Anime: Kakumeiki Valvrave

It's been a while since I've watched mech series outside of Gundam, but most of what I've seen hasn't been very good. Valvrave was a second round pick, a series that I initially decided to pass on before later rescinding that decision. All in all, it's a fairly entertaining watch with some pretty interesting points as long as you don't start to whine about how inferior it is to other mech shows or how it pales in comparison to previous Sunrise works. The show is about mysterious mechs known as Valvraves that require the pilot to give up their humanity in order to pilot. Once the pilot agrees, the suit becomes a virtually indestructible force capable of taking on entire armies single-handedly (think Freedom Gundam from Seed). This show is much more of a shonen action show than other mech shows such as Gundam 00. Gone are the political battles and detailed expositions. In its place, you just have pure, unexplained action with an almost inexplicably detailed level of effects; literally, you can judge how much action will take place based on the episode file size. Thus, if you watch this as a "lighter" mech show with a humorous revival of the Third Reich, it becomes a simple thriller. Know that a lot of details in this show have yet to be explained, most likely in the forthcoming second season.

Animation:
Overall, the show is a very well animated work. The show has a fairly modest color palette for normal scenes but then transitions to eyegasm mode once the Valvraves enter combat. Though there is clearly CGI all over the place, the production covers this up with very detailed and file-size-heavy effects such as contrails that solidify after the mech. While most characters are distinguishable, you'll have to deal with minor character spamage. Character facial expressions are fair for the most part, though you can never really get at what L-elf is thinking; and the antagonists all annoyingly either have the "I'm invincible" calm expression or look like they had too many beans for breakfast. As for the mechs, they look like overgrown beetles with limbs thus invoking the SAT analogy Power Rangers : Beetleborgs :: Gundam : Valvrave.

Action is the main feature of this show and you'll find plenty of it. While the Valvraves are pretty close to invincible, being able to deflect or brush off most attacks, they have a heat counter that shuts the suit down after it overheats (I guess similar to phase shift wearing off based on battery charge for Gundam Seed). Suit 01, piloted by pacifist Haruto, has the ridiculous ability to commit seppuku when it overheats and basically fling all its heat energy in a deadly wave at opponents. Expect a lot of other moves and attacks that defy all logic and all you were taught in college physics. All of the suits are specialized in some way though their full potential has yet to be revealed, probably in the second season. One annoyance with this show is the unnatural degree of skill that the Valvrave pilots have. While the show gives some vague excuse for why the pilots are acceptable, it still is the equivalent of me getting in an F-16 fighter jet and single-handedly wiping out North Korea's entire army with no prior experience. Expect there to also be significant action outside the mechs as well. There are plenty of gun battles and some pretty heavy amounts of blood and some gore, which helps a bit to make the mood just a bit more serious. There is also definitely some fan service associated with this show. Some characters are obviously shown for their boing factor and there are a few suggestive scenes, actually probably even more revealing than Kira Yamato's scene with Flay.

Sound:
Sunrise typically excels at choosing fitting songs to go with their works, and this is by no means an exception. Preserved Roses, by TM Revolution and Nana Mizuki, pairs two very strong singers in an exciting techno piece that is reminiscent of TM Revolution's OPs in Seed. The two EDs are likewise very strong. Angela's songs always pair well with mech shows and the instrumental version of the ED essentially becomes the signature sound that accompanies the Valvraves. It is fitting as it sounds like it's trying to add more "cool" factor to the mech franchise. The final ED by Elisa is dark and mysterious, a perfect fit for the latter half of the show. Other than the instrumental version of Boku Janai, the BGM is very similar to that used in Gundam Seed with a lot of orchestral pieces with occasional piano, opera, or guitar accompaniments. Though there are some standout tracks, it doesn't come across as memorable compared to Seed (granted Seed was a much longer series).

The VAs are fair in the show. While not as much of a crybaby as the original Kira Yamato, Haruto Tokishima is still a pretty wimpy lead who just happens to be in the right place at the right time. Ryouhei Kimura probably deserves the most credit as L-elf, the only character with any semblance of depth in the entire cast.

