girl out of lust. It’s horrible. For some reason, I remember some of the shows I watch and I think Valvrave stuck to me. Buddy Complex has the same story as Valvrave in a sense. The good guys are also fleeing while they are being chased down by the Nazi inspired enemies. They are able to fight back thanks to their Mary Sue robots that give them an edge over the enemies. No vampires, but Buddy Complex has subtle homoerotic elements though. “Nice Coupling” between two dudes just doesn’t sit right with me. Anyways, the characters are also angsty teenagers but they need to work together to escape from their situation. All of this is happening while a hot chick is trying to gain the trust of her comrades back. It’s the same freaking show. The framework is similar, and this just angers me because Sunrise didn’t learn a damn thing from Valvrave. They didn’t take into account the length of the series, the factors that made the second season a disaster and they didn’t consider to even deviate from their Valvrave plan. They just rehashed the damn thing. It’s pretty upsetting, because you’re seeing an animation studio investing money in something that will clearly fail. What? The second time is a charm? This is ridiculous.

As you can see, right off the bat, the anime already had some problems. I’ve been burned by Valvrave pretty bad, because I did enjoy the first season. Sunrise immediately jumped ship though when sales weren’t as expected and they just gave up on giving any f*ck on the second season. I don’t want to be burned again. Thankfully though, the flaws are present pretty early in Buddy Complex. The first episode is just a checklist of clichés. We have a guy woken up by a girl. He is late for school, he sits at the back of the room and he is next to the hottest girl in class. How many 90s cliché are we going for next? What? Does our hero suddenly go to a new unfamiliar world where he is “the one”? C’mon. That’s stupid, right? Except that’s exactly what happens next. For some reason, our hero is transported seventy years into the future where he is now chosen to pilot this special robot that can save everyone’s lives. The problem starts right around here, because the show didn’t really give us exposition for anything. Our hero travels to the future, he fights some robots and he’s suddenly aligned with the good guys. The show forgot to mention how the flying f*ck he traveled in time, and it also didn’t mention how the robot systems work. This show features a coupling system where two robots join forces and they go into a limit break mode or something. I don’t know, really, because the anime never explains it. The most glaring problem though is this contrived plot point where our hero is super infatuated with the hottest girl in class. She travelled back in time as well, but our hero seems to set his entire life motivation in finding the girl. They’ve met since middle school, but the anime never convinces us that the two are right for each other. He just happens to be a boy and he just happens to like this girl. So he’ll now utter nothing but her name throughout the series? Why?

This is a big problem early on, because this is your f*cking premise. This is the foundation of your show. If you don’t explain how he travelled, where he is now, why he is there and what he’ll be doing there then this’ll create some more problems later on. You can’t expand on anything yet, because your audience has no idea what the f*ck is going on. I think you’re just asked to get the gist of the situation. Our hero is with the good guys and they’re fighting the bad guys. That’s it. The anime never bothers to mention that time travel doesn’t exist in this future, so his entire ordeal is a mystery. The anime never bothers to mention that he is in a top secret facility that is currently researching a new powerful system for the good guys to gain an advantage in their war. They never mention the gravity of the war. It’s just people killing each other. That’s the gist of it. They also never bother to mention that the reason he’s b*tching about this girl is because that’s your fourth plot point already. His reunion with the girl is something steadily built up, but the show is so sloppy early on that nothing is really established properly. In just two episodes, the show fails to mention the main premise, the first, the second, the third and the fourth plot point. Yes, in just that short time, a lot of things are already thrown out. No proper exposition episode to lay it all out there neatly. The show just proceeds without giving a f*ck, and this just spells fun for us later on.

Anyways, this anime is about a boy named Aoba Watase. He travels to the future after he discovers that this girl he likes, named Hina Yumihara, is actually from the future as well. When Aoba is attacked by a giant mecha out of nowhere, Hina came to save him. One thing led to another, and Aoba is then suddenly transported into the future. In this world, two nations are at war over the precious mineral that supplies the countries’ weapons. The nation of Zoglia began invading other nations, and the rest of the world soon joined forces to stop them. It’s now a full out far against the Zoglia Republic and the countries consisting the Free Pact Alliance. Aoba is transported in a secret facility though that tests out new weapons for the military. The Cygnus ship is currently testing out the “coupling” system that enhances the abilities of robots by having two pilots join together in one mind. By being one, they unleash incredible untapped powers within their mecha. Zoglia knows about this though, and they’ve sent their best pilots to destroy the Cygnus ship. Knowing that the coupling system can give them a big advantage in the war, the captain of the ship decides to run. He’s being chased down by Alfried Gallant’s squad, and he’s an amazing leader. The odds are stacked against the Cygnus ship until Aoba got into one of the robot cockpits. He shows great pairing with another pilot named Dio, and they’re now trying to fend off Alfried’s squad while also trying to get along. Aoba is considered a trespasser at this point, and Dio is kind of a d*ck so they must learn to work as a unit. They must do this for the ship’s sake, for their countries’ sake and for their own sake. It’s all too much to take in for Aoba, but he soon realizes that this might be what his destiny foretells after all.

