Anyways, you are not going to watch this anime for its animation, since it was made by the most lame Studio GONZO, and directed by someone who hated the source material and wanted to have his own twist. It was a disaster waiting to happen. WHO THE HELL GIVES PEOPLE TO DIRECT A SHOW THEY HATE? I’ll tell you who, GONZO does. They did their best to mutate the true meaning of the original manga as best as they could and to make the whole show as pathetic as possible. And yet a lot of people still liked it. There’s your maturity!
Anyways, you are not going to watch this anime for its plot, because it sucks ass. Kids pilot mecha to save the world, yuppie duppie doo, where have I heard that one before. It has the twist of kids dying when they use the mecha which leads to the whole misery motif so many like. It’s basically “Wow, I will be dead soon; how will I spend my last hours alive?” That aside the plot is slow and stupid. So you can pretty much screw the whole battle for the salvation of Earth. Although losing the battle automatically means that Earth will blow up, it’s not really the point at all. You can take out the robots and the salvation of Earth and it will make almost no difference. The story could easily be remade to be the last moments of children with terminal diseases. The robot battles are flashy extras that offer little to the actual plot, which is non-stop suffering. Having negative consequences is not the same as having convenient moments of tragedy, since they are so extreme to the point they don’t differ from any other classic mecha show where the good guys always win and all the buildings get fixed in a few days. It’s why whenever a civilian is killed, he will conveniently be a relative of the kid currently piloting the robot.
What ultimately ruins the premise is the simple fact that for most of the show the children will have no control over what is going on. They were tricked into a situation they didn’t know it had negatives and then they are expected to die one after the other for the greater good without again be able to do anything about it. Yes, if they disagree the world will be destroyed and all, but tricking the saviors into giving up their lives is not heroic at all. It’s evil. There is no way in hell I will describe the main characters as “realistic and sympathetic” as so many called them. They are typical kids with no control over what happens. I don’t want to be like them, they don’t inspire me, they are not heroic, and nobody with a healthy mind would want to be in their shoes. The only thing people remember about them is the tragic situation they are in, they don’t actually care about them as characters. If you don’t believe me, ask them if they can even remember how they are called. I bet you 90% of them won’t be able to mention a single name without looking it up. Also the director didn’t like the manga ending and changed it to a happy one, so all manga readers hated the anime for ruining the premise.
Also, I need to repeat that the mangaka really loves to torture children in more than one ways. As if being chosen to die ain’t enough he also makes sure their parents are assholes, their house gets burned, their girlfriends cheat on them, and someone kicks their puppy. All at the same time. I fail to see the realism so many are yapping about. It’s as miseryporn as it gets. Being miserable does not make something realistic, much less better than cheery series. It only means the watcher finds pleasure in the most overblown, impossible to believe, ludicrous things, as well as in the suffering of innocent people. Take that as you will.
