Coppelion

At first glance, Ibara Naruse and her friends Aoi Fukasaku and Taeko Nomura look like average, carefree high school students. But the streets they walk on, their destination, and their surroundings are anything but normal. As they continue forward, the trio find themselves stepping deeper into an uninhabitable version of Tokyo, one that has been ravaged by a nuclear disaster 20 years ago.

As part of the Dispatch 3rd Special Force Coppelion, known as the Health Care team, Ibara, Aoi, and Taeko are supported by the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) and Colonel Onihei Mishima as they scour the eerily silent streets for survivors. Finding the last remaining humans and having them evacuated by the JGSDF's helicopters is a daily occurrence for the girls. But as their work progresses, Ibara and her friends start to question their own humanity—namely, how they themselves are able to survive in Tokyo without any protective gear.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Coppelion was first announced to receive an anime adaptation in 2010, but the project was put on hold after the 2011 tsunami that struck northeastern Japan caused the failure of a nuclear power plant in Fukushima.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Coppelion

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Naruse, Ibara

Main

Tomatsu, Haruka
Japanese

Fukasaku, Aoi

Main

Hanazawa, Kana
Japanese

Nomura, Taeko

Main

Akesaka, Satomi
Japanese

Kurosawa, Haruto

Supporting

Suzumura, Kenichi
Japanese

Ozu, Kanon

Supporting

Horie, Yui
Japanese

Ozu, Shion

Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya
Japanese

Kunikida

Supporting

Akimoto, Yousuke
Japanese

No Sense

Supporting

Nogawa, Masashi
Japanese

Dr. Edogawa

Supporting

Miyazawa, Tadashi
Japanese

Shiba, Denjirou

Supporting

Yara, Yuusaku
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Suzuki, Shingo

Director, Character Design

Kanazawa, Hiromichi

Director

Takahashi, Hideo

Sound Director

Kudou, Susumu

Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

"ANGEL" by angela

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Ending Theme

	1: "Tooku Made (遠くまで)" by angela (eps 1-12)
	2: "Bye Bye All Right (バイバイオーライ)" by angela (eps 13)

More reviews

Reviews

Dec 25, 2013

Stark700

Mixed Feelings

Coppelion is what I would describe as a beautiful anime gone straight to hell. I’m not referring to the artwork here because that’s glamorous. What originally started out as an alluring premise with promise turned into an abomination that becomes almost intolerable to watch thanks to its style and overall portrayal of the post-apocalyptic genre. This anime itself is an apocalyptic failure that illustrates just how not to adapt its manga. Not that the manga is any better but Coppelion comes to me as a show that should of never been resurrected.

The series itself is based off of the manga of the same name written ... by Tomonori Inoue. The term “Coppelion” refers to an unit of trained specialists with special abilities that tries to find survivors after a faithful event that happened in the year of 2016. Apparently, the city of Tokyo becomes a contamination like war zone as its people are faced to deal with a grim reality; that reality being the brisk on extinction as the a nearby nuclear plant undergoes meltdown. So now, it’s up to the Coppelion special task force to find survivors 20 years later. This definitely sets up a decent science fiction theme series with its beautiful visuals that truly illustrates the aftermath of the tragedy as well as its story. However, that story turned out to be a tragic breakdown.

The series has three main characters named Ibara Naruse, Aoi Fukasaku, and Taeko Nomura. These three girls seems to be humanity’s last hope. But what makes its setup odd is how these young girls are able to give hope to the people. That answer is simple: they all have immunity to the radiation that contaminated Tokyo. In fact, the girls are genetically engineered to be capable of surviving in such a harsh environment. But taking the word ‘capable’ to describe these girls is an overstatement here. While the trio is able to deal most of their assigned tasks, the majority of the responsibility falls into the hands of Ibara Naruse. She is portrayed as a natural leader with her confidence and her determination to help the people. Of course, she also possesses strength, agility, and intellect to carry out her tasks. Now the other question is: what about Aoi and Taeko? They also have a purpose right? In most cases, I would regrettably say no. Throughout the series, Aoi and Taeko plays the role of more like sidekicks. Taeko at one point even puts the team into jeopardy for her careless actions. What’s even worse though is Aoi, a character that is about as useful as a palm tree in the desert. She has literally no skills and often stands in the way. Her obnoxious and childish behavior also hinders the team as well as putting others during an assigned task at risk. During many instances, she seems to be scared for her own life despite trying to save others; how ironic. It seems like other needs to save her and turns out she’s probably even more human than the survivors.

