Chou Seimeitai Transformers Beast Wars Neo

Karyuudo Fansubs delivered us in may 2019 something that all Transformer: Beast Wars fans around the world would appreciate; mainly the final chapter of the Japanese spin-off of the Transformers Beast Era: Beast Wars Neo series that aired in Japan. Now this is a sequal of the anime series Beast Wars II, so if you haven't seen that one, chances are you're better of watch that one first before you start this one just in case to prevent confusion. Sure, we all know the Transformers franchise only exists for purely one thing; 'to sell toys', but that doesn't really bother me. I still have ... my very own Beast Wars toys from when I was a kid if I may be honest. You can say all what you want, but I still do like the Beast Wars franchise - even though it's sadly discontineud.

Story: 7/10 (Good)

After the events of Beast Wars II with the dissapearance of the troops of Lio Convoy, many eons(?) later, Big Convoy gets assigned new crew members as Maximals (Cybertrons) to collect the Angelmois energy capsules scattered around the universe. This won't be an easy tast, since Magmatron's troops that are the new Predacons (Destrons) have their own purposes in collecting the Angelmois energy capsules.

Caution: This anime relies a bit more on it's parent story named "Tatakae! Chou Robot Seimeitai Transformers" then the previous season Beast Wars II. But I assume if you're a Beast Wars fan, you would probbably already know that the Beast Era story line is just a side story from the original Transformers line.

Art: 7/10 (Good)

For a show that aired in 1999 the art is pretty decent to say the least. You could say nowadays it's a bit outdated, but for a 1999 show I think it still passes. Compaired with the previous season Beast Wars II and the spin-off movie, I can say animation wise it's a much better improvement for sure. Transformation scenes aren't that re-used anymore compaired with previous installments and you will see some alternatieve transformation footage through the series which is a huge step-up compaired with Beast Wars II. Really, I don't have much complaints at all.

Sound: 6/10 (Fine)

Sound wise not much is improved compaired with the previous season and side story movie, but it still get's the job done. It's just a bit of a shame the intro song and the ending song doesn't get changed over the 35 episodes (32 episodes and 3 clip-shows) for this series.

Character: 6/10 (Fine)

Compaired with the previous season, I personally find it a slighty downgrade compaired with Beast Wars II. Let me hear me out. I liked the charathers in Beast Wars II slighty better than the charathers in this anime. For example: I find the Maximals Stampy and Break personallity wise they are almost equal with each other and I'm not a big fan of Heinrad iether. From all the charathers; I find the Predacons has the most interessing charathers for sure. I do like the Predacons named Dead End and Sling the most. Oh and our cute tsundere D-Navi that aids the Predacons.

Here's a small summery of the main charathers in the show:

Maximals:
* Big Convoy: The leader of the Maximals. Can transform into a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)
* Longrack: The most serious one of the bunch. Can transform into a giraffe.
* Colada: Rather wants to work alone. Prefers hot envoirements. Can transform into a cobra.
* Stampy: A bit of coward compaired with other Maximals. Can transform into a rabbit.
* Break: Looses it's patience very fast. Prefers cold envoirements. Can transform into an emperor pinguin.
* Heinrad: He's the mellow one of the group and the most Japanese cultured of the group. Can transform into a tanuki (Japanese folklore creature).

* Navi-chan: a talking computer that aids the Maximals in finding the Angelmois energy capsules scattered around the universes.

Predacons:

* Magmatron: The leader of the Predacons. Is a combiner Transformer between three differnt Mesozoic reptiles.
* Guiledart: The right hand of Magmatron. Can transform into a Triceratops.
* Saberback: Often mocks Sling. Can transform into a Stegosaurus.
* Sling: Often gets used for comedic purposes. Can transform into a Dimetrodon.
* Dead End: Doesn't like team work. Can transform into an ammonite.

* D-Navi: a talking computer similair like Navi-chan, but she's a bit of a cute tsundere and her design is differnt.

Other charathers gets introduced trough the series aswell just like previous entries.

Enjoyment 8/10

Did I enjoy this anime afterall? Yes I did. I'm very glad I could finally completed the final missing piece of the Beast Era. I personally preffer this story line than the bullshit story we have gotten with Beast Machines here in the West. It just makes much more sense. Yes, I'd like to pretend Beast Machines never happend. Even today.

Overall: 7/10 (Good)

If you're a Beast Wars fan you would enjoy this piece of content for sure. Even with it's obvious flaws, I think it did a much better job than *shudders* the Beast Era ending we have gotten in the west with Beast Machines.

After years of beast wars neo being the most obscure show
Karyuudo Fansubs has brought us both Beast Wars 2 and Beast Wars Neo

now i must warn you if u want to watch this show u must be familiar with the transformers brand or just a fan of the Beast Wars cartoon in order to enjoy this show and you should watch beast wars 2 first to get the general feel of the era that this show takes place in

taking place right after the ending of Beast Wars 2 Big Convoy is assigned to train Break , Longrack , Colada , Stampy , Heinrad and ... to find out where lio convoy is and to find the angolmois energy capsules that has been scattered over the universe after galvatron tried to use the angolmois energy for himself
each episode essentially "oh hey we detected an angolmois capsule signal lets go get it" and then they end up fighting with the destrons/predacons and then around episode 15 they start to kind of do the New Character of the week thing where they try to find the angolmois capsule and run into the New Character that is totally not meant to sell toys or anything formula
although i found this show to be disappointing but it does its job as a sequel to beast wars 2 although the plot, art and sound isnt the best what i liked most was its characters
Main Characters :
Maximals
Big Convoy : "The One Man Army" struggles to teach his cadets and vector sigma telling him to say things that are out of character also he turns into a mammoth
Longrack : The giraffe who thinks grades are everything
Break :a short tempered penguin
Colada : a cobra that can sometimes be sarcastic and prefers to workalone if he feels like his partner is a burden
Stampy : a coward rabbit that overcomes his fears when working with his crew
Heinrad : a Clock Raccoon that can stop time and also really lazy
Navi : the maximals computer AI
Mach Kick : the horse that joins the crew in the middle of the show an arrogant horse that is experienced in battle and saddened by the lost of his old unit

Predacons
Dnavi: the Predacons computer AI always going by a different name likes to be flattered and only teleports the predacons to the right place if they calls her by the right name
Magmatron : wants to be emperor of destruction to revive planet dinosaur
turns into Quetzalcoatlus Giganotosaurus Elasmosaurus at the same time and can combine into a centaur hybrid looking dinosaur thing
Sling : the dimetrodon thats a loser and wines alot and gets bullied by dnavi most
Guiledart : Magmatron's right hand man always looking to rank up loyal to magmatron and turns into a triceratops
Saberback : the stegosaurus that finds things both beautiful and scary
Dead End : honorable soldier that turns into a ammonite
Archadis : a narcissistic and cunning Archaeopteryx

Side Characters
Rartorata
Elphaorpha
Drancron
Rockbuster
Bump
Sharp Edge
Survive
Hydra
Hardhead
Killer Punch
Crazybolt
Hydra
Vector Sigma
Lio Convoy



Story 6
Art 6
Sound 5
Character 8
Enjoyment 9
Overall 7



**Spoilers
Unicron appears in this show thats all i have to say

In a rare occurrence of Transformers media, the villains carry more personality and competence in comparison to the new set of protagonists for this show, the blundering Maximal recruits headed by Big Convoy. The only real reason the Predacons get thwarted is mostly because of plot convenience and dumb luck for the first half or so. Big Convoy more often than not has to be compelled by an outside force to lecture the group under him to get their act together. Unexpectedly, the one recruit who has severe anxiety manages to get more done plus following orders better than the majority of his peers, and ... this same recruit is the one who seems to get the most development. Stampy being the one who slowly but surely finds his place. Few high praises can be said for many of the other recruits. Colada wavers between bull stubborn and getting things done, but I find his grumpy butt endearing. His sense of responsibility which sometimes pops up is probably what has him get along best with Stampy. Heinrad is negligible in personality and story development aside from the times he serves as a necessary, begrudging crux. Big Convoy could stand to be more involved, but due to his lone wolf nature, he struggles to connect with his recruits for a long time. It's not for lack of trying since he's gradually pushed to bolster and encourage them, lightening up in the process too. The other Maximals are generally a "see for yourself" kind of thing.

The Predacons are really the ones stealing the show here character-wise:

Magmatron has a reserved, threatening air and a reputation preceding him. The history regarding the fate of his home has him holding a deep-seated rage. Magmatron has a potential for power only matched by few like Big Convoy. The three dinosaur body shtick is admittedly goofy, but it carries a certain oomf with some of the animation.

DNAVI, the Dinosaur ship's local menace and necessary arbiter of teleportation. You will call her by her chosen name at the moment or no teleporting back to the Dinosaur for you. The D stands for Devil for a reason.

Guiledart may as well be one of Magmatron's hands. Unflinchingly loyal when the others want to abandon ship from Magmatron. Does not take flak for some doubting him, and he's somewhat justified in that. Very briefly becomes a father figure.

Archadis comes into the picture a little later and rather snarkily. Pretentious chicken of an Archaeopteryx. Adept in sharpshooting, being nagged by Guiledart, and flipping his affinity for factions on a whim. Has the best laugh (it even calms down a baby).

Sling, his poor synapsid soul, seems to be the metaphorical punching bag of the Predacons. He still tries his best where he can.

Saberback has his mind set to vanity, often commenting on the beauty of things or the lack thereof. He wields powers of illusion and... magic? Not an entire jerk because he marginally cares about Sling.

Dead End does little besides brooding and what he's ordered to. His character manages to be weaker than the sidestory Predacons' personalities.

Hydra is not a main Predacon, but nonetheless a standout in his short screen time. Awful jokes, nerdery, and loyalty up there with the likes of Guiledart.

Neo has a slow, if annoying, start as the Maximal crew sets out on their pursuit of collecting Angolmois capsules before Magmatron and his crew of Predacons can get to them first. Right from the get-go, the Maximal recruits bicker among themselves while all Big Convoy can do is carry on with the mission given from higher-ups. Things ramp up with the introduction of the Blentrons, becoming the bigger problem at hand for both the Maximals and the Predacons. Other giant unsavory forces arrive at their doorstep too. Can the conflicted Maximals and Predacons do something about it?

One of Neo's strongest points is the performance of the voice actors. I personally feel Holly Kaneko (Guiledart), Ren Tamura (Archadis), Show Ryuzanji (Magmatron), Junichi Inoue (Big Convoy), and Makoto Ueki (Colada) knocked it out of the park with their characters. They lend very well to their roles. It's hard to describe without hearing them in action. What I can say though is I can tell they had a blast doing it.
Also, Break's VA may sound very familiar.

Visuals... are a mixed bag. The characteristic transformation sequences as per usual are a delight, satisfyingly having the characters change into their modes. Character designs are distinctive and more in my opinion: stellar, but they might not be a viewer's fancy if they're used to or far more like the classic inorganic robot look of Transformers. Occasionally animation errors pop up that are very distracting. Among the memorable ones: Guiledart's face being a void for a hot minute and the animators never knowing how to settle on a single look for Archadis' mouth.

Following on the heels of Beast Wars II, Neo's opening and ending themes do not disappoint. Absolute bangers. The ambient music tracks do their job fine without taking from the moment. Not much else is notable with sound... maybe the Matrix Buster sequence though.

Despite the drawbacks, there's still charm to be found. The very first Beat Wars series this is not - definitely not in the realm of plot complexity. Most of the enjoyment comes from how less seriously Beast Wars Neo takes itself. Neo is highly episodic until the later serious plot points settle in. It has the carefree tromp and goofy sincerity like a lot of 90s anime, and it's almost a last send off of shows of its time since it released the year before the next millennium ticked over. This is one of the Transformers shows where one will need to take "Your mileage may vary." to heart.