The biggest reason why the premise is downplayed is because the show is trying to feature something more important in its eyes. Mecha battles. This show has some incredible mecha battles where the animation really just lets loose. We have cool robots fighting each other with swords and guns, and the way they clash in the sky is just beautiful. I think there’s an episode where it’s just an entire fight scene, and I was caught up in it. I was in awe at how the pacing of the fight is so beautifully done, and the robots seem to just dance in the sky. It’s amazing. This isn’t even Sunrise’s best and they just prove that they can do cool robot melees with their eyes closed. I think the anime is hoping that the cool robot battles can make up for the poor story right off the gate. Yeah, I think it does but there’s one thing to note here. I’ve already seen this before. Valvrave has the same element. Even though I like how the Mary Sue trait of our heroes’ robot is balanced out by the overwhelming amount of force by the enemy, Valvrave already did it. Hell, Valvrave did it better. The battles are great because the odds are always against our heroes. They’re up against a group of highly skilled robot fighters, they’re fighting an enemy that has more fire power and they’re just one lone ship while the enemy has tremendous amounts of resources at its disposal. When Zoglia comes up with a plan, it easily trumps the beyond perfect abilities of our heroes’ robots. The enemies still has a chance, even though the heroes can still win it by just powering up some more. I like that element of the anime, and I wish I could enjoy it better except I can’t. It’s basically just a rehash of a much better show. Valvrave has the same odds stacked against them. I think the icing on the cake is L-Elf, who has such an intense military background that he knows every textbook strategy there is. Buddy Complex is missing that L-Elf element to really elevate the concept it’s trying to push. They should’ve realized that a much better story can make a dull fight scene compelling. I’ve seen it before, and it’s a shame Buddy Complex’s potential is never really achieved.

As the show progresses, it really just focuses on Cygnus trying to run away. When they reach a base, the next episode would often feature fluff episodes. Instead of expanding the four plot points you jammed in, the show thought that giving us fluff episodes is a better choice. They’d have characters in bikini making a promotional video in the ship, which is something Valvrave also did. I still remember that out of place episode where the characters made a PV telling people they’re alright and they’ve established their own nation. It’s the same gawd damn thing here, except Cygnus is trying to sell the new secret coupling system to the public. I guess the fluff episodes make sense though, because it’s immediately followed by Zoglia destroying the bases where Cygnus is in. They won’t let the ship breathe and they’ll send a massive troop to conquer any place that Cygnus would be in. This often leads to another great mecha battle in the sky, but you can tell the story is just not developing right.

Towards the second half, the show falls for the same trap most O. Screenplay gets themselves in. They try to do too much. While there are four undeveloped plot points, the show decided to cram more in it. The fifth plot point involves the scientists that created the coupling system, and one of them actually defected to Zoglia’s side. He is now the appointed villain trying to use his evil mad scientist skills to drum up some intrigue to the story. The sixth plot point is unleashed when Hina’s father is introduced. Zoglia is setting up a massive invasion to take the coupling robots, and Hina’s father is leading the charge. He’s the best of the best, and his relationship with Hina is thrown into the clusterf*ck. The seventh plot point is about the dissention within the Zoglia ranks. At the end of the first half, a super important commander is killed by our heroes and there has been internal strife ever since. This chick that commands Alfried is starting to look bad, while Alfried is pulling some strings to get himself to the top. The chick would then start growing resentful of Alfried, and she’s trying to politic her way to Zoglia’s good graces. The eight plot point is the introduction of another coupling pilot, named Fromm, and this one doesn’t really lead anywhere. He just appeared, and that’s it. I think he is supposed to create tension between Dio and Aoba, but it doesn’t really happen. There’s too much sh*t going on now, and it’s really hard to follow anything. Three more plot points are added in, but the show also decided to do something stupid. They try to expand the second plot point about the coupling system. They mention the mysteries that make the coupling system work and the double edge nature of it. This is something that should’ve been mentioned in the first half though, so it feels frustrating getting exposition when the show is about to end. They needed to do this, because the first plot point is about to be reintroduced as well. Remember the first plot point? It’s the one about time travel.

