Jinki:Extend

I really wanted this show to work. At the time of me watching this, I had yet to see someone try to make a mech show that has a female lead. That was the primary reason for me to watch this show. Within the first four minutes, I was interested. Tokyo Tower getting destroyed (as usual) and some psycho chick in a robot is about to kill some other chick in a robot. I got a bit confused as I was watching the show the first time. I ended up watching the show again just to see if I missed something and to do ... this review more properly.

The story is simple as most mech shows are. The show tends to take a few pages from other shows.
“Oh look, a convenient manual for the robot happened to fall on my lap.”
The thing that may confuse some people is how the story is being told. The show itself is more or less based on two mangas: Jinki and Jinki:Extend. Jinki, being the prequel of the latter, occupies most of the spotlight during the first half of the show. While the initial story is going on, the story of the sequel, Jinki:Extend, is also being told in between scenes of the Jinki story. You will notice when there is a bright white transition the scene suddenly changes to character you met in the beginning suddenly are in Japan for five minutes, and then transition back and they are back in Venezuela. I think it was meant for the viewer to notice the transitions on their own, but sometimes when people are not paying attention (which was the case for me the first time) you tend to lose track on what is going on. You may end up thinking that the Extend manga scenes are flashbacks of the Jinki story. During the second half, the events of the Extend manga take over as the leading story. Though, the show picks up from here, it still felt a bit rushed. You get a few “OH SNAP!” moments during this part of the show, but it felt a bit forced due to lack of development.

The show is twelve episodes, well technically thirteen. They more or less tried to make a show that could have worked a lot better as a 26 episode show into 12 which forces the viewer to take in all the information quickly. The manga was still running during the process of the show which could explain some gaps in the story and the ending which left you wondering, “What the hell happened?” I guess this show was meant for those reading the manga. A good amount was actually skipped from the manga to tie both of the stories together. This show had a lot of potential, but the creators screwed up by making a shortened version of an unfinished manga.

The characters unfortunately did not get enough time to develop. At first, you get a lot time with Aoba and then the second half starts and you have to already know who the new characters are, because they do not spend much time on them. The villains of the show somehow worked though. Most of them are just plain evil, especially Shizuka. The dub for this character was on point. She acted so well I wanted to stab my monitor.

I didn't mind the mech designs that much. The Moribito itself looks a little bulky, but it made up for itself towards the end. Some of the later suits actually look good too. I can’t say much about the mechs since most of the story centers around the characters not the mechs.

The show has been licensed for a while, so I have to talk about the dub a bit more. It can be hit or miss at times. It is an ADV dub, so you can expect the usual staple of people doing the show. I have bit of a bias since I love most of the cast, most not all. One of the pilots from the Extend story just did not work for me. For me, the best part is Vic Mignogna playing a shape shifting, psycho, child rapist. Hilarious. As a side note, don’t play this show too loud on whatever it is you use. Brittney Karbowski, who plays Aoba, can scream like you can’t believe, which I commend her for doing. Final things about the dub you should know, is the previews for each episode were…it would be best if you just listen to the Japanese previews and see for yourselves.

Overall, I thought the show was not as bad as I thought it was and I didn’t think it was terrible before, just confusing. Again, had each manga were given enough screen time, it would have worked out. As a side note, for those who are tokusatsu fans, you can compare the way the story is being told to Kamen Rider Kiva. That show has a story being told in 1987 and another in 2008. It would be the same, except in Kiva they do a better job at the transitions between times. It even gives both stories equal screen time. Ah, but I digress, I think that people should try this show out. Even with its flaws, it is worth a watch. It’s short and you can bang through this show in one day. Just make sure you pay attention. If you are given the choice of the sub or dub, I would go with the dub. I think the cast did a good job. They acted all over this show and for that I thank them. It’s not perfect I know, but this is one of the few shows that are giving equal opportunity to leading mech pilots.

By the way, the opening and the ending sequence is a homage to Mobile Suit Gundam and Mazinger Z respectively. Just in case you didn’t notice.

