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「世界を暴く」 (Sekai o Abaku)
“Revelation of the World”
Similar to the extremely underrated Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince, I strongly suspect there’s going to be a wide divergence in the verdict of Kakumeiki Valvrave. I hardly know where to begin in trying to describe just why this episode was so marvelous and what started out as classic mecha science fiction quickly developed into something quite unconventional. The first half of the episode fits the cookie-cutter mold of its genre in just about every way –a pacifist stumbling upon a giant robot and decides to pilot the all-powerful machine to save his friends. But the subsequent events, especially the ones after the ending credit, far exceeded the usual clichés of its genre and present an entirely different take on what I presumed to be a vampire-like genetically modified soldier. My gut tells me some may find the choices a little too precarious for an icebreaker but for those capable of keeping an open mind, I have no doubt you’ll find the premiere of Valvrave to be an especially enjoyable ride.
Let me say this up front – Valvrave is not going to be a reiteration of Gundam SEED or even Code Geass. The comparison is inevitable as the man behind the series composition is none other than the esteemed Okouchi Ichiro who of course, penned Lelouch of the Rebellion. The first episode features a high-school setting, cross-border conflicts, flashy animation by Sunrise and a bevy of beautiful characters voiced by one of the most impressive cast of seiyuu – Fukuyama Jun, Miyano Mamoru, Namikawa Daisuke, Ono Daisuke, Tomatsu Haruka, Yuuki Aoi, Kayano Ai, Horie Yui, just to name a few. To that extent, the overall template does seem quite analogous to Code Geass and but in reality, they are nowhere near as close in terms of style and substance. The two leads are Tokishima Haruto (Ohsaka Ryota) and L-elf (Kimura Ryouhei), and at first glance, they seem fairly similar to the stereotypes of your usual shounen mecha. Haruto is the pacifist from the neutral territory JIOR who was unwillingly dragged into battle, whereas L-elf is a prodigious soldier of the Dorssian military who was sent to steal the prized humanoid weapon located in same place. But there’s a catch – Haruto is free of the wishy-washiness typically associated with such characters and L-elf is a savage, absolutely brutal and to the point in executing his missions. Even in a show that has already hinted at a darker premise, nothing prepared me for the sheer trauma that I got from the unfortunate demise of Shouko (Seto Asami) in a mere episode, especially after that near-confession scene. The limited interaction between Haruto and L-elf has already revealed certain hidden depths about both of them and it’s safe to assume the string of bizarre events in the premiere is going to shape their characters in very different ways.
Production-wise, the premiere encapsulated everything that a great mecha flick stands for – fast-pacing action sequences, well-integrated CGI, lovely character designs by D.Gray-man’s Hoshino Katsura, terrific soundtrack by FMA Brotherhood’s Senju Akira and a broad range of beautiful mecha that is reminiscent of the selection from Super Robot Wars. Another tidbit worthy of note is the absolutely superb opening theme (inserted as ED this week) that is performed T.M.Revolution x Mizuki Nana who no question, are both legendary for their vocal works in anime. Suffice to say, I’m a big fan of the first episode, and while I can’t really say if the revelation at the end of the episode will achieved an agreeable result among the anime connoisseurs, I applaud the creators for having the courage to take a mecha series in a different direction and perhaps delivering an unexpected surprise.
Epilogue:
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ED Sequence
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ED: 「Preserved Roses」 by T.M.Revolution×水樹奈々 (T.M.Revolution x Nana Mizuki)
Preview
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vampire >:o
The Valvrave(that’s the name of the mecha, right?) start-up sequence did ask if he would resign on being human.
I was like… press the damn button! Press yes already! C’mon… not another Ouma Shu…
Please man…. Oh god…. Finally!!!!!!
It’s obvious that someone on the dev team for the robot loves Dio from part 1 of Jojo Bizarre’s Adventure, which btw in CE 70 is up to part 1013 on account of Araki being an immortal fairy.
You guys are being too harash on Haruto.
It didn’t take him thatttt long to press the button and he didn’t even need anyone to give him a kick in the ass to pilot the Valvrave. To make a swift decision at the exact moment is always harder and frankly, I would have gone into hiding if I were him 😡
It’s a great job Seishun, you’ve got me for more Valvrave next week XD
“If one gets really demanding with animes, ends up seeing nothing”, we must be positive and patient, it is still early to judge.
