Ep kicks off with high schooler Junki Saiga plagued by wierd dreams (of giant mecha) which started when his father, an archaeologist working at a dig at the Japanese Pyramid, Mt. Kurokami, vanished 10 years before. Out of the blue, belongings of his father are found and with his mother and chirpy imouto Kuraka head off to Mt. Kurokami. While they're here, they meet Maedasaki, who I think was an investigator for the company sponsoring the dig, not 100% sure though. Anyway Junki (looking alarmingly like an older Harry Potter) collapses when he finds a strange bracelet in the area where his father was working. Shortly after a meteorite comes to earth, from within a huge dino-scorpian mecha emerges and the military attack with helicopters, but fail and are destroyed. Junki and co try to escape when the dam bursts, and the dino-scorpian closes in on them. Trying to recover his father's belongings, Junki is swept away by the tide from the dam, puts on the bracelet and with the words he read in his father's journal, calls on Reideen. From within the pyramid, Reideen answers. Junki then finds himself naked and without spectacles inside Reideen's armour just as the dino-scorpian intercepts him. They face off, with Junki realising if Reideen gets hurt, so does he. On the hill a mysterious girl watches the two mechas about to engage. End.
Like I said the animation and production values are very high, this is a
Production I.G anime afterall. The character animation is surprisingly realistic and with minimal but natural movements. No wild exaggerations like
Blood+ for example. There's a good use of light and shadow adding to the realism, like in the school room and the police station where Junki and his mother look over a collection of his father's belongings. Backgrounds are all excellently detailed, expecially the Mt. Kurokami scenes. Non-CG effects, like explosions and the deluge of dam water, are all done rather well, but some of them (water especially) feel a little
unfinished. Perhaps the TV broadcast will have improved on these to some degree.
The characters are convincingly drawn and portrayed. I really like the naturalistic design, but it is quite stylish all the same, even with side characters like construction workers and bored officials. Junki's weary mother for example, actually looks like someone who has struggled with the tragedy of her husband's apparent death. Junki himself is not a typical happy-go-lucky hero, he's quite reserved, a little aloof, but popular all the same. Not some punk social reject or troublemaker. In fact he's surprisingly
normal, maybe even a little dull. You can't call him hot-blooded, at least no so far. I suppose it's quite refreshing really.
The mecha are pure CG and while Reideen looks majestic and powerful with its shiny gold armour, its dino-scorpian opponent seems out of place, but the design is quite imaginative. Interestingly the mecha are slow and sluggish, an attempt to convey the sense of scale and weight of these behemoths. The camera shakes and particle effects seems to add to this sense of massive machinery. I do wonder how this approach will work long term and whether it can sustain
urgency in the battles. There was a one dodgy CG scene, with the helicopter crashing into the dam, which ended up being unintentionally funny. Overall though it was okay, I'm getting used to CG mecha, so this won't bother me.
Anyway rather like
Giant Robo, the problem facing Reideen is
over-familiarity. It's a story that mecha and action fans have seen many times before (high schooler gains mecha, mystery girl appears, epic battles ensue etc...) so how Reideen takes this forward will be critical. There are many similarities between this and recent mecha shows (
ZEGAPAIN springs to mind), and that may not be a bad thing. But Reideen will need to take us in a new direction if they want to inject life into old mecha. Maybe this subdued realistic approach will do the trick. So far so good though.
Screenshots:
