The series that was quite hyped up. Does it live up to the claims? Jump the jump to find out.




Why couldn't they use this design in the anime? The current design is far too reminiscent of K-ON!! and ソラノヲト. My griping aside, we'll get into the details of the series now.


Aside from the character design, I think the rest of the art is really quite good. I've learned over the years that coming into an anime with high expectations because of promo art isn't a good idea, as the final product usually tends to be different from the promotion.


I feel that the story is the strongest part of the series. It's highly intruiging, but is not without it's problems. The futuristic story is similar some of the more prolific dystopian novel, like Nineteen-Eighty Four (Orwell) and Brave New World (Huxley), where life is seemingly a paradise. They've made the Priests look like the bad guys, but I believe that the writer was aiming for something less polar and more gray. It does however feel a wee bit staccato at times. Those who don't know what means, staccato is an italian musical term meaning 'separated' notes, and is the opposite of legato, or smoothly. I know it's in bad taste to drag something on, and most people realize that we're not going to say the every day life of the crew. This isn't Dickens' David Copperfield after all.  But having a funeral and having your base/ town attacked and then going to happy happy fun times the next episode without reference is a bit jarring.


Character wise, I'm finding it hard to really get attached to any of the characters. I can sympathize with Clain (main character), as he's only ever interacted with doppels, but his naïvety sometimes gets the better of me. Nessa really is the sunlight in the series. Always at her own tempo, she really is the brightest (not intelligence wise) character in the series. It's always fun watching her prance around, even if she does sound like Yui (K-ON!!).


The character development is really quite good in the series. Clain has grown, albeit rather slowly, through the episodes. From despising the Granitz family to almost coming to terms with how they deal with things. His naïvety is still a glaringly obvious flaw of his, but he's young, and comes from an upbringing in which he didn't develop any street sense. Not too many of the other characters have been developed too much, however. Phyrne has had a wee bit, but we still don't know too much about her, and we know even less about Nessa. We learn a tad bit about Lost Millenium and the Ganitz family in episode 6, along with the Granitz elder warming up to Clain.


The one problem I do have with Clain, aside from his character flaws, is his voice. I've more or less become used to it, but it still really does bug me. I know he's supposed to be a young boy, but Kobayashi Yuu's voicing of him is a bit off-setting. I realize that having a voice like that is part of his character, but it takes a bit of getting used to. If you don't think that female voice actors can do male characters, I suggest you take a look at Kuroshitsuji. Mizuki Nana plays Ciel Phantomhive.


I know it sounds like I'm really just complaining about this series and that it's pretty bad, but please, don't walk away from reading this like that. The series really does have it's good points. Like I've said, the story is really one of the best parts of the series. It does occasionally have problems with reeling viewers into the story, but all in all I think that it's a pretty good series.


For those of you in America, the series is streamed on Funimation's site. Why they limit it only to Ameria baffles me though. They're practically shooting themselves in the foot. Sure, they're based in the U.S. and that's their target market, but they're essentially limiting the availability of legitimate means to watch the series outside of Japan. And they wonder why the series is pirated so. That doesn't mean I'm condoning piracy, it is illegal after all. Just a whimsical musing by Kenn.