You can have all the budget and production value that you want, but NOTHING makes up for incoherent and nonsensical story-telling. This well-understood fact has never been more evident in the anime industry then in this season's harrowing mecha series known as Captain Earth. Studio Bones sure as hell knows how to animate, but they are developing a reputation for writing convoluted and nonsensical plots that make no sense what so ever, and this anime is no exception. When 90% of your show consists of characters spewing exposition and you still fail to convey what the hell is going on, then your show is a failure. Period. End of story. Captain Earth completely failed to set up a foundation for its plot, making everything that happened afterwards a lost cause.
The show opens with our protagonist, Daichi Manatsu, discovering that he is the only one who can pilot a mecha called "Earth Engine". Why is he the only one who can pilot it? Don't know. Never explained. Anyway, he then proceeds to instantly hop into the mecha and begin fighting the evil "Kiltgang", who are seeking to destroy the Earth. Why do they want to destroy the Earth? Don't know. Never explained. How does Daichi instantly know how to pilot Earth Engine? Don't know. Never explained. So after ignoring those TOTALLY unimportant details, we see Daichi taken back to the headquarters where he is reunited with our two other major characters: Hana and Teppei. Daichi hasn't seen Teppei in a decade and he met Hana literally once, but apparently, they are already close friends! So close, that Daichi magically discovers his ability to summon a gun called the Deus ex Machi-... er, I mean the Livlaster, and proceeds to destroy an entire section of the building in order to bust his two "friends" out. Why? So they can throw a boomerang on the beach together and then return to the organization willingly! Because that makes sense! So you may be asking yourself: What is the Livlaster? Well, I don't know. Never Explained. Why can Daichi do this but nobody else can? I don't know. Never explained.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. Captain Earth's storyline is all over the place, unfathomably shallow, paced sporadically, and most of all: incompetent. The writers for this show are just completely, 100% incompetent, and that is by far the biggest problem with the show. The fact that they managed to turn such a simple premise into a complete and total MESS laced with plotholes and ambiguity is so laughable that it is almost an accomplishment. You would need more than just your fingers and toes to count how many plot points are introduced that never connect to anything. The characters ramble and ramble on and on about "Orgone energy" and "Libido" and other such meaningless bullshit, but they tried so hard to give depth to the scientific aspect of the plot that they forgot to make an actual plot in the first place! And, y'know, that's kind of important!
The characters, unfortunately, provide no saving grace from the plot's onslaught of stupidity. They have nothing that even resembles development and have no depth what so ever. Daichi is an oblivious moron and the other characters either have annoying personalities or none at all. Worst of all, they have no chemistry with each other! We are very clearly supposed to get the impression that the characters are close friends, but NEVER, not even once, do we see them engaging in any form of comradery what so ever. The romance between Daichi and Hana, for example, is one of the worst I've ever seen for a variety of reasons. One: It's CREEPY. This is NOT how people in love with each other behave. It's literally Twilight levels of bad. Two: Hana has no personality what so ever. The only development she is given is nonsensical, comes completely out of nowhere for no apparent reason, and then fades just as suddenly as it began. Three: Daichi and Hana have no chemistry with each other and there is no gradual build-up. The extent of their meaningful interactions can be summed up with that creepy scene in episode 12, cause, y'know, that's totally normal.
Another thing that makes me a lot more angry then it probably should is the downright idiotic slogan that the show flashes in our face whenever it possibly can; I'm talking during the OP, when it goes to commercial, when it comes back from commercial, and during the ED. They REALLY want you to remember the following slogan for some reason:
"When I opened the door called Truth, my childhood ended. It was a summer I could never forget."
Based on this quotation, it is strongly implied that Captain Earth is some sort of coming-of-age parable. That is annoying because this anime is NOTHING of the sort. There is not a single solitary element in any of the episodes that would even slightly suggest that this is a story about becoming an adult. In fact, Daichi is arguably the most kiddish and immature character in the show even in the face of this world-scale threat he is supposed to be facing! I mean my god! Could this show's plot get any more stupid?
Captain Earth isn't totally unredeemable though; the animation, for example is absolutely stellar. The first episode blinded me with stunning, movie-quality art. Unfortunately, even went downhill. The animation seemed to get slightly worse as the show went on, but it was still great. The sound is also well-executed; I love first OP and ED, but the 2nd ones were shockingly bad in comparison. The OST isn't half bad though. Despite these things, as I've mentioned earlier, production value does not make up for awful writing and it never will. With that fact in mind, Captain Earth is an undisputed and unbridled disaster that I do not recommend watching at all to anyone.