Story:
The world is divided into three comical power blocs. The commerce and trade fueled ARUS is constantly at war with the militarily aggressive Dorssia. The third power, JIOR, is a neutral entity that is secretly developing the Valvraves to protect itself. Humans have by this time expanded into space, and the entirety of the show takes place in space and around Module 77, where JIOR is secretly developing the Valvraves underneath a school. As in Seed, one of the other power blocs finds about this technology and (once again) sends a covert team of high school aged agents to commandeer the Valvrave. In a last ditch effort to deny the agents the mech, the JIOR researchers send the mech to the surface where a fierce battle is being fought between Dorssian manned fodder craft and automated defense turrets. While running in the midst of this battle, pacifist Haruto witnesses his longtime crush Shouko being blown away in the crossfire. In his rage, he boards the Valvrave seeking revenge. Thus begins his life as a non-human entity and the first pilot of the Valvrave. How will he hold back the entirety of the Dorssian fleet?

Valvrave is told as one long continuing storyline following Haruto and the school as they do their best to cope with the Dorssian attacks. The show has a multitude of plot twists and quite a few cliffhangers to keep the viewer interested. These build up to an enormous climax with no resolution, as season two I assume continues right where the first season ends. That being said, certain portions of the show are told from the future, giving at least a teaser of who might survive the battles. The show is very thrilling assuming that you can overlook some gapingly huge plot holes, the absurdity of the whole setting/premise, and a lack of clarity of just what the Valvraves are, and how the pilots are no longer human. Since revealing the plot holes would be a major plot spoiler, you'll have to trust me when I say that some of these holes are so bad that it adds an unintentional comical element to the show.

Character:
For the most part, there is very little character exposition whatsoever. Most of the characters have little if any background, and some fairly important characters get surprisingly little air time. Thus, the cast is almost entirely composed of static, uninteresting bodies. Did I mention bodies? There are tons of characters that are tossed aside as cannon fodder. While the story obviously intends to make the story darker, it feels like blowing up enemies from an AC-130 in Modern Warfare- with no humanizing efforts made on the "fodder", it's literally only comical at best. Likewise, E-elf apparently has some beef with the other aptly-named covert specialists, but these rivalries never feel like they amount to anything more than a child's revenge for stealing toys.

There are two major complaints I have against the characters in the show. First of all, the school setting absolutely sucks, and the rest of the students don't really act appropriately given the fact that they are in the middle of a war. Second, it's clear from very early on that there is a very thick plot shield around certain characters, which severely dampens the effect of some of the later cliffhangers.

The story also attempts to add some bare bones romantic developments and even some third wheels. Haruto, despite being a harem-ish target, has to deal with the fact that he is no longer human, and occasionally is possessed by his Valvrave. Unfortunately, all of these are very shallow and don't develop into anything serious. It is to be seen whether the second series takes any of these further.

Value:
Valvrave is a fun series to watch, if only just to see how Haruto and L-elf deal with the next wave of cannon fodder. The first thing the viewer needs to tell him/herself is that this is NOT Gundam. Any expectations that one has from Gundams should not apply here. On its own, Valvrave is a ridiculously comical premise that happens to also be a fairly exciting pseudo-copy of Seed. While the plot is anything but plausible, it still ends up as one of the more exciting shows of the season. No doubt, the show lacks the political intrigue, depth, and story continuity of Gundam, but this isn't a Gundam show, so I recommend you treat it as such. If you do, you might walk away with a reasonably entertaining watch and some pretty good songs.

Note: This review only covers the first season of Valvrave.

---

Review
Valvrave is an affront to anyone who appreciated Sunrise works at some point. It's another of those mecha shows that attempt to build itself upon flashiness and fanservice and fatally ends up as a completely dumb and shallow experience. If there's something to be salvaged from it is its high production values, but nothing more.

Okay, Orb is a neutral country in a war between the natural-based Federation and the coordinator-commanded space colonies. They secretly develop five prototypes of mechas that can change the tide of war and, as a response, ZAFT (coordinator army) stages an attack against Orb's space colony that hosts these prototypes. Kira Yamato is a top-class coordinator that gets lost during the turmoil and ends up piloting one of the prototype machines to repel... wait... Ah! Sorry, that's Gundam Seed's first episode. Now I'll try Valvrave.

