Sounds like a great show right? Well, sadly it's hard for me to get on board with that even though I really wanted to.
Notice that this anime also has a 'sci fi' tag attached to it, and sadly this ends up being the show's biggest weakness in my view. Not only because the sci fi genre doesn't integrate that well in to a slice of life about a middle aged man who desires to relive his youth, but it also ends up forcing the protagonist in to situations, making the story often take bullshit turns and by extension hampering its themes. Spoilers ahead.
The first episode opens with a space battle which is used to establish this work as a science fiction series right away. But this scene doesn't do a very good job since it really doesn't become relevant until episode 2, it has metal music played over it and is followed by an opening sequence filled with interesting trippy visuals and a metal song accompanying that. So that scene could've easily been brushed off as some kind of visual metaphor.
But sadly that scene becomes center stage later even though the 1st episode (which was the show at its best) focuses solely on the protagonist's mid life crisis and how all the color was sucked out of his life as an aging salary man.
In episode 2 the protagonist meets a hot chick who encourages him to play the guitar and relive his glory days.
She later turns out to be an alien who's just taking advantage of his unexplained guitar playing powers that somehow helps her and her allies shoot stronger lasers at their faceless and motivation-less enemies in space.
What happens in between episode 2 and 5 is that his wife is getting annoyed by the fact that this alien woman is taking up a lot of his spare time with his family (and suspects he's cheating on her) and so hi-jinks and misunderstandings ensue.
Up until the end of episode 5 The protagonist does not realize he's being taken advantage of and when it is revealed he does not take this revelation kindly (despite the fact that she explains this to his face in episode 2) and he mistankingly believed that she genuinely wants to hear his music.. which is followed by a slow and meditative episode 6 made up of the protagonist just contemplating, thinking about where to go from there.
Episode 6 could've been a great turning point for our protagonist with him eventually realizing that he's better off living his boring but adequate life rather than living a lie or reliving your youth by becoming somebody's tool. But sadly the main character submits to his desires and becomes a tool for an alien war he knows nothing about.. Which would've been fine if he was punished for his actions eventually, but the show does NOT condemn him for it. In fact, he ends up rewarded for his behavior which included neglecting his wife and kid.
Thus for the rest of the series he keeps playing his guitar on the aliens' space ship assisting them in defeating their enemies
I should also mention that later in the series the protagonist tries to convince his old band members (who have families and moved on with their lives) to join him in playing music for this space war "to no avail"... only to magically appear on that space ship later with no explanation on how they got there.
The biggest insult for me is that near the end of the series earth is also at stake all of a sudden which leaves the band members no choice but to play more music and lend their powers which gives the characters even less agency. On top of that, the wife divorces the protagonist due to his neglect only to regret doing so a few minutes later (and also magically appears on the space ship somehow) when she realizes what's at stake.
To me, all of this reinforces what a lazy plot device this whole sci fi bullcrap was all along, it simply doesn't give the characters much of a choice and as a result of this, the protagonist receives no further development in the second half of the show. He just willingly becomes the aliens' tool and that's where his character arc ends. It makes it feel like nobody really learned anything and that there were no consequences to his actions.
Leaving all that aside, none of the characters stand out all that much but they're not bad either.
The protagonists' wife and kid are fleshed out decently and given enough screen time and comedic moments for you to care about them and understand their relationship with our protagonist. I even liked some of his old band members and the sexy alien lady. But aside from him, his wife and the alien lady, none of them really have much of a character arc to speak of and I personally feel that these three arcs are all kinda botched in the end.
Visually this show is pretty cheap looking. The animation is stiff, still frames are used fairly often and the characters look ugly and off model at times. On the other hand, the first episode had good cinematography with interesting camera angles and solid framing all around and so does the rest of the show but to a lesser extent. The character designs are distinct and seem to compliment their personalities pretty well.
I also liked the use of color, everything in the protagonist's mundane life seems to be washed out with dull colors to reinforce how the color was sucked out of his life, hell, he even wears a white suit. This contrasts nicely with a much more colorful pallet when he's reliving his glory days.
The music is very good but also a little disappointing since there really aren't that many songs. You have a fantastic metal opening theme that fits the series well and visually gives you a glimpse of the protagonist's former lifestyle but different versions of it are pretty overused throughout the show including when he himself plays the guitar.
The ending song is a weird pop song that you sorta get used to. Voice acting is fairly good for what is required and the voices do match each of the characters' personalities just fine.
Overall, this show isn't a complete waste of time, it does have its moments, the comedy wasn't too bad and it's somewhat recommendable for being unique. But I personally don't think it lived up to its promise all that much and it just let me down with the way it handled its themes and characters.
