As most of you reading this might already know, this series was written by the very same author who brought us Katekyo Hitman Reborn. However, going into this series thinking and expecting it to match the quality of Reborn isn't the way to go.
elDLIVE is really just a simple, shounen series with not much complications regarding the plot or characters. Almost everything about it is as straightforward as it can get or, as some people would call it, predictable. But this doesn't necessarily mean it's not worth a watch, though. Despite the simple plot line, the episodes have a good flow to them and usually have a sense of continuity between them. This gives you the feeling on wanting/needing to watch on to find out what happens next, which I thought they pulled off decently well. Overall the series didn't feel that rushed, although I thought the ending did fall victim to that a bit. That said, the series ended on a decent note and was quite open, although I highly doubt a second season would come but it definitely has made room for a possibility.
The art isn't exactly extravagant, but it's appealing enough to make watching it comfortable. Simple art for a simple story. Because this series featured aliens and similar life-forms, character designs were rather interesting for this one. When I first saw him I seriously thought Chips looked an awful lot like Manaphy (Yes, the Pokemon). There's also a cat girl, a talking muscular crescent moon... It was just fascinating to see really weird characters all around. And also, not to mention the main girls (Misuzu, Veronica, Nina) actually looked pretty cute too.
If anything, the soundtrack of this series has to be one of its highlights for me. The OST composer is none other than Yasuharu Takanashi, who is the same guy who brought to you the soundtracks of Fairy Tail and Naruto Shippuden. So yes, great and familiar shounen music to accompany this series really worked well for me. Battle themes during the action, and slow emotional pieces during supposedly sad moments; it all fit well. They also had, in my opinion, one of the best EDs of the season. Not just in terms of music, but the animation during the ED was simply beautiful. Even if you don't plan to watch this series, I'd recommend you to just watch that ED.
If you had watched the PV, you'd have known that our protagonist Chuta had a terrible incident happen to him when he was young, and had been traumatized by it ever since. And then you'd think, a coward like him... becomes a space police officer?! Indeed, most of the series focuses on the growth of Chuta as a person. How he attempts to overcome his past fears, how he convinces himself that he is not actually a useless dimwit who always runs away in the face of adversity... through these 12 episodes you will see him change his perceptions. There are hardly any characters in this show who are worthy of being disliked (even the villains, because they hardly did anything horrible). Even though the focus is mainly on Chuta, Dolugh and Misuzu, over this series we are also wll introduced to the side characters like Veronica, Nina and Dr. Love. I particularly like Dr. Love's character, but that's just how I feel of course. Maybe you'll think differently of him... Seriously, though, which a rather huge cast it was always going to be hard to give every single character decent development, and I thought what they pulled off in 12 episodes was adequate for one to enjoy the show.
I actually really enjoyed this show over the course of the last 12 weeks. This was something I looked forward to at the start of every week. Right from the start, this series was never meant to be a super serious one. There was never going to be brutalities or cruelties. It's simply a light-hearted shounen series. If what you're looking for is a simple series which doesn't have a complicated plot, features decent action sequences and has a great soundtrack, then elDLIVE could be one for you.
YOYOSA!