JIOR is a neutral contry in a war between the UN-based nation ARUS and the german-russian Dorssia Federation. They secretly develop five absurdyly powerful prototypes of mechas that will change the tide of war and, as response, Dorssia stages an attack against JIOR's space colony that hosts these prototypes. In the middle of the attack Haruto sees his girlfriend-to-be die and enters one of prototypes, gaining immortality and the ability to pilot the heavy mecha and wipe the enemies. From there they resist against attacks from Dorssia and try to create a new independet nation right within the war.

---

1. Yup...
   See the difference? Tough one, huh? Valvrave's start is a flashy version of Gundam Seed's. You have exactly the same setting, with the same events, but everything with more exageration. The protagonist is not a genetically enhanced guy raised in a military academy, he's just a stupid school boy who is angry because his loved one dies. The mechas are not above-average prototypes with clumsy OS, they are freaking god-like machines that can be piloted by complete newbies, grant immortality, and have the most ridiculous sets of powers like hara-kiri blade and red-energy movement. The nations are a bunch of russians with german salutations who wear royal clothings like Code Geass. The hero's allies are stupid school students who make Code Geass' cast look like professional school-owners. The war between those nations is born out of nothing and heavily influenced by a simple bunch of students. Hell, it's like they took all the wrong doings of Code Geass, Gundams, Linebarrel of Irons and other mecha shounens and put all together in a small cup of deadly juice.
   
   School environemnt...
   Have I told you school environments are everywhere and spoils nearly all it touches? It was the weakest link of Code Geass, it destroyed shows like Linebarrel of Irons, it tore apart many others supposedly military shows, and here we are again: school. This time, not only its is present, as it seems to be the key to everything and the pivotal element of the show. Surprisingly, during the initial attack, everyone in the colony manage to get away except guess who? The students.
   
   To worsen things, they don't act as if they were just attacked by a evil nation of russian-germans (because yeah, all russians and germans are evil, right?), they simply keep on cheering about school stuff, getting excited with the prospect of creating their own nation, promoting school festivals, or all horny with their teenage desires. But from all of it, really, a student-built nation? Hell...
   
   Super power?
   This is NOT a military mecha show in the likes of Gundam. Why? Because it makes the pyschic abilities of Gundam Unicorn look normal and sober. Here we have colored waves emanated from the mecha's jets that becomes materialzed or something like that, the mechas have infinite battery that somehow heats up. But when it heats it doesn't mean the mecha stops until recharged, it means it enters in a countdown to evoke the HARA-KIRI power of doom, that destroys all foes in range. Seriously? Hara-kiri robot? If that is not sufficient, I must remind you the pilots of the mechas becomes seemingly immortals, with Wolverine-like regenerative abilities and the power to dominate the body of anyone they bite... yes, I'm serious! So this is like a Code Geass power (far more stupid, anyway), combined with Wolverine, immortality, super-power mechas, and holy sh*t...
   
   Maybe it can get better
   These twelve episodes are only the first half of a larger series and it doesn't have an end. It just stops, like with Fate/Zero and other recent shows. Sadly, if the purpose of this first half was to introduce the setting and the cast, it failed miserably, as the setting is still widely unexplored and the cast is just a bunch of kids running around and dumb adults making wrong choices. From what it gives us, it appears the next season will have some time-skip, maybe with the student-nation getting older and some kind of extra events in the likes of Gundam 00 2nd Season, so it can get better. However, I'd recomend you to keep your expectations at a low level, because from the mess that is this first season, very little can be salvaged.
   
   Oh, the cast
   Have I told you the pivotal point of this show is a school? So you know what to expect. The protagonist is the most typical guy ever, a combination of everything that supposedly "resonates" with the japanese audience, but I really doubt it. He is weak-willed, doesn't have any kind of special training, is shy, completely clueless about his current situation, yet he gains a super power, manage to pilot a hyper-mecha without problems (in fact, he oscilates between master pilot and dumb boy, which makes even less sense) and becomes a symbol to his fellow students. The remaining cast... well.
   
   The stupid adults!
   Basically to shounens, adults are all as*holes, selfish dumb creatures who never make a single choice right. Valvrave takes up from there, meaning the cast is composed by kids, all adults are dumb and deserve to die, and the ones who rules the nations and armies are too stupid to take down five mechas and a bunch of kids. And all of this happening when the mechas runs out of battery/overheats absurdly before any of their foes (in fact, not a single foe stopped attacking because a lack of fuel or energy, meaning they can possible go on forever while the mechas only last a few minutes), while they have super-smart-oracle assassins that can kill thousands of foes, and while two colossal nations are in peak of a war. This probably means both ARUS and Dorssians either don't care about the five mechas at all, or that their army is a joke and they are all commanded by men who don't have the slightlest idea of how to develop a decent plan to take out five mechas piloted by newbie kids.
   
