(L+CR) Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen

[GN0010 Nosferatu]

I have to ask though, what is it with anime and black haired, purple eyed girls? The girl in this one is like the 5th one ive seen between different shows.

[DevilHighDxD]

Originally Posted by GN0010 Nosferatu

I have to ask though, what is it with anime and black haired, purple eyed girls? The girl in this one is like the 5th one ive seen between different shows.

Appealing to the audience? Girls with these characteristic(especially the one that has black hair) are the usually the girl that the public like. See the girl in my avatar and sign?

[Jagger]

And there I was thinking "Welp the mechs look pretty lame in this show, but I guess they're more realistic". And then the main character magically chances upon a super high tech model that he gets given to use. LOL jesus christ anime tropes you just never stop do you

[SinsI]

Originally Posted by GN0010 Nosferatu

I have to ask though, what is it with anime and black haired, purple eyed girls? The girl in this one is like the 5th one ive seen between different shows.

What's so strange about that? Black hair is the norm for japanese; eye color can be used to differentiate characters with bland character design.

[GN0010 Nosferatu]

Who said anything about strange? I'm just noticing that the design seems to be used often.

[DezoPenguin]

It's almost like they welded together two completely different mecha shows. On the one hand, there's this realistic-seeming war drama, where the expansionist, powerful outsiders are crashing down on the isolationist nation at the end of the continent (without actually identifying the morality of each), the generals are more concerned with saving their own butts and prestige, the local colonel is kind of rebellious and interested in the welfare of his troops, the actual troops are reasonably seasoned vets who can joke about the food, and the mecha are clunky and reasonably realistic.

On the other hand, there's the story of the hot-blood rookie pilot who ignores orders to rush in and save civilians FOR GREAT JUSTICE!!!! and just happens to land in the cockpit of an experimental super-robot design with which he can save the nation/world/whatever, with the goofy-yet-tsuntsun operator/sidekick girl as his backup.

The first half looks like a good show. The second half looks like it's a steaming pile of cliche-ridden tripe. Or possibly trope, 'cause generic tropes are what it seems to be made of.

Whether this show proves decent going forward is in how these two parts mesh together. Keep the first part serious and impacting on the second--and continue with the bits like "You suck!" and the MC falling on his butt after flying-kicking the enemy robot--and there's hope.

Or it could just fall into a hole of wasted potential as it devotes itself to moronic bull.

Ultimately, I think the amount of screentime the MC gets will be directly related to the suckage level of the show.

[Wandering Soul]

Nothing really remarkable about the first episode. I like how most of the mechs were bulky and not that fast but I am still on the fence about the MC's personalty.

It;s hilarious that despite the fact that the MC is a trained solider I have seen high school kids jumping for the first time do better than him in combat

[cleo]

@ DezoPenguin: very good description.
I liked the first half. It reminded me of Senjou no Valkyria, but with Mecha. And than it turned into the type of Mecha I dislike, with all it's stereotypes. This is 2-cour right? I'm giving it the 3-5 ep trial.

[RoboMambo]

A terribly boring first episode. Mostly uneventful, and also lacking in the kind of world or character building to justify the slow start. Specially damning considering how generic and lazy everything felt. The mecha could just as well been laying around.

The main character being a naive brat is something that doesn't bother me too much, but making him also an actual member of the military instead of a common teenager makes it look ten time dumber. Wonder what excuse they'll make so he stays in the Argevollen.

Liked the the mecha designs a lot, except for the main one. The one the mc used first had a strong Front Mission look to it, and all of them have a nice industrial look to them. The Argevollen instead looks all shiny, cool and human-like, and clashes with the rest so it comes out kinda disjointed, aesthetically.

Maybe the politics won't be too bad, can't tell yet, but not hoping anything. And politics is one thing that I can't stand when badly done.

[askara]

That is some of the most lacklustre and awful mecha fight i have seen

[Kyral]

I was very pleased seeing slow mechs and infantry support. remindet me of front mission and ring of red.

The hero mech was totaly introduced like a gundam... and of course it was a fast brawler typ... >_>

and it seems Mikan from To-Love-Ru became a mechanic...

Definitly will see episode 2-3.

[Anh_Minh]

I don't necessarily dislike the kid falls into a super robot cockpit trope, but here... Somehow, it didn't really work. Maybe because, like DezoPenguin said, there's two shows, and I'd have preferred just the first one. Or maybe even just the second one, but so far, the two put together just don't work.

[Grifis]

I'm not a big fan of mecha but I figure that if there's a hottie that catch my eyes then I'll continue watching. That hottie is colonial Izumi. I believe they killed him. Oh vell, goodbye my sweetheart. I don't think I can handle watching anymore of the main brat.

[jhpace1]

Yes, the trope is standard - young boy falls into cockpit of experimental prototype, proceeds to kick butt all over the place compared to the other mecha. Still, I like it, and at least the storywriters made the trope a little different.

We appear to be using old-school hydraulics for most of the mecha, and the prototype uses a faster, more fluid mechanism. Looks like the battery life could use some work, however.