The story itself originally sets itself well. There’s the apocalyptic background clearly illustrated by its landscape of desolation. It composes itself both inside and outside with the ruined cities and lack of civilization. The only people our main characters seemingly encounter are survivors in the beginning. These survivors obviously do not possess the same ability as Coppelion. Instead, they depend on them in order to make it out of Tokyo alive, or die trying. As for the story itself though, this show tries hard but doesn’t land anywhere. The first episode establishes the fact that there are survivors out there but at the same time, there is also danger. Even when they do find survivors, it's usually shown that they are at the edge of their lives. This is presented in many circumstances as this show tries to draw out an image to viewers’ minds - a world in which anyone can die. At many cases, the girls are able to save the survivors but this usually falls under Ibara’s shoulders. AGAIN, what a shocker. Almost every episode involves Ibara pulling out superhuman movements while drawing her handy pistol. Meanwhile, our other two girls sits on standby or providing little support. When Ibara succeeds, the girls plays the role of the cheerleaders. As for the survivors themselves, most of them seemingly only play a very minor role that falls under a weekly basis, to almost never seen or heard again. Some of these survivors also doesn’t seem to want to live for certain reasons as well. Later on though, the series does shift more into a progressing plot gear mode as the girls learns more about the world they are in as well as its past. Additionally, more dangerous antagonists are introduced who even has a past with the Coppelions or main characters themselves. There is also one other main supporting character named Haruto that gets introduced mid way into the series but his characterization is no better than the rest; as if they had any at all in the first place.

There are also some absurd standards that makes this show question viewers what they may be watching. The girls is one example as we see they don’t stand out as anything special. They are designed like high school girls that shows hardly any menacing features. Their designs matches those of a high school student with they way they are dressed. More awkward is the fact that they are dressed in little protective gear. Instead, they wear skirts so noticeably short that surprisingly can hide what’s underneath the whole time. The series’ mechanics also has holes that doesn’t seem to add up such as the way certain military vehicles are operated or genetic engineering revolving several Coppelions. Then, there’s some of the antagonists the girls faces throughout the series. The Coppelion special force are just composed of a three unit team but most of the time are capable of taking down a military group. Even when they do get a little support from others, their task is achieved through some form of Deus Ex machina. What makes it worse though is the fact that the survivors seemingly doesn’t want how the results of a mission turns out to be. In most cases, this means their lives are saved despite a desire to pass on to the next world. The show also makes the antagonists seem weak as in almost fictional story of face and heels. In the end, the heroes usually triumphs out of some sort of odd circumstance.

The artwork of this series can be described as ‘scenery porn’. Most of the landscape and backgrounds are majestically illustrated giving it a cutting edge magnificence. The desolate lands of Tokyo truly does look like something of an aftermath from an apocalyptic event. The lack of civilization as well the destruction of its structures are further evidence of this. The production studio Gohands (known more recently for its works including K and Mardock Scramble) can draw some similarity with its background designs. Furthermore, the lack of fan service eliminates distractions that sets upon a more serious mood for this series. It also incorporates the usage of effective camera angles combined with gusts of wind to illustrate that empty settling atmosphere of the apocalyptic Tokyo as in 2036. Unfortunately, there is some odd artwork involving how the characters appear on screen on various occasions through a technique of thick line style and palate. The purpose of this seems to be unknown but from my guess is probably to focus on the characters as its prominent feature rather than its breathtaking backgrounds.

Soundtrack wise, Coppelion is decent enough to live up to its expectations. Action scenes and cliffhangers are demonstrated with heart beating tones. There’s minimal comedy or fan service so most of the time, the show itself omits the usage of comedic OST but replaces them with a more solemn theme. The OP song “Angel” by angela (K, Valvrave the Liberator, Heroic Age) is catchy for its scientific-like tone of presentation. The ED song sung by her also gives off both a scientific mood with its tragedy-like style. Ibara’s VA (Haruka Tomatsu) gives off a confidence tone of voice while Aoi is a clear example of a girl in distress. Aoi represents the weakness of the team as well as the most human so her voice is often portrayed as helpless girl seeking for help despite wanting to help others.

Honestly, Coppelion is a show that I tried to desperately take a liking to but its construction of the story just doesn’t swing in the right way. The premise sets up itself well and is convincing enough especially for those into science fiction or fans of post tragic series. Past series like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Shinsekai Yori, and Casshern Sins also demonstrated similar themes but had more character driven plots. However, Coppelion lacks most of that and instead puts its faith into saving survivors. The artwork did save the show quite a bit though but the story and overall execution is just tragic. I don’t mean tragic in a tear-jerking way but rather as an deterioration of a potential success. This show did not achieve success for me in any way. Instead, it was a bloody revolution.

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Nov 4, 2013

Karhu

Not Recommended

Coppelion is an anime about these radiation immune Charlie's Angels who cry all the time and whatnot.

It's a melodramatic sci-fi story about these girls who won't die on radiation unlike all the other people in the world. These people are of course saints, and we get to see missions where our three radiation immune saints save people from radiation while crying. By three radiation immune saints saving people, I mean our main girl, Ibarawhatever, saving people while the other two watch. Alternatively watch and cry.

The character are pretty useless and stupid and for some reason there is three of them instead of one. ...

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Dec 27, 2013

GonzoLewd

Not Recommended

The post-apocalyptic genre has been quite popular due to new mediums pulling their spin. So very few manage to do the genre justice with how vast the genre generally has to go for it, and most writers don’t have the most competence to write out a competent narrative. Whether or not they are about a nuclear holocaust, zombie invasion, ecological disaster, divine judgment, or pandemic reasons, there are so many possibilities for story writers to come up with brilliant ideas for the genre with some great results and ones that are not so great. Our little anime Coppelion falls into this category that fails ... to provide a meaningful narrative and a dull melodramatic story that severely cripples it from being an intricate show during Japan’s nuclear fallout disaster into one that completely mocks it.

Most people are in unanimous agreement that the artwork is pretty spectacular. To which it is, backgrounds really do look fantastic and fit pretty well to the tone of the post-apocalyptic setting with the dense watercolor backdrop on the dead grass that inhabits the concrete buildings and roads. However, with that said, there’s still a problem with the consistency of the character art designs to the world’s art design. When you look at the characters, they look like they belong in your typical high-school anime with their sleek, clean looks and schoolgirl outfits. If they were to be taken seriously as consistent designs, I’d imagine them not being the glamorous, pretty girls they are if they lived in this environment for so long. Not only does it not fit very well in a post-apocalyptic setting because of its distracting nature, but it also doesn’t fit well with the show's tone. It would be like watching a movie set in the Middle Ages during the Black Plague era, and everyone else looked like they were. Animation does fair more than the consistent artwork, but these awful CGI techniques are used constantly throughout the vehicles and fight scenes.

Of course, this straightforward construction of the enormous points of the show’s problems is the writing. Following a 1st personal narrative from the eyes of the three girls, the show follows several plot arcs where we meet certain groups of people trying to survive out in the nuclear wasteland of Tokyo. However, if you’re expecting something that is a similar type of story to say Mushishi, you will be sorely disappointed with this. The characters we meet hardly get any deep characterization. The ones that do come across as lazy cliches that become predictable and unfortunately delve into bland melodrama that comes across as laughable than anything else.

