(L) Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto

[Saturn Beaver]

Hmm, this episode is good, it explains things and makes it more clear, but I feel it's a bit underwhelming compared to the first. Maybe after watching the first one I set my expectations too high? It feels that what makes this series work is the whole camp value (not only do they give an over-the top explanation for each of the brigade rep, they even have audiences cheering and booing for each comments) and of course the amazing fight scene and the beautiful zero scene. It's just that, well, I'm afraid that things will become a formulaic "enemy of the week" thing, as now it really reminds me of Ultraman, especially with how Takuto beat the enemy with the beam from the chest. Not that it's necessarily bad, I'll still definitely will continue to watch it, but I'm just lowering my expectations for a bit to not get disappointed later on.

Oh, and one other thing: they say the pink-haired girl got some superpower charm kiss from her first phase, right? I wonder she's unique, or will the other be revealed to have other powers too? And stronger as they reach higher phase? This can be interesting...

Originally Posted by Divini

Okay maybe I'm missing something, but I don't get this part.

Basically the Glittering Crux Brigade knows exactly who and where Takuto is. One of them is his RA, another two live in the same dorm, and another one sitting right behind him in class! Takuto doesn't even know their identities. Isn't this.... like a critical tactical advantage? Can't they just... like... get the jump on him and assassinate him or something?

Same reason why the monsters in Power Rangers always wait until the Megazord is fully charged up before delivering its strongest form/attack. Just because, or to make it fair perhaps? Well, for a real in-universe reason, what Kagayaki said is possible, or maybe the reason they want to defeat Takuto in Zero Space is to be able to get Tauburn and analyze it in order to know why Takuto can reach Third Stage without breaking any seals. That, or because Head says that the brigade who defeat Takuto can be leader, so they want to prove that they win not due to sneaky tactics but because they have the strongest Cybody. Not a really strong reason, but enough I guess.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Divini

Okay maybe I'm missing something, but I don't get this part.

Basically the Glittering Crux Brigade knows exactly who and where Takuto is. One of them is his RA, another two live in the same dorm, and another one sitting right behind him in class! Takuto doesn't even know their identities. Isn't this.... like a critical tactical advantage? Can't they just... like... get the jump on him and assassinate him or something?

I'm only idly speculating here, but here's my opinion on this. From what we've seen so far, the Crux seek to unlock the Cybodies to have (military) power in the real world, which would indicate to me that they don't have it now in sufficient qualities. If they had the power to act openly, I'd imagine they'd do so, indicating they'd get their asses kicked if their identities got revealed prematurely (their, from our POV, pitiful disguises seem to work in the context of the story, same as a pair of glasses worked for Superman).

Enter Takuto, a completely unknown factor. Why is he here? Who's backing him up? Is he guarded? Can we dispose of him without anyone noticing us? Why is he at the 3rd Phase? Are there others who can do the same stuff? etc. Many questions the Crux could be asking themselves. So by my guess the most important thing would be to stay hidden, gather intelligence and try to dispose of him on the battlefield when the opportunity arises.

That's just what I came up with, with what they've shown us so far. Maybe there's additional rules we don't know about yet or some other factor. Heh, or maybe it really is a plot hole. Anyways, as long as I can conjure up an explanation myself on the fly, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until we're further into the story and know more.

[Shiroth]

Show sure does keep delivering. This weeks episode was so damn Utena, especially with the meeting of the masked characters . Not nearly as fabulous though. :3

Kanako was slutty and amazing as expected. Favorite female character, i sure do think so. Maaya Sakamoto's character needs to do something awesome soon~

& 'Head' is still absolutly fantastic. <333

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Saturn Beaver

Oh, and one other thing: they say the pink-haired girl got some superpower charm kiss from her first phase, right? I wonder she's unique, or will the other be revealed to have other powers too? And stronger as they reach higher phase? This can be interesting...

I do believe it's likely the others will have that kind of powers as well. Calling it now: Kanako can turn people into masochists/loyal slaves.

Second phase seems to grant the power to control a Cybody. As for the third (which Takuto has already reached), it's probably being able to summon and control a Cybody without needing any kind of technological tools to apprivoise it. Fourth phase obviously grants the ability to use a Cybody in normal space (unless there are more phases than that).

[duckroll]

Magazine scans from this month:

Spoiler for Yoshiyuki Ito:

Spoiler for Yutaka Nakamura:

Spoiler for Yoshiyuki Kohira:

Spoiler for New mech designs:

The one on the left is Yodhok - Professor Green's Cybody. The one on the right is Kaphrat. Star Driver unknown.

