Anime: Soukou no Strain

Strain is a lot better than it seems at first. It is riddled with stereotypical shoujo and science fiction tropes, mediocre production values, and typical-looking characters that make it look average from a distance. For example, the heroine is the stereotypical shoujo archetype and has the really bad habit of talking instead of firing, thus lots of bad things happen because she stands frozen and can’t just shut up. In fact, the whole plot plays out like an overblown soap opera, with forced drama and overreaction of even the tiniest of events.

At the same time it keeps mixing up genres of all kinds; romance, and war drama, and science fiction mystery, and mecha action, and time travel, and comedy, and fan service, and inhuman experimentations, and aliens, and… well a lot more. It does a very good job at surprising you with its numerous turnarounds and new revelations but simply never takes its themes as seriously as it could have and ends up being just a long line of one shocking scene after another. It tries to show too many things, in very little time, and shoehorns plot twists than feel bigger than life, when the mood is not right or when there are simply not enough episodes to do something significant with them. It can still amaze newcomers to the medium though, as it heads for as much astonishment as possible; a strategy that seems to work way too well.

The show has the bad habit of killing off people before fleshing them out first; which results to polarized emotional reactions. On one hand you are disappointed with how it wastes character potencial by killed them before you get to like them or see them grow past their stereotype. People who like to see investment in character growth will surely dislike Strain. At the same time this can strike as a surprise; since you will be constantly made to think that various people get introduced in a way that feels like they are vital to the plot. They just get too much focus to think they will be taken out so fast. And no, despite all assumption a few minutes later they are killed. WOW WHAT A TWIST! Meaning, it sacrifices character appeal for shock effect; you don’t care or even remember the characters, as you care or remember the tragedy that befalls them. A technique which I happen to dislike but still works on an emotional level for most.

The setting and the story are actually very good, although the show is eventually mixing WAY too many elements for its own good. It is just 13 episodes and tries to compact stuff that would normally require trice the duration. It makes a hell of an experience but tends to feel distant because it doesn’t invest enough time in the characters experiencing all those weird stuff. The result is a very fast paced story, to the point it becomes chaotic and even confusing. You may not like it, but you will surely not consider it typical either.

In all, the anime lacked direction and tried to hold more than it could carry. The result is messy and eventually passable, but one must still appreciate the effort they gave into mixing up a dozen different genres. It could have been far better if it was handled better and had more episodes.

Before I go off on what is definitely a rant I have a few things to say. I have been watching anime for around five years, and well, to be honest I have never been a fan of space operas. So while I could rant on and on about whiny pilot boy (or girl ) syndrome, I'm not going to. In fact Souko no Strain is so much worse in other aspects, I don't need to.

The series basically takes the generic good and bad sides, with the good side piloting mechs for justice, freedom, and protecting the good-guy way of life. Whereas the bad guys resort to using evil deserters and mindless robots of destruction. It's like Vandread all over again! Except this time we lack the interesting play off between the two sexes and any sort of fun (for lack of a better word) character interaction.

Animation

The whole production of the series is kind of a mixed bag. On the one hand the mechs look fine, but they don't really look impressive either. It's just the typical integration of 3D-ish CG into 2-D animation that we've been seeing more and more of. The problem being Vandread did it with extreme similarity a long time ago, and arguably there have been better examples that have improved on the same concept (Zegapain comes to mind).

And then we get to the 2-D animation which is just plain unimpressive. While the character designs are passable, they're well, generic. To top that off Lotti looks like she's in the wrong show. The original Kanon is probably missing a character or something to that effect.

All-in-all very average.

Sound

It takes a lot for background music to really make an impression on me, so while it's entirely possible other people enjoyed it, what struck me most here was the opening theme. It's not a bad tune, but with a slow J-pop tune not exactly it's breaking any ground either. The ending was just a slower J-pop tune. Which breaks even less ground.

Voice actors are what you expect from a Japanese cast (i.e. no notably bad performances throughout the cast).

Again, average.

Story

Here's where we hit one of the two most important parts of any anime, and also the one of two parts where Souko no Strain just plain out fails. Now plenty of other anime take similar approaches. Training space pilots? I can come up with three series off the top of my head. But Souko no Strain decides it has to start off with a bang. And the first arc certainly does that well enough.

And it also just proves one thing which while spoiler-ish, really needs to be said in any review on this series: The script writers for this series love killing off characters. A lot.

Death always makes for an effective plot device, even if wash, rinsed, and repeated. But the utter pointlessness of certain character deaths and the lack of their impact is just stunning sometimes.

Getting back to the story, it takes the typical pattern of a spaceship getting attacked while students are in the middle of training. And it happens again, and again. Drama ensues, Sara gets hazed, makes friends, life goes on and betrayal occurs.

But when it hits its really dramatic points it goes downhill fast. But that's really more of a point to be explored in the characters, since it's the utter stupidity and delusion of the characters which makes the plot a complete train-wreck. Going from complete tedium, to slightly interesting battles, to dramatic displays of idiocy hardly makes for an interesting plot.

One note of such idiocy that really just sticks out like a puss oozing sore, is the fact that the primary characters which drive the motivation of characters and tilt the balance of power are a pair of loli-goths (further idiotic revelations make the idiocy just expand to well ... worse idiocy). Yes, anime is usually illogical, but here we just have an example as to why anime is so loved and hated.

There is one little ray of hope though: The Lavinia episode ("Lavinia's Beautiful trap"), is just the light hearted sort of break the series should have taken so many more times than just once. Between the dramatic scenes and random deaths it just would have helped made the show more bearable. Not to say fanservice fixes everything, but in this case it really didn't hurt.

So overall, it started off well, went through something typical plot devices, hit some fanservice, and then went straight on into some of the most convoluted and idiotic conclusions I've ever seen. Not good.

Characters

Right about here is where I would normally put in some sort of internet jargon for sighing, but I leave that to your imagination.

Oh, wait, the characters. Where to start?

Well, first a disclaimer. Some people might find my analysis unfair, but to be honest it takes a lot for me to dislike an anime character. So when I dislike a large part of a cast it means I'm seeing a major flaw in them. I'm not just flaming them for the sake of it: these are badly designed characters.

I guess Sara is as good a place as any. Now entirely meaning to insert a stereotype I'm going to call her an "Onii-sama" girl. She just loooves her onii-sama. I've never ran into anyone that yells "brother" so the concept of such a person just seems to beg for the wapanese jargon. They could have put her in sister princess and aside from her tortured past she'd fit in fine. Obsession aside, her solution is somehow worse, she secludes herself and takes to stroking a loli-goth doll. Wonder drugs them is, them loli goths cure anyyything.

I could sigh again.

Next up would be her brother. A fine example of a betraying piece of scum who destroyed Sara's ideal onii-sama image. And to make matters worse the fact you don't get the revelation as to why until the end of the series makes him a bore. But when you find out why, and see what he's willing to do in defense of his motivation (*hint* it involves survivor guilt and loli goths), it just makes clear how warped whoever came up with his character is. Hitler had more of a concrete justification for his actions than this guy (and for the record I think Hitler was off his rocker). He also drives about 99.9% the plot with his delusions which makes it all the worse when we find out how idiotic they are.

Then we have Lotti. The model pilot who underneath all that cute loli-Kanon face hides a dark tortured past of yet another lost onii-sama. Give me a break! How many girls have to have brother complexes? The world is not that simple. Some people live and let live, war happens, people suffer, but they don't all get driven to become a mech pilot and take revenge. Lotti just takes it past what is realistic.
There's a particular scene where she finds out a certain person is related to a certain person who took out her onii-sama, and she just snaps. After putting so much trust in this person she just snaps and is ready to blow out said persons brains. There's this little thing called trust, but she just does not seem to have any. She also has some sort of competitive thing going on with Sara which is yawn inducing.

