(L) Gyakuten Sekai no Denchi Shōjo

[FlareKnight]

And this is what it looks like when your invasion of Japan storyline actually makes sense . Not firing shots at any show this season in particular of course...

Honestly, that propaganda helped sell the whole thing. A Japan that didn't lose WW2 sees the Japan of today and aren't all that happy about what they see. They can't appreciate the culture that exists there or see the country as anything but a disgrace. So they invade. Not for resources or assets (at least so far as we know yet). And yet spending those resources makes sense. Seeing another version of their homeland in a state that is absolutely disgusting to them would push a militaristic country into invading another dimension.

I'd suggest the invading army starts though...with not calling the citizens they are controlling illusory! I feel like some people might take offense to themselves and their country being called that. But to be fair they did invade in the first place so being rude probably isn't a big deal for them.

The concept of transmutation of passion definitely sounds important and it would be nice if that had been delved into a bit more. I suppose the obvious interpretation is that Balzac changed Mimi's (I'm presuming it was her) passion and that caused some catastrophic error. Of course the question in part is what it was changed to. But I guess the key is that Rin needs to stay passionate about heroes, Yuki idols, and hacker girl...hacking (I presume). If their passions shift then it could get bad.

Although of course it probably will happen. Rin seems pretty well set up to have a shift from her hero focus to the guy she's in love with. Maybe that's what happened with Mimi as well. Having someone that says cold things at times and is dishonest with himself could theoretically create a gap between him and the battery girls enough so that they won't become more passionate about him than their core passions.

[serenade_beta]

Finally an explanation on the title and the world the anime takes place in. Fairly interesting enough, and in ways, agreeable.

[Magewolf]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

And this is what it looks like when your invasion of Japan storyline actually makes sense . Not firing shots at any show this season in particular of course...

Honestly, that propaganda helped sell the whole thing. A Japan that didn't lose WW2 sees the Japan of today and aren't all that happy about what they see. They can't appreciate the culture that exists there or see the country as anything but a disgrace. So they invade. Not for resources or assets (at least so far as we know yet). And yet spending those resources makes sense. Seeing another version of their homeland in a state that is absolutely disgusting to them would push a militaristic country into invading another dimension.

I'd suggest the invading army starts though...with not calling the citizens they are controlling illusory! I feel like some people might take offense to themselves and their country being called that. But to be fair they did invade in the first place so being rude probably isn't a big deal for them.

The concept of transmutation of passion definitely sounds important and it would be nice if that had been delved into a bit more. I suppose the obvious interpretation is that Balzac changed Mimi's (I'm presuming it was her) passion and that caused some catastrophic error. Of course the question in part is what it was changed to. But I guess the key is that Rin needs to stay passionate about heroes, Yuki idols, and hacker girl...hacking (I presume). If their passions shift then it could get bad.

Although of course it probably will happen. Rin seems pretty well set up to have a shift from her hero focus to the guy she's in love with. Maybe that's what happened with Mimi as well. Having someone that says cold things at times and is dishonest with himself could theoretically create a gap between him and the battery girls enough so that they won't become more passionate about him than their core passions.

It is funny that a comedy put more effort into world building than a serious real robot show.

They are setting up love as a bad end, which might be why they are not looking for more pilots. They are counting on the harem antics keeping anything too heartfelt from happening.

[FlareKnight]

I feel like someone should be concerned about the money obsessed lunatic that continues to threaten to sell a valuable pilot's organs. There's no reason to keep the loan shark around. Throw him in a cell already before this guy sells you out. Or buy out the stupid debt already. Not like that leader with cash seems limited in terms of funds.

So on to the next girl. While troublesome, she doesn't seem like a bad person at heart. Just...awkward around others. Of course her quirks have basically put them in a very bad situation. But that's also on those that sent a limited group into the underground and included again...their valuable pilot in that.

I'll offer condolences for Rin ahead of time. Since she's probably going to get punted out when Misa is ready to jump into the machine.

Also wondering if they'll be able to manage handling the story at the rate they are going. Will at least take next episode to get Misa onboard. At least they did drop what is likely the name of the MC's father. Considering the ridiculous level of debt still remaining a plot point there has to be something going on there that will connect to the rest of the story.

They may be trying to keep things even emotionally with the harem idea...but it doesn't seem likely to work. Rin is definitely well ahead of the others in terms of her own feelings on this whole thing. Will have to hope things don't go colossally bad.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

I feel like someone should be concerned about the money obsessed lunatic that continues to threaten to sell a valuable pilot's organs. There's no reason to keep the loan shark around. Throw him in a cell already before this guy sells you out. Or buy out the stupid debt already. Not like that leader with cash seems limited in terms of funds.

The loan shark is easily the worst character and part of this anime. His running joke of threatening the protagonist has not been funny and still isn't funny, and I guess his only reason of existence is to let the protagonist not want to do stuff but still do it anyways.

[Magewolf]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

The loan shark is easily the worst character and part of this anime. His running joke of threatening the protagonist has not been funny and still isn't funny, and I guess his only reason of existence is to let the protagonist not want to do stuff but still do it anyways.

But you could just have the commander steamroll or guilt him into doing stuff so the loan shark is not even needed for that.

[Chosen_Hero]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

The loan shark is easily the worst character and part of this anime. His running joke of threatening the protagonist has not been funny and still isn't funny, and I guess his only reason of existence is to let the protagonist not want to do stuff but still do it anyways.

Agreed, I have never wanted a character to die off this much.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

Agreed, I have never wanted a character to die off this much.

I've definitely wanted characters to die more than the loan shark. But I still would love the loan shark to die. This guy is an open scumbag that no one seems to have a problem with. He doesn't contribute anything, doesn't believe in their cause, and is openly threatening to kidnap or kill their valuable pilot at every opportunity!

I half wonder if he's a figment of the main character's imagination or psychological trauma since barely anyone even talks to him. Minus one or two scenes of him being handed money...no one even notices his existence.

[Alchemist007]

https://streamable.com/v2irvc

[FlareKnight]

Well with this we've got our main battery girls all introduced along with their respective antagonists. Not sure how far they'll take things in the time they've got left. But should be a good time for the focus to swing back towards Rin since she's had to take a backseat to let the other two just get established.

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

https://streamable.com/v2irvc

That girl and her boxes . The harem builds once again.

[EroKing]

[FlareKnight]

So the scumbag has a scumbag above him. Of course. Such is the way of the world. Of course doesn't make the debt collector any less trash. Collecting his indeterminate amount of debt. At this point I have to wonder if it's equal to the national budget with how it never seems remotely close to being enough.

Somehow managed to make that jerk even more unlikable than before. How many people is he shaking down? Of course I still think it's on the head of this organization that they let someone like him run free. And this is the consequence. Frankly he's almost free to say what he wants since he is getting money from the resistance to use Hosomichi. If they cut this guy off early or just paid off Hosomichi's debt right from the start then the episode wouldn't have played out like this.

Certainly not a bad thing having Hayate and Rin hang out along with Hosomichi along with Akatsuki. Having these pairs interact allowed for their own viewpoints and lifestyles to be explored. Nothing bad about that. Until of course a certain idiot ruined everything. But it was good up to that point.

Originally Posted by EroKing

A cute trio to be sure. Although I think Rin is still the winner out of the three.

[serenade_beta]

For note, the little song that the commander and the otakus sang in Ep 8 came from this CM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIY9lLC4CCM

[Yu Ominae]

FYI.

This is released by Funimation now in English. A dub's out.

[FlareKnight]

The only thing that'll save them at this point is a reveal that clears the name of Hosomichi's father. Not sure exactly what that reveal will be. But it'll have to be good. Of course plenty of potential for Hosomichi to have misunderstood things. Was a kid and the memory of his mother dying would have left him pretty messed up. But still...have to explain his father basically leaving while his wife was sick and never coming back. Which I'm sure will tie into the Zaburn storyline told in episode 2 in some ways.

While there is obviously hope for the main character to bounce back...I'm not seeing it for the creepy loan collector. That guy's mental state is completely off the rails. Beyond the obvious stupidity of trying to sell the robot to the true army after proclaiming himself as a member of the resistance. I'm sure an extremely intense Japan would totally help out someone willing to betray his own people.

[FlareKnight]

Yeah, that reunion is about what you'd expect. A pretty sweet and wholesome one with Rin...followed by getting punched to the face by Yuki and threats of torture from Misa . I suppose that's why she is the main girl of this story.

And here comes the transmutation of passion. Although it doesn't immediately seem to be a bad thing. Their mental image of Zaburn just changed due to the whole season 2 red appearance. That's not all that bad.

[serenade_beta]

Extremely clear that the production is barely on time if not not on-time, with lots of still frames and even what seems to be incorrect animation, but I will give it points for at least airing, unlike another anime this season...

[Alchemist007]

Well that was a fun watch, initially I was put off by this but took a second look and no regrets.

7/10

[FlareKnight]

Not a bad last episode. Only thing that surprised me was how open it left a lot of things. The kind of ending that left me half-expecting a season 2 announcement at the end of the episode. A completely different conflict that exists in that other dimension and not exactly a reveal of Hosomichi's father. It's possible that's who the boss was talking to near the end, but as things stand that's just a possibility.

But this was still a solid way to end things. I didn't expect that the incident of the past would have a twist to it. Though maybe that should have been a fair thing to guess. It's not exactly that falling in love and a transmutation of passion was an issue. It was that clearly Mimi was ready to take things to the next level and Yamada was more hesitant. Of course he just had more to consider which was a big thing. But he was also just a bit embarrassed and couldn't jump right into it. That difference at such a critical time set things out of control. Both of them were partially responsible, but neither could have known that would happen.

They managed to fit in a good amount of action and resolved things in a pretty fun way. I half expected that Yamada and Mimi would actually swap in and take over to help save the day since the others were exhausted. But it was a fun option to just rechage them through pure hype. The day was saved and everyone could take a breather after.

They already had a better reason for Japan being invaded so I didn't think they needed to add to that. But it wasn't a bad thing to add another good reason. That Japan is in a constant state of war and isn't necessarily the most powerful force. So if they could take over this other Japan and train their citizens...that definitely improves their military potential.

The show wasn't anything crazy good. But it was solid and pretty fun at times.

7/10

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for final thoughts:

Solid, but there was not as much closure as I would like.
Also, it was clear that they were barely making the deadline near the end, with very low-budget shots here and there.
But hey, unlike a certain other anime, they made it.

Also, for these types of anime, there was also more closure than expected, and the overall story was understandable and set-up fine. The focus on otaku subculture is also nice, though there was not as much variety or fun as Akiba's Trip.

9/10
Out of all the mecha anime this season, this definitely was the most balanced between story, characters, and setting.