Ranked #1886

Genesis Climber Mospeada

I just finished Genesis Climber Mospeada this evening, and to be honest, it feels like I'm still absorbing what took the past three (or so) days to watch! The fact that it's still on my mind so strongly is, for me, a good sign of a plot that extends far deeper than surface action. My overall impression? Though it has its flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed "the ride" of watching the series.

The story is easy to grasp but at the same time a little difficult. Earth was invaded by aliens known as the Inbit. Humans have either already been living on other planets or perhaps flee to other planets after the arrival of the Inbit; they try twice to liberate Earth and fail. The main action follows Stig (Stick) Bernard, a member of the Second Liberation Force and the only survivor from his squadron, as he journeys to the Inbit headquarters in hopes of completely obliterating it. The Inbit are mysterious creatures who were seeking a peaceful place to live, but that's all I really feel like I understand about their intentions.

The characters and their travels are what made this series so enjoyable for me. My favorite is Stig, the uptight soldier who has trouble seeing things beyond the simple good/bad dichotomy. Ray and Mint are always hilarious and adorable. Hoquet is lively and strong, and it was nice to see a capable female fighting alongside the men. There wasn't a single member of the cast that I found myself disliking, even Jim, the big coward of the bunch! :p Their growing relationships were a joy to watch and cheer for, especially those between Ray/Houquet and Stig/Aisha. The latter seemed a little less natural (as in, you couldn't really watch it develop step by step), but strangely enough I still felt really drawn to them as a pair.

My favorite aspect of Mospeada is the soundtrack because, let me tell you, it's BEAUTIFUL. The opening theme, "In Search of Lost Legends", is incredibly lively and fits the series so well. Yellow Belmont's songs (performed by Mine Matsuki) are haunting and beautiful, to the point where you may be moved to tears after listening. The background score is by Joe Hisaishi, who went on to compose the music for all of Hayao Miyazaki's films; though Mospeada is older, his compositional brilliance still shines through. I can't recommend the soundtrack enough to do it justice!

I never saw the adaptation of this series in Robotech: The New Generation, so unfortunately I can't give a comparison to the original. However, I will say that the original is a strong series that stands on its own two feet as a great work of art. read more

Although Kikou Soseiki Mospeada is vastly known as the “third part of the Roboteck series”, in reality, it is a stand-alone series with a similar scenario as Macross. As a publicity stunt, it was united through name and sound alteration with the ending of the Southern Cross storyline (Another stand-alone series, which Americans arbitrarily tied with Macross!). Thanks to the “borrowing” of Roboteck’s name and fame, it earned some recognition, whereas otherwise would be totally forgotten. Why? Because it is a pathetic series that has nothing new or even interesting to offer us. This review refers only the original stand-alone series and leaves aside its hypothetical ties with the other two series (for the best, I believe).

ART & SOUND SECTIONS: 4/10

Graphically, Mospeada was outdated even when it aired. Aesthetically, all its ideas where copied and pasted by other mecha series. The only original idea it had, where the mecha suits, which could transform from humanoid battle armors to motorcycles, with a very cool and realistic way.

A more careful study on the graphics reveals many typical problems, most superficially made anime have. The first episode offers very interesting space battles, detailed transformations and cool explosions. But as soon as the second episode ends, all battles, transformations and explosions thereafter become simplistic and thus uninteresting. The same goes for the characters, who are all drawn in almost casual/typical cloths and have no appeal. Add to that simple forests and ruined cities as the only backgrounds in almost all the episodes, ridiculously-drawn aliens, un-imaginary battles and lame humor. The result is a graphically very boring series. Besides a few scenes where aliens do and say some flashy things and use many visual effects, all the rest of the series is not interesting.

STORY SECTION: 5/10

In the future, insectoid aliens conquer the Earth and a space armada of humans from other planets comes to liberate their home planet. The first attack on the planet ends in defeat and the protagonist, a soldier, is left alone on the planet, without communication with the fleet. So, like Rambo, embarks on a mission to defeat all the alien nests alone, until back up arrives to finish what is left. He meets a few other humans, who team up with him on his quest to save the Earth! Ta ra ta ta! Go, super commando and typical sidekicks! Accomplish what an entire space armada could not!

Just from the description, you can tell that the main scenario is not only typical but is also unrealistic. The powerful aliens, who conquered Earth and defeated its armies in just minutes, seem unable to defeat a single foot soldier. Childishly presented, almost all the episodes are stand-alones, except from a few, where the otherwise superior aliens evolve into low-life humans in order to get stronger (!!!). As for the finale, the most expected of all things happens: The humans overwhelm the aliens with superior technology but the alien queen escapes with ease (superior technology, my butt!).

A few points in the story may seem interesting for some, as some episodes deal with the life of gays and romance during wartime. Heck, there are even a few low-toned ecchi scenes and a little girl who acts as if she is a sexy woman!
But even those nice scenes can be found in many other (better) series.

CHARACTER SECTION: 4/10

We have a Rambo-type guy, with a grudge for the aliens. They killed his loving woman and now he wants revenge (they also killed most of humanity and enslaved the Earth, but he doesn’t mind as much). We have a singer cross-dresser to spice up the story. We have a butchy woman and a little girl for a few ecchi scenes. We have insectoid-turning-human aliens with identity crisis. They must be interesting, right? Wrong! They are boring! They are predictable, shallow and have no character development. Totally flat and un-interesting.

VALUE SECTION: 1/10
Have you watched the anime Blue Gender? If you did, you don’t need much thought to consider this series a childish and pathetic version of it.

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 3/10
The few interesting points I mentioned before did make it a bit enjoyable. But in general, this series was a waste of my time. And to think that they dared to tie this thing to the majestic Macross! Shame on them!

VERDICT
The accused is found … GUILTY! … of using plagiarism for disguising a mediocre work.

SUGGESTION LIST
Blue Gender. Better in story and characters. read more