Before deciding if you should watch Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova, you should probably ask yourself if military science fiction is your type of anime. Military science fiction often takes the idea of military but also fuses it with supernatural themes with flavors of science and artificial warfare. There are a lot of ideas that plays around with military sci-fi including alien invasions, mecha, or space wars. So what happens when you take a bunch of mental models that resembles the characteristics of female characters and puts them into total warfare? Simple. You get Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Arsa Nova.
The series itself is based
...
off of the manga of the same name written by Ark Performance. The premise sets takes place in a setting of an alternate history although there are many similar paths crossed. For one, that path involves the Japanese attempting to recover their nation through engaging trades. Unfortunately, its enemy forces have powerful weapons of war known as the “Fleet of the Flog”. These are essentially weapons that has turned the tides in battle and pushed back its adversaries to the brink of despair. Luckily, there is some hope because of a certain naval group that is capable of dealing with this threat. They are called the Blue Steel and this series chronicles their journey.
Arpeggio of Blue Steel might be a series that people would sway their heads away at first. The idea is hardly original as demonstrated in previous sci-fi war theme series such as Strike Witches, Tactical Roar, Blue Submarine No. 6, and Full Metal Panic. Potential viewers for the series might also sway their heads away as lead director Seiji Kishi is in charge of this adaptation. His mediocre direction of recent anime series based on adaptations such as Devil Survivor 2: The Animation and Persona 4 had numerous problems. Therefore, this show might initially be met with some controversy. For me, the series has its ups and downs. To call it a scientific masterpiece would be over exaggerating but it’s also not a waste of time to watch either. Because of its premise, this show itself does set itself differently with its cast of characters and brings the military science fiction theme in a different light.
Taking place in the future of 2056, technology has far advanced than our modern world. Just imagine in over 40 years what our world would be like. For the characters in this series, they’re not living at home relaxing but are on the war zone to carry out an important mission. That mission is no walk in the park because of the obstacles ahead. Taken from an objective standards, the obstacles comes into two forms. The most obvious involves the ‘Fleet of Fog’, fictional avatars named after non-fictional battleships. The other obstacle involves also dealing with humans and corrupt governments that wants to achieve various goals with their own deeds. It’s a bloody revolution and no one wants to play nice.
The main characters from this series includes the captain of the Blue Steel, Chihaya Gonzou. He can be described as a serious man with tactical mind of a leader with the ability to lead his crew through obstacles. However, he can’t do this alone without the help of his crew members. Among this group is a prominent avatar with code name 104 that also goes by the name “Iona”. Throughout the series, she describes herself as a weapon born to fight with no other purpose. Ever since she joined the human side, the government and various factions has their eyes set on her. Iona can be easily described as a giant killer. She may be have a small body structure but Iona’s abilities shines in battle many times thanks to her initiate ability to eradicate emotions and fight. This is proven early on when the crew takes on Takao, another human avatar of a Fog cruiser. Unfortunately, there’s hardly anything we can bring out from Iona. She’s a character that is surrounded in mystery with her stoic behavior. Her relationship with Gonzou and the crew can be described as professional although throughout the series, she questions herself exactly who or what she is.
And that also brings another point. The concept of more human behaviors.
Later on in the series, other Fog Ships are introduced that becomes a threatening factor to Blue Steel. Their purpose is set on destroying the privateers. However, it’s noticeable that they later on question their own purpose. This doesn’t just include Iona but also other Fog ships especially after they encounter a human girl. The encounter brings out a variety of human behavior including responsibility, guardianship, and even friendship. It’s questionable whether the characters in this series can truly establish a bond between Fog Ships and humans. Humans seems to fear Fog Battleships while the latter seems to despise humans for weaknesses. On the other hand, some of them clearly demonstrates human behavior ranging from love, care, jealousy, and even betrayal.
The plot itself follows the premise well with its journey but does derive from the manga quite a bit with certain omitted scenes. It cuts out parts with this adaptation involving some of the comedic dialogues/scenes. Most importantly though is perhaps character development during the journey that is minimized in this series. Being a one-cour show, this anime suffers problems with rushing. Therefore, expect certain factors that might not match up in the end. There’s also a lack of exploration in terms of characters’ backgrounds. Most of them are vaguely expressed by whom they are presently. The lack of background histories can become a problem as viewers might have more questions with no concrete answers. The main protagonists (crews of the Blue Steel) are also difficult to get attached because they hardly get any development. In fact, most of the Fog ships gets more development than Gonzou and his crew which is a down factor for Blue Steel. However, one certain main character also has a highlight purpose because of who she is. In fact, it brings out the human vs Fog ships’ personality that tests new boundaries of these artificial weapons of war. For the Fog ships, some of them learns from these behaviors and demonstrates their own ideologies.
