Back Arrow

Alright kids, gather 'round. I'm about to force-feed you some hard truths.

1. Back Arrow is the best anime this season. (well actually that's probably wonder egg but let's ignore that)
2. Back Arrow will be Anime of the Year.
3. You're making a face right now because you're like 14.

Now that your mental markets have been adjusted, let's dig in.

Imagine for a moment, a 24-episode series with a plot that has a beginning, middle and ending. The show has fighting robots and all the characters don't share the same face. It's not based on a light novel, or even a manga or mobage. It's genuinely funny and ... doesn't wear out its welcome. It takes place in an actual setting with some world building, and not isekailand. The characters change over time instead of sticking with the same roles and personalities they had in episode 1.

Does that sound weird to you? Can you name other recent series that fall under that criteria? Because I definitely fucking can't. (Outside of really awful Netflix series? Sword Gai??) Believe it or not, young reader, that the the above was actually the norm for a lot of anime back in the dadime boomer times of 2005. You'd get whole-ass shows that were entirely or mostly original, ran for a half a year (or sometimes, a whole year!) and had lots of thought put into some weirdo scifi or fantasy universe. Sometimes you'd get a GunXSword or a Scryed or an Infinite Ryvius, and be like "whoa 10/10" and other times you'd get Heroic Age, Glass Fleet or some total garbo made by Gonzo, but at least they *tried*.

Times have changed, and Back Arrow is the ghost of a bygone era of long-form original action series. Penned by the dudes who gave us Gurren Lagann and Scryed (also code geass i guess), it's a cozy experience for old people and obviously very confusing for the type of person who has SAO rated above a 4/10 on their list. This was also seen when it came to other recent originals like Akudama Drive, an objectively great and fun series that absolutely befuddled the dumbest among us. Same with Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. Same with Planet With. Same with Active Raid. It was also the same with Symphogear, but that series stuck around long enough to loop back around into popularity once people started memeing it. All great shows with original ideas and great execution, brought down to 6/10 MAL scores because they weren't similar enough to current trends (and ironically, all are often lambasted here as "unoriginal").

Okay now let's talk about the show itself.

Back Arrow is about a guy named Back Arrow and the things that Back Arrow does. Galaxy brain shit, right? Well, the series opens with some VERY COMPLEX exposition which blew many MAL users' brains wide open, but the show is literally "the world is two warring factions and they're both surrounded by a godly-tall wall." That's it, that's the universe we're in. In a twist, Back Arrow falls the fuck outta the sky and his damaged brain tells everyone that he's from beyond the god wall, but doesn't remember much else. Everyone is mad and incredulous about this, and thus everyone on the planet is suddenly paying attention to him. Cue conflict.

Enter the BIND WARPERS: dumb bracelets that let you manifest your CONVICTION into a giant robot. Much like ganmen, goku uniforms, Alters, etc, these are the engine through which all the conflict happens - where the characters literally fight using things constructed from their personalities. It's a very familiar trope if you've seen anything else by this writer and director, and it's great and an easy guarantee that a lot of the action in this show will deliver on compelling drama at the same time. Of course, the twist is that Back Arrow has black spots on his brain and has no convictions, so he basically has infinite power.

lmao

It's a very stupid series. After a handful of buildup episodes, it hits a strong stride of nonstop nonsense around episode 8 and never really stops. Episodes will introduce and resolve world-redefining concepts in minutes, and twists will happen inexplicably and without giving you time to process.The best part is that it all feels intentional. At least it's not boring!

but yeah this show is going to end in a really big stupid space battle where everyone on the planet pools their conviction to kill god or something. bookmark this review.

Let's talk about the CHARACTERS.

Back Arrow is the rare ~serious~ modern anime where every character seems to actually enjoy being in the show, and you enjoy seeing them in the show. It's a stage play. It's a cartoon. Big personalities doing dumb shit to each other and having a good time. There's no one who shows up on screen in Back Arrow who makes you go "jesus christ stop talking."

You have the titular Arrow man himself, who is just an all-around cool dude. The backbone of the show's plot is figuring out his true identity, and he keeps us entertained in the meantime.

Then you have green wife and orange wife - the two lead girls of the show. They're great. Green girl is your secondary main fighter of the series, basically Arrow's sidekick. She actually does stuff occasionally! And orange waifu is the defacto leader, as everyone else is kind of a moron; she's very Bulma-esque. Eventually they're both more or less irrelevant, but what can you do?

Then you have Bit, who is a total dipshit comic relief character to round out the central four and is obviously set up to have the most growth over the course of the show. Even more than Arrow, seeing where he goes is a draw for me.

These characters a couple other bumpkins are all from some dumpass Wild Arms village. They're poor and eat rocks for dinner. They're your protagonists.

(There's also a fifth good guy named Werner who is probably the worst, dumbest character I've seen in any show in years - honestly it's incredible. His whole arc is amazing. Bit is nowhere near the comic relief that Werner is.)

Then you've got the REKKA EMPIRE - they're Chinese, run by one of the hammiest old man villains of all time. This Master Asia meets Palpatine. Our second set of main characters live here: KAI: The super robot protagonist with a neck as thick as your mom's thighs. Great dude.
SHU BI: The genius chaos memelord and Kai's brother. Great dude. Best character in the show.
And Ren. She's the only serious character in the show, that's the joke. Sexy, angry ninja who eats turkey legs.

Finally, we have the LUTOH somethingorother to round things out. This place is run by a Lacus Clyne-type princess, and her senior advisors who all hate her and are snakes. A fun dynamic. She has an Utena bodyguard named BRATTY PRAX who makes up for the two main girls being less than stellar fighters.

THE PRESENTATION

honestly the show looks like shit most of the time, but whatever lol
Ironically, a lot of people in the MAL threads think it looks good, which it definitely does if you're ranking up against shows like Bofuri, but it's obvious this series was made on a dinky budget and is only executing like 40% of its potential. It's easy to compare it to GunXSword, a series by the same director and a similar setting and premise, and see the difference in the number of complex props, characters, locales, etc they spent time on. The animation quality is also not great. Backgrounds? Bare as heck. Better than pretty much every isekai? God absolutely.

I still very much like the Wild Arms-esque aesthetic, and they put the money where it counts. Experienced showrunners can make due, and they did.

The soundtrack is aight. It could be more pronounced, it's just kinda there. Everyone also likes the OP/EDs, and it's one of the rare occasions where the second OP/ED are actually a step up in music quality.

THE CONCLUSION

Back Arrow is the epitaph written on the grave of better times. It's a show that really just wants to have a good time, and that's exactly what it's doing. It promises 6 months of escalating drama, twists and ridiculous hijinks, and I'm betting hard that it's going to deliver.

Also, watch GunXSword and Active Raid, they're great too.

A naked idiot who doesn’t even remember his own name falls out of the sky, gets called a dumb bastard (a “baka yarou”), mishears the insult, and decides, yup, that’s my name: Back Arrow. And if that didn’t at least make you smile, then you don’t know how to have fun.

Back Arrow feels like it stepped out of a time capsule from the early 2000s, certainly not made with today’s audiences in mind, and it so boldly, delightfully embodies all that makes writer Kazuki Nakashima and director Taniguchi Goro stand out, it’s hard to even tell where one of them ends and the other begins. ... But this isn’t even criticism. Back Arrow holds in its heart all the influences which its old and storied creators carry, but it’s not trying to outdo any of them. It’s not trying to be their newest, greatest masterpiece, and if anything it seems instead to want to refine its predecessors down to their most essential elements and walk away with a simpler, more laid-back, innocent experience. There’s Gurren Lagann in the dialogue, bits of s.CRY.ed in the action, tons of Gun x Sword weaved throughout the entire presentation, and even an energy similar to Goro’s episodes of G Gundam all wrapped up in one creative package, and the result will certainly be a rare treat to any other boomers like me longing for the good old days where anime was more about reckless creativity than it was about chasing trends and optimizing algorithms.

The comedy, the simplicity, the straightforwardness, and the lack of any particularly pretentious elements make this show feel so genuine. So many shows nowadays seem to allocate what little thought and effort was actually put into them toward crafting an attention-grabbing premise to hook the audience, but one which, nevertheless, simultaneously panders to them with all the same recycled tropes which the producers behind the show know the masses will love and pay for, but Back Arrow doesn’t care about having a mind-blowing premise it’ll never deliver on, because it can simply endear the audience naturally with genuinely likable characters and actually funny dialogue, or interest them in its original setting. It doesn’t need to open with that one crazy cut of animation to serve as a promise for the action to come or that one cute waifu who’s merch is available now, because unlike its contemporaries, it isn’t built to go on forever, print as many volumes as it can, or set-up for next season. It’s just a traditional story which gets to have actual character development because the entire story has been thought out from beginning to end.

And I know you didn’t ask for my appraisal of the current anime landscape and are here to read about the naked idiot, first name Back, last name Arrow, but I’d argue the creators feel the same way I do, and they’re way less apologetic about it than I am. The name “Studio VOLN” is an acronym for the phrase, “Visiting Old, Learn New.” Sure, the English is a bit broken, but the intention is clear. This studio is comprised of individuals who either lament the current direction of anime and who wish to return it to its classic roots which they find more favorable, or perhaps individuals who just love retro shit THAT much, and this becomes crystal clear looking through their catalog. After MAPPA devolved into a nightmarish corporate hellscape shortly after its founding, Masao Maruyama and others like him fled the studio they just worked so hard to create to try again, and these individuals went on to make Studio VOLN and Studio M2, where they’re adapting decades old manga like Onihei and Karakuri Circus whilst also helping other equally old men make their own original oddities like Back Arrow, and the last thing they care about is profit.

Much like VOLN’s other projects, this show isn’t exactly gorgeous, but it’s overflowing with artistic soul no matter which way you slice it. Back Arrow is set in a world surrounded by impassably high, impenetrably thick walls whom those living inside revere as godly structures, and to even think about climbing over them is a grievous sacrilege. So when our naked baka yarou falls from the sky claiming to be from the world beyond, tension and conflict begins to stir around him between the two major nation states occupying the world and waging war against one another with Briheights, mechas which manifest from the pilot’s conviction. As if you needed me to tell you, this style of conceptual storytelling is so Kazuki Nakashima it hurts, and considering the fact the different factions are delineated entirely via their costume design, with the Kingdom of Lutoh dressing in Nineteenth Century English, the Empire of Rekka dressing in Classical Chinese, and our main characters from Edger Village dressing in Western Cowboy, Taniguchi Goro’s influence is just as pervasive, but the whole point of this was to talk about the production.

Back Arrow looks fine. The Briheights are 3D, and there’s a ton of ‘em, but the creators really show their experience on this front, as they made all the right decisions regarding CG animation which so many other studios and staffers refuse to learn despite Production IG teaching the world back in 2002 and Studio Orange reminding everyone again in 2017. They didn’t cap the frame rate, the compositing is perfect, and the models aren’t over-detailed, so if you were to take a still image, its simplicity may even make it appear hand-drawn to the undiscerning eye. The 2D animation isn’t mind-blowing, but given the sheer amount of detail in the character designs, the modest fluidity they maintain is honestly impressive. Back Arrow has a beautiful art style, with memorable mechanical design and eye-catching colors, and while the backgrounds can fluctuate drastically in their detail, they always keep the aesthetic in mind and never look as egregiously digital as your average anime’s. Overall, the lack of money and manpower is always apparent, but its visuals nonetheless remain consistently engaging through raw personality & passion.

Nakashima’s beginnings as a playwright really shine through every moment of Back Arrow. Every character is someone you actually want to see and who’s time on screen, just like an actor’s time on stage, never feels wasted. Nakashima has always wielded Chekhov's Gun with grace, and if the conviction-powered Briheights didn’t remind you of Gurren Lagann’s will-powered Gunmans or Kill la Kill’s authenticity-powered Goku Uniforms, then let me assure you he still likes his themes to permeate every element of his stories. Despite Goro’s energetic, Saturday Morning Cartoon, all-ages accessibility, Back Arrow is still far better written than a great deal of anime out there, no matter how old or allegedly mature their target audience, because it actually feels like it was written by a writer, not an otaku who has never left their room and who can only create their hackneyed manga or light novel because real artists such as Goro and Nakashima inspired them to with the legendary works they made all those years ago, many of which aforementioned. While juvenile and increasingly ridiculous, Back Arrow is yet another inspiration I’m truly thankful for.

Nyron wrote an excellent preliminary review for this series which I highly recommend everyone go read. In fact, this review was so good and said everything I wanted to say so comprehensively, I debated even writing my own review. He concluded by describing Back Arrow as an “epitaph written on the grave of better times,” and I couldn’t possibly have said it better myself. The average modern anime fan doesn’t want to watch something smart or heady, but they also can’t just watch a shounen anime with their brain turned off without feeling insecure, and they have to be able to tell themselves it’s somehow above the common masses. They have to be able to say, no, My Hero Academia, Dr. Stone, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen doesn’t just come off the WSJ assembly line, it has an admirable main character who totally worked for his power and wasn’t just handed his teenage male power fantasy, a real and educational understanding of science which totally isn’t the single most embarrassing and sophomoric display of pseudo-intellect in the anime medium, beautiful artwork which isn’t just Ufotable layering CG and digital effects with enough bloom and post-production filters to give a blind man epileptic seizures, heavy amounts of awesome fight sequences who’s blatant lack of sakuga in-betweens and consistent key animation check is totally just an artistic choice by the animation staff and not a side effect of MAPPA’s well-known crunch time scheduling. Back Arrow doesn’t have any of that vanity, and while I could hardly fault anyone who is simply looking for something more serious, the overwhelmingly negative reception of this show is nothing if not a sign of the times.

Thank you for reading.

If this show deserves any credit, it's probably for being the most underrated anime of 2021 thus far.

Back Arrow is a quirky series that may be a hard sell for audiences only interested in following the hottest modern anime trends, but its craziness can become quite charming and enjoyable for those with a more old-school sensibility and openeness for the mecha genre in particular.

Which, to be sure, is exactly what you should expect from the combination of Kazuki Nakashima and Goro Taniguchi, since they are creators whose styles and tastes are reflected in the kind of low-intensity madness that Back Arrow has embraced.

At its ... core, this was a Super Robot action/adventure show with a frequently whimsical bent. Unsurprisingly, there is a rather high amount of suspension of disbelief that necessarily comes with this specific category of Japanese media. Do you believe that guts, belief and emotion can be more important than pure logic and reason? If so, then there's a good chance you'll appreciate this anime.

That approach describes me perfectly, so I was consistently entertained by Back Arrow on a weekly basis.

Admittedly, I would say a part of me still wonders what would have happened if a more talented animation production studio such as Trigger, Sunrise or Bones had been in charge. While the series can provide some exciting sequences when required, it is undeniable that relative newcomer Studio VOLN was the weakest link and this, more than anything else, kept Back Arrow from achieving the recognition and appreciation it would arguably deserve on paper.

But enough talk. Let's dig in and get to the other side of the wall of text.


STORY: 7/10

The fictional world of Lingalind, where an individual's conviction can manifest in the shape of giant robots known as Briheights, was thrown into chaos by the sudden appearance of a person named Back Arrow: a strange man from beyond the world wall that surrounds and protects the land.

Without any memories, Arrow wishes to return to the other side. As the narrative develops, our protagonist encounters a very colorful cast of characters who will react to him in different ways, becoming either friends or foes. Conflicts will inevitably break out and various mysteries about his own nature and the world itself will be gradually revealed.

That's it, this is the story. Not too complicated, at least on a purely structural level, when you take a step back and look at it with the benefit of hindsight.

All in all, you could say it's something of a road trip setup. Naturally enough, most of the fun is in the ongoing journey and the anticipation for whatever comes next.

