First Impressions / Robotics;Notes

「夢なんて、持たなければよかった」 (Yume nante, Mota Nakareba Yokatta)
“I Should Never Have Had a Dream”

I can finally say that this episode delivers more answers than questions but not without a ton of loopholes – so I guess I still have a lot of unanswered questions and I’m expecting epic revelations! The biggest bomb this week is dropped by Sawada, whom turns out not to be related to the Committee of 300 at all. Kimijima Kou is who we should be pointing our fingers at because even 19 episodes down the road, I still have no idea who he is, what his motive is and why/how/what?! I can’t say that I didn’t see it coming, but it definitely changes the dynamics of the show now and leaves me feeling very betrayed (imagine how Kai feels right?). Kou totally lured me in and I’m a trusting person by nature so it’s a huge smack in the face to realize that Kai’s just been a puppet all along.

I can’t say the same for Misa because it looks like she’s been playing double agent all along as well. Any inkling that I had that she was actually “good” has been tossed out the window – she is someone who’s on the wrong side, period. She goes rampaging down the Expo and destroys everyone’s robot – including the GunPro-2 and doesn’t seem to show any remorse in doing so. She looks somewhat robotic herself huh? Even Aki’s pains and screams couldn’t reach her and I think it could’ve been a more powerful scene if it didn’t feel so rushed. The relationship between Aki and Misa is one that I actually feel could be a lot more heartfelt if only I didn’t despise Misa so much now. I can’t imagine how this is going to turn out but judging by Aki’s forgiving nature and her love for her sister, (if Misa survives) I would expect them to be a happy family again.

Suddenly I feel as though there is a lot going on in this episode and it could’ve been less confusing if there wasn’t so much development all over the place. From Kai and Aki to Misa, to Kimijima Kou and Sawada – there’s already a lot going on in terms of relationships. Throw in Airi who seems to be an empty shell for Kou to travel around with now. I guess the Kagome Kagome song is somehow linked to his “immortal” self that’s floating around somewhere in a virtual “cloud”. That doesn’t explain what his motive is though – except immortality which he’s already obtained. An obelisk also appears out of nowhere as soon as the Expo is destroyed and at first I thought something happened to it but no – apparently it just appeared out of thin air. Sawada calls this illusion AR which is linked to Project Atom (and Misa subsequently) and a group of people known as the SUMERAGI. I’m surprised by his vast knowledge of the situation and I don’t believe that he’s investigating this on his own; he probably works with JAXA?

Speaking of which – Nae comes to Frau’s rescue as well! That’s quite a surprise because I never thought she’d play such a big role in this series. I always knew that there would be hints of Steins;Gate but not to this extent (with the mention of SERN as well). JAXA will also likely assist in the creation of GunPro-3 – which I expect to be the final version that’s seen in our first episode. Robotics;Notes is a very comprehensive show that’s taken a lot of small details to tie them together in the end. I think Sawada hints at someone named S Braun who I expect to be Frau’s mother – she’s definitely not dead. The pieces of the puzzle are finally coming together and I’m excited to see how it’s all going to go down. Who would’ve thought that a simple robotics club at school would release Kimijima Kou onto the world (I make him sound like a virus!).

Full-length images: 02, 14, 21.

62 Comments

    1. I guess that’s just the nature of the writer. He was the same way with Steins;Gate and Chaos;Head. He seems to be a fan of really slow build-up with explosive endings. Steins;Gate was perfectly paced, imo, but yeah, this buildup was a bit too long. Still, I’m looking forward to what happens now.

      sands
      Reply

      1. I admit it was jarring to have the plot go from 0 to 120mph in one episode but I enjoyed all of the slow build up. Just hope there are enough episodes left so the ending is not rushed.

        Sortedevaras
        Reply

      2. Steins;gate went crazy within 5 episodes, I don’t recall chaos;head but it started making sense half way through, and with robotics;note ok plot starts moving when it’s like 3/4th done

        Derp
        Reply

    3. I don’t know about you but those “15 useless episodes” if what made some of us grown trust towards Kou (as CHERRIE mentioned in the review as well), its what made the strong bond between Aki and her sister known, its what made us think Sawada was the “villian” of the series. Its what made us attached to Airi only to break us to see her used as some tool. Overall its those “useless” episodes that developed the characters we know and love to make the climax of the series that weren’t at now even more meaningful.