Action wise, the series makes sense although the CGI might take awhile to get used to. As the series takes mostly in a naval environment, most of the battle takes place at sea. The battleships themselves are modeled after real life naval ships. Hence, they are designed with devastating firepower that proves itself in battle. Most of the Fog ships possesses different personalities that reflects their designs. The weapons used throughout the series often includes missiles, force shields and wave motion cannons that clearly outshines our modern world’s technology. The spectacular results of these weapons bring can be pleasing to the eye especially when the Fog ships themselves becomes what they are designed for - annihilation.
On the other hand, there is also comedy present throughout the series whether it’s obsessive love, yuri-like fantasies, or the awkwardness in the form of a stuffed animal. Some dialogues are also mixed with words that can bring out laughter with its implications of suggestive factors involving “engines” and little misunderstandings.
What isn’t pleasing though should again be addressed to the overall adaptation. The way it is constructed omits very important details involving Gonzou. The lack of exploration involving his parents or past is a serious drawback that is hard to redeem itself. Most characters from the original Blue Steel barely get any of their own spotlights. It turns out that Iona would be the ace despite her soulless personality. But without a clear background or exploration of her past, Iona also becomes a poorly constructed character. It’s a shame that our main characters just doesn’t shine as much as one would hope...
Judging by art standards, Arpeggio of Blue Steel matches well by science fiction means. The way most of the characters are designed given them an impression that they are weapons of war (Fog Ships) or humans whom stands up against what comes at them. (Blue Steel) The animation studio SANZIGEN is not well known though in the anime industry. They are known for only a few science fiction theme series including 009: RE: Cyborg and Black Rock Shooter; the latter that received very mixed reactions. Fortunately, the background of the series redeems itself with glorious naval features, explosive battles, and science fiction aesthetics. The drawback would be the CGI that makes the show itself less powerful with its computer generated graphics. There’s also some fan service usually featuring the Fog Ships that might generate some reactions of eye rolling especially with the way camera angles are pointed at.
The soundtrack is pretty well done by OST standards. Most battle scenes are accompanied with a dynamic beat and dominant intensity. It brings out the intense environment that exists in this alternate historical world. The OP song “Savior of Song” is well performed by Nano (Btooom!, Phi Brain: Puzzle of God 2, Ark IX) with vibrations of energy. The ED song on the other hand provides feedback of a more calm atmosphere similar to some of the comedic scenes in the series.
All in all, this show can be a mixed bag depending on your experience with science fiction anime. The idea of a scientific mission sounds engaging but the plot itself is unimpressive as result of its poor adaptation. This is mentioned before because the way it cuts itself out that omits several important factors. It destroys the development of our main characters and where they came from. However, there are themes that are explored that can be interesting to take note of. The problem might be that the answer is for viewers to decide in the end with its ambiguous nature. Luckily, the action, powerful OST, and comedy will definitely leave you with impressions. Some characters (especially the Fog ships) do get development so expect moments where you’ll get to like them more. The fact remains ultimately is that military science fiction anime can take different turns and angles. For Arppegio of Blue Steel, it steered in a path that defines warfare in its own way.
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova
Japanese: 蒼き鋼のアルペジオ ‐アルス・ノヴァ‐
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
12
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Oct 8, 2013 to Dec 24, 2013
Premiered:
Fall 2013
Broadcast:
Tuesdays at 02:55 (JST)
Studios:
SANZIGEN
Source:
Manga
Demographic:
Seinen
Duration:
24 min. per ep.
Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
Statistics
Ranked:
#25062
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#1538
Members:
151,337
Favorites:
1,025
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
Filtered Results: 50 / 52
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Your Feelings Categories Dec 23, 2013
Before deciding if you should watch Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova, you should probably ask yourself if military science fiction is your type of anime. Military science fiction often takes the idea of military but also fuses it with supernatural themes with flavors of science and artificial warfare. There are a lot of ideas that plays around with military sci-fi including alien invasions, mecha, or space wars. So what happens when you take a bunch of mental models that resembles the characteristics of female characters and puts them into total warfare? Simple. You get Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Arsa Nova.
The series itself is based ... Dec 28, 2013
In the year 2039, the combined naval forces of humanity suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of a military force with weapons technology that far surpasses their own. The fearsome assailants? A group of heavy warships, termed “The Fleet of Fog,” who are commanded by “mental models,” robot-like representations of the minds of the battleships that take the physical form of little girls dressed in frilly clothing. Fast-forward seventeen years, and one of these mental models, named Iona, approaches a human naval cadet named Gunzou out of the blue, offering herself (and, by extension, the advanced Fog submarine she represents) to Gunzou to command.
