Kuuchuu Gunkan Atlantis

Despite being out for roughly an entire year, this anime has around a mere 30 members on MAL, so I'd like to shed some light on what I think is truly something special.

Here I am, your average mecha enthusiast in 2020, lamenting over the fact that the mecha genre just isn't what it used to be. (Can you believe that Sunrise's--the once frontrunners of the mecha genre--latest original mecha work that isn't an adaptation or a continuation of an already existing series is Cross Ange from 2014?)

In the pits of despair of big robot purgatory, I found myself searching the mecha genre tag on ... MAL's database by start date to see if there were any recent mecha anime that I haven't heard about. Unfortunately, as my soul is in denial about the state of the genre, this wasn't the first time I've done this, so most of it was not a surprise. But this time was different; the stars had aligned, my fate had sealed, and there it was, bright as day, clear as night; it didn't even take a third of a page of scrolling.

Kuuchuu Gunkan Atlantis, or Aerial Battleship Atlantis, is an independent anime by a group of college students under the name 激画団 (Romanized as Gekigadan.) This anime project is available for public viewing though their YouTube channel of the same name, with English subtitles to boot. Atlantis is only 18 minutes long, but it's 18 minutes well spent.

The story is pretty simple, a girl from an island named Luna is held captive on a floating fortress by what is assumed to be an evil organization, and Cyan, a boy hailing from the same island, comes to rescue her with the help of the ancient robot, Gekiga-go. The narrative isn't breaking any new ground, but it doesn't need to; the emotional beats and action sequences are executed very well, and besides, this anime is an animation and production showcase foremost.

Speaking of animation and production, I was extremely impressed, all things considered. As I mentioned earlier, this anime was a college animation project, so we're not going to see ufotable or Bones level of polish here, but good sakuga is good sakuga. The action sequences were the highlight for me in this anime, the Gekiga-go flying through the air and delivering blows to the enemy were really well composed. The sound design and soundtrack were solid as well, although at times the SFX overpowered the music a little bit in certain areas; the credits theme is a nice listen as well.

What I enjoyed the most about Kuuchuu Gunkan Atlantis is that you could just feel the passion oozing out of every scene. During the credits, there are mid-production photos of the staff, and that was cool to have some insight on as well. Also, there are a number of Gainax/GunBuster references like the classic "Gainax Pose" and the Inazuma Kick which were fun to see. Moreover, the people of Gekigadan are reminiscent of Gainax themselves when they started out: animators really passionate about the medium.

This anime isn't a six-figure theatrical spectacle, but it's the first anime I've seen in a long time that really made me feel inspired by it. I wish the people behind Gekigadan the best with their endeavors.

Score: 9/10