I didn't think much of this series at first as it showed the two main characters Shuji and Chise go about this new experience of having a boy/girlfriend. It seemed very much like your typical romantic comedy. Then the story kicks in! Shuji’s town is unexpectedly bombed by unknown assailants. Surrounded by debris and lifeless bodies Shuji looks up to see a flash of light and watches the jets crash to the ground. Aimlessly running to try and find this mysterious light (oblivious to the dying people around him)he suddenly sees Chise standing with a heavy machine gun attached to her arm, metal plates coming out of her back and her body emitting a strange glowing aura. Much to his and Chise’s surprise Shuji embraces her. Shuji struggles to come to terms with the fact that his girlfriend is a weapon of mass destruction; Chise also struggles to come to terms with the fact that she is a killing machine but wants to do whatever she can to help as long as she can go and see Shuji.
The characters of Saikano are the focal point of the series as their development throughout this war portrays how they once were and how much can change in such a short period of time. Shuji was an everyday high shcooler not thinking much about his future, just going through the daily motions. When war occurred it’s his relationship with Chise that stands out as he struggles to come to terms with the fact that his girlfriends isn't human and not being able to see her for weeks at a time. Shuji is a character who wishes he could do something but he doesn't have the power to do anything. He mostly is just a spectator and doesn't amount to much in the series, but it shows realism as there is really nothing a civilian can do in a war. Chise probably has the toughest of times as she was created into a weapon of mass destruction and is consistently forced to go out to kill people and vaporise entire countries. Chise has the hardest time as she can never be killed and has to watch everyone she cares for die before her, she wants nothing more than to be a normal high school girl who studies with her boyfriend but knows that can never be. There were times when Chise broke up with Shuji because she couldn't bear to see the both of them sad, in the end she couldn't stay away from him. There are other characters to take note of such as Shuji’s last and best friend Atsushi who goes off to fight in the war, Shuji’s childhood friend Akemi who has a hidden love for the main character, Shuji’s old teacher Fuyumi who had an inappropriate relationship with Shuji when he was younger and Tetsu who is a regiment leader and Fuyumi’s husband. All the characters get a good deal of development, even the lesser characters get some degree of development and screen time.
The animation of the series was very good considering it was released about 12 years ago; it portrayed a very dark war setting when showing the battlefield which looked really good at times. The death scenes were very good and the scenery was great for their final moments. The character designs aren't bad considering what year this series came out, it looked very pencil sharp, nothing special. The soundtrack was very good, i preferred the guitar pieces in particular fits well with the show and I would purchase the soundtrack on its own.
A negative to this series I thought about time and time again was the dialogue. I don’t know if it is any better in subs as I only watched it English dubbed but it seemed very bland at times as if it didn't have much emotion behind the character interactions. Another annoying factor is Chise constantly saying “Shuji” it really annoyed me a lot of the time but it shouldn't be considered an off-putting factor when watching this series.
I had another problem and that was about the war itself. The series never explained who was involved in this war or for what reason it had started in the first place, which lead me to think that if the creators had made this into a 26-episode anime series then we could have gotten an explanation which would have greatly improved the series in my opinion.
Overall Saikano was a very good anime series that developed its characters well and had a very good story. The series was hindered by a few problems that prevented it from becoming one of the anime greats. Well this series has a live action film so maybe it is one of the anime greats. I would recommend this to anyone a fan of war, tragedy and romance genre. Thanks for reading guys!