   I know because I know
   And here comes the stylish silver-haired half-protagonist that is uber-skilled with weapons, is cold, calculist, trained by the best martial artists in the galaxy, with oracle-like powers to preview the exact future, capacity to understand the blueprints of a building just by looking at its exterior wall, capable of plating bombs in 20 floors while all security just slacks off, and still his allies who trained with him don't ever managed to do anything that matches his deeds. He is the super-ace, a one-man-army and he decides to team up with a bunch of school kids when he could have escaped thousands of times to explain his situation. He never even tries, anyway.
   
   And the support...
   The coward rich guy, the cute hikikomori, the evil-empire bishounens, the nerd who loves military stuff, the eye-patch captain, the energetic heroine, the dumb big-breasted teacher (because she's older, so she must be stupid, as mentioned above), etc. There's a huge cast at play in these episodes and most of them are kids. The focus of the show is in those kids, not the evil empire's older commanders or anyone else, so you can expect quite a messy combination. Teenagers and galactic wars don't go together, that's something no one managed to make right. You can have awesome casts with many kids around, but they must be kids, not completely distort the chain of command for the sake of fanservice. Infinite Ryvius is basically 100% kids and has one of the best character developments around, but there they don't magically go all happy and tsundere every instant, they don't appear to live in wonderland while the world is at war... Valvrave suffers a lot with this. In the end, the cast puts the show in the same ground as the most childish shounens around, not an mecha-inspired space-opera or anything more like a Gundam.
   
   It's gorgeous but perhaps too much
   Valvrave delights in huge production values. It got itself called as the Gundam of the current season, and at least in this department it is true. It's a behemoth of quality, with sharp visuals, highly detailed mechas, great background settings, top-quality animation, and a great mix of 2D and 3D elements. Sadly, it's too flashy. The bright colors are overused, with mechas looking like a group of Power Rangers, the designs and clothings barely reminding you that there's a military background in the storyline, and the overall character design will never make you take it too seriously. It's a mixture of classic big-eye kids, cute girls, bishounens, etc. An abuse of these elements that makes Gundam 00's cast look like a group of serious gangsters.
   
   Not a tribute, an insult
   Okay, Valvrave is a show that copies the first impression from Gundam Seed, ends with an impression of Gundam 00, has visual elements and secret powers of Code Geass, a dumb cast of Linebarrel of Irons and Guilty Crown, and manages to destroy its plot as the episodes go on. I've seen that before with all the recent Sunrise stuff and a few others, especially when it comes to the cast. I'd respect if they tried to pay homage to Gundam Seed and Code Geass, but what they do here is show how easily you can go from seriousness to stupidity. Another mecha-fest infested with teenagers in these recent years is just one more to the pile, sadly.
   

---

Comments
Yes, another of these shows. Guilty Crown, Accel World and Linebarrel of Irons were a few of those I've tolerated in these last years. They are those kind of shows that, from what they announce, could be the masterpieces of shounen action with mecha and high-tech things, but in reality they lose themselves to the flashiness and the stupid school-elements of its cast: tsunderes, festivals, ecchiness, dumb actions, shallow personalities, etc. It's hard to use these student templates in a realm outside slice-of-life, as they simply don't fit in scy-fy or fantasy stuff.

When I remember Code Geass, I always get bad waves from that school setting. It was unecessary, it was filled with stupid events that nearly spoiled the royal-family background. The show shone because it managed to keep its focus elsewhere, but that's a rare thing considering how japanese authors take the first opportunity to turn anything into a soup of fan-luring elements. It's like they create cute girls and school uniforms just to sell their toys and make cash from marketing materials, because seriously, they can do a lot better than that.

Anyway, fortunately, Valvrave is only twelve episodes long, which makes it something easier to endure and experience for yourself one of those shows that succeeds in merging all fan-luring elements into one single piece. It's the Accel Wordl and Guilty Crown of this season for sure. It's just ever sadder to see this with all its references to Sunrise's great past works.

For many of us studio Sunrise is now labeled as “the mecha trainwreck” studio. They were quite innovating in their early years but for the past 2 decades they make only robot-themed shows filled with obnoxious lead characters and storylines written on the run. And yes, they usually sell very well to their target audience thanks to the good budget but if you compare them with the mecha shows of GAINAX you easily realize how they are hardly trying to be anything out of the ordinary or even well made. They are kid stuff for mass consumption with little to no actual value.

Their latest proof of that is this Valvrave thing; a patchwork of good ideas from past works, hardly trying to do anything new with them or at least present them in a nice way. It is just throws them randomly on the screen and expects you to shut off your brain and stare at the scenery porn, the mecha porn, and the silly school comedy shenanigans. Guess what folks; it won’t work no matter how many pink explosions and sailor suit girls they splatter all over your face. Because there is absolutely no effort given to make us give a damn about anyone or anything before they try to entertain us with anything else in it. This is what made Code Geass good in the first season to the point most didn’t mind how bad it became plot-wise in the second. And this is what made Guilty Crown bad right away, since just like Valvrave it never tried to be anything more than random good ideas.

You get weird stuff like mecha who turn their pilots into vampires with fast regeneration who also possess their victims and fight space Nazis with ultimate attacks that include performing hara-kiri and throwing Frisbees, while having flashforwards to centuries later where amnesia and deaths happen. It sounds cool but there is absolutely no attempt to move from event A to event B with some sort of logic behind it; it all plays out as randomly as possible. It is impossible to create anything good if there is absolutely no consistency to how something works or how someone behaves. Some girl survives a nuke by being inside a car and just like everything else that is all you ever need to accept this lame plot armor. An elite assassin who can easily kill hundreds of soldiers gets owned instantly by the protagonist’s bite. A few minutes later the protagonist attacks his schoolmates and is owned by the slap of a frail girl. And no, that is not supposed to be a joke; it was supposed to be a most dramatic scene.

Two minutes after it begins and you are already thinking this is yet another alternative universe of Gundam. Only it isn’t; it is supposed to be a NEW show with a NEW setting. Whatever; we typically have a Gundam future where mankind creates space colonies and fights with mechas. Our protagonist is a typical teenager who “accidentally” finds a new overpowered model and is forced to pilot it as means to protect his friends and stuff. He is yet another one of those pussies who blushes when he looks at a girl or screams when a female does the unthinkable and touches him. I mean, really, from all the people in the universe he is the one who finds the robot and has the guts to pilot it? Where did he found the balls all of a sudden? In the typical Sunrise fashion, he acts as the plot demands it and not as he should. More specifically, when a girl is in trouble he gets manly but when said girl wants to thank him he screams like the sissy he is. Add to that a ridiculous scene where he goes berserk by mystical powers and rapes a girl he proposes to marry the exact next day. What was this show called again, Vulrape the Lubricator? Anyways, the show will constantly try to present him as a tragic hero who is forced to sacrifice a lot for the good of the many but his blunt personality and the completely random plot twists will make it impossible to give a damn.

In a similar manner, the fail expands to everything else in the show; the enemy spies for example. You know; the ones in all Gundam shows who pretend to be civilians just to sneak in and steal the new model? You get this sudden antithesis where on one side stands the pussy protagonist doing a harem comedy and on the other these amoral assholes who kill defenseless people for the lulz. And yes, they are transfer students; every mediocre anime with schools needs transfer students in order for something to happen. Oh my, such amazing characterization! Now can we please get something so we can describe each one of them with more than a hair color or a silly-sounding name that repeats every 2 minutes? Or can we at least have some bloody consistency in the way they are supposed to behave? If they kill on sight any defenseless person they meet and laugh about it, why do they start to chat with the lead’s schoolmates for no bloody reason? I mean, really, the robot they came for is in front of them, they killed dozens of people to get to it without lifting an eyebrow, and as soon as it is a few steps away they stop walking or shooting anything that moves, and start to talk with nobodies. HERP!

