Kurogane no Linebarrels

"An anime whose overall excitement level can be mathematically modeled by the Gaussian distribution function."

As with many other GONZO production, Kurogane no Linebarrels is loosely based on its manga original. Readers from the manga will find the anime not exactly following the story and in some cases the anime is loaded with fan servicing fillers. Please note that this review will judge Kurogane no Linebarrels solely as seen from the anime perspective.

GONZO started the series with a very rare approach, to bastardize the main protagonist (aka Hayase). Countless people turned away from the show after the first few episodes simply because of how much everyone ... hated Hayase. I strongly advise viewer to not get irritated by the early episodes and push forward as the show will get infinitely better starting around episode 4. In fact, the Gaussian distribution curve is a very fitting description for this anime. Average beginning, average ending. I had very high hope in this show around the midway point but sadly the intensity did not carry over to the end. As a long time mecha anime fan (with particular interest in super robots), I find the concept to the story (more on that below) fairly “fresh” thus I was hoping for some serious story development. Unfortunately I set my expectations too high.

The basic concept of the story was actually quite interesting. A teenage boy trying to be the "hero of justice" by piloting a mecha (known as Linebarrel) from another dimension. Viewers were informed in the beginning of the story that a universe/dimension exist in parallel to our own. While that dimension obviously differs from ours in virtually everything, we do share some common ground. The background theory of how the alternate dimension may be formed after the Big Bang was briefly discussed along the way. The story then proceeds to talk about the typical terrorist-taking-over-the-world stuff, leading to some heart-breaking betrayal and thus the climax to the story.

"WARNING, weird looking characters alert! This is not a false alarm. I repeat, this is not a false alarm!" Don't know if Hisashi Hirai (the character designer for Heroic Age, Infinite Ryvius, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed/Destiny, and Soukyuu no Fafner) hit his head or what, but I had a higher expectation from him. The faces of the main characters look like they have been put on TV from a sketch book! They look perfectly fine in magazines or any galleries you may come across, they are just horrible in the animation.

Many viewers also complained about the CG battle animations, especially the first few battles in the series. While personally I have nothing against CG animations (I am actually glad to see something different for a change once a while), this also seem to be another fatal blow to Kurogane no Linebarrels. But with all that being said, the actual animation quality and scene to scene transitions are acceptable. So hopefully viewers can eventually get accustomed to the weird looking faces and CG battles and be able to enjoy the anime.

Perhaps one of the obstacles the viewers have to get accustoms to is the OP by ALI PROJECT. Frankly, after learning that ALI PROJECT is responsible for the OP I decided to skip the OP whenever possible. However, the two ending themes by Maaya Sakamoto are worth your time (hell and heaven when compared to the OP).

If you are familiar with seiyu (as most otaku do), you may want some info as to who is the CV for who. Yuichi Nakamura (Tomoya in Clannad, Alto in Macross Frontier) is voicing Moritsugu which I find very different from his past roles. Hayase is voiced by Tetsuya Kakihara (Simon in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann). The lovely Kizaki is voiced by the also lovely Mamiko Noto (Kotomi in Clannad, Hecate in Shakugan no Shana). There are many other award winning BIG names including Jun Fukuyama, Rie Kugimiya, Aya Hirano, and many many more.

The most noticeable character development without a doubt is Hayase's view of the "hero of justice". He matured overtime seeing how real world battles are fought and what he truly needs to protect and fight against (a very big change from the little punk he started out acting as). Unfortunately, after he “upgraded” his view of the justice system midway through the series, we see little to no change in his character thereafter. A lot of viewers have probably forgotten Yajima half way through the show, but his impression on me was extremely important and he played an irreplaceable role throughout the first half of the anime. Many mysteries were answered slowly overtime concerning certain characters’ past and why he/she end up being who they are in the show. Among many other things, Kizaki’s lost memory, and Ishigami’s past with Katou were the most interesting. Character relationship-wise, Kurogane no Linebarrels could have done some more work for the supporting casts. Many characters left hanging at the end with no satisfactory conclusion. Taken as a whole, the character department is definitely one of the weaker areas of the anime.

While I agree there were many changes to the manga, it did not bother me much throughout the course of the show. After all, this show is about parallel dimensions, so why don’t we just treat the events in the anime and in the manga separately (perhaps treat them as they are in two different universes?). Lastly, I have to point out that GONZO must have enjoyed producing Strike Witches a lot. The production crews end up incorporating quite a bit of fan service in a mecha series and that could be disturbing to some viewers.

Story: Well this whole show was one cliche after the next and most of it early on from the fillers to the stupid humor done by the president who never took anything seriously made it tough to watch this show early on, the story had some plot twists but they were decent and the last and final twist at the end just made me chuckle and go why did they even have to do that it didnt make a whole lot of sense, the ending though was decent and probably the best part of the story, give it a 6.

Art: My one pet peeve when ... it comes to anime has to be CG and for whatever reason gonzo is pretty well fixed on having it in most of there series and it was plentiful in here considering all the machina were done that way and it grows on you after awhile and you get use to it but in the begining it looked awful trying to do fast paced action with CG just didnt look right, give it a 6.

Sound: Eh average at best the opening theme and ending theme were decent nothing that would make you want to go out and by the soundtrack to the show, the in show music didnt change much using the opening themes beat most of the time, give it a 5.

Character: This was another downfall with the series i never cared to much about the main characters they all played there typical roles that again made it cliche, hayase himself was the biggest problem with this show for being the main character he was pretty boring at the begining i did like him as we went crazy with having power but after he became the cliched hero it went down hill from there, i gave it a 4.

Enjoyment: Out of the 24 episodes i would say there were about 4 or 5 good episodes the other ones were pretty dull, hard to enjoy a show that played off of every other mecha series out there, the ending was the best even though it is kind of predictable i still rather enjoyed it, i gave it a 6.

Overall: This show i thought was always on the edge of being good but it never was able to get over that hump, mainly for cliches horrible humor and characters i didnt really care for it just stays right at the decent level it is something people can get through but i wouldnt suggest it with the other well done mecha series out there i gave it a 6.

"You get the hot chick AND the robot to pilot... At the cost of your life."

Because, you know. If I had super powers, I'd fix it so the bullies would stop bullying me. I'd also find a way to have sex with a hot chick whenever I feel like it.

Peter "Spiderman" Parker instantly stopped being a jerk when his uncle was killed... But it was difficult having to deal with his "great responsibility" that came with his newfound "great powers."

Obviously nobody from Gonzo made the effort to hire anybody from Marvel in order to create a story about a bullied kid who had gotten super ... powers. "Iron Linebarrels," instead, made me wanna beat the living crap out of everybody involved with this crappy animu.

I know, folks. I know. "Beating the living crap out of [those involved]" is too harsh a language to use when talking about Asian cartoons. (In fact, all sorts of media.)

But when you think about it; watching anime is like meeting a new friend and getting along with him. You want it to be a positive experience. If you feel like you've been used, trolled, stabbed in the back, or have your time wasted; then of course you'd get angry.

It's okay to get angry. Sometimes you can use your anger constructively. Other times you can be flat-out honest about what makes you angry. Because "being silent about it" usually means that you agree with it (and that's not true).

Back on track, though: I said that the circus clowns behind the Gundam Seed franchise needed to be put out into the cold, unforgiving streets. I'll say the same about the circus clowns behind this CRAP franchise.