Neo Ranga

I was curious going into the series as to how well they could tell both the story and have good characters with only about 15mis per episode. It was worth my curiousity, as both the story and characters were both well done regardless of time constaints.

After the first couple of episodes I no longer noticed the shortness of the episodes as I was too busy enjoying the shows. The OST was lacking for me, but the sound quality was good, and the artwork was average but I think that worked better for the series.

Its a seres thats worth checking out as ... it has alittle of everything, politics-romance-adveture-monsters-mystery-fun-human hardship-and so much more.

First season (24 episodes) are great. Second season (24 episodes), well, it's hit and miss with more misses than hits. The attempts at humor go up a few notches during the 2nd half, and that is to the show's detriment. Which is why it managed to become a relief when the over-the-top final act of the show begins, even if it is rushed and confusing as hell. Then the last 2 episodes caused me to change my opinion; there is such a thing as too over-the-top, especially in anime (as many of these shows are prone to do; they're almost never ... subtle).

The show is at it's best when it tackles how government and organization react to the appearance of the Ranga kaiju. How it evolves from national to international incidents, the political maneuvers, the responsibility of those in power (including the 3 girls who can control Ranga). Those moments that critique society and governments are great stuff, but it becomes too heavy-handed once those red fist people show up during the 2nd season.

The 2nd season still has some of that critique, but it's overshadowed by this lame "monster of the week" formula that just doesn't work. It could've worked, if it had more emphasis on world governments trying to get their own kaiju and control it and thus fight Ranga with it to have a stronger presence in the world; but the execution was lame. Not to mention there are moments I'm thinking it starts to retcon itself.

If only it was longer, slower-paced, and more reigned in. It was nice that the series didn't pad out the majority of scenes, as most anime shows do (due to each episode being 15 minutes long, including intro and outro, which basically makes each episode 10 minutes). But there were times where this was to the show's detriment, as some moments did need more room to breathe.

The second half, especially during the last 2 episodes, does wind up harming the series too much for me to ignore it. If only the whole series was more like the first half, and more reigned in... then it would be a masterpiece.

PS: A little too much girl-power involved too, considering how virtually every male character turns out by the end.

I watched 22 episodes of this series. I gave it far more chances than it deserves.

To say the least, this is the worst anime series I have ever seen. The story was just undesirable from the beginning. I couldn't connect with the characters or even care about them... ANY. As for animation, it was decently made. Nothing to gawk at. The box and cover art is misleading because it portrays girls in colorful and interesting looking body paint and near nudity... but in the show there are only a few sparse scenes involving such. Its like making a movie about the moon with box art ... featuring an artful shot of a tree. Most of the episodes are irrelevant to anything... and no major underlying plot was perceivable.

The story seems to lull and just spin around nothing. Its all about a big rock creature that shows up in the first episode. For the entire 22 episodes I've seen, the plot advanced at a snail's pace. Basically nothing changed. I finally couldn't take it anymore so I dropped it. If I could go back in time I would punch myself in the face and kick myself in the balls for even considering watching it.

I had to write this because no one else had placed a negative review here. The numbers may speak for themselves. Check how many times this has been favorited. Only twice at the time that I wrote this review.

In conclusion, you are completely free to watch this series. But if you're anything like me... go watch something with a more progressive plot, like paint drying on a wall.