It was a good start, I was intrigued by the way. And has many differences from common mecha anime to complain and say it’s the same. It was very sad Shouko’s death, makes clear the dark atmosphere of the show.
I guess I have to wait until next week to have clear answers. For now I guess Haruto has become a super human by nanomachines, that would explain how he knew so well handle the mecha.
Thanks Shadow74 😉
I certainly didn’t see what was coming in the last few minutes 😉
I’m not sure if he actually handled the mecha especially well. The specs of the Valvrave was just on a completely different level and Haruto was able to take down the enemy ships with simple maneuvering
zombie land tip didn’t help much. A stab and double tap??? Too bad he is a vampire and not a zombie..
He’s more zombie. he was stabbed in the heart which would kill any vampire but rose back to life anyway. Now if he was shot in the head is another story.
Translation of the Valvrave TOS
The real kicker? It only appears AFTER the pilot accepts. Whoever wrote this TOS is a complete ***hole.
Well Frag-san, I don´t think anyone in his right mind would sign that crazy contract so why not put it after oyu have signed. The good news, all the creators of valvrave seem to be VERY dead right now so I don´t they can kill him whenever they want.
Maybe thsi is why in the ed/op credits he’s shown in a bunker of some sort. Arrested and used as a experiment ;D
gundam seed vampire right?
I guess you could say Haruto is a…
VAMPILOT
(downvote away guys)
When Vampire met Mecha…
If I’ve larned anything from the 1st episode, its that becoming an undead mecha pilot to get vengeance instantly nabs you 36000+ friends in space Facebook…
I miss the days when people died when they were killed.
Maybe Shouko will stay dead 😡
Somehow, I find that incredibly doubtful. I’m not sure why I do.
Lol, in these type of shows unless they have a close up of their face and maybe a parting though to the lead the character is never dead.
I’m going with Tokkan on this one, lack of a body or any physical evidence and the possibility of the protagonist going on a dark path of revenge, added with the fact he’s no longer human – makes me think she might turn out to be alive(and possibly tell him he’s still human).But of course this is pure speculation on my part.
I only saw Shouko in one capture in the ending sequence so not sure if she´s going to stick around alive, I think she´s going to be more like the reason of his strugle. By the way, if you like the first episode (I sure did), Sunrise producer Hiroomi Iketani just announced a second season for Valvrave starting in October.
She’ll stay in the show as part of the pending “Aika trope”
She will come back to be murdered by whoever is Char.
If you’re following Naruto you’ll learn that characters are more relevant after their death.
I should rephrase this to,
I miss the days when people died when they were killed……and stayed dead.
I’m glad we’re getting three mecha shows this season. I’m watching them all! I mean, if I was able to hold onto Gundam Age, then I could probably enjoy these three series.
I also miss the days when people die, a long flashback is not needed
Ever watch a show called Inuyasha?..
Maybe Shouko will be the same as Kanade from Symphogear:
Shown everywhere before the series starts only to get killed off for real in the first episode and being reduced to a flashback character.
OS-tan was really cute.
the surprise was vampires!
Worse, vampires that only feed on bishies!
I hope they don’t sparkle 😡
A friend once told me that sparkle is some a pokemon would do not a vampire, I think that´s absolute true of the universe guys.
The guy who wrote Code Geass is writing this, I wouldn’t say something as fabulous as sparkling is out of the question.
I was quite curious when the message read “Do you resign from being human?” I told myself, nah… It couldn’t mean that, could it? That had to be some sort of weird code message… But it looks like our main character has forfeited his humanity in order to pilot valvrave. This will be quite the plot.
When I saw that message, I was expecting him to become a cyborg or something.I wasn’t expecting him to go all Vlad like that! Hmmm Vlad..Valvrave.
We’re still not entirely sure what happened to Haruto. He seemed pretty normal in preview. Maybe it’s all just in his head XD
Gargantia > Valvrave > Majestic Prince; I don’t find Majestic Prince underrated, the first episode was extremely lacking in logic. I am liking the mecha designs for Valvrave, can’t wait for it to appear in SRW.