Then there's the rest of the characters. They fall into two areas: fanservice and background.
Lotti's sidekick, the other pilots, the hazers, officers,and the mech junkies are all background characters. They serve their purposes but are far out shadowed by the characters who die, and the few idiot main characters running the show.

And then there are the fanservice characters: Lavinia and the bad officer lady who was always in the shower (can't remember her name for the life of me). Shower lady is obviously just there to be in the shower, Lavinia on the other hand...

She was the only character that injected a little comedy into an otherwise dull set of characters. It's just sad that the lesbian screwball is the best character in the series.

SO overall, the characters go the whole spectrum, from idiotic, to middle-of-the road, to pure -fluff-one-dimensional. But they lean towards the idiotic, depressed, and psychotic. So the show fails again.

Value

Value? I have to admit that in the initial episodes with their wiz-bang development and nonchalant attitude towards character life-spans it made for an interesting beginning. But the show just went in a downward spiral as it made its way towards what in most shows should be the meat, which makes you want to keep going when the show has nothing but a bone left at the end (yay! for metaphors). But what little value I could have attributed at the beginning was destroyed. It has potential to be viewed like those horrible sci-fi movies on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Rent the DVDs (If an when it ever gets licensed) and make fun of it with a few like minded friends.

Enjoyment

I'd rate enjoyment to being about the same as the value. It takes a different perspective to enjoy it than I have. While I said I don't love space opera, this is one of the worse examples, watch the subs, or eventually rent or borrow it (from some poor sucker that buys it). But don't buy it. It's not worth re-watching in any way, shape, or form; watching it once is both a test in patience and will power. Heck, that being said only watch it if it's one of those kind of shows that looks like you could love it.

Hmm... I started watching this anime cause of the review before me. It didn't take long to finish I guess cause it was only 13 episoide. So lets see, its a quick watch but for me it doesn't get above an average anime. While watching this you can expect some very predictable things and also some not so predictable. I don't know what outways the other. In fact I think the mere concept that they mix up various cheesy/corny moments with more serious and well thought out ones was sorta unique. Its the first time I've seen a series that kills off semi important characters soo easilly while still also having single episoide corny relevalations in character development :P. Enough ranting on to the review. The actual series follows a fairly familiar mecha genre. The main character Sara Werec is left alone by her loving brother who joins the military. Desperate to see her brother she chases after him and attempts to join the military herself. During her training the "enemy" attacks and she finds out her brother betrays her and her people in that attack.... then blah blah blah. The fun begins.

Animation
In some cases it was nice to see i.e. mecha battles and outer space depictions. On the other hand some things didn't seem as good. The things that were actually drawn looked medicore. I found some awkward moments in body proportions, the in ship battling weren't the best either. I think it just felt like the they put much more effort in trying to make the action nice but didn't care much about everything else. I guess this is a reoccuring issue in many new mechs but still its worse off in this anime then others.

Sound
Some of the music was decent some was not exceptional. I wasn't very found of the opening at all I don't think I watched the entire opening sequence once. In terms of OST some of the music was better then others. The bad thing was sometimes they would start off with one nice tune at the end of an episoide to signify a battle. But then they would change the tune in the next episoide to something not so good. That didn't really run by me well. The voices were nothing special either. I didn't find myself feeling any closer to the characters when I should of. I mean they just weren't that convincing but I guess its not just the voice acting... More because of the corny script they put together. All in all I can only say the sound was satisfactory.

Story
Overall the script was poorly written but I think the main plot and reason for the anime wasn't too bad. It had its ups and downs and it didn't really focus on the "war". Actually you don't even really find out who the bad guys really are... They are just there. I guess if they were to make another season of this it would be a completely different anime. I think the problem with not explaining the war was that you couldn't treat the "bad" people as bad because you don't even know anything about the situation. I guess this worked out for the better so that they could focus on other issues that the story revolved around. I think the best part for me is the twists they added. Without them I would of rated this anime completely crap. I actually found myself saying wow didn't expect that to happen in a few places.