The first half of the series does have a somewhat laidback and uneven pacing, to be sure, and the initial couple of episodes may seem especially awkward, but everything does build up over time. Once we're done with the various character introductions, the second half manages to raise the stakes and quickly escalates the action in several unexpected ways.

In the end, the twists and turns of the storyline can provide plenty of room for excitement and entertainment, which may turn out to be more important than the ultimate destination.

That isn't to say the scriptwriter doesn't care about the details. It may be difficult to believe at a glance, yet the writing has enough internal logic to hold itself together. Realism will remain absent, of course, although there's a considerable amount of early foreshadowing. That may be easy to miss or forget in the heat of the moment, but in retrospect seems almost too obvious at times. Even so, I was actually quite happy upon realizing just how well the big picture stands up. Again, you will not find any super profound meaning in this story, aside from some thematic commentary, and convenient power-ups are entirely fair game in a world fueled by conviction itself, in both the meta and the in-universe sense.

Having said that, another essential element found within Nakashima's script is the comedic touch. Back Arrow is not a dark, heavy and pondering anime, but a rather lighthearted one that may slip into drama on occasion yet doesn't take itself too seriously overall. Not every joke will be equally funny for every viewer, especially given the fragmentation of audience tastes, yet I would say it was a key ingredient during my personal experience. If you can assume a similar stance, you'll likely get the most out of this series.


CHARACTERS: 7/10

Surprisingly enough, Back Arrow himself turns out to be more of a catalyst or source of support for the rest of the cast than a typical anime protagonist at the end of the day.

To be fair, Arrow does undergo a certain amount of characterization and changes, but it is correct to say his initial portrayal as the powerful hero who is an ignorant yet well-meaning person will remain relatively static until the second half. I believe that approach works for this type of story setup, personally speaking, yet it's not really a central focus point for the most part.

As mentioned above, there is a sizable cast. Many of them have silly names that will make you smile.

Predictably enough, not everyone in the series will get the same amount of attention in terms of development. I think most of the villagers never really progressed, with Elsha and Atlee being the honorable exceptions. Still, I would say several of the characters can be quite appealing in their own right, whether they're playing secondary or tertiary roles. I won't bring up every single one, but will mention a couple of them in more detail.

For example, there's Shu. He is literally the smartest person in the show and that makes Shu a lot of fun to watch. You could call him a mastermind, on paper. Truthfully, I'd argue that he's more of a clever trickster. Or, if you will, you could call him an outright troll, in the best possible meaning of the term.

Although there are opportunities for dramatic tension when it comes to his shaky relationship with the warriors Kai and Ren, perhaps Shu's most important role is as a vessel for comedy. His voice actor knows exactly how to play the part and it does wonders for the feel of the show.

On a slightly more serious note, Shu's mentorship of Bit is simultaneously amusing on an extremely superficial level and yet also leads to some interesting places late into the story. Shu also has a pretty decent dynamic with Back Arrow, given his endless curiousity and desire to obtain knowledge of the unknown, but I ended up wishing to see more scenes between the two of them.

Speaking of Bit, he's a good example of how you can take a foolish jerk mostly used for comedic relief and then make him into a better person by going through a character arc of his own. I wouldn't have cared for him at the start of the anime, but by the end he became quite likeable.

If we had to name a rival character for Arrow, particularly when it comes to the many action scenes, then that would be Kai, the strongest warrior of Rekka....well, he would be the strongest with one notable exception. I'll get to that shortly.

Let's be honest. Kai isn't very deep as an individual. He's usually angry at Arrow for obvious reasons and eventually also becomes angry at Shu, which is an occasional source of drama. Nonetheless, it's not an irrational type of anger. Kai does gradually develop as a character and, while the total change may not be great, you can come around to sympathize with him.

It's hard to write an emotionally sincere review of Back Arrow without bringing up the Emperor of Rekka, Zetsu Daidan.

If you're a fan of old-school martial arts action movies, or if you ever saw Mobile Fighter G Gundam, then you'll understand exactly why he's the coolest character in the show. I will not listen to any arguments to the contrary.

Now, it's quite easy to initially dismiss Zetsu Daidan as just another dictator who is hungry for power, yet there is a thematically valid reason behind his actions and that makes him not only fun to watch on a visceral level but also more interesting than you'd think at first glance. And again, you can see him interact with the likes of Arrow and Kai, particularly during the second half of the storyline, in a way that elevates him as a character above his stereotypical archetype.

Fine and Prax have the sort of relationship that is natural to see between a knight and her princess in anime. I'd say that duo was the most relevant around the mid-season point due to all the court intrigue involved, thus I can easily imagine some viewers may not enjoy the so-called Lutoh arc, but for me that was still an early highlight since they were more dynamic and represented a change of pace from the initial village setting.

Specifically, Fine herself receives more characterization than you'd expect after looking at her character design. It's hard to address that without spoilers. For me, there were multiple surprises, even after the most obvious one was revealed to the viewer, and it was a very effective way to use the range of her voice actress.

Finally, I would point out the series does take quite some time to properly establish a real antagonist for our heroes. Sure, we get to see a number of different enemies, rivals and foes, corresponding to each individual faction of this world, but there doesn't seem to be a true villain at first.

This, like many other aspects of the story, changes for the better during the second half. The process of consolidating the cast into different sides gets going and, by the last arc, a particular character serves quite well as exactly the type of villain you simply love to hate.

ART AND ANIMATION: 6/10

If there is one thing that makes Back Arrow look like an anime from about ten or twenty years ago, it's the visual design work involved.

I would say my feelings towards this aspect of the series are going to lean positive, since I find the character designs to be quite distinctive for the most part and easy to identify from a distance, but they don't reflect what is normally considered to be "cool" in the year 2021. Stylistically, this is not what current anime fandom eats up.

The mecha designs are quite wild and wacky in a manner that isn't orthodox yet, in a way, turned out to be refreshing. Not every one is a winner, surely, and I may not rush out to buy any of the merchandise. Yet once again, I think Muga and Gigan, among others including a few Briheights that show up later in the story, did their job well enough and they can look impressive during the best action sequences.

To be clear, Studio VOLN doesn't have a lot of experience with making original anime and this may be their most ambitious project yet. I think they did a reasonable job, considering the circumstances and, in particular, I believe it is a very good thing for studios to grow and learn over time. You can't get better without even trying, can you?

Even so, a more talented or at least more experienced crew of animators would have made the excitement come across in a more powerful way, visually speaking, and certain episodes make heavy use of stills and other animation tricks to hide their limited resources.

This doesn't bother me too much, as someone who grew up watching many older TV anime from the 1980s that also resorted to cost-cutting measures, but it is a weak point that shows a clear area for improvement.


SOUND: 8/10

This was an understated yet highly effective musical score.

Yes, I think the two opening sequences will be the most memorable pieces of music from this anime even long after the fact, but I found several of the background tracks as well as the occasional insert songs to be pretty good.

Not to mention that the sound director was fully aware that music shouldn't be constantly used every single moment. Certain scenes benefit from taking a step back and allowing silence to be used to great effect. I realize not every individual viewer feels this way, yet for me this is something that deserves praise.

More importantly, the Japanese voice cast is absolutely stellar and brings the characters to life very well.

ENJOYMENT: 9/10

Did I have a fun time every week? Hell yes, and this is what matters the most to me.

Of course, every single opinion ever written, whether positive or negative, is going to be inherently subjective. Entertainment value cannot be measured objectively. I know all of that and so do you, kind reader.

That is why I will be frank and say it: Back Arrow made me feel nostalgic for another era of anime and reminded me that there is more to this medium than simply following the most popular trends.

If you've read this review, you should already know whether this series is for you.

I do not criticize audiences for jumping on the bandwagons of the big and popular shows every season, but a part of me still wishes the anime community as a whole would be kinder and more open-minded to Back Arrow. Perhaps that's asking for too much, at the end of the day? Oh well.

For me, it's the little show that struggled against all odds and, in a sense, that's enough to merit consideration. I felt that my personal expectations for Back Arrow were either met or surpassed in almost every area...except animation quality.

This may not have been a successful experiment from a purely commercial and financial perspective, sadly, yet there is more to fictional media than sheer profit. Sometimes you just want to join a cast of characters on a crazy adventure and enjoy yourself. After everything is said and done, life, just like the journey, will continue to move on.

I wanna believe in you, the people who brought us the mecha clasic that is Gurren Lagann and other Trigger-style productions that have spanned the last 2 decades. But if I have to absolutely rage-quit with a hot take of this show, it's that Back Arrow serves nothing new to the mecha genre, playing "safe" by the tried-and-true clichés and tropes that anyone who's watched either Gurren Lagann (written by Kazuki Nakashima) or Code Geass (directed by Goro Taniguchi) can appreciate a whole lot, that times have changed, and it absolutely has no right to exist. It's only because of the working business relationship with ... Aniplex that allowed these 2 thriving and prolific people to commit to what they do best, and Back Arrow is the latest in the row of collaboration projects that more than just an exchange in studio (going from Trigger to Studio VOLN, the ones who handled the abject adaptation mess that is Karakuri Circus). If there's any correlating consolation to go by, it's a modern-day Gurren Lagann for the 2020s, made for hardcore fans who still think that they're mentally between the ages of 12 to 18, but without all that finesse of the former. YES, you're not mistaking what I've just said, Sosumi if you will.

The premise of Back Arrow actually started out decently, not just because of the Gurren Lagann-like feeling, but also creating an envisioning of what lies for the 6-month long series ahead. I mean, just take a look at the opening narration (that constantly builds up overtime as the series progresses): "Lingalind, a world surrounded by a wall. The wall enshrouds the land, protecting, nurturing, sustaining. The wall is God, that is the basis of Lingalind. It is worshipped as God." Now tell me that doesn't sound epic enough, even if knowing that this is the familiar laissez-faire progression that both Kazuki Nakashima and Goro Taniguchi likes to set their series best. Lingalind consists of 2 nations: the Supremacy of Lutoh whch prides in intelligence and diplomacy (which is certainly an accurate depiction of the West, US or European), and the Republic of Rekka, honoring valour above all (which as a Chinese myself, the references are also quite accurate to China's long history). Include the ominous figure of the MC: an amnesiac young man arriving buck-naked in a Rakuho capsule, and with his only mission to go "beyond the wall" from the place that he came according to his memory, the stage is set for the current conflict between Lutoh and Rekka to be amplified with this young man's introduction, who calls himself "Back Arrow".

If you're wondering about where the mecha influence came from (since this is a Nakashima-Taniguchi duo project), look no further than the Rakuho capsules, which are sent from an unknown location once per month and land in pre-determined regions of Lingalind, containing provisions and weapons that the people of Lingalind consider gifts from the wall. Some of these capsules contain devices known as Bind Warpers, metallic armbands that allow one to summon and control a giant mechanical armor known as a Briheight. A Briheight's appearance and abilities are tied to one's "Conviction": the thing they believe in above all else. Conviction is also recognized as an energy that flows throughout the world, powering various forms of advanced technology found within Lingalind and granting some people special abilities outside of operating a Briheight. Being defeated in battle while controlling a Briheight causes the user to disappear. This should be bee's knees easy to understand.

As stupid as it sounds though, the characters are meant to be as trepidatiously idiotic as possible, meaning that while character development is absolutely confined to Gurren Lagann standards (but updated for the modern day), at least there's the innocuous feeling that it doesn't stray away from the familiarity that's strikingly similar, yet different, all at the same time. Back Arrow himself is a wishy-washy guy who's meant to be lugged around in the entire conflict of character "lobotomy", streaming from rivals to even his own "kin" of Edger Village. Speaking of Edger Village though, I like how the citizens there are a mix of both traditional and Western culture. The main aides to Back Arrow (Atlee Ariel, Eisha Lean, Bit Namital) donning their different cultural clothing (Atlee in the usual Japanese traditional Kimono, while Eisha and Bit in the Wild Wild West-like cowboy-centric clothing), which shows that Edger Village is a standalone "nation", one that doesn't seek to be ruled by governmental interventions, that's some creative touch right there. Going back to both Lutoh and Rekka, I also mentioned that they are literal anime doppelgangers to real life, with Lutoh pretty much having an European-like government with Princess Fine Forte, the arbiter of love and diplomacy, right down to her "Council of Europe" with right-hand woman Prax Conrad, the Armor Supreme of Lutoh and the various advisors. Rekka on the other hand, looks exactly like China's Forbidden City, right down to its own myriad of characters which resemble the iconic references: Emperor Zetsu Daidan (Qin Shi Huang), Prime Minister Kyo Meiketsu (Cao Cao), Chancellor Tae Howa (Li Si), strategist Shu Bi (Zhuge Liang), generals Bai Toatsu, Goh Zanga and Kai Rhodan (which are the famous brothers of the "Oath of the Peach Garden" Zhang Fei, Liu Bei and Guan Yu respectively), Kai's subordinate Ren Sin (the closest being Diao Chan), and the Four Fiends (which that one is a total "comedic relief" misfire attempt of creating Power Rangers in a Chinese context). Sadly as much as these little touches go, the characters themselves are a whole other story, as they're mainly quite the annoyance to sit through for most of the series, someones begging the question that "Is too much characters a good thing if going by plot alone?". For realism sake, you have two external parties: the Iki Territory (which acts like a catalyst for the Lutoh Supremacy to capture Back Arrow for divulge at the beginning), and the Pretty Boys, which if I'm not mistaking it right, gives an almost sensible and eerie feeling of being LGBT. Man, talk about a culture clash of this magnitude. I can get why the Iki Territory and its nowhere-near-evil "villains" exist, but the Pretty Boys just seem like an afterthought to keep things "fresh" (for about an episode or 2). Even mentioning God's "chosen" servant to destroy the world: Lutoh's Supreme Elect Rudolph Conductore with his assistant Dissonanza, both beings being God-like figures in the Lingalind world, welcome the hedonistic Roman Empire faction to disrupt the course of events in the show. What a mess of a large character cast though, I always see myself gasping at why shows need THAT many characters just to tell easy, linear stories. In the case of Back Arrow, that is honestly, albeit brings some nostalgia, quite average at best. Combine that with the various silly, nonsensical hijinks of the cast of characters, and the interest starts to wane before the good parts can even come. Easily the weakest link of the show overall.

On the side of animation, it's sub-standardly clear that Studio VOLN still has a long way to go with their visual flare, if comparing this to the longer-produced Karakuri Circus and the sole film that is the Pancreas movie, both made 3 years ago. That said, I always gleam on the thought that well-acclaimed directors and producers go out of their way to try something new, and Back Arrow is no different, so props for the experimental features I guess. Just don't expect Trigger levels of animation to boot when watching this one, and you'll be fine.

Everyone loves OSTs yeah? For long-running series like Back Arrow, we're treated to 2 sets of OP/EDs for both the 1st and 2nd Cour, and normally in the typical situation where proceeding OP/ED sets are generally better, IMO my favourite is the set for the 1st Cour with LiSA and Shuka Saito. Even without withholding, knowing that Aniplex (or Sony Music Japan for that matter) has some of the most amazing artistes like Eir Aoi and rockband FLOW that churns out some good music every so often, Back Arrow redeems itself with the one typical ad hominem aspect of the "too many anime" landscape. Huge props to Kouhei Tanaka for the OST though.

All in all, if you're ready to take mecha anime to the next level with reliving the young days of watching non-mainstream anime, then come in for the ride, because Back Arrow sympathizes with the idiocy and the fallacy of "anime fans must have logic to enjoy anime", and is not afraid to show what it can do to exact its own greatness. While I for one, can marr how bad (and sometimes boring) this show became overtime, it's your mindset to think whether this is either another show you'll enjoy and remember for the years to come (like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann), or one that is destined to just become another track record in the résumé and be left forgotten for good.

Back Arrow is a terribly bland, uninspired mess of a show. The show is extremely bland, with nothing new being brought when watching. The show is centered around this kingdom inside a big bunch of walls, where the people are stuck there trying to hide from the big monsters. The main character, that is a goofy, semi-reasonable protagonist that wants to see beyond the walls, and will fight the bad guys with his big mecha “Manifest Armor”, which everyone has, making it feel like it’s very unoriginal and pointless, because it is unoriginal and pointless. Maybe if the show took place long ago and they ... had to fight monster with weaponry identical to the time period, that could have the potential to be a pretty cool idea in theory, even with the bland characters, at least it would be more stylistically interesting, but as it stands, this show has a weird plot. Also the fights are really bad. I mean, stuff happens, I think this girl wants revenge on the big baddie, but like, there is no emotional weight to the battles and they are generally uninteresting. A comparison to show how to do fighting is in the Sayian Saga of Dragon Ball Z. Goku is finally back from his trip to King Kai’s planet, and is ready to fight the Sayian Prince, Vegeta. He is there in the hopes for a battle with the man the killed his friends and threaten to destroy the earth, but when Goku gets there, he puts up a real challenge for Vegeta, stopping the prince dead in his tracks. The battle is brutal and awesome, as Goku fights tooth and nail to stop Vegeta, not to mention all the amazing moments to other characters had, like Yajirobe cutting off Vegeta’s tail, and Gohan going into his rage state. The fight has everyone working together as one to stop a common enemy. In Back Arrow, the protagonist fight and wins without breaking a sweat. Sometimes he might say his opponents are tough, but it’s always like “he will win, the power gap is too high”. This show is kinda boring.

With the creator of Kill la Kill and the director of Code Geass among some others behind the wheel of this series, there was inevitably some expectation that Back Arrow should at least measure up to them. But I think it is important that we view and evaluate Back Arrow as a standalone instead of as a comparison to other series. And that is what I’ll be aiming to do through this review.

This series has a pretty solid story and underlying concepts. Right from the start we are presented with the mysterious world of Lingalind, a world with traits similar to that of the ... world we live in yet, at the same time, fundamentally different. We are thrown with questions regarding the unbreakable wall surrounding the entirety of Lingalind, the state of affairs in the world and the strange ability of humans manifesting into mechs with the aid of a weird armband. Rest assured, these questions were slowly but steadily answered by the end of the final episode. Due to the amount of content required to be covered, the pacing of the series felt relatively fast, as conversations occasionally involve rapid back-and-forth exchanges between the characters which may be hard to catch first time round. Thankfully, the fact that it was spread over two cours and 24 episodes made up for the fast pacing; it would have been near-impossible to fit everything into only one cour. In the process, there was a good flow in between episodes. Episodes early on sought to introduce us to the world and the characters, while later episodes set the stage for the unravelling of the Lingalind’s mysteries. The story took one step at a time, went steadily from micro to macro perspectives before leading up to the bigger picture. Overall, the story provided an ending which should be satisfactory to the average viewer.

The characters are, without a doubt, a significant element to this series. Due to the nature of the mechs they manifest, each and every character (apart from the common grunts and soldiers) has a different mech with different abilities which reflect their own personalities. This just goes to show that the characters are mostly unique from one another, which makes for good viewing as they all have different things they believe in and fight for. Over the course of the series, we get to see these personalities clash, make up and form meaningful bonds which proved to be significant in overcoming the various conflicts of the story. The characters definitely grew as they learnt more about each other and about the world they live in, which was pleasing to see. While the number of characters might seem overwhelming to the extent that viewers may not be able to remember all their names, individual characters are important enough such that viewers should at least be able to remember the roles they played in the story, and hence not bring about too much confusion.

As someone who is not exactly a fanatic of mechs, the design of the mechs and machines featured in the series satisfied me. The quality of the animation was fairly consistent throughout without much hiccups, and the battles were portrayed well and easy to follow. While the soundtrack did not particularly stand out for me as they re-used tracks rather regularly, it was acceptable and added flavour to the series itself. On that note, this series surprisingly had some popular artistes sing two pairs of great opening and ending themes, with familiar names LiSA, Eir Aoi and FLOW playing their parts. Fans of Love Live Sunshine would also be glad to know that one of their idols, Saitou Shuka, sang the first ED as well. Other than that, the cast was also packed with experience and the seiyuus mostly fit the characters they voiced well.

All in all, I personally enjoyed this series and had fun following it for the past half a year. While I won’t say that it was particularly memorable, the ending of the series and the various reveals were impactful enough that they will probably be staying in my mind for a while. If you’re someone who’s into shows which involve solving mysteries about the world or similar plotlines, then I’d say that Back Arrow is one for you. Mecha fans or people who enjoy watching mechanical warfare between factions should also give this series a shot. Heck, if you’re simply looking for something or anything to watch, this might be enough to get you hooked for a while.

Don’t set your expectations too high, sit back and enjoy the series, and it will probably work just fine for pretty much anyone.

It is incredibly difficult to put to words how good Back Arrow is despite everything that might make you think otherwise.

I said on day 1 (you can still check the disqus discussion on SubsPlease, its like the very first comment) that this show was going to be AotS. Now I was not correct when I said it would be AotS (but in my defense I was not aware Mushoku Tensei was also airing at the time) however the show is still really good, way better than it has any right to be.

The general consensus is that if you are an oldSchool boomer anime ... fan or a big Mecha Anime Fan you will LOVE Back Arrow, because its OldSchool Episodic Mecha Anime that introduces new characters and plot events every other episode.

"Its like Xabungle but the world hasn't been turned into a desert wasteland yet."

That said if you are a Zoomer or a Normie with ADHD who only consumes seasonal anime you are probably going to have a melty halfway through the show and drop it.

The entire show is narratively driven, its all about one goal that was explained in the very first episode, but everyone watching this show turned off their brains and wasn't paying attention because the robots weren't punching each other which has resulted in a lot of people seething saying the the show is dumb and doesn't have direction.

The Main Character has Amnesia and has a special power that allows him to not kill people, he teams up with 400 IQ memelord named Shu-Bi and goes on a grand adventure with town full of country bumkins who just want to be left alone. There are giant robots, giant battleships, transforming robots, and a Slaanesh Temple run by a character who looks like Charlie Kirk. This show is wild and I love it

Look at the other shows the creator has worked on
https://myanimelist.net/people/3066/Gorou_Taniguchi
>Gundam X
>Code Geass
>Gun x Sword
>s.CRY.ed

Did you like all four of these? Yes? You will probably like Back Arrow.

why is this review so short? Because no spoilers allowed and I'm not going to try and rewrite a plot synopsis because that is a great big waste of time and would simply just be a way to bloat the character count for this review.

I give this show a 10 outa 10 because it is the first Original Mecha Anime not done by Sunrise in last decade that isn't a steaming trashfire.
If you are big Mecha Anime fan you will spot every plot twist coming a mile away but when it happens you will still be shocked that it happened.

Im not really a mecha fan. Ive seen Code Geass and Knights & Magic. But if Mecha anime are like this, then I guess I am officially a mecha fan now.

Also, Im not smart. I cant tell you if the art is good, or if the sound design is good or if the voice acting is good (mostly cuz I watch shows dubbed so it wouldnt matter to most of you). I can say the animation is splendid, but I know that its because I can see how much fun animating this show was for the creators. And that really comes through in the animation. ... What I can also say is this was the most enjoyable experience I have had in a long time. Probably since I watched One punch man for the first time, or seeing Dragon ball z as a child.

Now, the story is nonsense. Especially early on, the power systems dont make sense (though by the end they will). The show is unapologetically insane. But it is so much fun.

If you care about a story with drama and intrigue, youre probably not gonna care for Back Arrow. But if you can broaden your expectations, you'll find a decently well developed world with fun characters and over the top action that just doesnt stop one upping itself every episode. The show is fun, plain and simple. Like how shows used to be when we were kids. When anime sparked our imaginations.