[Saturn Beaver]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I do believe it's likely the others will have that kind of powers as well. Calling it now: Kanako can turn people into masochists/loyal slaves.

Second phase seems to grant the power to control a Cybody. As for the third (which Takuto has already reached), it's probably being able to summon and control a Cybody without needing any kind of technological tools to apprivoise it. Fourth phase obviously grants the ability to use a Cybody in normal space (unless there are more phases than that).

Hmm, I see. So if it's something you get in the first phase, then that means that all the other guys who have piloted a Cybody (as they are in second phase and naturally has passed first phase) might have one as well, huh? Because I see that the two guys from this and last episode doesn't seem to have any special power at all, so I was thinking that it still varies from individual to individual...

[LightningZERO]

It was....an interesting show. The comments in this thread made me into watching the first two episodes of Star Driver and I'm hooked. I was no fan of the basic concepts of this show and I was like "WTF were they thinking?" when I read comments about Galactic Pretty Boy. But the show did the camp and overdramatic elements too damn well, and it was AWESOME!!!

Not only the FABULOUS story and ideas, but the animation was absolutely beautiful. I don't have to repeat everyone's praise on the Zero Time and action scenes, but the mecha design, especially the Tauburn has grown on me.

Still, I was hoping for more explanations, but this is definitely a good series and I'm watching it!

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Show sure does keep delivering. This weeks episode was so damn Utena, especially with the meeting of the masked characters . Not nearly as fabulous though. :3

Kanako was slutty and amazing as expected. Favorite female character, i sure do think so. Maaya Sakamoto's character needs to do something awesome soon~

& 'Head' is still absolutly fantastic. <333

To bad I found her voice to annoying to really feel intrigued by all of it. I'd chalk it up more to overacting than anything, which is really saying something cause look at the rest of the characters in the show.

A look at her VA Ayano Niina's page on ANN shows that she has by far the least experience of anyone on the show, only having been in a handful of Female Student A and supporting type roles prior to Star Driver. Can't say I'm terribly surprised.

Agreed that Head is absolutely fabulous. If I had to predict a pattern the halfway point of the series will be a fight with him before the real leader shows up.

[Andrelol]

From Bones, I was expecting something like Euroka 7 but... FAIL.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by duckroll

Magazine scans from this month

I was hoping for some fabulous mask spread, though Yutaka Nakamura shall do. <33

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

If I had to predict a pattern the halfway point of the series will be a fight with him before the real leader shows up.

Yeah he does seem like mid boss material, though hopefully it won't be the end of him after that.

Originally Posted by Andrelol

From Bones, I was expecting something like Euroka 7 but... FAIL.

Not every show BONES produce are going to be like Eureka Seven. The beauty of BONES would be the originality of their original stories. That's explained so well here with Star Driver.

[HandofFate]

Originally Posted by Saturn Beaver

Hmm, I see. So if it's something you get in the first phase, then that means that all the other guys who have piloted a Cybody (as they are in second phase and naturally has passed first phase) might have one as well, huh? Because I see that the two guys from this and last episode doesn't seem to have any special power at all, so I was thinking that it still varies from individual to individual...

I'm just going to go on a whim and say only the "Captains" will be shown to get special abilities for some reason, and not any of their underlings.

At the moment, I'm not sure if Takuto has a hint on the identies of the badguys or not, either way, it doesn't seem like cares. He seems to be in a sit and watch type of guy at the moment, he won't outright seek them out, but if they challenge him or try to kidnap a maiden again, he show up to protect the world and such. In standard Sentai fashion. Maybe when the bad guys reach phrase 3-4 themselves, and a team member or two joins him, he be more proactive.

He knows they were targetting Wako, but he doesn't go out of his way to protect her and guard her, he spent very little time with her instead, and was only in the same scene when she asked him to follow her to meet the drama club members.

Didn't really get the deal with the glass line that kept popping up, Takuto summoned his Cybody and broke through the glass at the end kind of just to close out the theme, but that was about it.

[Kunagisa]

I love this anime.

I find the animation superb and the flair is pulled off with a lot of class. The whole theme is quite over the top with celestial references as well as lots of artsy designs. Music is awesome (not OP or ED, but the insert song with the maiden). Nowadays most of everything is adaptation of a manga, light novel or game, as such I find myself pretty enthralled by this anime. Really, the only complaints are the fights are over so freaking fast. I can foresee many great things spawning from this series (doujins and hilarious ASCII art).

Just from a pure entertainment stand point without going into tropes and arguing about cliches, I would honestly look forward to each new episode (assuming the budget holds up, which I don't think it will but we'll see).

On a random note, who would be HIGHLY disappointed if we don't see a muonbot?

[ars89]

another great episode, cleared some things up, did i see an empty chair during the crux meeting or did i make that up?

[VEE]

oh yes, maaya sakamoto is one of the VA right?

[Qikz]

I'm really enjoying this so far, but I can't quite work out how he can't tell who any of them are outside of the Crux (is that the place name?).

I mean, they all know who he is, and they all look basically like what they do outside just with masks on.

Ah well, I'm not bothered, it's a good show.

[Jarmel]

Originally Posted by Qikz

I'm really enjoying this so far, but I can't quite work out how he can't tell who any of them are outside of the Crux (is that the place name?).

I mean, they all know who he is, and they all look basically like what they do outside just with masks on.

Ah well, I'm not bothered, it's a good show.

Because he hasn't spent alot of time around any of them and the ones he fights are in the mechs. The only ones he could possibly recognize is the RA from the brief 30 second encounter he had with her from the first episode before he started fighting.

I'm really enjoying this show more then I should. Tauburn had such an awesome intro this episode. It's also nice to have a badass protagonist. I do find it funny that whatever Tauburn seems to need, it seems he's going to get. Need a laser? Got it. Need a lightsaber? Got it. God I hope they can keep up this animation.

[Katsumara]

Felt like adding in my own comments about the series thusfar.

I'm really enjoying the amount of fabulousness that's present throughout. Honestly, I'm not watchin for story, or character growth.. or anything like that. I'm watching for pure fun, fanservice, and awesome mecha fights. Keep it going, Star Driver!

Also seconding (or fifteenthing) the bit about the insert song. I really love that song.

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Kinda too flashy, even if that's what makes it great =_=

[superzombie23]

Spoiler for what I said a week ago:

Originally Posted by superzombie23

Haha at first I was like no, but now I know I was right on about it being simlilar to Revolutionary Girl Utena, after I saw the series composition guy for Star Driver, Enokido Youji, also worked on Utena (and Sailor Moon, but I never watched it). I totally got the Utena vibe from the long-drawn out Galaxy Pretty Boy transformation scene, saving the girl in distress in a weird arena. The whole protagonist being thrown into a battle scenario, where the bad guys are devoted to what they're doing with no explanation and enslaving these maidens while wearing their masks, is like in Utena where the Council is mindlessly trying to get the Rose Bride. Utena by chance gets involved, and their roses and rings, that signify who participates and wins the battle of the Rose Bride, are like the masks in Star Driver. They also seemed to be possessed by something crazy to get in a cyber casket to challenge the Pretty Boy, likewise the council member that gets crazy enough to fight Utena. Raging Bull loses his mask and his rank, just like losing the rose in Utena, and they regain their sanity. Star Driver is just a high tech version of Utena, if the rest of the series plays out like I think it will Xd. Also, I don't mind how confusing it is because I view that as a good sign. Anime that get you hooked in the first episode, in my opinion, have a very high chance of being a huge let down. It's been a while since I've seen Utena, but Utena always had a messed up atmosphere. They never explain why things look the way they do or happen, and that's what makes Utena a beautiful art piece. If you've ever watched Utena, you'd be amazed at how unique the art is, but it wouldn't be amazing if they try and explain why there's a random car going down a highway and a huge elevator and upside down castle and a carousel ;p. Star Driver seems to be going in that direction. I hope they don't explain why there's a girl in a cage that's singing and why they have to go naked... it just adds artistic value and mystery to the atmosphere that's good for the anime.

HAHA I was right on about it being like Revolutionary Girl Utena right after the first episode came out. Now I know after the 2nd ep., that girl is gonna start singing in that cage before every battle, and some crazy-induced student is going to try and defeat the pretty boy and get in a cyber casket.

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Show sure does keep delivering. This weeks episode was so damn Utena, especially with the meeting of the masked characters . Not nearly as fabulous though. :3

I'm glad someone else sees the similarities.

[_gallo_]

Episode 2 was good albeit not as the first one. Pacing was a bit slow at times and I didn't like the way the episode ended.

However Maaya Sakamoto appeared. Yay! Her voice is enough for me to offset every minor drawbacks.

Next episode is going to be directed by Shin Matsuo. Hope he will deliver.