Ranked #1146

Kiddy Grade

Kiddy Grade is an action/ fanservice laden anime that I thought would be good if I wanted to turn off my brain and marathon something. However, even with this low standard I set, it still didn’t fare as well as I hoped. This is primarily due to the first third and the last third of the series.

To avoid any spoilers I’ll split Kiddy Grade in 3 parts, first third, middle, and last third. The first third consisted of standalone episodes that were designed to let the viewer get familiar/learn about the characters. This is a pretty standard format that many 2 kour series follow. First, have an episodic beginning to get to know the characters while giving clues to the bigger story that would start later. Many times series wait too long to get on with the story. In this case, I though that the first third was simply mediocre and it really didn’t get me interested in the characters. Also, there was way too much fanservice… Ok, let me rephrase that, too much loli fanservice. Even the action scenes were kind of boring to me. In fact, right now I have trouble remembering anything during the first third of Kiddy Grade.

Much to my surprise during the middle it actually got good. The main story starts to move and the action scenes were quite exciting/good. Let me just say, here is where we find about the past of our two heroines. Éclair especially, has become more interesting. However, I wouldn’t say there was character development, rather they showed us what was already there. Sadly the third arc simply isn’t as good as the middle. While there was lots of intense action, much of which is very well animated, there were way too many dues ex machina and poor writing in general. The writers seemed to want to put in as many twists as humanly possible. Many times I said to myself “you can’t expect us to believe that!” In short, the last third was a complete mess (hmm Gonzo messing up the end of a series, surprise surprise).

As I said before the animation is quite good. As it should as the 2 main draws of Kiddy Grade are the action scenes and fanservice. Not much to say about the action scenes as this seems to be one of Gonzo’s big budget titles. Expect lots of well choreographed fight scenes with plenty of flash. Character designs are quite nice however, I’m not too fond of Éclair and Lumiere “current” look…

Oh, as for the characters, there isn’t much in terms of character development. Instead we learn what was already there via flashbacks. The most interesting character is Éclair and since it featured such a huge cast we don’t really get to know the other characters very well.

Anyway, was Kiddy Grade the action packed, fanservicey anime I expected? Yes, there was plenty of action and fanservice and it is especially suited for mindless watching. However, at the same time it had a poor beginning that makes it hard to start. Furthermore, the last third was completely garbled and even with my brain turned off I had a hard to accepting many of the events. There was quite a bit of potential shown in the middle, sadly it was never realized. Who knows maybe Kiddy Grade 2 will actually utilize this potential. read more

Overall/Enjoyment:
Some of the stuff I mention is already touched upon in other reviews, however I watched Kiddy Grade dubbed, so in case you are wondering what that was like...

There were some things I liked about this show, but also a lot of things I did not. I wouldn't say don't watch this show, but if I had to give someone a list of recommendations, it probably wouldn't come to mind. I'll give it credit, at least the series has AN ending, which in my experience is a feat in of itself when it comes to anime. It's a fun show to watch if you can tolerate some iffy writing (and a great show if you're really into ecchi). Kiddy Grade was surprisingly well on its way to being a "good" anime. The way the quarter end is handled however makes it an average anime at best, and wank material for homo/pedo fetishists at worst.

Story:
The first episode was a real challenge to sit through. It gave an uneasy impression of a cheap show with overwhelming amounts of pandering and fanservice. There were also a couple of obnoxious things, like the random use of french (to add some much needed class?) and unnecessary slashes in the episode titles. Fortunately, a story eventually does manage to emerge inbetween the gratuitous panty shots and cleavage closeups (oh ho ho!). Unfortunately, Kiddy Grade is another entry on the long list of anime suffering from "Cancerous Writing Syndrome." They build up this background and plot that almost looks as if it'll be unique and interesting, and then they unleash a beast of such fierce banality (episode 19) that everything gets defenestrated. Why do so many shows do this? Just when you think there might be something you can take seriously, they either make it redundant or just outright contradict it.

I mention this not as an illustration of my disdain for the show so much as my genuine disappointment in it. The use of mystery and sci-fi elements were entertaining enough to keep my interest. I was also fairly amused by the creative use of things like nanobots, lipstick whips and overpowered suitcases. For all their creativity however there was an equal amount (if not more) of ridiculous dialogue, cheesy moments, cliche exposition and other eye-rolling exercises. Still, it's the suicidal deus ex machina towards the end that really ushers in the catastrophic nosedive. The story gets simultaneously insipid and convoluted, and yet despite this dichotomy, it still somehow manages to resolve things in the most generic of fashions. To top this off, the shameless exploitation returns with a perverted vengeance. So... if you don't like the way this show begins, you probably won't like the way it ends either.

Characters:
There wasn't really much there in terms of characters, they're all kind of cycled through hastily, but I expected as much. I didn't have a problem with any of the characters per se, other than they're all pretty recycled. Here's a rough breakdown: a main character who is the greatest [whatever], a trusty and crafty sidekick, rivalrous friends (or frienemies), a hard-nosed yet kind-at-heart boss, a mysterious yet conveniently helpful guy, and of course the meddling antics of characters who are as good at concealing their alignments as they are at not revealing their diabolical plans.

Art:
The animation was pretty good. Very similar to Full Metal Panic, which would make sense, since they shared the same animation studio. There were some cool character designs as well. I really liked Eclairs first costume, Tweedle-Dee's china dress was also very nice.

Sound:
The opening/ending songs actually grew on me O_O
And I thought the bg music was fine (though perhaps a little too much use of the suspense horn).
I have no idea if this show is any better subbed, but here's a sample of the wonderful dialogue from Kiddy Grade (ep. 19):
[Two villains are giving chase to the heroines]
Villain 1: Where do they think they're going?
Villain 2: Nowhere. We're coming up on a dead end
Villain 1: A dead end? How appropriate it will be for them... in more ways than one. read more