Shame that Majestic Prince doesn’t seem to appeal to the mainstream English-speaking audiences. It’s a real treat if you’re a fan of old-school mecha and avant-garde CGI action sequences 😉
It definitely appeals to me lol
I also like MJP, is it only because I am not English speaking?
I’ve always thought that if one gets really picky about the anime, you see nothing, especially as it has been in the anime industry this decade
Its not too late, maybe they can switch art teams and just make the lead here into Kira.
I like MJP a lot too, hopefully it’ll start picking up more praise with ep2.
All 3 of the mecha shows (this, MJP and Gargantia) seem pretty freaking awesome to me with their premieres. Can’t wait for the following eps to see where they each go.
Also, it’s awesome to finally have a pretty loaded mecha season after what feels like quite a long time.
That was pleasant. I am kinda suprised.
Ok, let get to the point here. This is a blatant robbery of SEED’s background and first episode (Infiltration of White(Red)Coats to steal the new mech and battleship, the former friend turned enemy, the whole situation of the attack on the colony, and if the opening sequence is right, another 4 mechs simmilar to the Valvrae) with the character standards of Code Geass (the bishounen term is a proverbial fact here), the use of Shouko Hazama of Sokyuu no Fafner (in all the sense of the word “use”), add the generic highschool scenario of “we didn’t know about this” and worst of all, turning this pile of shite into Twilight.
Almost nothing can be saved for this first ep. The opening is maybe the only thing that could be saved. Shouko’s death was way too obvious (and eerily, almost identical of what happened to Fraw Bow in Gundam 0079) Haruto is another emo character that the script is trying to turn into a human and having the cheap version of one Yzak Jule (in the form of L-ef) as the antagonist isn’t helping. The mechs are sub-par, and even the Valvrae reminds me of Dunbine or Wings of Rean. If anything, this has only made Majestic Prince the /m/ series to follow this season.
And this trainwreck is going to have 2 seasons with a Code Geass-esque separation? Sunrise is wasting money on this farce instead of putting into the final episode of Gundam Unicorn.
One more thing: Still using regular net and social networks in a Dyson Sphere?
If I had to guess, maybe Haganai’s Yozora is the one doing the script in this fiasco.
Good thing I haven’t watched Gundam?
Uh I don’t feel like writing a paragraph so I will just agree. SEED had the excuse in that it’s sole purpose was to re-imagine 0079’s story for newer audiences because of the age of the original (like Gundam 00 was “inspired by” Gundam Wing.)
Let’s not jump to conclusions over here. You could argue that SEED stole the idea from Gundam 0079 and its many iterations as well. Frankly, Valvrave is nothing like Gundam SEED or Code Geass. The closest comparisons I can think of is SRW and Aquarion, and those are some pretty entertaining show 😉
“Stole”? SEED was meant to be a direct homage to the original Gundam, while its sequel, Destiny, was supposed to do the same thing, but to Zeta Gundam this time. The similarities are not coincidental or motivated by opportunism/writer’s laziness – they’re deliberate.
Bad choice of word but yes, that’s what I meant. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with borrowing some ideas from the previous Gundam iterations. If Sunrise makes a carbon copy of an older Gundam series in high-quality animation, I’ll still watch it :3
^ This,
I’m relatively new to anime and I haven’t watched any of Gundam or Dragon Ball shows and don’t plan on watching them either because of their old animation/visual styles *Don’t look at me like that crazy otaku and mecha freaks not everyone’s like you.* so yeah if the studios do remakes/used similar ideas/made carbon copies of those shows I for one would gladly watch them.
And you could say SEED’s background was a blatant robbery of Gundam 0079, and Gundam UC’s start was a blatant robbery of both of those. I don’t get your point. It’s Sunrise, many of their shows start off in a similar fashion.
Wish they would get around to ripping off G Gundam so we can have some Master Asia style awesomeness.
“Robbery” implies that creators of Valvrave think people don’t know it’s similar.
But they know it. The twist is how things will change after the last scene of the show.
Woah now, you’re going to watch Majestic Prince over this? That’s… Something. And the fact that you compared Valvrave to the crap that is Twilight just means we can’t take you seriously. So… Good job? Oh, and do you want a real trainwreck of a mecha show? Go watch DESTINY.
Wait, this show is going to get another season?! Now I’m definitely going to enjoy this show.
On a side note: I actually enjoyed Seed but I still think Destiny was trash.
That was a blast indeed. Of the three Mecha series I rank this introduction second after Gargantia. As for the episode itself, it really felt “Gundam-esque” for me up until what happened after the ED.
The whole Vampire-thingy seems to be what sets Valvavre apart from other series.
Generally speaking I am positively intrigued.
Is there only one way how Sunrise can start a giant mecha anime? They totally c&p’d Gundam Seed.
I can’t wait for pink explosions and princesses, fang/funnel and some annoying robot which can only say its own name.
Well, I think if you switch off your brain and ignore the regurgitated story it might actually be quite interesting just to watch the visuals and for the utter ridiculousness which comes up from time to time. Like when the software programmers of the Orb’s G-Weapon coded a semi-nude girl into the OS for the lulz. Or the scene where that loli was playing with the boobs of the teacher.
Do you guys really don’t know what First Gundam is? The attempted theft of a mecha from a neutral colony by a hostile force, bits/funnels, and Haro all originated from 1979’s Mobile Suit Gundam, not Gundam SEED. In fact for the first half Gundam SEED was just a modern remake of Gundam 0079 with 4 more Gundams, bishies and J-Pop.
You are of course correct. Seed is just another remake of the original story and instead of saying it’s a Seed regurgitation I should say it’s the typical Gundam regurgitation. Which doesn’t make this stuff any better.
It’s easy to tell who’s speaking out of their ass and who actually knows what they’re talking about by seeing which Gundam series they reference.
SEED is *not* the original of *ANY* Gundam franchise cliches. In drawing a reference to SEED, you’ve already failed. Entertaining, maybe. Original? SEED was the true example of the Gundam franchise’s copy/paste efforts.
It’s really nice to see some solid push back by some folks on the point of getting facts straight about mecha shows. Like have your opinion, say you enjoy the show or not and why and it’s all good, but at least be sure what you are referencing is actually the case and not just for the sake of convenience and out of ignorance.
Anyway gorgeous people, gorgeous mecha (at least the title ones)….definitely must be a Sunrise mecha show. One friend described this show to me as almost too Sunrise to start and I can definitely see what he means. It really has their stamp all over it in just about every way you can imagine from the cast to the OST style, to the hook near the end of the opener right down to the way the opening visuals are set up. In some ways it’s comforting to an old school fan, in others it can feel a little too familiar to start and like somebody is working on a checklist basis.
I always like to say Sunrise mecha shows are best done as a marathon run (as opposed to by the week where sometimes the wait for the next episode can be agonizing and leave viewers high and dry and or confused) since episodes typically tend to run into one another and things tend to build up over the course of the show and this looks to be no different. It’s almost impossible to tell how this is going to go from now based off of just one episode and I kind of wouldn’t have it any other way.
The theme song hype me up.
I was never too attracted to the whole Gundam-style mecha genre (Evangelion excluded) but for some reason I find myself liking all three mecha shows this season.
Well, Majestic Prince is just a fun sort of show but I’m really looking forward to see where the other two series will go.
I liked Seed, but this is NOT just some Seed clone.
Gundam Seed itself took inspiration and much of it’s essence from it’s predecessors as well. With that being said I don’t see what’s so wrong about Valvrave following the established standard that most mecha anime series take.
Most mecha series have a young hero who just so happened to be at the scene or happen upon the lead mech in question. If anything, Valvrave has set itself apart with it’s darker tone and the whole “no longer human” thing and with Shouko’s very early death.
These are the points that others should appreciate this anime, and hope it can be better. You have to be positive and have fun.
I had this gut feeling that something was going to happen to Souko before she died. I guess the moral of the story is don’t be a hero it will get you killed in this particular universe.
The whole revival thing was expected especially since he forfeited his humanity and all but when he bit into his neck like that, I was O.O! – vampire!? ….
And I’m upset that Shoko died. I kinda liked her character and besides, the main character rarely ever gets with (or confesses to) the girl in the first or even second episode. With the rate that relationship was going, they would’ve been a couple right from the beginning of the series, which would’ve been nice to see.
Well, I’m really liking the mecha animes this season. I especially like the design in this one. Anything with Katana light sabers AND a mini-scythe! is kick ass.
+50 Seishun Points!
