First Impressions / Series Introduction / Snapshots

OP Sequence

OP: 「Install×Dream」 by 阿澄佳奈、茅原実里、水橋かおり、中島愛 (Asumi Kana, Chihara Minori, Mizuhashi Kaori, Nakajima Megumi)

「大切なもの見つけました。」 (Taisetsuna Mono Mitsukemashita.)
“We Found Something Important”

Fall 2012 is a season that’s somewhat short on mecha anime. That’s not to say it’s completely devoid of it though – we have ROBOTICS;NOTES airing in roughly a week and of course, Busou Shinki! While to some, mecha may be synonymous with giant robots, that’s certainly not the case – Super Robots is just one of many subgenres that forms the much larger and more varied mecha genre. In Busou Shinki you won’t find any of those, that’s for sure. What you will find are loyal, extremely helpful, 15cm tall, intelligent, battle-ready gynoids! Who wouldn’t dream of posessing such a thing! Although, the 15cm part is slightly less than ideal (or perhaps in some cases, perfectly ideal!), what better companion could you ask for?

Since a ‘short’ summary is almost mandatory for these series introduction posts, here it is (if you’ve seen the episode you can probably skip to the next paragraph)! After returning to Japan following an extended time overseas, Rihito (Mizushima Takahiro) heads out to school, leaving his three Shinki to take care of unpacking and putting everything into order. As the three – the Arnval Mk.2, Arn (Asumi Kana); the Altines, Aines (Mizuhashi Kaori); and the Altlene, Lene (Nakajima Megumi) – go about their business, they stumble across a box marked ‘Important.’ Shortly thereafter, a series of unfortunate accidents ends in the box being opened and an important ‘love letter’ escaping through an open window while they argue. Deciding to chase after it, they grievously wound (nah, I’m just kidding) the Eukrante, Clara (Emiri Kato) who promptly challenges them to a battle. After a short scuffle, they’re called back to their respective masters and Rihito reveals the contents of the letter – a disc containing a custom Shinki house he made for Arn many years ago. The episode closes with Rihito and his three Shinki discovering a mysterious box containing the ominous Strarf Mk.2.

Watching their antics as they went about cleaning the room and attempting to recapture the letter was far more entertaining than I expected. Normally one would associate mecha with battles, and while there were plenty of those, it seems uncertain as to whether or not they will be the focus of the anime. I for one would actually enjoy watching these laid-back, everyday, almost slice-of-life style Shinki antics. However, the OP seems to present quite a few potential foes, the preview implies the next episode will be mostly based around combat, and the premise itself also supports the idea that much of the series could well be devoted to the spectacular Infinite Stratos style aerial battles. This could just be me, but the concept of 15cm tall gynoids is rather intriguing – despite their small stature, they help around the house performing all the menial chores, they can fly and fight (and apparently have real laser cannons if the burnt envelope is anything to go by!) and they can sign for parcels. Sign. For. Parcels. Imagine it – no more missing deliveries because you’re out/asleep/otherwise indisposed. A dream come true! Being 15cm tall also presents a whole new slew of comical dangers – getting trapped by tape, mauled by hamsters, KO’d by stray envelopes… it’s like Kigurashi no Arrietty but with robots, fanservice and more emphasis on comedy than plot!

As you would expect from 8-bit (who previously handled Infinite Stratos), the animation and art are pretty solid for the majority of the episode. The battles are smooth and stylish, and the humorous cleaning and unpacking segments – slightly abused physics aside (I can’t imagine she would be heavy enough to launch the knife quite like that… but I could be wrong) – were a joy to watch. It’s pretty cool to see how the Shinki are frequently animated based on their joints, which differ slightly from those of a normal human – it’s a nice touch. My only real complaint is with Rihito, who seems to vary from being rather ugly to relatively normal-looking, something which is either intentional (I hope not), or the budget being funnelled more towards the Shinki, leaving their master rather more slapdash than normal.

In terms of plot and characters, Busou Shinki presents nothing spectacular. None of the characters have done much to suggest they will step outside their basic archetypes and I would call it a harem given how much affection the Shinki display for their master, but I’m not sure how viable a harem is when all the females stand a mere 15cm tall. The premise has potential for some entertaining comedy and enjoyable combat, so that’s more than enough to keep me watching, but those looking for a more substantial plotline could end up being disappointed. It’s certainly not going to be for everyone, and there seems to be a lot of unfounded prejudice towards it from those who watched Moon Angel – a series which arguably has little to no connection with this one seeing as it’s an entirely different studio, staff and storyline. If you want humorous antics with some fanservice, mecha moe and awesome aerial battles, this could well be the perfect choice!

tl;dr: @MoombaDS – Some pretty nice aerial battles and humorous antics from miniature moe gynoids! #BusouShinki

Random thoughts:

  • Arn seems to vary from being pretty badass to extremely clumsy quite frequently!
  • Maid costumes! I wonder just how many different costumes we’ll see over the course of the series given Lene’s apparent penchant for making them!
  • This is the first time I’ve ever seen anyone detect killing intent from a stray letter.
  • That final shot of the Strarf Mk.2 felt more than a little bit overdramatic.