Character
On the otherhand the characters fail miserably. They have a big cast and not much time to give any of them screening besides Sara and her brother. I mean even Lottie who is supposedly a main character doesn't get the time she deserves. As I mentioned before I'm not really a fan of one episoide turn arounds either. I really don't believe someone could change that easilly THAT quickly. But nonetheless this happens quite a few times in this series ruining many characters. Its also hard to grow attached to some of the characters mainly due to screen times they receive and the possibility of them dying? At one point they try to focus in on one of characters just to kill him off at the end of the episoide. I mean sure it causes degree of seriousness to the anime, but I seriously couldn't bring myself to feel anything for the guy. Like seriously they just gave him a bigger role and poof hes gone. They also have a bad habit of killing off people who finish serving there purpose as well. Either way I wasn't too fond of the way they did the characters sectionat all.

Value and Enjoyment
I didn't find anything too interesting in this anime. I also believe I would never rewatch this again. To me it served as good entertainment for a short period of time. Espially since I haven't seen a whole series in a short time for quite some time now. I was hoping for an anime that gave me more of a lasting impression but what can you do? I did enjoy it to a certain extent. I laughed quite a bit during the cheesy emo scenes that they had. I guess its worth a watch for newer people to anime that like mecha/drama genres. Hardcore fans should stay far away from this or else you'll flame it like no tomorrow. If you decide to watch it have fun doing so :)

And so we came to a close on another fine series for ‘06/’07. Soukou no Strain takes the viewer on a ride of genres, action, drama, romance, using a whole plethora of visual and empathy-inducing devices. There are two sides at war, the Union (the good side) and the Deague (the bad guys). We follow the story from initially the Union’s side, as the viewer is introduced to the main character, Sara, and other key characters in the Union. One of the nice traits with SnS is that there is significant focus on the Deague as well, so you can really see both sides of the struggle and gain an appreciation as it were, as to why both sides fight so fiercely. As far as the key story elements are concerned, the Union’s forces mainly consist of the Libertad (the mother-ship we see most of) and the Strain (the mecha units) operated by the pilots called Reasoners. The Deague forces consist of an almost innumerable amount of units called TUMOR’s (very weak, but their strength lies in the vast amount of them), as well as the Gloire Strain. Soukou no Strain, apart from necessary extraneous story elements, follows the events surrounding the girl Sara Werec, and the various facets of her struggles to achieve her goals.

Animation

Soukou no Strain presents some very slick visuals throughout the series, from the pretty incredible space battles, to the very steamy and humid looking shower scenes *cough*. The CG used in the battle scenes is some of the best that I have ever seen. It is not perhaps the highest detail I have ever seen, but in terms of its fluidity, it’s almost choreographed motion and its ability to seamlessly mix with the drawn visuals, it is an absolute pleasure on the eyes. The difference and transition between low-speed and high-speed battles is also executed with high skill by the animators; in low speed the manoeuvres are much more varied and motion is allowed over a greater range of 3-dimensional vectors, whereas in high-speed situations you get a great feel for the speed because the motion is much more ‘arrow-like’ yet they still manage to hurl themselves around in seemingly physics-defying ways. The characters are drawn very nicely, and whilst there are a few ecchi moments, the characters in general can all be taken very seriously as they are not gallivanting around in overly-skimpy uniforms. The settings and scenery are also well suited to the rest of the animation. There is never any detraction from the focus of the moment, but if you give a moment to admire some of the more details scenery you can see that a whole lot of effort has gone in to attention to detail, from the distant nebulae in space, the bridge of the Libertad, to the space station Gall.