The super-robot design of Valvrave is pretty awesome and I wonder what kinda crazy weapons it has in its arsenal.
I’ll probably discuss about the mecha design in detail next week so look forward to that 😉
I also think it would be great to see a romantic relationship from the beginning of an anime and see how it goes throughout the season.
On the opening seems the mecha will have many teams to shine in every battle, if not other units will join the fight.
I like Shoko too. 🙁
He could always go out with the idol girl, Saki.
I am so glad that I’m not the only one who went “oh, this feels like Gundam”. At least till the “do you resign from being a human” part. That’s when I went, “okay, this guy is going to give up his humanity”. With everyone “friending” him on that facebook like, I honestly thought it was him losing his ability to be a normal human in the sense that everyone’s going to be watching everything he does.
Then the credits came and I was like “Dude! No way! They killed him? He’s going to be a zombie?” …then he bit the fairy boy with fangs and I went “okay, so he’s a vampire? Still cool!”
Still of the 3 mechas this season, I’d say Gargantia is probably my fave. Though I think depending on how he’s a vampire plays out, this might be a dark horse.
The ending made it interesting. Otherwise, it’d be just a generic mecha sort-of show. It’s nice to see little twists and turns every now and then. I thought that the mecha design and CGI was well done, although I very much so appreciate old-school hand drawn action (CGI just doesn’t bring depth to me). I guess it’s like music, every generation has their niche and I just happened to grow up in the older one… and I miss it.
It’s not just the OP that is amazing, Senju Akira’s soundtrack is also a real treat. His work for FMA Brotherhood’s was Divine’s pick for Best Soundtrack in 2010 and I’m expecting great things from him here as well 😉
sorry but the twist at the end is not enough to make this show unconventional or even slightly original and it doesn’t make up for the sheer stupidity of the development of this episode that kept flashing one cliché after the other as if it were presupposing that we all know the classic plot elements of the beginning of all mecha shows. everything felt forced especially the part between the girl’s death and his entering the mecha, what was supposed to be a gripping moment just made me burst out laughing. I feel that this is going to be another unintentionally funny anime.
The Mecha Sentai Valvrangers look kinda like the many forms of Aquarion. Valvrave Red looks so so much like Aquarion Solar.
This first episode had more twists than a M Night Shamalayan movie.
I went in blind watching this, meaning I didn’t know what it was about from reading the synopsis and I didn’t even watch the PV.It started off like any other mecha anime with the slice of life elements and then there was L-Elf…
L-Elf pulls out the knife and I’m like O.o.When he massacred those scientists I felt like Urobutcher had something to do with this anime.
I expected Shouko to die at some point in typical Sunrise Mecha fashion, but not in the first episode.
Then Haruto gets gutted and shot by L-Elf, which I expected him to get up because of what the Valvrave said about giving up being a human
and then a twist slaps me in the face with the vampirism and I was like O.O Vampires in my mecha?!?!
Now about Valvrave itself, it just screamed Super Robot Wars at me and I know it’s going to be in one of the games at some point and I can’t wait for that.So many pretty colors combined with so much hax.
And then there was the ED…I was like, is that T.M.Revolution, because I definitely hear Takanori’s voice and I couldn’t tell who the female’s voice was.I found out after read this blog that it was Nana Mizuki’s, which I thought I’d recognize since I love a lot of her songs.
This episode has brought the hype train to my station.The animation, the music, the Super Robot Wars, and the twists <3
http://www.tinygif.com/data/media/13/so_good.gif
M. Night Shamalayn and this show? That’s almost crazy talk. This show can’t be that bad.
+50 Seishun Points
I quite enjoyed the savageness and brutality that L-elf has displayed here. No bullshit talking, aim straight for the heart and throw in a couple of bullets to make sure, that’s how a pro does it 😉
also the cute fairy thing and the contrast with how dark the actual question she asks reminds me of the same contrast in kyuubei’s character in madoka magica so nothing really original here they are doing it à la urobuchi because it worked but obviously the writer here doesn’t have the same talent
I’m glad we’re getting 3 interesting Mecha series. Best opening ever IMO. Also I like the main character having a red unit, which means he can go 300% faster than everyone else.
I’m pretty sure that later Shouko gonna somehow be revived and become a pilot to something like Valrave and become an enemy.I bet my 1 cent on it (though I hope that doesnt happen because I like the long haired girl more, and with shouko around she doesnt stand a chance with the mc).