      If you don’t see that then just want action go watch a shounen anime or something.

      Tsun
      Reply

      1. I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion simply because he didn’t like the way this show SERIOUSLY dragged during the first fifteen (or more) episodes. I love slow-builds. I love to see characters fleshed out, backstories explained, giving such a deep impression of the world and all the players involved in the major plot. The problem with Robotics;Notes is that it seems, to me, like it didn’t know what it was trying to be. Was it a slice-of-life show about kids in a robot club? That would have been fun. Was it trying to be a serious, dark, mysterious show about unraveling world-wide conspiracies? That would have been great too. Instead, it was trying to be a bunch of different things at once, and I really don’t think it worked. Scatterbrained is the best way I can describe it.

        I only watched RN because I loved Steins;Gate, and I heard it was the “sequel” so I was ALL in. I enjoyed the first five or so episodes, maybe a few more, but then it started to drag. Dragging along with the robot club plot, the mysterious reports which were far too vague for me to care, the characters which felt really generic and nowhere near as fleshed out and important as SG, for example. Like the karate girl, other than that one single episode about her grandfather and her karate moves being implanted into the robot, what’s her purpose? Why is she even in this show? Kai is far too bland and uncaring about the story as a whole for me to care either. Aki is fun, and Frau’s awesome, and I even liked the story about Subaru and his unaccepting, stubborn father. But the rest of the characters? Barely fleshed out at all, therefore, why should I care?

        Ultimately, I’ve grown to dislike this show due to the fact that it’s proven to be a massive disappointment. I HATE it when I hear people complain that in SG “nothing happens” in the first twelve episodes. That is SUCH a load of crap! SG managed to perfectly flesh out the characters, all of their reasons to be in the story, and keep the mystery of SERN and the time machine experiments moving along until the shit hit the fan. RN tried to do the same thing, but failed horribly IMHO. Super sluggish, uninteresting, flat, pointless characters, and no real goal in mind until about three quarters of the way through the show. If I’d have known the show would meander through SO many episodes and only get “good” in the last few, I would have personally dropped it a long time ago. But hey, that’s just my opinion. People get upset that this show only scores a 7.7 on MAL, I believe, but I think that’s the perfect score for a show that’s decent on its own, separate from the vastly superior SG, but totally underwhelming if you expected to be even a sliver as good as its predecessor.

        Marshall
        Reply

    5. It’s naked eye AR. The Noah directly injects virtual information into your brain. Kurisu has built something similiar in the Detla Worldline, freaks the crap out of Okabe XD.

      Kansokusha
      Reply

  5. Try not to think too badly of Misa until it’s confirmed she isn’t brainwashed.
    Also, someone started singing Kagone Kagome on my Japanese field trip. It may have sounded like it was coming from the electronics and a fan of this show may have had a minor freak out

    CTT
    Reply

    1. It’s pretty sure she is brainwashed, she wasn’t like that in any flashback. But since we always knew her like that in the show I can’t picture her surviving this story.

      Algent
      Reply

  11. S Braun is obviously Nae, daughter of Mr Braun… BTW she kicks ass in a major way, saving Frau in the process. I was really afraid that Misa’s henchmen would do harm to her…
    So I was right, Misa is really a double agent! Only for bad guys, to be precise, for Kimijima Kou – who himself is “Ghost in the net” by now, having uploaded himself before “dying”.
    I would not condemn her entirely yet until we can be sure she is not brainwashed. If that is the case, she possibly can be yet brought back when inconsistencies in her braiwashing are brought up (remember the guy who framed Frau, and his reaction to reveal that he was single and had not family to be threatened?)

    ewok40k
    Reply

  12. I not entirely sure Misa is evil, I mean just a few episodes ago (directly after the “Gunvarrel leak” incident I believe) Misa contacted Kai and told him not to get further involved with Kimijima Kou and his invidious reports, right? Maybe she is being brainwashed like the guy Maguyan who framed Kona for the robot attacks, he was convinced that he was protecting his wife and child–both of which he didn’t even have. Misa may be cold but I just don’t think she would destroy GunPro, and in front or Aki to boot, unless she was being brainwashed.

    Jolly
    Reply

  13. I really shouldn’t say anything but if you guys are expecting more answers than this then forget it. If they do then it will be a ton more than what the VN did. I wasn’t left in a big old “HUH” state for nothing.

