Bubuki Buranki

[Spoiler-Free Review]

What I liked about the series:

(+) Above average animation quality. Colours were bright and vibrant.
(+) Mech fights were decent. They were spaced out because a good chunk of the anime involved duels between Bubuki (weapon) users instead of the larger-scale Buranki (mech) brawls.
(+) There are trains.

What I disliked:

... (-) The story took a backseat for most of the early episodes, with only vague references to this and that. Basic plot details were only revealed on the 11th or 12th hour. Up till them, the anime seemed like a hollow setting for the sake of the fights.
(-) The main squad was rather boring. Like the average shounen title, they spent half the time bickering amongst each other instead of doing what they're supposed to do, and the other half surviving battles either with plot armour or because their enemies for some reason refused to finish them off. With the huge plot detail dump near the end, the Reoko squad seemed way cooler in comparison. The anime would have been more interesting from their perspective instead.

TLDR good for the big fights with little else.

I watched both seasons of Bubuki Buranki. Here are my thoughts:

My expectations going into this were rock bottom but surprisingly I enjoyed watching it. For those who don't know, this is a mecha-themed action show that is animated entirely in CGI. I watched the Blu-rays, which might've been a bit more polished than what was presented to a seasonal viewer.

The plot is kind of a mess and it was sometimes confusing. There were some pacing issues; seemingly trivial things got more screentime than plot-critical events. There were also some questionable decisions, like introducing a bunch of new characters in a short period of time during ... the latter half of season one. That was probably especially bothersome for those watching the anime as it aired, as opposed to watching both seasons continuously. Another noteworthy thing is that the conflicts/fights rarely have any consequences for the party who loses, which kind of removes any feeling of suspense. The story is somewhat ridiculous at times, and I did not take it seriously. However, the show is sometimes fun to watch and the episodes usually passed quickly. Basically, "just shut your brain off, bro." Admittedly, a lot of loose ends in the plot get tied up during season two. Even beyond the overarching plot, there are a lot of character arcs that the show is constantly juggling. It gets messy at times, especially considering that most episodes spend a significant amount of time on action scenes as well.

The characters were okay, although a few were bland or annoying (looking at you, Kogane). There was adequate character development for the four main supporting characters, but a glaring lack of development for the bland MC. For context, the four supporting characters form the limbs of a mech and the MC is the torso ('heart'). I liked a lot of the antagonist/villain characters actually. There was tons of variety among the antagonist characters and a lot of them were entertaining when on screen. Unfortunately, this is in stark contrast to the zero-personality MC. Overall though, I liked the variety of personalities that were featured in this anime.

Voice acting was decent and there was a lot of variety among the cast. There were a handful of characters (mainly antagonists) who had notably unique voice work. The OST was okay and I liked the OP and ED songs. Felt myself singing along to the first OP. One stand-out aspect was the great sound effects (mainly related to mech function and movement).

Action scenes were pretty fun to watch. Both the human-on-human conflict and the mech fights. I think my favourite aspect of the series was the action scenes. They felt fresh and creative, and the CGI allowed a lot of things I wouldn't expect from conventional anime. In addition to motion, the action scenes were very colourful. Aside from the mechs themselves, there were neat weapons and equipment.

Unfortunately, CGI is a double-edged sword in that it really inhibits characters' facial expressions, which impairs dialogue-heavy scenes and dramatic moments. One thought I had was that the lack of facial expressions could be compensated for with more-emotional voice acting, but this wasn't discernably employed, in fact many characters are kind of deadpan. It would be interesting though if the use of CGI in anime influenced decision making related to voice acting.

This anime has an experimental feel to it. It is surprisingly creative, especially for an action-focused mech show. It is unique from a technical perspective, as well as in terms of the characters and story. With better writing and direction, it could have been a great show. Even so, I don't regret watching it.


Overall rating: 6/10
It was flawed but it had a lot of fun moments and was easy to watch.

For those who like action and mecha shows, you might consider sampling this anime. It has problems but it also has some redeeming qualities. It seems underappreciated.