From the dozens of cardboards this show has, one of them stands out and is none other than the Char-wannabe of this season. You won’t forget his name, since everybody yells about it in a most memorable and retarded way. ELELFU! ELELFU! ELELFU! He acts like a double agent, out to take revenge on the space Nazis and does it by magically predicting what everybody is going to do next. Of course he calls it tactics but it is practically magic. “Haha, I predicted that none of the enemy bullets would hit you, while you run to get into the robot against my orders, wearing a green skirt and having French fries for dinner.”

The robot action is another thing to facepalm about, as it is filled with pink wings, pink laser beams, and pink explosions. HOW MANLY! Did I mention how easy it is for a civilian to master the controls of a super powerful robot full of mystical powers in about five seconds? But when an experienced soldier tries to pilot it, he is immediately killed by the computer because he is not a pussyfied male teenager. Yeah, typical Sunrise, find a cheap excuse so only teenagers are allowed to have superpowers; adults can go frakk themselves. For more information, check out how being older than 17 means you are cursed to be a nobody in shows like Accel World or Guilty Crown. Hell, Valvrave takes that to the next level by having a school of immature kids rebelling against the adults and declaring independence. Because adults are dicks and only teenagers are awesome. Disregard how there is absolutely no policy or reason behind that thought or how in 5 years they will all be adults like the ones they take a shit on right now.

I better clarify something in case you missed the irony. This and the aforementioned titles are about teen fantasy. They are made to make the teen audience feel like they are awesome. Realism has nothing to do with it; it is pure escapism and the rule of cool. Everything needs to revolve around sexualized retarded high school kids having the fun of their lives by doing anything stupid they ever wanted in a colony that is magically self-dependent. 15 years ago we had Infinite Ryvius, with a similar situation. Only thing, over there the teenagers had lack of resources and many had mental breakdowns, so it was hardly fun and for the same reason ten times more interesting. There is absolutely no drama or even reason in Valvrave despite pretending to have buckets of it.

And don’t think the lame tributes to retro anime will end there. In order for the base to continue having food and otaku related nonsense the teenagers need to raise funds. A decade ago we had Starship Operators where the teenagers there had to turn the war into a reality show. If you think that was silly, Valvrave goes even beyond that by having the teenagers gathering money by doing j-pop musicals.

I would gladly accept all the pandering if the show was like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure or Tengen Toppa but the problem is that it ain’t. It is not GAR brilliance but rather a dork gamer’s wet dream. Seriously, teenagers who are into sports or have girlfriends will find this show lame for deifying geeks. The protagonist has enough firepower to wipe out armies and is otherwise screaming like a monkey for being hugged by a girl who simply wants to thank him for saving her. Yet he saves the day and everyone cheers for him in every episode for being the waste of flesh he is. Last time I checked heroes are supposed to have guts or charisma and he has none. Hell, he doesn’t even look memorable; he is just another cookie cutter dude you will forget by tomorrow. And furthermore everyone in this show is constantly using cell phones, plays videogames, sleeps with huge anime pillows, is a hikikomori, or acts like a spaz. NOBODY IS MANLY!

I have a hard time getting into these modern anime who do nothing but pandering to dork otakus and don’t try to tell a good story. I am a big anime fan but back in my teens shows were a lot more about characterization than fancy pink explosions or advertisements for videogames. Mecha anime were war dramas or psychological thrillers, this is closer to a school ecchi 4-panel comedy than a mecha action show. And it doesn’t work; especially when they try to build drama. The hero is too afraid to approach anyone because he thinks he will harm them with his vampire lust. BOOHOOHOO is this supposed to be taken seriously? It’s not like he was going to do anything more with any girl even if was still normal. Why? BECAUSE HE IS A SPINELESS PUSSY! He gets his own imba mecha, has hax vampire skills, saved millions of lives, all the chicks love him, and he loses his mojo as easily as he gained it. If somebody thinks this is either cool or tragic then he needs to stop reading bad fan fiction.

Well done Sunrise; you managed to make a fool of yourself once again. At least Code Geass had a good first season before you blew it all up. And at least the white dressed racist aristocrats there didn’t have red mascara around their eyes to make them look so gay. I bet you realized you will never write a proper plot ever again so instead of delaying the inevitable you start the fail right away. Well, at least this way nobody will have high hopes and will not be disappointed later on. And I see you already decided to prepare us for that by the title of your next show. Why bother to find a cool name like Valrave when the show is so retarded? Just name it Butt Buddy Complex.