Sound

The opening theme Message, performed by Ueno Youko (or just Yoko if you want to be friendly as she preferes to be called it seems), is a fairly nice climactic piece of music, I would have to say well suited to the anime – it has its calm parts and hectic parts. I won’t pretend it is the greatest piece of music I have ever heard, because frankly I wished it had stayed as a nice mellow, beautifully melodic piece personally – that is just me however. The ending theme Umi no Opal, sung by Sema is a light-hearted piece, and to be fair, not particularly memorable even so far as to be slightly anti-climactic after the many cliff-hanger-type endings per episode. I daresay this can undermine the ending in some cases by the sometimes stark contrast between intense closures, followed by such a chilled song. Perhaps a more neutral piece of music or some classical overture might have been better suited to maintaining the mood, though of course it is somewhat a matter of personal preference. The seiyuu is, without a doubt, exceptional. In few animes have I wanted to cower behind the sofa to escape from the intense display of emotion. The ability of the actors to make the audience empathize with the character is extremely effective, especially in scenarios during the first episodes for example, as Sara faces… struggles.

Story

A familiar setting in some ways, it could be cruelly summarized as “another war-based anime: two sides fighting with a girl stuck in the middle of the war, and add some drama by making the one thing she is aiming for on the other side”. Cruel indeed, and it would completely ignore the social struggles that manifest from the start for poor Sara, and it would completely ignore her strong character. Not to mention the whole war scenario doesn’t really come across like so many others – if you sympathize with the Union (like you’re intended to) then you really get a feel for their struggle, they face a difficult enemy who outnumbers them heavily and their only chance lies in the skill of the Reasoners. Being only a 13 episode series, there is no room for fillers and although some episodes have filler-like qualities, there is always sufficient other material to keep the viewer appraised of the continuing plot elements. The drama arising from the conflict of the war and as the story develops, the characters, never seems to leave a dull moment. Coupled with the intense action scenes, the subtle yet poignant comical elements, the vaguest hint of ecchi (basically non-existent except a few scenes) and Soukou no Strain really has something for almost all audiences to enjoy. One thing worth bearing in mind for the over-analytical audience is however, the lack of ‘background’ for many of the story elements. There is never any real in-depth explanation for the scenario surrounding the war, nor is there any other significant role of the other Union forces – there are simply the Reasoners, the Libertad and the various flavours of the Deague forces. This could be seen as a flaw, or lack of depth, but it is really just a matter of appreciating the situation as it is.

Character

Character development is a reasonably strong point for the series, I say reasonably because I appreciate it can be hard to have any kind of lengthy development with the viewer over only 13 episodes. There is only so much a character can ‘grow’ without the viewer feeling that it is being rushed, and as such you are given a very much ‘as is’ feel a lot of the time. Despite this, many of the characters truly develop quite well through the series, never too fast or too slow, and they react and change nicely in given situations. For example as certain events unfold, you can get a real sense of how Sara must be feeling – this is backed up really well (not only with her but other key characters) with the seiyuu’s ability to create pathos with the viewer – the way the voices, the animation, and how the viewer feels about the character all merge together is executed extremely well.

Value

Soukou no Strain is certainly a series I would have no qualm watching again in due course, like I have said previously it has something for everyone, and if you like a bit of everything like me then it can be a very satisfying experience to watch. I can’t deny that it had me in extreme anticipation awaiting the next episode at times, and I am proud to have it as part of my collection. My only flaw would be to evaluate that due to the fact it has a little of almost everything in it, i find myself asking the question does it actually excel at anything? I'll leave that for you to decide should you choose to watch it, but for those like me who enjoy all kinds of anime, I wouldn't call it a personal flaw.

Enjoyment

As you may have gathered if you have spent the time reading this review (which as I write I’m beginning to think may be getting a touch long, so fair play to you) I really enjoyed Soukou no Strain, and my only grudge, albeit small, is that it wasn’t longer. One could argue that perhaps were it 24/26 episodes then maybe it would have become a bit dragged out, but I think if as much care went in to a series of that length as it did 13 episodes that wouldn’t have been the case. I very much recommend this to watch if you need something new to watch, and don’t mind a bit of everything.