Full-length images: 07, 18, 42.

*Currently, there are no plans to cover Busou Shinki on a weekly basis here at RandomC.

*If you’re curious as to why the OP and ED aren’t available for streaming, please see the announcement at the top right of the page.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「太陽のサイン」 (Taiyou no Sign) by azusa

Preview

37 Comments

  2. Yeah, i dunno how i feel about this show yet. I saw the ONA a while back and enjoyed it. This episode was a little disappointing. I dont really know why them seeing Straft was really meant to be ominous. Arnval and the main character already know Straft from the ONA, so it felt a little unnecessary.
    Im still going to keep on watching it though, mostly because it seems like a fun show to watch at the very least.

    Quikbeam
    Reply

      1. Yes this was what came into my head as well. The whole time I was watching it I was thinking it should be called Angelic Layer: Redux. Only real difference is that the mini-fighters in this show ostensibly have a personality when in Angelic Layer, not so much.

        Beckett
        Reply

  6. Sorry little girls in scantly clad bodysuits is getting a little old. The Ecchi/Action fused genre are way too common these days. It was okay when it was just a few of them floating around. Now every other anime is heavy with fanservice. They might as just start putting hentai on TV. It’s like most studios just care about reaching perverted fans.

    k3
    Reply

  10. Toy Story meets anime

    “You got a friend in me.
    You got a friend in me!
    When the road looks rough ahead,
    And yo miles n’ miles for your nice warm bed!
    You just remember what yo old pal said, boy yooou got a friend me me!”

    I hope they didn’t run out of ideas, or else they wouldn’t make an anime ABOUT TOY FIGURINES of anime characters.

    starss
    Reply

  11. well so yea we have living female figurine dolls yea help their master also go battle mode armor mode like from IS.

    hmm looking so far hmm & that hamster oh my yea go watch this to see it all.

    yet if mix compare to other anime check chobits + angelic layer + Infinite Stratos + living female figurine = Busou Shinki

    ticbomb
    Reply

    1. What’s with the “living female figure” LOL.

      Busou Shinki = Chobits + Angelic Layer + Infinite Stratos. Nuff said. Infinite Stratos and Angelic Layer were awesome. If you combine Chobits into the mix, I wonder….?

      Still it’s the first episode. Giving it the three episode rule.

      The Moondoggie
      Reply

  12. This was better than I hoped for because the action is quite solid despite the CG. The premise of living with literal Mecha Musume dolls is pretty tame compared to other stranger premises like “Children’s Card Games on Motorcycles”. Its all about execution (YGO 5DS was pretty awesome). My only complaint right now is the owner aka Mr. Bland Nopersonality that seems to serve as a protagonist so I hope he has more chances to shine.

    Also the background hamster was hilarious.

    fragb85
    Reply

  13. “Streaming clips have been removed from the site to make it more compliant with fair use. Thank you for your understanding.”

    Tatemae: they wanted to remove those videos. Thanks for understanding my Japanese politeness.

    “Currently, there are no plans to cover Busou Shinki on a weekly basis here at RandomC.”

    Tatemae: I just doing it for this time just for the lolz.

    Wacky
    Reply

  14. Well it’s cute.. I’ll give you that. It wasn’t bad by any means but it wasn’t amazing. It’s just watchable for me. It gave me a few laughs though so I might stick with it.
    I’ll probably end up watching the entire series to be honest just because it’s Kana Asumi and her voice is adorable.

    P Ko
    Reply

  15. The first scene of this episode reminded me of the opening credits of the first Karas movie.
    First time I saw this I thought it was an animated custom robo, but of course it’s something else. looking forward to more fights!

    Roguespirit
    Reply

  17. IMHO, the most underwhelming series of the season so far. I will give it a few more episodes, but it just didn’t catch my attention. I think it has to do with the 15cm part and the mini battles are just unappealing for me… plus, harem-like affection towards their “master”, while comedic, will probably not lead anywhere due to the size differences.

    Maybe I am wrong (which is why I will watch more episodes), but that’s the vibe I got so far..

    dimasok
    Reply

  21. I like it at least for once we can be sure there won’t be any dense male lead that make us wanna punch him since is pretty hard to get romance about this series when is 14cm tall, this series can purely focus on story and robot fighting then.

    Benz
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *