Kakumeiki Valvrave (Season 1): General Impression
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| Ready for mecha/vampire/high school/ |
While it is a show that is undeniably full of flaws, it has enough good points to make me endure all the way till the end...
Mixed —The 'Abandoning Humanity Theme'
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| 'Yes' Humans suck anyway... I wanna be a |
Bad —Vampire, WTF?
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| L_Elf: Arghhh!! Haruto? Are you a ghoul? I know ghouls look like humans! Haruto: No, I'm a vampire aka. Holy Spirit. We're starring Valvrave now, okay? |
Experienced mecha otaku always told me that you could expect all kinds of stuff in a mecha show, but probably what I expected the least was: vampire.
And, Gosh, though I am not a fan of vampire, but this show only points out how cliche the 'vampire' thingy starts to become. It is creepy :(! Not to mention the fact that it ruins my cute Haruto. Eekkkk....
I will accept this vampire thingy better if it only stops at Haruto trying to suck people's runes. It goes so far that he ends up jumping at Saki to rape her. An incredibly stupid and stupidly incredible plot twist! What? Is it a vampire or a succubus? I am at a loss now...
Bad — Characters
Haruto — Cute, but err too unreasonably developed?
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| Meek and cute :3 |
I will try to be as objective as possible. Yeah, Haruto is really cute in my opinion. I like his looks, sky blue eyes and fluffy brown hair and all. However, his character starts of as Ikari Shinji. He is a pathetic loser with overly idealistic principle. Having said that, I know that's the way with some people, and I actually adore such character as long as he or she would develop reasonably later. (I'm talking about Tsuna from KHR or Kaneki Ken from TG)
But... He snaps! Just because of a freaking death of his freaking love interest/ childhood friend!
Then he was turned into a merciless killer, going around shouting revenge and saying "Yeah, we're in a war. Who cares if a chap dies." And he was a normal meek high schooler a few hours ago! What a drastic 360-degree change. It is so funny and disturbing at the same time. Oh, he reminds me of Oh ma Shoe! from Guilty Crown now :/.
During his crazy chase after the militarily advantaged Drossian, Haruto receives a surprise phone call. And guess who it is? The (supposedly) dead Shoko!
I expects him to feel guilty for having misunderstood the situation and ending up plucking people for practically no reason, he was pumped up, wanting to reunite with his love. What an optimistic boy.
Then he discovers he is turned into a monster and cries...
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| It screams IKARI SHINJI, for goodness! |
I was expecting him to avoid fighting/ deny reality for a while after this, but he meets a persuasive politician and is totally blown away. He then becomes more confident and commited to the cause. That really sounds like Ouma Shuu...
Basically,
Meek, useless --> Vengeful badass --> Confident, calm --> etc etc
Let's end it here :/Rukino —Wanna-Be-Famous Bitch?
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| Ye can go die and have ye remains disposed into the space. It will be a star 'dust' |
I had to suppress my urge to slap my computer and destroy it. My god, she is soooooo unlikeable.
The only thing I'm thankful for her is her turning Haruto into a badass playboy during their first body-swapping.
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| Thank you, bitch Rukino |
Other characters — Are all Valvrave pilots psychopaths?
You have this hikikomori disturbingly and psychotically instant messaging her brother. The production team probably wants to put interesting ideas together, but a hikikomori is definitely inappropriately excessive.
The green hair senpai (forgot his name) is as prone to snapping as Haruto. With his loved one killed, he made a 360-degree transformation into a bloodthirsty soldier too. Jaoan wowed me (O___O)!
Acceptable ones
Despite his uncomfortable lack of humanity and smugness, L-Elf is the most understandable character so far. Still, we shall see to this in the season 2.
Good — Visual effects, animation
The mecha robots are very colourful, glittering in rainbow! The show definitely has fluid movement of character. The animation synchronises well with the music, especially the opening.
Good — Sound
The sound effects are good and played at a good timing. The Opening theme is very catchy and I love it so much that I couldn't wait to sing it during my next trip to karaoke.
Conclusion?
Not the best mecha anime ever, but good time killer. If you're bored or if you are into CG/sound, then go for it. If you hate wasting your time over rubbish, unlikeable characters and weird character development, then it is not very recommended.
