Story:
Active Raid does not revolve around the life of a central protagonist or singular character. The story centers on the team as an ensemble cast. This show follows a rather old-fashioned storytelling approach, aiming for audiences with a nostalgic fondness for silly and formulaic Tokusatsu or Super Sentai series without a ton of depth nor intellectual pretense. Instead of a modern take on Patlabor or a dramatic sci-fi police procedural like Psycho-Pass, what we actually have here is a much less ambitious production. The misfit cops of Unit 8 have to deal with an uncooperative government bureaucracy in order to overcome wacky episodic threats through the use of power armor (Willwear) and ultimately face a juvenile mastermind. If that doesn't sound like something you would enjoy, then the series probably isn't going to work for you at all.
Which means I cannot really praise the overarching narrative of Active Raid. Even the political elements are there to serve as either satirical gags or temporary obstacles through the use of hyperbole, rather than serious explorations of conflict. In the end, the underlying story is going to be predictable. However, one of the potential virtues about the episodic structure is that each week can be very different from the previous one. New elements will come and go, providing small surprises, inside jokes and quite distinct sources of amusement thanks to the rotating focus between the various members of the cast. If you didn't like a given episode, perhaps you'll enjoy the next. Or the one right after that.
The episode previews do a good job of providing both explicit and implicit self-awareness about the inherent silliness of the show as well as various degrees of teasing concerning future events, although they usually tend to be a little misleading.
If you didn't care for the first episode because it was trying to do too many things at once and the characters used some jargon, both of those particular concerns go away rather quickly. The specialized terms end up being mostly self-evident or irrelevant, generally used either for token procedures or to illustrate how police work is supposed to work. In other words, this isn't the kind of show where you really need to go look up a dictionary or glossary if you don't care about the technical details. Simply put, Active Raid isn't a show that takes its science or physics seriously, nor does it even try to present a game like poker in a remotely realistic manner.
I would argue the single best episode of the show is the sixth one. That's Active Raid at its most effective. It deals with nostalgia for outdated giant robots that are no longer necessary in this fictional universe due to their fuel inefficiency, combining both a few goofy in-jokes for old-school fans of Super Robot anime as well as a couple of genuine emotional beats and an impressive use of 2D mechanical animation. If only the show had more episodes like that one, the resulting experience could have been a lot stronger rather than merely satisfactory.
Character:
When it comes to the characters almost all of them were technically adults, which is rather unusual (and welcome) compared to most contemporary anime. However, these are not exactly a bunch of serious professionals. Their way of dealing with crime, while sometimes surprisingly effective, was often only superficially following the rules and could directly or indirectly cause lots of property damage. The government doesn't think too highly of Unit 8 and, frankly, neither should the viewer for a start.
As expected when it comes to such a goofy and unrealistic production, the show doesn't provide vast amounts of character development. Sure, there are a few situations which do give valid characterization to various members of the cast, such as the episode about the relationship between Sena and his former girlfriend as a notable example, but these are the exceptions. As much as it can be a double-edged sword, the series wasn't too interested in trying to handle powerful emotions or complex character arcs. That's not the name of the game here.
Instead, it's simply more about how the individual displays of charisma, gimmicks, quirks and interactions create a superficially amusing dynamic between the members of the team and anyone else involved at any given time. That is most of what the show expects to offer its target audience and, if you can accept this, it is actually quite possible to develop a very basic liking for these individuals. Not every gag or quip is gold, to be sure, but that ultimately depends on your personal sense of humor.
Let's take a quick look. Asami, the rookie cop, initially hoped to reform Unit 8 and turn it into a more disciplined outfit. As much as the random bits of Engrish in her dialogue might annoy certain viewers, they were also a pretty amusing quirk to other sectors of the audience. That is the sort of thing one must either take or leave when watching this show.
