Ex-Arm

After being hit by a truck in the year 2014, Akira Natsume awakes to find himself inside a machine following a 16-year-long coma. As he adjusts to the new interface, he is greeted by police officer Minami Uezono and her android partner Alma. The pair shows Akira that his brain is contained inside a device called an EX-ARM—a weapon of mass destruction. Aboard an enemy smuggler ship, the three must escape using nothing but their ingenuity and combat skills.

While initially reluctant to fight, Akira soon recalls his brother's words from before the accident. The memory inspires him to take action, possessing Alma's body to fight his opponents using martial arts. Once Alma plugs him into one of the ship's ports, he discovers the devastating potential of his EX-ARM by effortlessly hacking and assuming control of the vessel.

Upon safely arriving back on land, Akira meets the other members of the EX-ARM Countermeasure Prevention Team, a police division working to mitigate the effects of EX-ARMs. Witnessing the atrocities committed by those who seek the power of EX-ARMs, he resolves to join the team and put an end to the terror caused by these weapons.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Alma Main

Kitou, Akari Japanese

Natsume, Akira Main

Saitou, Souma Japanese

Uezono, Minami Main

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Kondou Supporting

Zouza, Shoumaru Japanese

Through Hand Supporting

Kuroda, Takaya Japanese

Yggdrasil Supporting

Tomita, Miyu Japanese

Kimura Supporting

Yashiro, Taku Japanese

Shiga, Soushi Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Himegami, Alisa Supporting

Ishikawa, Yui Japanese

Souma Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu Japanese

Usui, Hisato Producer

Oomori, Shinji Producer

Taniguchi, Hiroyasu Producer

Yoshida, Kento Producer

Reviews

Apr 2, 2025

jalainix

Recommended

the animation is quite interesting. the mix of low frame rate traditional drawings and cgi characters is understandably off putting, but like. it doesn't bother me much. the story is kinda all over the place. but, importantly it has a story, it has themes, it's trying to say something.
now, i might be one of those broken people who prefers the likes of Neil Breen for /what they are saying/ better than literally anything disney/marvel/etc have made in the past 30 years. beautiful images empty espousing nothing. vapidity, my friends, we are beset on all sides by profound vapidity.

unironically better than rwby.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Jan 20, 2025

StormcasterJudd

Mixed Feelings

I watched Ex-Arm out of curiousity searching for the worst rated MAL titles. Initially, I gave it a 1/10 after 1 episode and dropped the show as I couldn't even look at the monstrosity of the animation quality and declared that this show would be the benchmark for a 1/10 entry, with completely horrendous animation.

A few months later, I was clearing off my list of dropped entries and decided to just complete the entry, since for me it is better to regret watching something, rather than to regret not being able to watch the show, since I'm watching it on youtube under a licensed distributor's ... channel for free (specifically: Muse Asia), not knowing if the license would expire someday and it might not be renewed. My FOMO basically got the better of me and I watched the remaining 11 episodes across a week.

As an anime-only viewer, I found that the plot is fine, it is an interesting take on the sci-fi genre using the classic good vs evil tropes, it's a fairly average show in this regard, it falls in the "I'll watch this once, rate it a 7/10 and then move on" category. While Ex-Arm might have terrible animation quality, there are signs that the animators actually put in effort to animate this, and learning that it is the studio's first animation project, I felt like I would make an exception and actually not criticize on the animation too much, despite the fact that some of the characters' animation and expressions clearly doesn't match the tone of the voice actor's dialogue.


Does Ex-Arm really deserves a 1/10 score?

If compared to other shows, I honestly felt for me to personally give 1/10 to Ex-Arm is the equivalent of hating on something without seeing the full picture before forming an opinion, it might look absolutely horrendous, but I personally don't think a 1/10 is justified. As at the point of writing, Ex-Arm has been rated by 44.3k users, while a total of 15.8k viewers have indicated that they have completed the show. This suggests that many of the viewers who dropped the show gave it a 1/10, with a staggering 29.0k votes coming from 1/10 itself, due to the poor animation that is difficult to watch.

Note: Mathematically, if 44.3k users rated the show and assuming all 15.8k users who completed it rated a 1/10, this still suggests that 13.2k viewers who are watching or dropped the show gave it a 1/10 score, which I don't think it is realistically possible at all, hence, it is assumed that a majority of the 1s came from viewers who dropped the show.


Conclusion:

Unfortunately, because the show looks a mess despite having a completely decent plot, I'd give it a 5/10. It may look horrendous, but I can feel that it was made with passion, the voice actors did a good job to convey the tone of what the story wanted to tell, it is just lacking on the animation aspects and it is very hard to overlook this aspect.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Mar 14, 2023

MICK92

Not Recommended

If you're looking for an anime that makes you feel like you're playing a free-to-play smartphone game, then "Ex-Arm" might be the perfect choice for you! This anime takes you to a world where characters seem to have been intentionally drawn and animated poorly. Don't worry if you can't understand the plot, because even the characters don't seem to know it. Additionally, you can appreciate the lack of shadows and nuances that make objects and characters even more beautiful with that veil of perfection, angles, close-ups always and in any case with the same basic expression. In short, if you want an anime that makes ... you say "wow, it looks like they drew and animated it in an hour", then "Ex-Arm" is the option for you!

But don't worry, because even though the animators seem to have used advanced technology only to create visual chaos, there is still something to appreciate in "Ex-Arm". For example, the fast-paced action will make you forget that the characters seem to have the same facial expressions in every scene, and the soundtrack will make you forget the lack of emotion from the characters. If you need a break from the visual confusion, you can always have fun laughing at the grotesque details of the backgrounds and animation, which are so evident that they seem to have been made specifically to become memes on the Internet. In short, if you're looking for a visual experience that leaves you feeling like you wasted your time, then "Ex-Arm" is the anime for you!

On a serious note, this anime is a clear example of how advanced technology is not enough to compensate for a confusing plot and flat characters (in the literal sense of the word). But if you want to see how an anime series can fall apart, then "Ex-Arm" is the anime to watch! In summary, if you want to see an anime that has the potential to become a classic of the "so bad it's good" genre, then "Ex-Arm" is the anime I recommend you watch. Otherwise, you could save your time and watch something else.

It really hurts the eyes to watch it!

The anime cannot be watched, so I give it a rating of 1, but if you want to have a laugh, watch a few clips.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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	Poll: Ex-Arm Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Jan 17, 2021	98 replies	by TheeeeDynasty »» Apr 11, 6:07 PM
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