Anime Review: Robotics;Notes

Another week, another review (Unless I'm bitching about Anita Sarkeesian destroying gaming as we know it). However, in some positive news last month I garnered over 1,000 views. While it is great that I've reached the next tier of viewership, I have the sneaking suspicion that a good number of those views are bots from two particular sites. Why do I think this? Mainly because outside of "Google" I'm getting a large number of traffic from only two other sites, and they are blogs about diabetes and Halloween, sites with interests that I'm pretty sure don't overlap with my own. Now this has happened to me before, and while it doesn't do anything that harmful, it does make gauging my actual viewership a lot harder to determine. But who knows, maybe I did get 1,000 legit viewers, and if that keeps up I might put some ads on this guy and start getting a little bit of money. Anyway, it's time to get on with the review, this time about Robots.... and some notes.... and a semi-colon.

That's impressive.... Underwhelming, but impressive.

It's the year 2019 and small remote controlled hobby-robots and exoskeleton prosthetics have long been on the market. But with such great advancements in robotics, one dream still seems out of reach: The construction of a life size giant robot like the ones seen in anime. And that is the goal of the Robotics Research Club, to build a life size version of Gunvarrel, the robot from a very popular anime a few years back. However, the club is in dire straits, as it's only two current members are Akiho, an energetic girl who thinks that Gunvarrel is like the most awesomeness thing ever, and Kaito, an apathetic boy who doesn't want to do any work and just wants to play a fighting game based on Gunvarrel called Kill-Ballade all day long. But nothing will stop Akiho from completing her dream, no matter what obstacles stand in her way, and Kaito has no choice but to follow along. But when Kaito discovers what seems to be a conspiracy that threatens the fate of the world, can what started as just a simple hobby really save the world?

I'll be here playing video games if you need me.

Robotics;Notes is a very charming series (for the most part). The characters really shine as we have the boundless optimism of Akiho be constantly at odds with Kaito's pessimistic pragmatism. Add to that a shy karate girl who's presence somehow has "impact," a serious loner with cool glasses who has a secret identity as a mysterious battle-bot star (who would KILL YOU if you ever revealed that to other people, despite the fact that he has a pretty poor disguise), and a shut in programer who always speaks in l33t. Also, the series's focus on the actual difficulties of constructing a life size giant robot (things like the Square-cube law where an object's volume will increase tremendously more than surface area as you scale up), as well as an effective power source for the robot, and the issues of having to compromise the original idea in order to achieve your goal. It's this combination of eccentric and likable characters, a seemingly child-like dream, and the real-world obstacles that must be overcome to achieve said goal really makes the series work and if it was only that it would be a fantastic series...... however.

You are WAY too into this.

The actual robot building is only half of the series. The other half of the series a conspiracy plot that Kaito discovers and is trying to unravel. For most of the series these two plot lines seem completely detached, and only really come together at the very end. Now, I'm not going to say that the conspiracy plot line is bad or anything (though it does at times feel a little too outlandish to be a realistic opinion), but for me this was the least interesting part of the series. I was far more fascinated about this small Robot Club trying to build their giant robot than a plot to destroy the world. I mean, while the end would had to have been rewritten when the two plots converged, I really feel that the series could have just focused on the Robot Club and it would have been just fine if not better in my opinion. Especially since at times it feels like this conspiracy plot completely overshadows what I think is the main plot of the series. I'm sorry, but that entire thing just feels out of place with the rest of the series.

Robotics;Notes is a really fun and charming series about dreams, and if it was just about that I would have easily given it a "Highly Recommended" or even a "Must Watch." However, I really feel like the conspiracy plot line was completely unnecessary and at times too distracting from the fun adventures of the Robotic Research Club. And since this plot thread takes up half of the series, I can't give it any higher than a Recommended. It's a really good series otherwise, but I just wish I could watch JUST a series about building a giant robot. Robotics;Notes is Recommended.

Until Next Time.

-Crescent, Yep, this is my new favorite app.