This has the feel of a Gundam series. I like it!
[Why couldn’t of SEED killed Fley in episode 1?]
I do agree that this episode had some negative points…
– It seemed nearly the same as the first episode of Gundam SEED (and Gundam SEED is similar to many other mecha anime opening episodes, I see from reading other comments…)
– Shouko’s death didn’t really make me feel anything at all (unlike for example the first-episode death in Shikgeki no Kyojin).
– The end bit (the vampire thing) actually made me laugh harder than I’ve laughed at an anime in quite a while. It was just way too ridiculous.
Despite all this, I had a lot of fun watching this episode! The characters all seem interesting (and there sure are a lot of them!), the plot seems fun despite most of it having been done before, the pacing is good… I was shocked several times in a not-laugh-out-loud way (at the brutality of L-elf and his companions in particular). I think this is the kind of anime that can be a complete blast as long as you don’t take it too seriously or expect too much originality. Looking forward to episode 2!
Oh yes, the cast is huge. Saki , voiced by Tomatsu Haruka, seems like the real female lead, but she had very little presence in the first episode. This is the SHOW OF THE YEAR for those seiyuu-honed ears. All the big names are present in Valvrave, though I wonder how did the producers leave out HanaKana XD
Man I haven’t been as surprised by a first ep like that since Ga-Rei: Zero.
Good one! The first episode of Ga-Rei Zero was a “pleasant” surprise 😡
until cool characters are all being killed
you must be joking. grz’s first ep had a million times impact compared to this one.
T.M.Revolution (kyaaa!)
T.M.Revolution x Nana Mizuki (KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!)
looks good. looking forward to seeing this/
+50 Seishun Points.
That’s exactly how I felt LOL
Lose love interest, gain mecha and vampirism. Deal.
Did it really take him like three minutes to see the screen with the yes or no button? Cause he could’ve pressed it instead of emoing out. Kick butt, then emo out.
My thoughts exactly.
My thoughts before watching the first episode: “I’m already watching 2 Mecha Anime and I guess one more wouldn’t hurt!” I think this one tops Majestic Prince. I think I would’ve preferred if they didn’t include the last scene. But now I’m all intrigued what’s to go down. Can’t wait for the next episode!
NO, SHOUKO!!!!! WHY?????
Gundam Twilight
Twilight didn’t invent vampires.
Nope, but it destroyed them.
ok ok people hate twilight then lets call it
Gundam Hellsing
How about,
Count Gundam Dracula
We don’t hate Twilight per se, we just think the female protagonist is annoying…
But we don’t have sparkly Gundams… Oh wait! We do. 😛
Gundamvania is the only acceptable title. He better ask someone “what is a man?” at some point and maybe throw a wine glass.
Yep , the whole first episode is really gundam-esque , but I dont think it’s going to be the same all over , even without taking into account the whole “vampire” thing
That “resign yourself as human” reminded me actually of code geass ( yes I know same writer etc) , no one has mentioned it but it’s same kind of choice , protagonist needs power and he’s forced to make a choice that will change his entire existence.
BTW , doesn’t haruto look A LOT like yukiteru? ( mirai nikki)
also the girl who snagged the phone reminded me of anya from code geass too in some shots
This reminded me of Gundam Seed all over again when they tried to steal the mecha
Dio, is that you?
The soundtrack, voice acting and the animation. Simply brilliant. That animation, I felt like I was watching a KyoAni show(like Hyouka).
Though, I do have some questions about the setting, the premise was good nonetheless. I mean, What’s the best place to hide an all powerful Mecha that can change the whole world? Obviously, a school. Okay, it might be the last place anyone’d think of, but what if the enemies find out, like in this case. Where’s the security? there’s only two people to greet and they are dealt with just like that. blaa..blaa…blaa…I also have questions about the girl behind the computer as well.
https://randomc.net/image/Kakumeiki%20Valvrave/Kakumeiki%20Valvrave%20-%20ED%20-%20Large%2004.jpg
C.C, is that you?
I loved it. If there’s one thing Sunrise does with its mecha, its pure spectacle. The visuals are great and I like Valvrave in action. It has scythe for God’s sake! I have no problem with the Not!Gundam-jack. Its so ubiquitous nowadays, its like Holywood Action Movie “Run from explosions” cliche, its just kind of there.
