The setup will seem familiar to most of you. Five high school friends share the role of protagonist, with a boy named Daisuke designated as the narrator. First and foremost, Revisions is a science fiction anime about time travel. Our high school students will battle futuristic beasts while piloting mecha. A few slice of life scenes are sprinkled in, along with the usual dash of relationship drama between these five. Of course, their job is to save the world. Along the way they will be aided by adults who provide mature contrast to the emotional (but honest) outbursts from the children. All of this is to be expected, as by now there seems to be a formula for this type of show.
So what makes Revisions distinctive enough to be worth your time? First of all, the artwork is very good. Some reviewers have complained about the use of CG animation, but in this very season we have Date A Live III which contains an entire battle scene made up of still panels. That production is laughably low-budget when compared to Revisions. Revisions is beautifully drawn and animated. Facial expressions are clear and distinct. At no point were corners cut beyond what you might expect of a weekly television show. So why all the hate? I can only presume that some of you hate CG in your anime so much that you are motivated to come here and give artificially low scores to anything in this style. If you are such a person, just avoid Revisions and save yourself some angst.
Second, a great deal has been made of the "hero complex" of Daisuke, our main protagonist. After watching all 12 episodes, I feel his character was written this way not out of some misplaced stab at originality, but rather as an earnest attempt to describe how someone might end up if he were told his destiny was to protect everyone. In fact, the behavior and psychology of the high school kids was much more realistic and believable than that of comparable anime. Why, then, did it get draw such criticism from some of the reviewers here?
I am just guessing, but I think Daisuke's character flaws hit a little too close to home for some viewers. They recognize his immaturity as the same whiny, insecure little kid that lives inside of us. I'll give you a little hint for life: growing up is not denying that inner kid, or hoping that annihilating him for all time will save you from future embarrassment or failure. Real grown-ups give this inner kid a hug and a cookie from time to time and acknowledge that every single person is prone to moments of weakness. Everyone was a noob at one point in life, and frankly, most of us still have a lot to learn. If you are criticizing decent writing than maybe the point of it was lost upon you.
In fact, there is a character named Gai who I believe represents this very attitude of trying to insult others due to insecurity about oneself. Gai is constantly berating Daisuke for his bragging and delusions, while ironically harboring a not-so secret desire for leadership and recognition. One envisions Gai's future destined for local politics or middle-management.
Including Gai shows some self-awareness on the part of the author. Criticism of Daisuke, on the other hand, demonstates a possible LACK of self-awareness or confidence on the part of some reviewers. There is an expression "Methinks the lady dost protest too loudly." When I see extreme negative reviews and scores, this phrase comes to mind. Are you trying too hard to be cool by attempting to distance yourself from Daisuke? But you're not Daisuke or the hero of any show you watch. Maybe anime has conditioned you to insert yourself into the role of the male protagonist so well that, like a Pavlovian test subject, if the main character has too annoying a personality you feel personal insult as a knee-jerk reaction. Once upon a time, good stories just wrote the characters as they needed to be written and the reader understood they should remain a separate (but attentive) viewer.
That brings us to the quality of the story. Overall, there are the usual suspects here with any science fiction written regarding time travel. Paradoxes are not addressed. Scientific logic is trod upon, or simply ignored. At one point, the solution to rescuing someone trapped in space time apparently is to reach out to him physically. If you are a pseudo-science nerd who thinks the physics in Star Trek is real, then you may find the willful indifference to actual science in this anime offensive. Everyone else will probably just roll with it.
But that is not the main point of the story. Actually, I believe the main point is about the meaning of heroism, and how our actions are influenced by our self-image and ideals. Do we really sacrifice for others, or do we simply appease our own egos? This anime is brave enough to address these issues instead of automatically assigning the role of "hero" to some characters and "villain" to others. In fact, all parties in this anime believe they are doing the "right thing" as it applies to their own personal ethics. Judged against the standard of other anime, the story is much more well-formed than average. There is an introduction, development, and a definite conclusion, with an overall purpose and message the author wishes to convey. If you're just here for pretty explosions, then the battle scenes are done competently.
If we may criticize anything about the story, it feels somewhat abridged in the service of fitting into the standard 12 episode format. The final result is very watchable, but stilted. Conversations and and character changes jump around leaving you feeling that something important was skipped. There is very little fan service (unless you consider form-fitting plug suits evocative). Characters behave in a way you might expect given their unusual situation. A lot of thought was given to the drama playing out in the people, and not so much to trying to be clever from a science fiction perspective. For what it attempts to do, I believe it succeeds quite well. I watched all twelve episodes without once feeling, "this sucks so bad I have to stab myself in the eye immediately." Given how many cringe-worthy anime are out there, Revisions deserves some recognition for its honest attempt at delivering its message about friendship and what it means to be a hero.