    *Going through hours on end of repeating phases 1-5 (3 times) just to answer the 3 girl’s emails to go through each of their routes individually (phases 6,7,8). Clearing all of them just so open phase 9, then a ton of shit hit the fan & hardly any it is explained in any kind of acceptable detail.*

    BTW, leave the spoiler alone if you still like this show . . .

    Show Spoiler ▼

    It’s a mini spoiler or a mini summary. This crap doesn’t deserve a full spoiler – I wasted way too much of my life on the VN for that.

    Megas
    Reply

    1. @Megas

      *SPOILER WARNING*
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Kansokusha
      Reply

  14. This episode provides a stark reminder to people who are dissatisfied with their own Government to not willy nilly believe these Conspiracy Theorist/Human Rights Activist so easily as they may have their own agenda.

    Cybersteel
    Reply

  15. This many episodes in, I am still debating if I’m liking this series or whether it is just that it is the sequel to Stein’s;Gate which is why I am still hanging around.

    Hear me out – the premise was interesting. Teenagers building giant robots who slowly find themselves involved in some kind of controversy. However, something just doesn’t seem to be flowing particularly well. Whether it is because of the loopholes still remaining (i.e. where the heck did the monopoles come from), that the feeling of urgency just doesn’t seem to be portrayed well (i.e. didn’t really feel anything when the robots were going on a rampage in Tokyo), or that all the mini-plots we have seen for majority of the series really hasn’t gotten anywhere, I just feel that this series is just lacking that one aspect to it that will separate it from a reasonably good series to a memorable one.

    Perhaps I am still reflecting back on the Stein’s;Gate series too much. I mean, once people got past the first half of that series, it was a breath taking roller coaster ride all the way to the finish line. There are only 3 episodes left to this series, and it is anyone’s guess where we will end up. The final 3 episodes will probably make me eat every word I have typed out here, but it will damn well have to be a fantastic final 3 episodes…

    taiakun
    Reply

  16. “Sawada calls this illusion AR which is linked to Project Atom (and Misa subsequently) and a group of people known as the SUMERAGI. I’m surprised by his vast knowledge of the situation and I don’t believe that he’s investigating this on his own; he probably works with JAXA?”

    – Project Atom in the anime is probably a typo. The origin japanese word is アトゥム”Atum”, a reference to the Egyptian creator solar deity, and the finisher of the world. Fit the project perfectly.
    – SUMERAGI is the name of those spider-bots, the group he’s referring to is the Committee.
    – Sawada has revealed a great deal of information to Kai at the Expo in the VN. I’ll still put them in spoiler anyway.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Kansokusha
    Reply

  18. ..mmmhh.

    The reveal of Kimijima Kou being the mastermind itself was done fairly well – from the subtle clues in the last few episodes culminating in Misa’s rampage, and then the concept of all his ‘secret information’ from the internet being a complete and utter propaganda lie being basically thrown in Kai’s face. That much was decent.

    The rest, on the other hand… okay, the giant space elevator thing being hidden by optical camouflage… that pushes my suspension of disbelief, but I can still let it pass, barely. The SUMERAGI’s rampage, however… oh, great job, mister boss of EXOSKELETON. Somehow you utterly missed that your ‘proof of concept’ spider robot not just has bladed arms, but has missile launchers with a complement of fully armed missiles packed into it. And – oh hey – Aki’s little BSOD condition, which has been completely AWOL since what, episode 5 or 6? suddenly shows itself again at the most melodramatic timing. I’ll lay odds that some people were near forgetting she had that condition.

    Akiho, again, is one reason why I never agreed – and still don’t – with those that call Robotics;Notes an example of good and strong characterization. I’ve always been personally ambivalent towards her character, because (as, to its credit, the show itself suggests this episode) she has never been her own person. Her entire life to this point has been chasing the shadow of someone who has either never cared for, or been too brainwashed to care about her. Which would have been fine in and of itself… if the show had ever really done anything about it, explored how unhealthy that was, or basically actually developed her in any way up until her painfully melodramatic breakdown scene in this episode. To which Kaito responds with, of all things, the tired ‘aren’t you angry at that?’ shounen cliche. I honestly preferred his initial response, where he expressed his disappointment and walked away – far more realistic. Now if only Kaito himself didn’t suffer for prismatic chameleon characterization, which Akiho herself lampshades here with her statement that he doesn’t sound like ‘usual Kai’.