I’m not a fan of Haruto though. I just really hope he drops the angsty, broody attitude fast. I am amused how he made himself an instant celebrity after the fight especially how he started getting friend requests in the Facebook ripoff(Spacebook?). I’m interested on how the series will deal with that.
I found the Vampire(?) Haruto scene awesome and this is coming from someone hates vampires. Probably because I hated L-elf from the start, he’s like “Ohhhhh I’m dark, broody and bishie so I’ll antagonize the protagonist for no other reason than I’m the designated rival”. Then the feral Haruto just bites him as an awesome **** you. If L-elf had died horribly then it would have been perfect but it seems will be seeing even more of him sadly.
Finally I have no idea if using TMR and Nana Mizuki for the OP was designed specifically to pander to mecha fans but it worked perfectly. The OP is just pure Ear-gas.
Some points I came up while watching:
– Show felt like Gundam SEED, but the art is similar to Gundam Wing
– Main Character (Haruto) feels like Kira Yamato, while Current Antagonist (Elf) is just like Heero Yuy
– Praying it won’t be another Guilty Crown, I guess we’re safe since its coming from the guy who wrote Code Geass
Anyone else feel the same way?
nah L-elf reminds me more of Sven Cal Bayan from Gundam Seed CE 73 Stargazer. But more so his hair does make me remind him of Dante from Devil May Cry.
Too bad have to wait next week to heat the TV Size – ED by Angela.
I was a little torn about watching this because it seems so damn cliched and it’s like there’s a ton of other stuff out there like this already, but that last bit kind of sold it for me.
Well, everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. However, the “Vampirebot” angle is kinda fresh to me (granted I haven’t watched a lot of mecha ausser Gundam, so I dunno if it’s also an expy of some other show). Will continue to watch this show.
Also, your mileage will vary a lot. But I cheered when Haruto bit L-Elf in the end. This white-haired bishie pissed me off even in the first episode. Sorry, but I just don’t take kindly to foreign spies bullying me in front of my friends that I should follow their grimdark worldview, no matter how justified they think that is.
Good start so far, didn’t expect him to turn into a vampire though (I just thought he would become immortal). And yes that OP is fantastic.
Look, I’m all for homages, but this getting ridiculous.. A neutral space colony being attacked by a space-based empire and a school kid falling into a super-powerful mecha – again?
Forget ripping off, that’s not even the problem. They’re turning these tropes into cliches. I was wondering when the ship crewed by inexperienced officers was going to show up.
I’m just going to avoid the SEED comparisons and talk about something else:
In terms of character designs, I would have SWORN that they were done by Kensoh Ogawa, h-doujin artist.
The main heroine dies and the boy-meets-mecha formula gets grounded a little such that the boy actually gets into the mecha for (what I hope pans out as) the RIGHT reason, which is using it as a weapon, feeding off of NEGATIVE emotions! (Plus a whole 2 minutes of “NUUU I CAN’T DO THIS” *SIGH*) I hope Valrave jumps directly into being properly used as a weapon because it’s been irritating to open each series of the boy-meets-mecha formula with “I don’t wanna pilot this superweapon to destroy! I wanna save people!” –Ugh–
Plus, Sunrise picked the best choice for narrator <3
The possibility of vampires invading the mecha industry too kind of has me on edge though. And are the 5 transfer students gonna pilot…power rangers? HHMMMMMMMM…
Been waiting for your inevitable review, Seishun, and am glad you seemed to like the episode as much as I did. You did an excellent job.
However, I have a bit of a conflict:
Many a person around the internet have been pointing out that Shoko is probably not dead due to Sunrise’s trend of having a character survive something they shouldn’d have since we didn’t see the body (the fact that Haruto is brought back as something of a vampire doesn’t help). I am now at what I currently find to be a lose-lose situation:
1. Shoko isn’t dead, thereby confirming Sunrise’s cliche.
2. She is dead, leaving me all sad, as her loss makes the world (of the show, more or less) feel so much emptier because I liked her so much.
