First Impressions / Super Robot Wars OG

「堕天使の心」 (Datenshi no Kokoro)
“Heart of a Fallen Angel”

With the Neo DC and School subplots coming to a close, the attention shifts to the Einst and Kyousuke/Excellen. It comes with a complete change of scenery as the war takes the Earth Federation to space, which is always a welcome development in the games so that your non-flying units aren’t hampered by terrain. Those ground units… always wasting valuable turns! (I always played SRW with minimum turns in mind.)

After a shadowy glance at what I presume was Shuu’s Granzon, along with Wendolo and Mekibos’ inference that mankind is a troublesome race, we finally get a bit more on the shuttle accident that Kyousuke and Excellen were caught up in. More correctly, I should say when the Einst swooped in and saved Excellen with their technology and used her DNA as a basis to create Alfimi. The latter was only heavily implied, but it’s easier to put together when you take their similar appearance and common seiyuu into consideration.

I can’t say it was very convincing how Kyousuke, in his revamped Alt Eisen Riese, managed to bring Excellen to her senses by just telling Alfimi that he’s taking her back, but that was the least of my concerns this episode. That small bit of screenplay was minor in comparison to the animation itself, which resorted to recycling the same scene of Alt Eisen Riese flying towards us multiple times (three in total). The latter was on top of character and robot artwork that looked shoddy in many cases, making this one of the poorer showings in the entire series as far I can remember. A bit unfortunate, since the story is working towards its conclusion. Rather than showing signs that extra money’s been invested, it looks like the budget’s been worn thin for the final stretch. With it are my hopes of seeing a second version of SRX’s Variable Formation.

Story-wise, the Einst stuff is relatively foreign to me since they didn’t appear in the original or Alpha timelines. The idea that they’re some self-proclaimed overseers of Earth, i.e. The Land of Beginning, puts an unusual perspective on everything, even though we already have dimensional travelers. I attribute that to how they’re a seemingly formless existence that’s intent on wiping out mankind and recreating it, simply because they feel the current version is imperfect. When faced with an enemy with such a one-sided motive, there really isn’t much to negotiate about, so the Einst can more or less be perceived as the ultimate antagonist. Emotionless, single-minded, and most of all overwhelming.

In the games, it’s been suggested that the Einst do have tie-ins with the existence of Psychodrivers, who like the Gundam Newtypes they’re based on, had their telepathic moment of nakedness to free Excellen from Alfimi’s control. In any case, with Excellen saved, it looks like the Einst stuff is going to make way for the Inspector/Shadow-Mirror side of things in the upcoming episode. We have three more to go, which will hopefully rebound in terms of production quality.

 

Preview

26 Comments

  2. I have to say, I’m overall disappointed with how they handled the Einst in this adaptation. I can understand the amount of coverage and story that they need to do in 26 episodes, and with SRW isn’t an easy feat, but they really had in general the development of Kyosuke and Excellen suffer as a result. Even with Alfimi, the general vibe is merely creepy little girl, instead of someone who is so overtly obsessed with Kyosuke that she’ll do anything to get a closer connection with him. They haven’t even and most likely won’t show the one mecha that really throws Kyosuke for a loop, the Einst Eisen mechs.

    Unfortunately, this is one series they really shouldn’t have cut down to merely 26 episodes, and should have gone for a lot longer, and as a result it suffers in overall story quality. For Alpha fans this isn’t a problem as their stories are being fleshed out, but for others where they have more of the spotlight in OG2, Inspectors treats them as side stories more.

    Wild
    Reply

  3. Well…as for the Einst Eisen, it may show up in the next encounter. Alfimi did say she was trying to get Kyosuke to come to her on his own, and now it seems quite clear that he won’t.

    I gotta say, I kinda hope Alfimi gets a happier ending this time. What happened in the end of OG2 was kinda a downer. But…as you said, she wasn’t characterized as much in this anime, so I could live with the(almost certain)downer ending. On a similar(I guess? einst-related, at any rate.) note, I like how they’re showing more about Beowulf/Einst Kyosuke then they did in the games. That kind of stuff is always interesting, I think. Unexplored territory.

    Anyways…looks like Axel and Kyosuke will be having their fight next episode. I’m hoping they do it well, since that was one of the bigger parts of the show. But, with the animation quality going down, not quite sure how it’ll go.

    Nemesis
    Reply

  6. Yeah, gecd. Almost certain that the Alt gets replaced with the Riese in the opening now, although I’m not sure to the extent. Might just be the scene with Kyosuke(like how they changed it for Excellen and Lamia), or it might be the whole thing. Who knows?

    Heh, I noticed that, Saga. I thought it was a pretty cool little detail to throw in.

    Nemesis
    Reply

    1. That would be totally awesome. Especially if it somehow involved Axel helping to deliver the final blow in a moment of self-redemption – remember this adaptation seems to follow the OG Gaiden chronology where he’s more sympathetic… and other stuff. Assuming there’s a sequel of course, which I hope there would be.

      Sol Fury
      Reply

      1. I’ve actually been dreaming about this since the first episode. Was pleasantly surprised to know after this episode that it’s possible. Now the next thing I want to happen is for Beowulf to look at the SRX and say something like, “LOL didn’t I kill you already?” for the sake of intimidation (and Ryusei rage).

        paulrenzo
        Reply

  8. I agree. This episode is a bit of let down.
    But in my opinion they make it up in episode 24. I just watched the RAW, and hell yes I didn’t understand a single thing they said, but the action scenes made me went “Hell yeah!” ^^
    But I kinda cringe when they change the OP 🙁

    KGFJ
    Reply

  10. Anyone notice that the show seemed to imply Wendolo has been infected by the Einst? This definitely didn’t happen in the game. Still it would justify why he is such a dick.

    fragb85
    Reply

  12. I know the release schedule has been altered because of :psuedoapocalypse: but that doesn’t mean we should post anything about E24 here, even if it’s something that happens in the game. If you must, remember those spoiler tags!

    I’m still reeling over the butchery of Sanger/Wodan to make way for The School, but they had a grand total of 20 seconds screen time so that wasn’t a problem here. What was a problem was the trimming of the studio budget; it took the shine (no pun intended) off the Riese somewhat.

    The inclusion of the Cry Wolves (nice link to the next adaptation) and Shu being bad-arse and FABULOUS all at once made me smile.

    J Jay
    Reply

  13. Best part of the episode? When Alt shrugs off a blast from the Howling Launcher E, after Gan-duro seemed to have a hard time with the same attack. Oh well. OTOH, they’ve been portraying the Alt as all but indestructible (except against Axel) all season, so it’s consistent, at least.

    That said, it played out about the same as it did in OG2, with some differences for the plot details they changed. In OG2, this stage is the first time we see Einst Excellen, so the Rein Weissritter shows up, Kyosuke deploys by himself, and it then seals the launch decks. At the “I’ll do something about it” part, Excellen dispels the seal, allowing everyone else to deploy. The end still comes about by destroying the gem in its headpiece.

    Shiden
    Reply

  14. Seeing kyosuke take back his woman was pretty nice. The Cry Wolves cameo too, even if I haven’t played OG Gaiden yet and don’t know anything about them except their emblem and name. This just shows how much they care.
    Don’t worry the budget comes back in episode 24 !!!!

    Rockmanshii
    Reply

    1. They also greatly reduced Lee’s general asshattery, so at this point, all the calls for his drilling are carried over bad feelings from the games.

      …Not saying it wouldn’t be satisfying, but it doesn’t look like it’d happen. And at least this way, they don’t waste the Shirogane.

      Shiden
      Reply

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