What does kill the show overall comes from the erratic pacing that goes on. From left and right, characters crop up in many places, with each episode having agendas and personal vendettas toward others. With a show that is only 13 episodes, something like this could’ve worked in a much longer season. Because of this, the pacing regularly suffers immensely in hopes of moving things forward without putting a lot of the plot points into clarification to the audience. They might have trouble with what the main plot is supposed to be besides just three girls walking through point A to point B in a post-apocalyptic setting. In one episode, they are desperate to find this granny that they’ve been building upon a lot, and then in the next episode, the granny character is not spoken of ever again, and they move on into a new mission. Almost as if these events don’t feel connected whatsoever very well that cripples the world-building as a whole. When it finally does get to that specific point where you do see where the plot is trying to go, it doesn’t go anywhere. You almost can’t feel any emotional impact from the constant cliffhangers because there’s little development to the story and characters.

Very few characters make a considerable impression apart from the main characters, but they suffer bland stereotypical fates. Only Ibara Naruse seems to have a brain in her head, while the rest seem only to have screaming and whining as their only two reactions and become more like cheerleaders for Naruse most of the time. They even sometimes screw up certain things that almost jeopardize their whole operation, which begs how they even got the job of being these operatives in the first place. If anything, they come across as mere mindless pawns that don’t offer anything other than pure annoying schoolgirl service that isn’t charming or funny because of their out-of-place nature.

There are logical inconsistencies that can’t be taken with a grain of salt in some action scenes, such as breaking the laws of physics. In some action shows, viewers can ignore these problems because of their outlandish nature of defying physics just for convenience. Still, Coppelion is portraying itself as a realistic setting. You can’t just toss out these laws to see pretty action sequences because it will go against odds with the show’s naturalistic atmosphere,e and we won’t be able to take it seriously as we did in the beginning. Examples include: 1) People can survive a rocket launcher’s backblast from inside a building. 2) Someone can survive an anesthetic bullet from close range even though a bullet can still kill someone. 3) How can someone survive from a shell exploding next to them even at medium long-range? None of which are given any context whatsoever due to the hack directing.

The antagonists they face don’t come across as anything memorable with all of that aside. Not even the Ozu sisters, with their very eccentric personalities. The main antagonists’ reasons for trying to take over Coppelion aren’t given enough context, so we don’t even get enough out of them whether we are supposed to be sympathetic or hate them for their reasoning for doing the things they do. In reality, they don’t have much reason to respond other than that they are just evil people because they’re just cruel and whatever reasons the show had written for them felt muddled and contrived. Their archetypes are the typical big lousy government organization that wants to rule over the landscape to gain control over Tokyo, just like every other story like it.

I never thought I would say this, but Aoi would be the first character in an anime that Kana Hanazawa that I constantly couldn’t stand at all just from her voice alone. Usually, Hanazawa can pull off a good performance, even when her characters aren’t exactly likable. But with her character Aoi, there’s absolutely no positive outcome from the fact that the only tone of her voice that she seems to put into Aoi is high-pitched whining. The other cast members don’t stand out either, but they are listenable, unlike poor little Hanazawa. For the music aspect, for what few stand-out songs there are for the show itself, the opening and ending themes are okay songs that fit somewhat to Coppelion’s setting with lovely dark guitar tones in the OP by the band Angela.

Calling Coppelion an abject failure would be taking it lightly. It could’ve been a solid show to be experienced if there wasn’t the atrocious pacing, poorly developed characters, and horrible melodrama underneath it all, but we could’ve only hoped that it would be entertaining from a funny standpoint once it stops being funny and steps into a mind-numbing boring anime, the entertainment stops and the dull mediocrity sets in. I’d rather watch a show be entertainingly bad than be boring, and this managed to do both. To this, I must now let Coppelion sit on the throne as one of the most disappointing failures of the year, if there was ever a throne in the first place.

Grade: D

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