On the surface, Coppelion offers some storytelling themes that would make it seem like a solid sci-fi adventure title on paper. The series is set in a "what if" future showing what could happen if Tokyo was ravaged by nuclear radiation as a result of the nuclear reactors that powers its society. Within this future, Ibara and the members of her Rescue Unit are tasked with tracking down survivors within the nuclear-ravaged Tokyo that offer up their moments of genuine suspense as the girls are often at risk when rescuing survivors between preventing victims from being exposed to high levels of radiation they can otherwise survive to enemy threats exploiting their survival efforts to stir up terrorist acts for their personal gain. The series also dabbles into questioning the humanity of others, which those among the Coppelion and whomever is left behind in the radiation-infested Tokyo dabble into as characters feeling like outcasts or not human due to being different from other people cope with these developments in varying ways, both good and bad.
Unfortunately, Coppelion gets hurt greatly by the limited run time of its series length. At only 13 episodes, it felt like the series was trying to compact whatever storytelling it had to tell. Many of the characters get limited depth, mostly being reduced to character archetypes and not getting enough fleshing out to make their motives and developments relatable for me. Some major plot developments do get tacked on with melodrama that make emotional moments hard to take seriously at points and others that do not seem to get enough fleshing out, due to a mix of both the anime's seemingly compressed feel and the series also lacking a proper ending.
Visually, things are a mixed bag for Coppelion. While sporting highly detailed and vast background shots of the barren Tokyo landscape, the quality of animation shots and character designs tend to vary. Designs of the various radiation suits worn by human characters have variety to their designs, but character designs often looked unrealistic in their bodily proportions and some shots inconsistently depict their designs with a thick outline that stick out prominently from the gorgeous background shots. Animation is hit-or-miss as there are some moments where shortcuts are relied upon to conserve on budget, while others feature some great animated sequences such as some later fight scenes with the Coppelion and a final battle involving a giant spider robot.
Overall, Coppelion is a series that seemed like it wanted to explore quite a bit in its run, yet suffers since it is handicapped by its limited run time in how much it can explore within its 13-episode run. Perhaps if the series were given a longer run time, it could have had more time to convey its ideas and provide more fleshing out of its characters. But as it is, the series offers a solid premise on paper that is sadly crippled by the amount of time it has to tell its story.
