Anime: Koukaku no Regios

Oh, such joy and wonder, I found myself an anime that has all I ever like in fiction. Monsters, action, some romance, some mystery, some smart scenario ideas. So I sit down ready to watch what I like most. Ten minutes later … WHAT IS THIS SHIT?

Boy, talk about fail squared. Anime usually aim to have some good initial episodes before reverting back to whatever mediocrity they were meant to be. Regios managed to be uninteresting since the very beginning. I guess that is a talent too.

Let’s get down to business. Regios is animated by studio Zexcs, which has never produced a high-budget show, or even an above average one. It has mostly made shitty fan service anime and a few mediocrities everybody forgot in a few months. Just to make you understand how bad they are, their best production was the completely mediocre Legend of Legendary Heroes.

The premise of the story is very interesting and offers a complicating post-apocalyptic setting full of mobile cities in a grim future, fighting amongst them for survival, while repelling invasions by super powerful insects. But to no surprise they did very little with all that and soon the plot was nothing more than a guy and his harem. The premise reminded me a lot of Blue Gender, a good dark science fiction anime of the 90’s whose greatest flaw was the dull plot. While Regios fixes this by having a lot more action and variety, at the same time it failed completely to build atmosphere and immersion with the story and the characters. It did a very poor job at fleshing them out. Here is a list.

1) The action scenes are completely random and chaotic. There was no way to feel a battle was done properly as magic gizmos were pretty much running the show as the directors wanted. Anything could happen, any way the they wanted it, as fast or as dramatic, successful or failed. You could see a rain of rabbits followed by a rock shaped as Lincoln for all it matters and the outcome of such spells would be whatever the plot required. And forget about proper transition from one scene to another. There is NO TRANSITION. No choreography exists to make the action appealing and thus I hated it.

2) There is very little actual animation. For a semi-action series, the characters were terribly frozen. Too much still panels going around to feel anything good about it.

3) Unappealing character figures. What kind of random accessories was everybody wearing during battles? And what’s with the weird facial structure? Totally hilarious to the point I wasn’t even looking at the constant cleavages.

4) The background music is horrible. The main battle them is making your ears bleed with its terrible tune and most other BGMs are way too loud and noisy. To get an idea, just try to imagine this tune playing in all the battles -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhwmwxnBU_k
AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL EXCITEMENT WHEN THIS SHIT IS PLAYING? As for the opening and ending songs, they are completely average pop trash I have forgotten completely.

5) The setting remains unexplained. What is going on with the world and why are things like that? You are given no info regarding the backdrop story of the world and thus the whole setting remains nothing but an intriguing background scenery.

6) The directing has absolutely no uniformity. One moment they are fighting for the survival of the human race, the immediate next they are taking part in a typical romantic school comedy trip. You get futuristic cities full of weird machinery, next to nobles clothed as if it’s still the 18th century, next to a cosplay party called the main characters. Consistency is nice! And maybe it would make sense if they had fleshed out the setting but since they didn’t this is all random nonsense.

7) The cast remains terribly generic. What is going on with them? You hardly get to know most of them. The lead is the typical harem dork, with a broken power, hoarding all the girls to himself, and does nothing with them. Most girls are defined by their sexual frustration syndromes. Most males are defined by their ridiculous costumes and signature moves. Everybody is a stereotype 101. And nobody is memorable for any given reason.

8 ) Engrish! Jesus Christ, when will they ever hire real Americans to do the English lines? And it’s not like they even needed to have English speakers in the first place; all the scenes regarding them are completely useless to the plot.

9) The ending is not an ending. Major bummer. Expected when they try to adapt a series of light novels which are still on-going.

So from all the above reasons, you can easily tell how Regios uses a mediocre action superpower formula, mixed with a mediocre romantic school comedy formula, with random ideas such as mobile cities and fairies and bugs in the background. It hardly makes good use of any of its elements and ends up being a completely average work.

Before you dismiss my harsh judgment because of the nature of the setting, please consider this. Mixing teenagers fighting huge monsters before going to school and getting to all sorts of sexual frustrations can be as bad as Gunparade March or as good as Neon Genesis. And Regios is no Neon Genesis. In fact, it doesn’t even know what it is; there are no connecting points between the genres it tries unsuccessfully to blend. Think how many stuff Escaflowne mixed in the same bowl and how uniformed they felt. This was a random hill of irrelevant ideas with lifeless animation and poor storytelling.

Sorry, I prefer Blue Gender and Neon Genesis over this one. I don’t even consider it a worthy watch. In fact, I don’t consider it as anything other as a good example of a badly made anime.

Animation:

Being mostly an action-oriented show, CSR carries itself well. Even though nothing is cutting edge during action scenes, there aren't any sloppy parts either. The action itself remains entertaining most of the time. Character designs are pretty decent and contribute to their personalities. The faces come as a bit unique at first but once you get accustomed to them and notice that they can carry out the mimics accordingly, they become quite likable.

Sound:

Voice actors suit their characters very well and contribute a good amount to their likability. Nobody sounds out of place or exaggerated. The music I found very suitable to the setting, electronic fast-paced tunes to follow the fast-paced action in a futuristic world surrounded by wasteland. What's more, the first ED was a surprisingly wonderful song which I had the feel the need to place in a leading position my anime music pantheon. Over the series, whether action, romance or a dramatic scene, BGM manages to capture the essence of the moment.

Story:

CSR takes place in a futuristic yet post-apocalyptic world, in which cities have become moving platforms which rely on their own electronic spirit's will. Taking place mostly in an academic city, nearly of all of the cast consists of teenagers who study either martial arts or general academic sciences. What's more, the wasteland is a haven in which monsters of extreme strength and aggression lurks. So the martial arts students have to serve as either police or army forces as well.

