Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「BAD CANDY」by yukaDD（;´∀｀）
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「THE SEED (タネ)」 (Tane)
“The Seed”
Ahh finally, new year, new anime, and in the vaunted traditions of late both are certainly coming in with a bang. Quite literally in this case. I may not be too sure what to particularly think of Dolls’ Frontline at the moment, but hesitant optimism is certainly top of mind.
As described in the RC Winter Preview, Dolls’ Frontline is the adaptation of the very successful mobile (and firmly gatcha) game Girls Frontline – or more specifically, the manga. For the unfamiliar you can take it as the Kancolle/Azur Lane version of Upotte!: girl androids called T-Dolls representing firearms of various makes and models do battle for you the commander over various goals and objectives. Dolls’ Frontline wastes little time in reinforcing this point too, as any gun aficionado will quickly find themselves right at home thanks to name drops (and frankly impressive art detail) of AR-15s, M4s, M16s, and even old classics like Skorpions and PPSh-41s. Are the current crop of carbine cutie pies in line with the accepted real-life feel of their respective weapons? That’s up for debate, but at minimum it’s going to be all guns all the time and if you’re not already on the M4 SOPMOD II (Tamura Yukari) best girl bandwagon best hurry up before it leaves you behind.
In terms of actual story this is where Dolls’ Frontline inevitably has some work ahead of it. While allowances can be given for the usual action-first opener approach, the pacing may prove troublesome later on given initial impressions. Little time was spent on detailing certain things for example: outside of T-Dolls being a weapon system which helped fight (and end) WWIII and a rebel AI called Sangvis Ferri (in part represented by Agent), much of the world building was devoted to the usual technobabble which comes with these types of stories – i.e. the sort of thing going in one ear and right out the other. Again, for an opener this isn’t much of a problem, but it’s something Dolls’ Frontline will have to work on soon if it’s to retain any staying power, especially when combined with its (so far) largely cookie cutter characters. There’s a lot of room for growth here, it’s simply up to the show to take advantage of the opportunity. Hopefully we will see that occur next episode once Gentiane (Komatsu Mikako) formally enters the picture and the plot starts becoming clear.
Overall while not the most impressive of debuts, Dolls’ Frontline certainly has the pieces and budget needed to turn into something interesting. Between the art/animation (did I mention there’s little CGI?) and soundtrack at work and an actual published story to play with, there’s plenty of opportunity to see this one turn into a pretty decent franchise adaptation. I for one have my hopes up it’ll do just that.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「HORIZON」by Team Shachi
Preview
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As someone who went back to the game and reads the manga, i enjoyed it.
Just hope they tone down that happy-go-lucky style that the commanders have in the manga, and how they handle the game ch 6, if they go the game route or the manga one.
Yes, i know that this is a manga adaptation, but it´s also known that THAT scene in the manga is… well… pretty underwhelming.
From what I know of the franchise, the tone is going to be interesting. I think they’ll go for a more serious take as that usually invites greater interest long-term, but I could just as easily see it become pure waifu pandering lol.
Knowing it’s from a gacha game, makes me really pity those (presumably) low rarity T-dolls. They seem so disposable.
Also have to ask about Agent’s weapons. What exactly are they? For a franchise about guns, I don’t think they’d ignore the ammunition feed mechanism.
Still to early to make heads or tails out of this, but I kinda wish they stuck with the art style of the opening. Would’ve really been more memorable.
Finally, glad that computer doesn’t have a floppy drive. Imagine how slow the transfer rate would be if it was that antiquated. XD
Agent’s guns really get to me, they make absolutely no sense when the T-Dolls are busy obeying typical firearm mechanics. Hell I’d take just showing a belt feed for them, that would at least ground them in reality somewhat XD
S&F Energy weapons
G&K Used civilian dolls repurposed civilian dolls (mostly) with old kinetic rounds (some could argue its futuristic internals+ammo with previous era skins)
Small note despite looking like some Skynet scenario, think of this stage of conflict more like Lokheed’s auto factory went rogue and start making rogue bots, so gov sent Blackwater to deal with them.