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Jan 1, 2014
On the surface Arpeggio has a few detractors but if you allow people to finish airing their subjective complaints about how CG never blends well with anime, the harem genre is overused and how they don’t want to be made to remember complicated words like Super gravity Cannon and Klein’s field, you’ll find that Arpeggio has a decent story, a setting with rich possibilities heavily untapped by the anime world, interesting characters and an all but obvious moral lesson at the end.
For 7 years the Fleet of Fog, an armada of highly advance naval vessels have taken over earthly waters, with every attempt to reclaim ... Oct 29, 2013
Story 8
This anime is about 20 to 30 years into the future where the oceans and seas are impassable because of the ghost fleet that are terrorizing it which consist of pretty girls that controls there each is her own ship that are in a fleet that have access to unparallelled technology which consist of very gigantic guns, array of missiles, powerful laser turrets. and one of the previous captains son got on hold a very powerful sub which originated from the ghost fleet. art 9 the art is fantastic for under/above water naval battles, it sometimes in cg, specially the pretty battleships and u-boats sound 8 what ... Dec 23, 2013
Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova Full Review
I would say that Aoki Hagane is one of those dark horse anime this season. Not many people watched it, maybe because they didn’t like the art style or maybe just the idea behind battleships. So, is this a worthy investment of your time? Let’s take a look! Note: There will be minor spoilers. Story (9/10): The story of Aoki Hagane is broken up into two parts. First, is the battle between humans and the forces of the Fog. This is basically the universe it is set in, and our hero, Chihaya Gunzou, somehow manages to obtain the power ... Dec 30, 2013
Note: this review of Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: ARS Nova contains minor spoilers.
So, how did I like the series? Well, let me take it by parts: Story: 8/10 There were both positives and negatives to the story. On the positive side, I felt the story was very entertaining and brought back memories of Space Opera. Space Opera is one of the genres of anime that I have lamented seeing very little of over the last few years. It was a staple of the early years of anime, but is almost gone now. ARS Nova isn’t space ... Dec 13, 2013
Can some shitty CGI truly ruin an anime series? Probably, but that's not the case with Ars Nova because it sucks for its other merits.
The story is simple. We have bunch of lolis who are secretly battleships, yellow submarines and nice boats. Then there is something about warstuff and tactics and politics and other wise stuff which is presented pseudo. There is apparently a plot in this series too, but I have no idea what it is about so I can't really tell if it is bad or not, but I don't think it matters either. I would say something about the characters, but I ... Dec 28, 2013
Ars Nova is a pathetic, delusional, self-insert fantasy written by and for people who would be much better off aiming low. Here's the story line from a similar series: an ugly, boring, stinking gamer finds himself no longer having to concern himself with the tedious things in life (such as bathing) and is forced to spend every second of every day playing a computer game. In so doing he becomes everyone's hero and gets all the chicks. Like that series, whilst watching Ars Nova you are expected to supplant your own boring and probably depressing existence with the lead character's. Gunzou Chihaya is a skinny
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Jan 23, 2014
If you're expecting any fan services, harem, cliche joke or mainstream presentation from this series, You won't find any of these in this series. Not so many Action, Sci-Fi anime can be good without using those things but this anime just made it possible. However, this anime is too underrated than it actually is.
Story: 8/10 Story of the world in 2039 where all the sea transportation has been blocked out by a group of mysterious warships called "Fleet of Fog" which has more advanced technology than mankind's and ended mankind's long last history of involvement with the seas. The story seems a bit too much of fantasy ... Mar 27, 2015
Loved the animation, loved the ships and character design. The opening song is good enough to listen to repeatedly. Another thing I loved is that this has the set up to be a harem (1 guy, tons of powerful, attractive girls) but doesn't turn into one. There's only 1 love triangle and all the other mental model girls have their own motivations. The mental model characters are fleshed out very well and think is one of the best female supporting casts I've seen. Iona is probably the best character, with all of the ship mental models following closely second.
On the downside, ... Nov 22, 2014
I know, I know, I fricking know... This review is WAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY overdue but hey, as per the good 'ole saying, better late than never now, right? RIGHT!?
Alright so... Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova, or just Ars Nova for short is basically an "Annihilate the ultra-malicious sentient A.I while politicking and surviving at the same time" story revolving around a small group of naval cadets who came into contact with one of the 'sentient A.I', went A.W.O.L., sailed off into the horizon in their souped-up alien sub, torpedoing enemy ships into the deep depths and basically gathering more intel throughout their mission. If that ... Mar 21, 2016
Dystopian present mixed up with: Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi!!!