I dont know how to end this, so just watch it. And enjoy yourself.

Back Arrow is a throwback to the times when anime were mostly mecha adventures and sci-fi without much of a concern when it came to plot or sociopolitical messages. It’s made specifically for people like me who don’t relate with highschools, moe, or isekai, and we just want to see some damn giant robot action goddammit! Me and an another old-school mecha fan were watching it weekly while it was airing and we had so much fun with it as a blast from the past. It had so many things going on besides the robots action; it included adventure, war epics amongst different civilizations, mystery, ... and even got a bit metaphysical in the last episodes. I kept seeing it as a tribute to Xenogears, one of my favorite videogames from the late 90s.

Nostalgia and personal preferences aside though, it’s not well written at all and it rushes through every conflict and concept for the sake of having a twist in almost every episode. Despite having great variety in civilizations and sci-fi ideas, there is hardly any proper build up and you will barely see something before it’s over and something else comes along. Power ups are instant, the tone changes abruptly from comedy to drama, explanations regarding how something works are given after that something has been used, and the plot twists have close to no logical explanation. The authors were just throwing in as much as they could without bothering to give them the time to get fleshed out, or to make sense, or to last long enough for the people who are supposed to be the target audience.

But as a whole the main issue is the very fast pacing. The show could have easily been three times as long, although that would also mean the animation studio would waste three times as much money on something that very few would bother to watch. Because in case you didn’t notice, mecha have been out of favor ever since the Millennial generation was proven to be more fond of battle harems and school moeshit. Hence why Back Arrow was not given the attention it deserved. It was a tribute to the stuff generation X liked 40 years ago. Since there are very few of us left who still like mecha and not isekai nonsense there was very little incentive to bother much with a project that was doomed to be overlooked by 99.9% of the viewerbase. Also artwork and animation are just above average, thus Back Arrow couldn’t even win the sakuga audience just by being the best possible looking thing of the season.

It’s quite enjoyable if you shut off your brain and you see it as a tongue in cheek type of show that never tries to be more than crazy stuff happening all the time, but I’m not going to call it a good show when its conflicts are resolved in a hurry, most explanations for how something works are made up on the spot, and even then they are something cheap such as ‘he willed it into happening’ or ‘he was brainwashed or he forgot he could do it’. It was a cool one time diversion from the graveyard that is modern anime and that’s it.

Ok, so it took me quiet a long time to make this review, cu'z of the 14 day quarantine, that I have to undergo during my trip to Taiwan.....and it's a personal trip to my relatives there, but enough of that, since the anime has ended a few weeks ago.....so, without further blah blah and blah here are my ratings:

Story- Good 7: The story maybe good but then again it ani't original, given that such plot were just plagiarize from other anime one of which was "Deca dence", and though , this anime may have high ratings , it still rely on good old copied ... setting and plot ......and I need not say it. you can just see it for yourself.

Art-Good 7: Given that this anime didn't took such risk of selling sex , with them girls like , Elsha, Atlee, Ren Prax and Fine to sell, even though this has that onsen service.

Sound-Good 7: That's for the 1st opening theme: "dawn" by LiSA (eps 1-12), the rest , given that the characters here were either in their late teens or young adults , I guess it was nice that them seiyuus don't have to force themselves to do a joshkausei tone.

Character-Good 7: I did said that this anime's plot setting wasn't original and there were parts that were seemly plagiarize, well, it was the same with characters, like Atlee and Elsha whom were damsel's in distress, Prax and Ren being the warrior type , same baddies with attitude, like Kai and Zetsu, and a very overly exaggerated opponent like Rudolf and his lacky bitch Dissonanza.....So, what's there to say?

Enjoyment-Good 7: The problem with this thing, was that it was enjoyable for quite a while, but as you get to the end, well, that's where the usual starts, cu'z they simply have to dedicate the last 4 eps on duking out with Rudolf and his lackey bitch Dissonanza.

Overall-Good 7: It was good, but just not that good, so season 2?????Ans: No way Jose.

This is probably the most underrated anime of 2021, a fun mix of Action Adventure Mecha Sci-Fi that albeit formulaic nails all it's tropes with perfect execution.

It has an interesting setting very reminiscent of Xenogears that mixes Wildwest, Medieval Europe and Ancient China aesthetics which makes for a pretty rich backdrop full of colorfull characters.

Together with some TTGL esque comedy and a dash of CG over the top flare, due to sharing staff that worked in said series, you never get a dull moment.

I also really liked the Mech design, specially Muga and Gigan Reppu.

Overall I feel this show gets carried by 2 characters: Shu ... and Emperor Zetsu, since Back Arrow is mostly generic shonen mc material but the support cast is really strong as well and everyone gets a moment in the spotlight(specially Kai, Ren, Prax and Princess Fine).

A pretty great show in general, with some kickass action scenes and cool music to boot.

so as of now 18 eps are out and back arrow is really becoming something that is really good.

first of all, dont judge the show by its mal rating, anyone who has watched it till this episode will agree that the show is easily way more deserving than a 5 or a 6. come on.

the premise is pretty basic right? and like people are probably gonna judge this show because of that. back arrow is a mecha, so people say its code geass. it is not. have you ever heard of a show where a guy comes from outside the walls, has no ... memory of where he is, lands in a random village naked and just says that he wants to go outside, but people dont believe him.

huh, i know ive not done a good job at explaining the plot so far but hear me out. theres a place called lingalind and its surrounded by walls. people inside believe that there lies nothing outside the walls and believe that the walls are a blessing. pretty cool yea? ring a bell? maybe an attack on titan bell? but NO. its like saying the promised neverland is like attack on titan because it has walls. dude this show is alot of fun. i love how instead of force feeding you the truths of the world all at once, it slowly reveals them. and episode 18 has made this show something really good

its a fun, less serious twist to the mecha genre, INITIALLY. after episode 11 is where stuff starts to go down, but tbh its a pretty fun watch till there too.

the soundtrack of the show is really good, with lisa as the singer of the first op song and kodou with the second. i really like both. eds are good too. not much to say about the soundtrack, its pretty neat. 8/10


the art is also pretty good, except that cgi is used for the mechas. yes, in know thats a big turn off for some people but stay for the story, alright? trust me on this its good. otherwise the fight scenes are pretty good and the cgi isnt bad either and the character design is nice. 7/10


the characters are very good for back arrow. i always love to see a good clueless main character. all the side characters of the show are good too, elsha, atlee and bit, all are likeable. but my favourite character by far is shu-bi. i just love the way he is and its just fun to watch him when hes on screen. only the edger villagers are slightly annoying because they are just complaining all the time, but that can be overlooked as the antagonists of this show are pretty good too. 8/10


the story is a solid 9/10. after the latest episode, back arrow has become something that ive really enjoyed and i hope it gets more popular. i dont know how the ending is gonna be but i think itll be nice because its a show made by taniguchi gorou and my man knows how to write his endings. its gonna be finished in a few eps and dam its been a good journey.


anyway, i hope this helped, thanks for listening to me. i just feel like the show deserves more love.

What a weird title. It combines a village pulled out of a western movie full of poor people pointing guns at someone the moment they step inside their place, an asian empire combining chinese and japanese aesthetics, another european like medieval kingdom, but all of them have advanced technology. Eventually the plot moves from yet another giant things battling each other behind a world sized wall with a dumb amnesiac protagonist voiced by Yuki Kaji and a centuries old prophecy about the end of the wolrd, to a multi layered political struggle between each country with backstabbing, alliances between former enemies, betrayals, crazy revelations, characters ... that don’t stay the same way as they began and change along the way while still retaining their basic concept and initial motives, and a main character that has to deals with his destructive powers, all of it presented with fast paced comedy and mecha action in a setting that keeps evolving adding mortal traps, a greek mythology hell like place and eventually going to space for an all out battle against demigods in a finale only akin to the 1984 OVA called “Birth”, it should be at least half as amazing as it sounds, but it isn’t.

Because it’s stupid, like, different levels of stupid. It’s like the creators were trying to make a serious show but weren’t serious about it. First of all it’s silly, it has a cringy comedy that you stop considering funny once you are over twelve, and that clashes a lot with the political struggle it’s going for. Also who the hell comes up with names like Back Arrow, Bruh and a country literally filled with pretty boys, even named after them.

Second, it has bad plot devices, an amnesiac protagonist doesn’t have a backdrop by default and although Back Arrow does get some development and internal struggle, the bad writing takes away all of that very easily. An end of the world prophecy in an advanced world like that? Really? It has some kind of twist, that gets resolved just as badly as the protagonist, well, because it concerns him as well. Mecha activated with imagination and own will like powers? Lame, and gets even worse when they try to give it a scientific explanation later on. A pink haired pacifist princess that never stops talking about the power of love uniting every country and being the explanation of everything in the world and its habitants. What other good show did I watch with a character like that? None. It’s even her own power to be a broken tank healer that takes damage and turns all that pain into healing magic. She also has a twist behind her and is as lame as it’s crazy, it has a silly background, and it doesn’t have nearly as much internal struggle as it should, which in turn is resolved very easily, or not, or does it? It keeps reappearing whenever there needs to be a conflict or an asspulled last moment save.

Third, there seems to be consequences for everything, which would be very cool, but they are resolved very easily, I can’t give proper examples with much details but let’s just say that for reasons the whole kingdom turns against the aforementioned princess, and even that is resolved very easily.

That probably has to do with another issue which is the erratic pacing, every episode has something important going on that contributes to the plot yet the first three have conflicts resolved in very stupid ways and most of them are jokes about a pantsu. Even leaving those aside, there are countries and characters that appear, seem to disappear and reappear again later on suppossedly to do something important, and they don’t, they turn out to be useless and not even do something at the end (again the fucking Pretty Boys country). Also the writing is just so bad, I can’t even count the amount of asspulls it has, the protagonist alone keeps pulling all kind of broken and convenient for the moment powers without even having the source of eenrgy used in the show, eventually there’s a semi dark explanation for that which turns into dark powers that apparently is going to be a major conflict, and it’s resolved just because in about two episodes. And don’t get me started on Bit’s, Shu’s, and above everyone else, Zetsu’s powers, my God.

Oh, also the ships and mechas, they keep pulling spaceships and mechas out of nowhere. Oh, also the characters and the political bits, imagine ending a centuries long war in about two episodes of lame speeches and broken powers, or moving from loving someone to try to kill him and love him again in like, what, 5 episodes? As for the background stories only Shu and Kai has some good ones, the rest are hilarously ridiculous, imagine having shooting your own sister and princess because someone made you think a giant bird was haunting them as your backdrop, reason for exile, and eventually sacrifice in search of redemption, that’s pathetic man.

It’s not even very good as a spectacle, aside from the mecha being absolute bullshit, they look lame, who came up with these designs? Also they are suppossed to be an individual thing product of oneself’s inner state and yet I see two whole mass produced armies of them battling against each other. Oh and there are also Zetsu and Shu’s Brightheights or whatever they are called (and more) but I won’t talk about them. These mecha are also made with fugly CGI and aside from the final battle they also move in very choppy ways, not very exciting as action isn’t it? As for the rest of the visuals, well, the setting is interesting enough and looks ok and the non cg effects look ok too, the character designs are recycled from previous works of the creators and constantly go off model on top of having a rather bad coloring, lowering the overall quality of the visual department as a whole.

I don’t have much to say about the sound, there are two openings and endings, none is particularly good, the background music is good enough, as are the sound effects, voice acting is effective albeit generic.

This was a mess, a very interesting one to follow for old timers for how crazy it is but otherwise still a mess in almost if not all aspects. During the same season of its second cour alone, Godzilla Singular Point was far more comitted in being a hard sci-fi series and SSSS.Dynazenon was a straightforward episodic tokusatsu mecha show with random power ups but far more meaningful and consistent characterization, they are far from great but even them kick the crap out of this, let alone older series such as the equally crazy Planet With and above all the modern classics such as Gurren Lagann being everything this series tries to be or Moribito handling its prophecy/fantasy/political aspects and character interactions far better.

Back Arrow always sounded like pure fire to me. The director of s-CRY-ed/Gun x Sword/Code Geass with the writer of Gurren Lagann/Kill la Kill/Promare. The plot description was cryptic, the character designs showed cowboys AND samurai, it had mechs because why the hell not. I was immediately excited to watch it!

Was the hype deserved? Overall, I’d say it was! It’s not the director’s or the writer’s best work but I expected dumb fun and got exactly that. There was never a moment when "the hype died" for me. It lessened, for sure, but I never got sick and tired of Back Arrow.

The characters are the ... backbone of this series. If you hate all of the characters and think they’re annoying, you’re probably not going to like this show. Fortunately, I liked all of the characters in Back Arrow. They’re all memorable and fun to watch. From the naïve but likable MC that the show is named after, the cartoonish comic relief cowboys & cowgirls, and the always mysterious Shu Bi. Each character gave me a different reason to like and remember them. Single best part of the show: Demyne Shaft's choir. They show up like three times in total but every time they do it brings a smile to my face.

However, Back Arrow is not flawless. Goro Taniguchi hasn't really been relevant for the last 10 years and it shows here. Anyone could have directed this. Nevertheless, he did a good job. I hate to admit it, but Kazuki Nakashima's writing absolutely fits Hiroyuki Imaishi's manic style more than Goro Taniguchi's. It was dumb fun but it could have been more. The plot could have been far wilder. It's diet Nakashima, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. My biggest problem was the music. It's all forgettable, from the OPs/EDs to the actual OST.

Honestly, those are my only problems with Back Arrow. I like the story, it constantly kept my attention through a couple twists and turns to spice things up, and the world-building, albeit underdeveloped, was also pretty good. The animation isn't Trigger but I expected worse. It's clean and inoffensive, and the CGI mechs mesh pretty well with the 2D animation.

Back Arrow is fun. It is a fun 24 episode action show. It’s no masterpiece but for what it is it’s enjoyable. Very underrated and recommended from me.

Given the quality of the staff that worked on Back Arrow, Code Geass, KLK, TTGL, etc, I came into the show with a lot of expectations. Obviously it’s hard to live up to those classics, but Back Arrow never came close to its predecessors. While I did enjoy watching it and it was a fun ride, I was always hoping the story would turn it up a notch and blow me away. That next gear never came.

On the surface, Back Arrow has a lot in common with TTGL. Mysterious small world surrounded by a wall, a boy who comes from beyond the wall, set ups ... for a bigger world, etc etc. Despite the interesting set ups in the show, Back Arrow left a lot to be desired with its story. There were a lot of concepts that I found interesting, like God, the multiverse, etc, but they were introduced so late into the show that it was hard to do much with them. A few episodes felt like they were needlessly wasted with dialogue. The finale had 23 minutes to wrap everything up, and naturally that was rushed as a result.I did like the characters in the show a lot. I think Arrow, Shu, the princess and the others each brought unique personalities to the table and I did really care for them.

Like all mech shows, Back Arrow relied heavily on CGI. I thought it was rather mediocre. The fight scenes for the large part were… ok, but nothing special. Character and mech designs were pretty cool. The OST was pretty damn good, though. Some big names with LISA and FLOW doing tracks for the show.

There’s not much else to say on Back Arrow other than it being an enjoyable ride. I could try to add more fluff, but at the end of the day, it’s just a mediocre show. It’s not bad, but it’s not particularly good either. As someone who watches every show every season, I don’t regret watching it, but I probably would not recommend it to anyone. There were some interesting concepts, cool characters and a few hype moments, but I don’t think they came often enough to justify the 20+ episode run. Back Arrow gets 7 linds out of 10.

As a casual mecha enjoyer, Back Arrow immediately caught my eye before it aired when I saw Goro Taniguchi (director of Code Geass) and Kazuki Nakashima (writer of Gurren Lagann) were working on the project. Even then, I kept my expectations low and sat back to enjoy the ride. And what a ride Back Arrow was.

Story: The writing is definitely one of the stronger aspects of Back Arrow. There's quite a few moments that could have easily been cliché but Back Arrow manages to avert this by making situations over the top so it doesn't feel like you're seeing the same recycled scenes that you've ... watched countless times. The pacing is quick so there's not much down time in an episode. The plot is easy to follow even though there are multiple gears turning at once which again I think deserves praise. The plot may seem aimless or silly at first but eventually there's a turning point where it becomes much more serious. It felt like the first half of Back Arrow served to introduce the world, characters, and positions. While the second half is where all hell breaks loose, with endless twists and escalating stakes. Although the story is very good, there were a few climatic moments that were resolved very quickly and I wish it had a bit more impact. Some things happen for the sake of happening which might irk people, but I didn't feel 'robbed' and enjoyed the unpredictable story considerably. 8/10.

Art: I think the art style is fine. The mechs are cgi and some look better animated than others. The cgi ranges from noticeably poor to very good. I thought for the most part the cgi settled in the 'good' range. 2d art is also mixed in during a few of the battles which felt very satisfying to watch. The designs of the mechs are pretty good too. Mechs aside, the animation varies considerably as well. Explosions look fantastic, climatic scenes benefited from the jump in animation quality, and there was even a hand to hand combat scene that looked great. While the animation is adequate a majority of the time, nothing was jarring which I was thankful of. Choreography of the battles involving mechs was something I appreciated a lot. It felt varied, dynamic, and there was a good flow to it so it didn't feel like I was watching the same fights every time. The character designs are diverse and a few in particular stood out to me. 7/10.

Sound: Really enjoyed the ops by LiSA and Eir Aoi. I liked the eds less but thought they fit. The strength and what adds to the classic charm of Back Arrow is the OST, it was an absolute treat to listen to. It perfectly complimented the best scenes in the show whether it was impending doom or a grandiose moment. I will definitely be listening to it for years to come. The seiyuu's did a great job capturing their character. 8/10.

Character: In general the characters are very good. A handful are charming or have a great presence whenever they're on the screen. For the majority of the show, I found the main character, Arrow, somewhat average and he pales in comparison to the great characters. None were obnoxious though a few of the supporting cast felt useless. Thankfully they grew a decent amount by the end. There isn't much depth to the characters but they grow and have varied motivations. I loved the antagonists of Back Arrow. Their mannerisms and attitude shined the moment they first appeared. Overall 7/10.

Enjoyment: Back Arrow is a great mix of unpredictable, fun, and serious moments. I love the craziness, how I could turn off my brain but still understand what's going on all while wondering what direction the story would go in just a single episode. Back Arrow feels like I'm watching a relic of the past and that's why it stands out. While I enjoyed it a lot, I still think the appeal is quite niche. If you manage to watch at least half of the show, I highly recommend finishing it because the second half is where the fun begins. Even as someone who hasn't watched much mecha, Back Arrow will go down as one of the most enjoyable shows I've watched purely because of how hype and fun it was. 9/10.

Back Arrow starts as a run-of-the-mill fantasy adventure with some very basic comedy sprinkled in that seems to offer nothing new, but if you keep going on, the zany stuff starts to show up.

Story-wise, it starts broadening really soon, and going wackier and wackier the more it goes. It has that bit of a Gurren Lagann feel to it in that aspect, and its story beats certainly end up going "there" in the end, which is a good thing, as it feels satisfying, and not hair pulled as many other recent stories that tried to pull something similar.

In short, it's a fun ... watch. It's not a masterpiece in any sense, but it's got pretty solid foundations and built from them in such a way that can bring quite a bit of enjoyment if you're prepared to suspend your disbelief and give in to the craziness.

When I first saw this show on Funimation, I wasn't sure if it was going to be any good. Original mecha anime don't come along too often, the description and artwork didn't give too much away, and with all of that, there was a good chance this show wasn't going to be all that great. I watched the first episode and was a little unconvinced. The character animation was a bit stiff, and I couldn't get a decent grip on the story. It wasn't until I looked it up and discovered that the show was directed by Goro Taniguchi (Code Geass), and, perhaps more importantly ... to this show, written by Kazuki Nakashima (Gurren Lagann) that I really decided to give this show a chance. I'm a big fan of Gurren Lagann, and Nakashima didn't just write the series outline but every script. From that point, despite some early stiffness, I felt like I was in for a ride. And what a ride it was.

"Back Arrow" is a fantastically fun, well-written show, bursting with unique, loveable characters, constant excellently executed twists, and a concluding act that is every bit is ridiculous and over the top as you'd expect from Nakashima's writing. Despite it being often silly and early in the story almost bordering on parody, it has such a sense of purpose all the way through, and I think that's really what makes it stand out. Kazuki Nakashima has a bit of a thing for stories about intensely emotion-driven characters, with huge personalities, pushing back against basic rules of the world and smashing those rules to pieces, and this is very much a continuation of that. Of course, the mecha aspect helps that a lot; the designs are interesting and unique, with some really creative weapons and abilities, and their connection to their user's conviction externalises their driving personality traits perfectly. Even some of Nakashima's more questionable trends aren't as present. This certainly doesn't have the oversexualisation of its female characters that tends to crop up in shows like Gurren Lagann or, for all its plot-relevance, Kill La Kill. Even further, the majority of the important, named mecha pilots in this show are women, which is something I almost never see in mecha, which is really, really cool.

The show isn't perfect, obviously. The early episodes are a little slow, and the show definitely takes some time to really pick up. The character animation is also, as mentioned, not too fantastic; it's a show that could definitely have benefited from being produced somewhere like Trigger, where Nakashima made Kill La Kill and BNA, as opposed to the less experienced Studio VOLN.

But despite it being a little rough around the edges at points, "Back Arrow" is an exciting, surprising, and thematically fantastic show, that I had so much fun with. If you like mecha, this is one of the best we've had in years.

A story that starts with groups of people from different backgrounds using weapons based on their convictions in the conflict. That sounds like a story with "text" behind it, doesn't it? No, it doesn't. Back Arrow is a big pile of clichés, not only of mecha but of anime in general, this is not necessarily a bad thing but Back Arrow is a stupid story that keeps you wondering whether to take what is being said seriously or not, because although everything seems to be done automatically, the anime does take itself seriously. If there is one thing I will take for life that I ... gained from Back Arrow it is dislike for Fine "Love" Forté because she stands out among the worst characters I have ever seen in an anime (Of the anime I didn't drop at least). Honestly this anime seems to be a money laundering scheme, previously I was saying that as a joke but maybe that's a good justification for what this disaster was. But don't worry, although it is a collection of bad stuff, Back Arrow can be fun if you are able to embrace and enjoy how bad it is.

I cant Stress enough that this is not worth your time if you are a long time anime fan. You basically have seen the whole show already. Back Arrow is one of the worst anime to come out this year. Mostly because of how good theyear has been for Anime.

The story is very un-original, mirroring that of Gurren Lagann and Darling in the Franxx. Taking plot points from FLCL, Promised Neverland and AoT. So should be good right?

*Possible spoilers for those who are really good at reading into things*

I am extremely disappointed that I watched this. Mostly due to the fact someone said. "Look! ... Look at this show. Give it 24 episodes to tell this less than mediocre story. Its about living in a world where the people are born to die for a greater being. That uses us like cattle. Lets fight among ourselves until we can unify against a force that threatens to destroy our world. A a savior falls from the heavens and leads us on a path to take our futures into our own hands. Is there a little love triangle wait how about two? Boom! Now one is a Love Square thing. Ok lets just not resolve the characters feelings for each other and have them go to Space! Like all the good coming of age Mech anime!"

All in all however this anime probably should be watched by new fans of the anime medium. This could be their Gurren Lagann or Darling. So I can't give this less then 5/10