Nice that this isn't Earth, or at least that picture of the island/continent wasn't recognizable to me. That "Great Wall" opening scene almost had me believing it was the Chinese vs. the Mongols in mecha. The enemy's "jumping" mecha might give the prototype a run for its' money, unless the battery life is longer.

And yes, mecha in this world are just larger-than-normal tanks, with antipersonnel machine guns and a cannon-shell turret on top.

[Irenesharda]

Originally Posted by jhpace1

Yes, the trope is standard - young boy falls into cockpit of experimental prototype, proceeds to kick butt all over the place compared to the other mecha. Still, I like it, and at least the storywriters made the trope a little different.

We appear to be using old-school hydraulics for most of the mecha, and the prototype uses a faster, more fluid mechanism. Looks like the battery life could use some work, however.

Nice that this isn't Earth, or at least that picture of the island/continent wasn't recognizable to me. That "Great Wall" opening scene almost had me believing it was the Chinese vs. the Mongols in mecha. The enemy's "jumping" mecha might give the prototype a run for its' money, unless the battery life is longer.

And yes, mecha in this world are just larger-than-normal tanks, with antipersonnel machine guns and a cannon-shell turret on top.

It is like it's trying to be a little different then the regular tropes, and yet so very much like it, at the same time. The whole "Great Wall" thing did instantly make me think of China, and the army also gave me a Chinese military feel to them with the uniforms and some of the character designs.

However, the other side definitely has a Western feel to it, with everyone wearing cravats in the nobility and the fact that they're called "Ingelman".

Originally Posted by DevilHighDxD

I was surprised, our MC who has actual military training actually has worst debut than normal regular HS student. My wish for a L-elf like start out MC won't be granted it seem... I'll give it some couple more episodes.

It's like they got to have their cake and eat it too. He DOES have some training, but he's also pretty much a novice at the same time. He may be a military pilot, but he's a "new" military pilot. He's basically straight out of the academy. He can't even pilot his original mech without tripping or messing up.

Originally Posted by Gundam888

I did not fine main character annoying all of it In what he is doing is understandable

Sometimes the hothead, reckless, going-against-orders thing works for an MC, but that character better be smart enough, strong enough, and lucky enough, to pull it off. A good example is Nagate from Knights of Sidonia. He disobeys orders at times, but it's only when needed and when he knows he has a better solution AND can pull it off.

This new guy trying to "help" those civilians was pretty stupid. He had no plan or strategy except to charge straight at the enemy, and then they end up overwhelming him anyway and he ends up having to count on his superior officer to come and save his hide. If the Argevollen hadn't been there, he could very well have cost that lady her life as well as that of his fellow soldiers.

[Master_Yoma]

Hmmm will seems slow and the MC seem like he going to die at any moment

[Panssj]

Mmmmh the first episode don't really convinced me, but I'll stick around. After all, it was a simple introduction/world building, they have plenty of time to develop the story.

I hope there will be more interesting character beside the MC (I want to punch him in the face so hard. Go, blondie moe girl!)

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by Gundam888

I did not fine main character annoying all of it In what he is doing is understandable

Rushing into a dangerous situation for which he's under-equipped, forcing his comrade to choose between letting him die or risking her own neck to bail him out? Watch the first episode of Gundam 0079 and note what happens to the Zeon trooper who disobeys orders and tries to get the glory of destroying the Federation prototypes. That's what should've happened to the MC here, but he's protected by a magical protagonist force field.

[Darthtabby]

I thought it was a pretty solid first episode. Having the main character randomly come into possession of an advanced prototype mecha is pretty cliche, but its so common I don't see much point in getting up in arms about it. At least this mech's advantages seem to be improved agility, ease of use and situational awareness rather than superpowers, so hopefully the tactical approach with scouting and stuff playing an important role will survive the hero mech's introduction.

Also this has a slight twist in that the main character gets asked to pilot the prototype mech because he's a mech pilot. That's got to count for something.

There were various minor issues (someone needs to put some bigger guns on those mechs so they can take each other out a bit more quickly) but about the only real big one for me is the main girl. She does seem kind of at odds with the rest of the series.

[Asuras]

I enjoyed it to a degree, but something in particular really irked me.

It's a well-known fact that we cannot sufficiently replicate two-legged movement in a machine well enough to warrant serious combat usage. We're working on it, but we're just not there yet. Achieving stability on two legs and having the energy and mechanics to undergo movement negate the usefulness of other characteristics mecha possess. A tank is much more feasible, and altogether more powerful.

That being said, this is an anime, and these sorts of things need not apply. Still, I could not for the life of me understand why they would go ahead and then make such slow mecha. These things moved so slowly it literally made me bored watching them. In a setting in which the mecha move like Knightmares of Code Geass, or Gundam, it would be understandable why they are being used.

In Argevollen, however, they seem completely useless. The very vehicles around them had to slow down to keep pace. They're tanks, made even slower. The usefulness of mecha is all about being mobile, and so if they don't possess even that, they're pointless. What were the designers thinking?