    The plot itself is moving along fine at the moment – I’ll have to echo others and my own old criticism of how the show could have done without screwing around with pointless busywork for Kimijima Reports, but I’ll give credit where credit is due. Unfortunately some of the plot devices push credulity a bit too far, and the character drama continues to feel clumsy. And, I half suspect, Subaru and Junna will continue to be generic and irrelevant, right up to the end.

    Corin
    Reply

  20. I kinda feel that the whole Kimijima reports being a propaganda is very contrived… I mean what the hell… what’s the point of all those stupid requirements to get them if he was actually planning to spread it <_<

    MartianMage
    Reply

  21. to everyone saying that 15 episodes were useless: thats just the writer’s way of doing things, raising TONS of questions and scenarios so that in the end every single piece will claim its place in the puzzle, hopefully the picture we get is at least as good as S;G was.

    creep
    Reply

  23. My jaw hit the floor when I watched this episode. I saw so many things being touched upon, I had to take a moment and collect myself. To avoid restating what’s already been said, I’m going to mention a few things I’ve yet to see mentioned.

    First off, the unusual behavior of Kimijima. Why hide the reports that you wanted spread anyway? That’s the thing, he DIDN’T want to be discovered, but to help camouflage his guilt he made the reports. Turning the reports into a sort of game helps legitimize the person’s belief that these reports were hidden by a good person hiding from bad people (a device to implement into a game more so than an anime).

    Second of all, Augmented Reality can actually make hiding things in plain sight a lot easier. How do you mask a brand new, shiny building? Use augmented reality to make it look dilapidated and surrounded by signs that say “condemned”. A downside of Augmented Reality? Perhaps. It is easy to use the conditioning done by society to your advantage. People do rely very heavily upon their sense of sight. Prime example: paint a blown out floor on the bottom of an elevator. How many people see the floor before entering? How many people panic at first thinking the floor is gone?

    Robotics;Notes is going in my “to purchase when dubbed” folder right beside Steins;Gate because of these two things. Greatest story ever? No. Deep as Ghost in the Shell? It wishes. Fun ride with characters I like? You better believe it. The only thing that can change this is a terrible ending, but I see no proof that it’ll be painfully bad at this point.

    idream_of_electric_sheep
    Reply

  24. With the events of this episode, Kimijima Kou seems very much like Masami Eiri, the programmer behind Protocol 7 in Serial Experiments Lain. With Aki’s sister named Masami, it prompts me to wonder if we’ve ever seen Airi’s name spelled out. Perhaps it is actually Eiri?

    dm00
    Reply

    1. The Noah IV makes you see illusions.
      It’s the “Silent Weaponry” mentioned in the Kimijima Reports.
      Although it can be said that Kimijima himself is the ultimate Silent Weaponry.

      Kansokusha
      Reply

    2. I think people mentioned above that it was a carryover from Choas;Head. The box that Sawada slides across the floor is the Noah’s Ark IV which is apparently a reality manipulation device which prohibited people from seeing the building.

      Edit – @ Kansokusha: Thanks for responding so quickly! =) lol

      Cherrie
      Reply

    3. @ Cherrie: lol I was quick? XD

      The Noah IV didn’t prohibit people from seeing things(although it’s still capable of, well
      illusion is illusion).
      The Grand Monolith in itself is an illusion of the Noah IV. The purpose of said monolith is
      to strike fear amongst public in associating with the leaked final episode of Gunvarrel and
      the revelaton of the show being a propaganda tool for the Committee in the Kimijima Reports.

      Kansokusha
      Reply

  26. In the first episode of Robotics;Notes it was revealed that the setting of R;N is
    is 2019, Divergence Ratio 1.048596.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Keres Clawtooth
    Reply

    1. We all know that R;N is in the SG Worldline. You know, Chiyomaru originally wanted to have
      Okabe sending mails to Kai under his alias throughout the story to help revealing the
      conspiracy. It’s being scrapped eventually because he thought that it would make it into
      Steins;Gate 2. Guess that idea somehow developed into Kimijima and his reports.

      Kansokusha
      Reply

    3. @C2710 – Not @chan, Twippo.
      IIRC, there’s an episode earlier that has a user on Twippo under the name Chestnut Rice
      and Kamehameha       commenting on the difference between 2D and 3D. In the VN, you can view
      the full posts that
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Kansokusha
      Reply

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