I liked it quite a bit as a faux-jukebox musical. It's not my favorite example of any of my favorite genres, but it is an example OF a fuckton of my favorite genres all at once. Songs, cute girls, mechas, a little romance, some intrigue, some comedy, a side-hustle montage... That's the good stuff.
It's kind of a shame that it's held back by its obsession with one-sided, increasingly obnoxious objectification of all the girls. Even the side-cast girls who have no characterization at all in this version of events. It's all the more apparent when they "try" to be equal-opportunity by giving the main dude, Alto, a shower scene. No ass, No titty, No credit.
The movie's age also shows in how fast the action is. When they were able to go to full-CG mechas, a lot of mecha shows took the bewildering step of trying to animate everything as if it was happening in real-time rather than in a cartoon. You cannot see shit in this movie's action scenes.
And that's kind of an issue, too. As it was playing, I was having a lot of fun with it. But trying to discuss it with my friend as we were leaving... It's like empty calories. There's not a bunch there.
But it is an extremely complete-feeling movie for a (mostly) compilation film, which was refreshing. It's a neat story worth a watch.