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This is one of the most truly insane shows I have seen in my short anime watching career. I enjoyed the hell out of it in much the same way that one enjoys a low budget action movie from the 80s. Turn your brain off and strap in for the ride. Needless to say, this is not going to be a show for everyone, and it's flawed enough that I can't honestly recommend it, but if you go in with the expectation that you're watching something ridiculous rather than something aspiring to be high art, it'll be an entertaining experience.

The pace of ... this show is relentless, there are 26 episodes worth of plot crammed into 12, and it throws some absolutely preposterous plot twists at you in short succession. It can be a very disorienting experience, in part because there is so much happening all the time that the show leaves little room to explain what is actually going on or the significance of various events. It requires close watching and even rewatching to fully understand what is happening at points, and the show is very light on exposition until the last 2 episodes, so it requires a fair amount of reading between the lines. For example, there is a 3 year time jump at one point in the story, and the show does not call attention to it in any way or let you know that is what's happening. It simply leaves you to wonder why the characters are so different and are all in different places until they start referring to previous events as having happened years earlier in conversation. A bit more audience handholding through a plot this loopy would have been greatly appreciated.

Another issue creating a generally confusing atmosphere is poor character design. Characters often look very samey in this show, especially in the Tokyo arc when they're inside their mechs and the lighting makes every character's hair and eye color the same shade of blue. There are spoiler reasons why some characters look so samey, but that doesn't actually help the problem of being unable to tell some of them apart for significant stretches of the show. Most aggravatingly, there are 4 different characters with purple eyes and black hair worn in a similar style and the show essentially leaves it to you to figure out who is who the majority of the time.

In general, the art for this show is dated and does not look great. The mechs actually look fine, it's the characters that don't always look good. The animation is occasionally a bit janky and the characters look fairly ugly. They have a tendency to look like they have the mumps when viewed in 3/4ths profile as well.

The characters themselves are fairly weak. Aoba and her mom are almost alone among the cast in having complex personalities, and her mom plays generic villain early, not developing layers until the 2nd half of the show. Many are one note, like the cold and competitive Rui and her goofball surrogate mother Minami, but this doesn't necessarily mean they are bad, just lacking in complexity. An unfortunate number of other characters, most glaringly Akao, are simply generic Good Girl That Tries Really Hard characters.

It can sound from all of this like I am very negative on the show, and I suppose I am in an objective sense, but I have to emphasize that this show can absolutely be a fun rollercoaster ride if you have the right mindset for it. The twists in this show are very stupid and very fun. If this sounds like something you can appreciate on its own terms, you'll be in for a treat. If you want to watch a legitimately high quality show, there are many better to choose from.

Mecha shows with female leads aren't really that common (the other one I've watched is Rinne no Lagrange. Not sure if Kannazuki no Miko counts considering the one who piloted most of the time was the guy character) so I decided to give Jinik: Extend a shot. That and it's OP is a reference to the OP of Mobile Suit Gundam. Really. View Jinki Extend's OP, then MSG's. You'll see.

Jinki Extend would have worked better as a longer anime, or one with two seasons. there are two storylines- one starring Aoba, and the other one starring Akao. Chronologically, Aoba's arc occurs before Akao's, but the ... anime shows them both at the same time, making it quite confusing. To save you the trouble, if there's a flashy scene transition it's probably going to shift from one arc to the other.

This showing of two arcs at the same time is not a good idea-the show gave us a lot of time in the first half with Aoba, then it suddenly shifts into focus into Akao in the latter part. However since you have not been given time to "bond" with this new cast, you may not care for them as much.

The mecha design is okay-nothing stands out, really. Music is very good- it gets you pumped up for the battles. Especially in the Akao arc, with it's city setting. Expect lots of collateral damage.

Overall however it's not too bad- I still enjoyed the series, especially near the end since both storylines merged and we get too see characters from both arcs fight together, which was great.
This would have been better if it had two arcs-or at least, if it showed everything in chronological order. As it stands it's just an average anime-still enjoyable, but don't expect it to be really good.