Reviews

A self stylized "Grounded Shonen" which has some of the best world building and tactic focused combat. This is one of the most fiercely intelligent shows I've watched in a while when it comes to fighting, this isn't "super sayian beat by super sayian 2", this is anyone can beat anyone if their tactics are better, but at the same time still a clear hierarchy of skill sets so you know who the underdog is and who isn't. The later half and biggest chunk is a bunch squad vs. squad combat when it really comes into its own and it's all about tactics, flanking manoeuvres, bluffing, misdirection, and using established tools, abilities, and weapons in new unique and creative ways. A lot of fights don't boil down to "whose stronger", they boil down to which team thought the most steps ahead or could adapt to a changing situation the quickest.

However, biggest pitfall is it's TOEI production which means it can be maddeningly inconsistent at times in regards to animation, pacing, and repetition is especially bad in the early episodes. The first 8-14 episodes are kind of a slog and often large chunks of later episodes are dedicated to recaps of previous episodes. The characters are also a tad more "muted" for my interest, but that might be to the show's benefit for the kind of action scenes it wants to show. But, if you skip the lengthy recaps (luckily most of them are at the beginning of every episode) and get passed the initial rough boring slog the show steadily improves itself in every problem area from episode 20 onward, getting better pacing, animation, and subtle exposition.

The first season ended in 2014, but it came back with a season 2 and 3 (26 episodes total) in 2021 and the sequel stuff is TOP NOTCH. All the issues I listed above are gone and with all the pieces/world building well established it is 26 episodes of minimal recap, solid to gorgeous animation, and all the other squad tactical stuff that made the first season good.