They never mentioned the fact that Aoba time travelled ever. He just appeared, and he became a pilot. For some stupid reason, the show is now hustling to reintroduce this plot point. After no mention of it for ten episodes, they now need to dump out as much exposition as possible in the last three episodes. This is important, because the plot twist of the show depends on this time travel thing. It’s contrived as hell, because there’s just so much going on. We have a war, a clusterf*ck with different characters and so many plot points crammed in such a short time. The plot twist is also just embarrassingly bad. The time travel concept is just too complicated to pull off in three episodes. So many things needed to be explained, and so many things needed to be build up first for the time travel to really have an impact. The intended goal is that Aoba is meant to travel into the future, but Hina would then be stuck in this Endless Eight type thing trying to send Aoba to meet Dio. She keeps on reliving the same event over and over, and Aoba needed to break this. The show never explains how she got stuck in an Endless Eight thing, why Aoba isn’t stuck in it as well and what caused the time lapse. Things just happened, and it didn’t really make the show any better. I think the show even insulted us a bit by teasing another season. Because of this time travel, the guy trying to kill Aoba in the first episode is soon revealed as the mastermind behind the war. What? Seriously? It doesn’t make sense. It’s absolute sh*t. The show never developed the story, and now it’s trying to sell the second season with its incredible plot twist. It’s annoying, and a slap in the face for anyone that followed the show. Do you really expect audience to care for another season when this first season is bad in so many ways? Thankfully, a second season is never made and that’s good. Sunrise is underestimating its audience, but it’s a good thing their audience knows better. Just because it has robots doesn’t mean people will flock to it. Get your sh*t together Sunrise, this is embarrassing.

There is one plot point that remains consistent though, but it’s still not as good as it should be. Nonetheless, I think it’s a positive aspect of this show. The fourth plot point is about Aoba trying to meet Hina again. Fate is playing with him though, because Hina is on Zoglia’s side and she has no idea who he is. Throughout the series, Aoba would compromise a victory trying to get Hina to remember him. His insistence over this idiotic matter is costing them an advantage over Zoglia and it’s causing harm to Hina as well. With Aoba getting all friendly with her, Zoglia now suspects that she is a turncoat and no one trusts her now. She wants people to believe her loyalty to Zoglia is true though, so she wants Aoba dead. This turns into something bigger as each moment pass, and hell is unleashed when Hina and Aoba truly meet in person. It’s a pretty decent plot point, because it actually progresses nicely. Even though it could’ve been better, Hina and Aoba’s relationship cuts right through everything. Aoba’s annoying need to see her causes some problems with Dio, while Hina’s group is suspicious of her now. If done even better, then we could’ve seen more developed characters that’ll impact the ending. The fourth plot point affects every other plot point, so it needed to be really well done. It’s a shame Sunrise didn’t put enough effort in making this anime better.

The characters are all laughably bad. Aoba isn’t really that interesting. He lacked a backstory and some proper fleshing out to really make him interesting. He plays basketball one moment, and he’s suddenly infatuated with Hina the next. He’s not just going with the flow of the story, he is also outright bland. You could replace him with any other side character and it wouldn’t matter because he is just that bad of a main character. The show tried to do the classic hero’s journey on him though. He had a call to adventure, refusal to the call, supernatural aid, crossing threshold and belly of the whale moment in the show but they are just not done properly. There is a scene where he sees a large field where his house is supposed to be in, and the moment just feels forced. After a lengthy robot battle, you can’t expect me to care about his situation when he clearly doesn’t care about it as well. He just needed a scene like that per the hero’s journey format. It’s stupid. If Aoba is bland, then Dio is just as bland. He is being hinted as the L-Elf type character, but he is really just lost in everything. He has no definite role except being that guy Aoba has homoerotic lines with. Hina’s final word to Aoba before he travelled time is “Dio is waiting for you”, and this sets up Dio as an important character. Sadly, he isn’t. He’s just a pilot with a sad backstory, and I feel like he has more potential than that. He just didn’t really get a time in the spotlight. When they fight, the Mary Sue aspect of the robots takes center stage more than Dio and Aoba’s teamwork. The show tried to humanize him by giving him a sister in a wheel chair, but it’s just more things the show forcefully crams into the story. He didn’t need one, but the anime felt that he does. Instead of just letting him establish a meaningful relationship with Aoba, he is being built up as this anti-hero good guy and this is tougher to pull off. He needed to be more fleshed out for that kind of stereotype to work for him. As for Hina, she is hot in a tank top, but she is just as one dimensional as the main characters. She had some good moment getting pissed at Aoba for casting doubt on her, but she isn’t really that interesting of a character. After all, she is introduced as that hot chick and she never really breaks from that stereotype. Is she a skilled robot fighter? Is she an important member of the Zoglia Republic? Is she a great strategist? Is she more than just fan service? No, and that’s why she sucks.

There are some interesting characters, but they don’t really make the show any better. I like the captain of the Cygnus ship. He is battle hardened, but he looks disinterested at times. Even when he’s being pressured by his superiors or when he’s inches to dying, the dude is unaffected by it all. He’s a cool character, and I kept hoping he would have a proper showdown with another captain but it never really happens. I was hoping he would have a proper match with Alfried at least. He looks like a character from a Gundam anime travelling into another show. He is cunning but he also represents a good leader. A fight between him and the Cygnus captain looks awesome in my mind. Alfried is also the only character that really stands a chance with Aoba and Dio’s robot. Even when he’s defeated, he retreats and just comes at them again. He uses his resources to good use, and he pummels the Mary Sue robots to the ground. It’s freaking amazing, and it’s a shame he never really unleashes his best in the show. I was expecting it in the second half, but the show turned into a sh*tstorm at that point.

Only two people feel interesting in this series. The rest are massive waste of potential. Alfried’s troop is the one that feels the most wasted. They’re just like the group L-Elf led in Valvrave, and I was expecting a more developed angle involving them. They have their problems as well, like being stomped by higher ups and the matter about Hina being a turncoat, and this should’ve made them a lot more interesting if it’s properly presented. Some of them die in their battle with Aoba and Dio, and there’s some ripe story potential there that could’ve helped flesh these characters out. This is important, because one of them is hinted to be in love with Hina. I think it’s a guy named Bizon. He is the only one that truly believes Hina’s story, and he should’ve been built up as a more important character. He could’ve been a supporting character for Hina emotionally, and it could’ve been a big factor when Hina does reveal herself to be affiliated with Aoba. Can you imagine the shock it could give Bizon? The show kept on expanding its story, but it fails to recognize the potential it already has here. There’s also this girl that is hinted to like Aoba. One of the people in the bridge of the ship is a young girl that has taken a liking to Aoba, and I felt that she could’ve done more as well. She likes Aoba, and it’s a shame the show never really went for it. She mostly just has a dumb look when she’s with Aoba, but she can do a lot more. There was a point where she showed him the place where his house is, and it’s a sad moment. If the show went for it, then they could’ve at least shared a hug so she can comfort Aoba. She could’ve been a person that would get jealous over Aoba obsessing over Hina, and it could’ve given us a way to explain why Aoba is bonkers over Hina. She’s such a wasted character, and it’s sad because she could’ve really made the story a lot more interesting. There are a lot of wasted characters in this series, and it just shows you how bad this anime is.

It really feels like Sunrise is just throwing its money away. It feels like they don’t care, because they have Gintama to make them money. I bet the Gundam franchise is keeping them afloat as well. It’s always the studios that feel protected that often delivers the most disappointing shows. I’m lumping Sunrise and KyoAni together, and you can even put Toei and Shaft in that mix as well. As long as they’re sure they have strong money making potential, then they often just piss away at some of their shows. I understand that it’s the nature of the industry, but you don’t see A-1 Pictures or Production IG ever giving into that kind of complacent behavior. They’re massive in the industry as well, and they still pour out effort even if they don’t have to. Sunrise feels like it doesn’t really want to try, but they still release disappointing shows like these. I think they genuinely want another titan like Code Geass, but they don’t realize the amount of effort it takes to make it possible. Maybe they’ll give up halfway when the reception to the show is bad, and they would just abandon ship. They have the money to keep going, so I think they don’t care about the loss they’ll have in bad anime like this one. It’s a skewered way of looking at it, but I think Sunrise is just too rich to care. It breaks my heart, because there are small time studios having a hard time breaking the glass ceiling. They’ll put their all in one show hoping it would be popular enough, and yet Sunrise can literally just crap out a show without any care. It sucks, and I seriously hope studios like these would get the karma they rightfully deserve. After all, Gonzo is a powerful studio back in the day as well and look at them now. There’s also a bunch of studios born from being dissatisfied with Toei and other giants, so I’m hopeful that this kind of complacent attitude doesn’t become a permanent trend. Yasuhiro Tanabe directed this anime, and I think it’s his first time. He did a lot of assistant directing, but this is the first full time position as director. Unfortunately for him, this show is just too bad to work. He handled a convoluted show like Kyoukaisenjou no Horizon so he has experience with impossible to pull off shows, but I think the length of Buddy Complex really isn’t enough to salvage the story. He’s just another first time director sucking at his job. Hey, till the next one, right? I’m sure he’ll have more opportunities to really show us what he’s made of.

Sight and Sound

Character design is definitely a big positive in this anime. It feels like typical Sunrise, but it does look pretty good. I love the bulky design, and it does remind me of Gundam because of how the characters look. It also adds to the whole Valvrave comparison though, because the design is exactly like Valvrave as well. I love the bold outline on the characters, because it gives the typical design some good dimensions to it. The way the eyes are created are also nicely done, because it’s a big highlight for the characters. It’s especially nice when you have characters like Hina that has purple eyes, and it compliments their skin tone quite well. The faces have very little details to it, but the skin tone and the hair design makes up for that. You can easily tell what kind of character we’re dealing with just by the way the face is designed. This is made even better by the nicely proportioned bodies in the flashy uniforms. Sunrise has been around for a long time, so I think making decent characters is second nature to them. The uniforms are pretty great, and it makes the characters look even better. From their pilot suit, their military uniform to even a simple school uniform, the characters just look great in them. It makes them interesting characters, and it’s a shame the story couldn’t properly match it. Hina in a tank top is still a great thing though. The mecha designs are also pretty solid. This is no surprise, since Sunrise specializes on robots. They have the same bulky design as your typical Gundam, so they’re really nice to look at. I love how the small details like the square joints and the wings attached to the robots. They just look majestic, and they’re even better when they move. The robots are really flashy as well, and the weapons they have look pretty great. Some robots have guns, but they mostly carry swords to battle. It’s not much but the mecha designs are certainly a big plus for this anime.

The animation is possibly the strongest aspect of the anime. When the robots fight, it’s really the best moment in the show. There is a clear pacing to the fights and the strategies between both camp is just amazing to see unfold. As I said before, the robots look like they’re dancing in the sky. When the ships fire some missiles, the robots would dance around before stopping it. It’s the flashy kind of animation that Sunrise is really known for. The effects and the angles used during the fights are also nicely done. Some of them are short fights though, but there’s still enough to really take in. The different robots clashing, the ships being blown up in the background and the missiles and projectiles flying about certainly demands a high quality animation, and Sunrise nicely presented it. The normal scenes look a bit dull though. Certain dialogue heavy scenes and heavy exposition scenes just doesn’t look that interesting. They lack movement sometimes, and there’s not a lot of detail in it. When robots fight, you can see sparks when they clash but there’s not much care in normal scenes. I think there’s a scene where a character is supposed to blush and fidget around because she’s shy, but the animation never really conveys it as such. She just looked down at the ground, and that’s it. The details are often the ones that impact a scene, and Sunrise understands its importance during robot battles. Unfortunately, no care is given on anything else.

The anime’s OP is “UNISONIA” by TRUE. This song has a really cute chorus to it. The singer’s voice is also really great as she sings the lyrics with clarity. The verses aren’t that great though, and it often ruins the song for me. I like the energy it has, and it does pump me up to see the show but it could’ve been a lot better. This song is about being your best and never giving up, and it’s a typical OP song for a mecha anime like this. I like it though, but I think it feels a bit forced as well. I think it’s a song made specifically for the anime, and the lyrics just has some messy lines to it. It’s like the show because it lacks a bit of focus. The OP sequence is pretty great though. It introduces all the characters, and it features the fight scenes tremendously. The fourth plot point is also on focus here, as it does make the show interesting just by looking at the OP. The anime’s ED is “Ano Sora ni Kaeru Mirai de” by ChouCho. This is a love song about believing in love and waiting for your loved one to come. It’s a good song, and I love the singer’s voice. The ED feels funny though, because it does remind me of a Gundam ED. The sequence features our characters posing like they’re in a weird soap opera. It makes me laugh, because they stand there as if they’re compelling enough to make us care why they’re staring off into the distance. Unfortunately, they’re as bad as cardboard cutouts so they don’t really need to have this kind of ED.

Overall Score

5/10 “Do you want to watch Valvrave all over again? If yes, then here you go.”

I don’t mind rehashing ideas, but you’re supposed to learn something the first time though. Buddy Complex could’ve been as great as Valvrave, but it’s like Sunrise didn’t care. We have another over ambitious Original Screenplay with the same disappointing content and disappointing conclusion. If it failed the first time, doesn’t it make sense to make it better the second time? What the hell is wrong with this world? If you liked Valvrave, then watch the entire two seasons of that show condensed into an even more disappointing series. If you like mecha battles, then there are some good ones here. It lacked a proper backstory to it, but it still works fine. If you prefer a good story with your mecha, then it’s best to avoid this one. I do not recommend this.