Need more? Human race (on the edge of distinction) fighting battle cruisers/u-boats personified as mainly "hot" chicks! Need more? C'mon that's already enough! Most characters are explored, even the personified battle ships while they gain some human feelings. Story is not flat and even mixed with politics and some conspiracy. Action is really going on. The logic holes are there but do not matter or are annoying. If you want, the anime throws up some question about humanity and technologisation; The mist fleet (main antagonists) can be seen as the answer (source unknown) to keep the human race in their ... Aug 31, 2015
How this show was pitched -
"Hey guys, we've got another cookie cutter, piece of shit, generic shounen straight off the assembly line, chock full of the same shitty, generic, character tropes that we're not going to even try to change from every other shounen. And of course they're all teenagers, because they aren't relatable to our target audience of 12 year olds if they're of a logical age to do this shit. This one also has a bunch of shitty, generic, loli tropes for all those closet pedophiles out there, who are the only ones who continue to consume our products. So what sticker ... Jan 19, 2014
I have just finished watching this anime, and for the first time I feel motivated to actually write down my thoughts on it.
Aoki Hagane is a good anime. It looks really nice (in my opinion, although I know that the CG style is not everyone's favourite, it's easy on the eyes and I personally enjoy the art quite a lot) and it has plenty of amazing moments (no spoilers, of course). I won't write a detailed summary of the story, but I will say that the story line of Aoki Hagane is not exactly new - mysterious non-human battleships overpowering all of mankind, except for Chihaya ... Jun 20, 2017
Updating this review to reflect my current feelings.
While I definitely oversold this the first time around I feel as though it's still an anime deserving of a fair amount of praise. The story is very interesting and engaging. While it's not exactly a philosophical deep dive or an intense character study, I did still enjoy it a ton. So for that it gets an 8 from me, purely for being as engaging as it is. The art is full 3D animation. Now though that turns off a lot of people I can confidently say that, once you push aside the gut reaction the visuals are very ... Dec 22, 2017
WARNING: Watching this anime will cause most other anime looks pale in comparison. Do not watch this anime until you're ready to set a new rival on your top 10 best anime list.
Aoki Hagane, or sometimes just called as Arpeggio, is a whole new level of anime, simply because of the daring, unique concept. Even in hindsight, it set difference among many other anime, also because of that difference. And that difference itself... is from the heart of anime itself; on its animation. Hence, anime is an animation. Arpeggio of Blue Steel choose a risky yet audacious decision to uses 3D instead of conventional 2D animation. ... Apr 25, 2018
What is Aoki Hagane No Arpeggio?
It's anime about ships, existential crisis, and how awesome naval combat is. The story is is really unique,well, it might be a bit simillar to that of Strike Witches,but nontheless, the overall theme is different. A really good point about the story is how the villains get just as much, or if not, more deep development than the MC.Hell, you could say that the villains of this anime are the main characters. The art is honestly not that bad.It's more than acceptable, and it really works in it's favour when it comes to action scenes. The character development is really good.Takao's special moment(that i ... May 24, 2019
D@mn, this series was sweet! It has something for everyone:
- I cannot think of a subject matter better suited for CG than battle with large naval vessels (see "The Red Star" comic books for the parallel of this in print). And the naval tactics are very clever and entertaining. I was reminded of how I feel watching Hunt for Red October! - Meanwhile, like the deft and crafty maneuvers of Captain Gunzou, this series effortlessly laces in some shameless and saucy fan service and sexual humor in a way that does not detract at all from the overall story. Some of the ... Jan 31, 2014
This series is a solid 9.5. As it is criminally under rated here on myanimelist, I decided to round up rather than down.
I'm going to cut the book report/essay style of reviewing and cut to the chase. Arpeggio is a series that sneaks up on you. At first, you think you are watching a typical pew-pew style anime with naval ships taking the place of giant robots or spaceships. But then, when you least expect it, the series does a terrific job of exploring what it means to be human. As the characters evolve and develop they begin ... Jun 14, 2022
Arpeggio of Blue Steel -Ars Nova- surprised me. At first, I wasn’t sure if I would like it given its very apparent use of CGI which I’m generally not a fan of. However my worries were quickly cast aside as the show offers a lot beneath its exterior.
The series opens in the year 2039, in which humanity makes its last stand against the mysterious Fleet of Fog. The Fog demonstrates a tremendous advantage in naval warfare and dominates human forces on the sea. This ultimately leads to a severe restriction in communications and commerce by sea, effectively isolating nations on an international level. Some years ... |