Jun 21, 2016
Personally, I would like to fly some more into space. I like flying. My biggest wish is to fly toward Venus, toward Mars, which is really flying. - Yuri Gagarin the first man to go into orbit around the earth
On my quest to watch every available Gainax work I first stumbled upon Ouritsu Uchuugun or Royal Space Force. A social commentary on various things but most of all our role in the universe, and what our role has been until this very moment, quite surprised that unlike other works like gunbuster or EVA not much is known about this little gem.
Story
The story isn't hard to
...
follow we're lead to believe that we're in some alternate world of the present where Japan is working on a space program, the only one in the world and their plights in raising the staff of the force, the public's less than favorable attitude towards the program itself and foreign interest in the technology. The film does a good job of emulating a cold war esque atmosphere, but frankly tries too hard to drive the point home with some pretty unnecessary action scenes that could be used to flesh out the side characters. But surprisingly the show deludes you into thinking that the movie is about the RSF, when it's really about something much deeper and much more interesting, and with each of the scenes we see the MC change and attain some new state of being allowing for a very character driven and interesting exploration of the human condition. The conflict explored is simple and yet hard to answer: Should we favor progress and move forward no matter what the costs, or should we halt progress and work on our current and immediate happiness that is already far out of reach?
Art
The art is very good for its time, the animation is slick and the various backgrounds fit the current on goings extremely well having an almost akira like feel to it whether it be a bustling city, a frantic carnival, a country side home or a chase scene through downtown. Gainax is already my favorite but I am pretty amazed at the quality of the animation. Though with that said it still is extremely dated so you might be put off by the retro feel of it which to be perfectly honest makes the show to me more enjoyable.
Sound
Sadly enough the soundtrack is only okay, there is nothing that stands out except maybe the ending theme, the music sometimes feels out of place and does not really fit with the atmosphere at all, however sound just like art is pretty subjective so you might like it. Objectively it's not of bad quality itself, however, I felt as though it really didn't fit the movie
Character
Now this is this shows double edged sword, the main character is extremely well explored while the side characters felt lacking in something which is to be somewhat expected in a movie, but I don't like them being just one of the RSF guys. We learn a little bit about each but never everything, we know why our MC is in the RSF but have no idea why any of the others have joined, although when you focus so much on the MC it's not really easy to focus on the other characters, which leads me to my next point. Sometimes I felt as though show assumed I knew what was going on and just went on with it. At points I found myself thinking why is he doing this? And shouldn't he react more to this? Fortunately that was it, I found myself rooting for the MC because how far he had come from the start of the film, you could say he had made a complete 180 and become someone worth respecting, save for some questionable scenes that I'll leave you to Judge.
Enjoyment
Well being a Gainax fan I was hyped from start to finish, and since space exploration is something I hold dear to my heart I found the show extremely enjoyable subjectively. I say subjectively because that's how I felt at the end of the show, not what the show actually is. Treat the overall score as a middle ground that's probably closer to the average and my score as someone said. ''RSF IS REALLY COOOL!''
Bonus info. Apparently gainax is planning a sequel, get hyped for that!
Overall
If you enjoyed EVA, or if you like scifi or even if you've just ran out of ''muh symbolism anime'' to watch. Definitely give this a try it is more than worth your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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