So the premise borrows from several different genres that we'd at least be familiar with and this helps to make the viewer feel alright even without pumping them with many explanations. So even though the information is somewhat lacking at times, it doesn't cause confusion. That's why the show is rather accessible and becomes pleasing to watch from the get go.

The main thing that detracts from the plot is that the story originates from a light novel series that's still ongoing and maturing. That's mostly why the season ends just when the main issues began rolling in. Another couple of episodes surely would help. In any case, there's good potential for a second series that the final has hinted at and the end is thankfully open-ended to provide a healthy continuation.

Character:

It's safe to say that this is the department CSR excels at. It's almost guaranteed to find someone you'll come to like, based on your personal preferences. Personalities of the characters range greatly and their constant, vivid interaction with just the right amount super-deformed modes is a pleasure to watch. Some funny, some more intimate or serious moments are continuously rolling in thanks to both the leads and supporting cast.

Especially the leads like Layfon and Nina (who herself was again, admitted to my anime characters pantheon) has a rather rich background and refined motivations that makes them look very believable the way they act and the way they talk. Over time, their relations contribute to their development quite a bit and by the final episode, everyone has learned something from the others and have put it to use. I felt this aspect of the show felt rather satisfying by itself as a conclusion and kept the open-ended inconclusive final enjoyable, which is a rare feat.

Value:

I have went over some of the episodes be it either for fun or to see an event's real nature. There aren't excessive parts or fillers, the series manages to keep its entertaining pace and deliver.

Enjoyment:

CSR was for me, the black horse of this season. I had noticed it early but rather waited for the opinions as it looked a bit generic from the distance. However once I got a hold of it, I got hooked totally. It's extremely rare for me to look forward to new episodes of a series this much, I found myself going through raw records and double-checking sub groups.

Especially the characters and the way the setting lets them to act, react and interact, makes the the show better than its parts. So yes you have teenagers and their school life, but then again a battle for survival rages on. They fall to their faults and rise up to their challenges, but the sense of them striving for their own justified goal makes you feel its presence. It's rather difficult to explain and your mileage may inevitably vary, but it certainly worked for me.

Bottom Line:

CSR doesn't try anything new but mends several different genres successfully, leading to a maybe familiar but enjoyable feeling. You may root for the characters or you may be in it for the action, you'll be okay as long as you don't try to reach a plot ending with all loose threads closed. Considering that a future follow-up is rather probable, CSR is an entertaining show with its memorable moments and a good pacing that doesn't disappoint. Check it out if you feel any interest in the genres it participates in.

The story of this anime takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, where individual mobile city-states struggle to survive attacks from horrible monsters. And that's it. Most of the action on the screen has nothing to do with this "post-apocalypsesness" and evolves around the protagonist , his comrades, his enemies, his problems with the world. And his harem - guess it's a "must-have" feature for any shounen/seinen series.

[Animation]

I personally liked this part quite a bit. Not due to some special effects not often seen in other shows - actually, there are none. But simply because of the style. Since I have to be at least somewhat objective, I have to admit that animation by itself is nothing special. It's fluid, does not suffer from repetitive frames (if you don't take into account quite a numerous amount of flashbacks), but it seemed to me to degrade a bit to the end of the show. The backgrounds are not notable - when the action takes you out of the city there is nothing to observe there, just lifeless desert. And when inside a city - well, it's just your generic city. 3D animation has not been done on the level where one cannot separate it from 2D but is not annoying. Overall, the animation is not bad, and that's good.

[Sound]

Actually, after watching the show I cannot remember even a thing about the sound. That means two things: first, it was not spectacular enough to catch my attention, and second, it was not bad enough to annoy me. Seyus did their work just fine, OP and ED - when not fast-forwarded - were nice but, again, not memorable.

[Story]

This is the toughest part of the review. The story itself leaves too much things unexplained to be considered finished. If you expect to see many battles with monsters and continuous "level-ups" of the protagonist (that's to be expected when you see a story with such an outset) - well, I've got bad news for you. I even cannot outline the plot of the series - I would rather consider this show to be a beginning of a much longer Bleach-like series, not the self-sufficient one.
But, to put it short, the general line looks like this: the protagonist has some deep personal problems and tries to run away from himself - he overcomes these problems with the help of his friends - he defeats his enemy AND a nasty monster - and a boot to the head. The harem, you ask? Well, it's just there.
One thing that must be noted is the "story in a story" featured in this show. It adds an "alternate realities" flavor to the series and seems to be an explanation to the events - at least a beginning of one.
Overall, until this story is finished properly it can't be rated adequately. If I suppose that the ending was made so open-ended on purpose and the producers don't plan any sequels - well, the story is a fail to me. No plot, no character behavior basis, no explanation - that doesn't look like a high mark, just brainf**king. But since I do believe in humanity and expect to see all the answers - not just the vague hints - to the fundamental questions in the sequel, and because I have an imagination of all those potential events that could take place there ("Matrix" and "13th floor" style, that's it) - well, I raise my mark a bit.

[Character]

Except for the protagonist, there's not much character development there. And even his emotional sufferings do not look convincing - mostly because the story of the world is really underdeveloped and the scenarists just try to pass by saying "doing this is really bad". I'd expect to see and feel why this is bad, not be told so. But since I've watched the show just for fun without paying much attention to such minor details they were just OK to me. At least they didn't pretended to be something bigger than they were. And they are funny.

[Value]

As I've already mentioned this show has no value until the sequel is made.

[Enjoyment]

I will not even try to be objective here. I did like the show. I can admit it has many weak points, and I doubt I ever rewatch it, but I enjoyed it while I watched it.

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Very late update: there is still no sequel. I had to drop ratings in 'Story' and "Value" sections.