Now, you might be tempted to expect the series to ostensibly focus on her dilemma and try to turn it into a Psycho-Pass style conflict of ideals. But that's not what really happens, further revealing the huge differences between how both series operate. Early episodes did establish this tension, yet they also started resolving the issue at the same time. In particular, the second episode already had Asami implicitly accepting Unit 8's methods. After that point, the rest of the team essentially keeps handling things in their own way and, effectively, ends up absorbing her in a gradual manner. Which is also pointed out near the end of the season, thus completing the process.
Are these people just caricatures then? Not completely, since a few of them do have extra traits and occasional personal issues, which emerge after learning a little more about their lives or just by seeing them in action. In fact, I would have to say that Rin (the "Boss" of Unit 8) and old man Funasaka were arguably two of the best characters in the show at the end of the day. Not great ones, but decent. The episodes focusing on them were pretty good in this respect, and they still manage to get other nice scenes later on. Evidently, you do need to accept how someone like Rin will look young for her position. But, as a matter of fact, she does consistently behave like an adult. The same can't always be said about everyone else in Unit 8.
While I was fine with all of that, I believe one character-related issue did admittedly tend to directly detract from the show, at least in this season: the main antagonist, Mythos.
Mythos lacked presence, his personality was boring and the revelations about his background were not effective in creating much sympathy. Frankly, glorified computer hackers don't seem that much of a threat even as a concept. The single best thing you could say about him and the "organization" he created, Logos, is that they contributed to creating various entertaining situations.
It's true other enemies, such as the ones known as "Dog" and "Bird" (rather silly codenames, of course), were slightly more fleshed out during the late stages of the season. But if there is one key thing that Active Raid absolutely needs to improve for the next series, it would be providing better villains and giving them more room to breathe. In fact, it would be easy to speculate about how such a positive change could also help expand the characterization for the heroes from its currently basic state into something more traditionally solid.
In short, if you have come to Active Raid expecting much more than that, or as someone who needs very compelling characters as a strong anchor to hold your interest, then you are most definitely looking in the wrong place.
Art:
In terms of art and animation quality, Production IMS did some relatively consistent work by their own standards. The illustrator known as Tosh made everyone pretty when it came to the character designs and the production itself didn't collapse all of a sudden, unlike some of the worst IMS projects. The eventual physical release of the series will include fixes to the artwork and animation, but the broadcast wasn't too impressive.
That said, I would argue the various animation changes to the opening and ending sequences over time were quite welcome. In particular, the ending had some amusing additions towards the final part of the show which contributed to the amusement value of the experience.
The 3DCG Willwear suits were animated by Orange, one of the better studios in the anime industry for this kind of work. The actual designs have uneven visual appeal, but they do show variety (different in-universe companies produced them) and blend in quite well. In general, most of the mecha action sequences were well animated and merely competent rather than particularly exciting, often being employed as another part of the surrounding jokes rather than trying to be too intense.
Sound:
As for the OP/ED songs themselves, Akino and Bless4 were involved. They were alright. But what I liked the most was the background music by Kotaro Nakagawa. He gave the show's soundtrack the right kind of retro cheesy yet energetic vibe, which was a good fit for something like Active Raid that owes a lot more to the traditions of Tokusatsu and power armor heroes than to anything else.
Overall:
So, what would be my final word on Active Raid? It's fun and watchable with low expectations, but not for everyone.
The first season isn't very appealing to modern anime fans. In addition, it has long been established that most of the real anime moneymakers come out in Spring and Fall. Active Raid is just a transparent throwback piece - not a product of innovation and great creativity - made by a bunch of creators who were basically chilling out during an off-season. Everything suggests they wanted to create something primarily for those who share a certain amount of nostalgic amusement for this specific type of material.
Which is why I doubt Taniguchi and Arakawa, or the rest of the team for that matter, aren't thinking about more ambitious projects in the meanwhile. Objectively speaking, this is simply a lightweight product. Neither serious enough to provide a compelling dramatic core, nor nonsensical enough to appeal to fans of complete insanity. If that sounds boring or offends your sensibilities, you would be better off watching something more substantial. Otherwise, feel free to check it out.