Anyways, on 1 last note: even knowing that the opening would be done by TM Revolution and Nana Mizuki, and even hearing the beginning in the 3rd preview, could no prepare me for its epicness. I seriously think it might be the best song of the season, and might even become a serious contender for best song of 2013. Yeah, I know it’s only April. THAT’S how awesome I think it is.
Thanks starqo. Personally, I don’t see it as a zero sum game and the end result of Shouko’s fate doesn’t matter as much as what the creators intend to do with such a scenario. There are many creative things the writers can do with her character, whether she survived or not.
You’re right, Valvrave’s OP is definitely right up there, certainly one of my favorites this season. The OP in MJP, written by the great Ishikawa Chiaki, is very impressive too. You should check that out if you haven’t.
Comparisons are inevitable, sure, but I think the first episode had an excellent showing.
To be honest, there are parallels – The mecha-jacking, the symbols shown in the blood cells of Haruto etc. But I think it really isn’t that much of a crime to tweak a bit of those ideas you had and give it a new twist in a new work, yes?
I quite like how they set up the darker premise too. The basic summary:
-Boy likes girl (feelings possibly reciprocated)
-Boy decides to confess, interrupted by sudden invasion.
-Girl goes to help someone in trouble and gets killed.
To be honest, a viewer wouldn’t feel the full impact of seeing a loved one killed right before your eyes just when you are about to confess your love. Haruto, of course, being human, felt little joy in the cheers and friend requests he received, instead choosing to mourn over what he lost. Depending on how Sunrise does it, whether Shoko returns to life or not can either become a cop-out or a good plot progression. See how it goes.
The vampire angle caught me off-guard, but it was a very welcomed retaliation to the white haired stuck-up. Nice to see mecha jackers getting denied twice in a row and receiving a nasty bite for that.
As it is with mecha shows, bling-bling aplenty with interesting characters and deaths, and an epic song by two times the awesomeness with T.M and Nana Mizuki. Valvrave seems to be doing it just right.
+100 Seishun Points
I agree. I don’t think the outcome of Shouko’s seeming demise is a zero sum game. It really depends on what the writers intend to do with her character. The plot device could worked either way, alive or dead.
So many comparisons to SEED… There were this many SEED fans out there? You guys are aware that it’s one of the weaker Gundam series right and the reason that it had so many similarities to the original Mobile Suit was to bring in a new generation of fans, right? Just… Forget it.
Anyways, this was the show I was looking forward to the most this season in all honesty, when I heard that Sunrise was doing a new mecha show, I was sold. Then I saw the cast and the staff behind it and I couldn’t possibly be more excited. I thought it was a great episode, it definitely delivered and the animations were gorgeous.
Though honestly, I think Valvrave is the new Gundam show- it’s just that Sunrise is taking a lot of liberties with the mecha design (it does feels kinda super) and “super” and “Gundam” do not go well together. (see the abomination that is G-Gundam if you don’t believe me) And so, we get Valvrave.
Really looking forward to how it all plays out, great review Seishun!
Also, I don’t think Shoko is dead. Unless there’s a dramatic scene prior or you see them actually die before your very eyes, odds are they are still alive. Maybe she’s missing an arm now or has amnesia, that wouldn’t be too surprising at all.
Thanks katsudon. I actually like Gundam SEED quite a bit (not as much as Gundam 00 and After War X) but I think the comparison with Valvrave is unwarranted. The style and narrative are very different, and I think the distinction will become more apparent in episode 2.
I just hope this won’t be another one of those corny annoying shows where one guy who have little experience in pilot a robot somehow got into one then manage to beat up everyone else on the other side all by himself, especially the enemy side have real train solider. If is one man against a whole army then I will be very disappointed, at least give him a couple of equally powerful friends piloting other strong robot by his side to help him out. If is a show about a single guy in a sort of like domino fight, beating one enemy at a time and then challenge their master in the end, then this will be very boring, I always ask when I watch shows like that, why can’t the enemy just sent like ten robot and jump him all at once, there is not freakying rules saying you can only send one robot in a 1 vs 1 fight all the time.
Well, the official website shows us that the 4 other Valvraves seen in the opening are different units (specifically, Three-Six, with Haruto’s being One, and Two missing), so it wouldn’t be surprising if they ended up being fighting alongside him (because I’m really hoping they don’t get taken by the antagonists).
As much as I disliked SEED, it’s one thing for a Gundam show to take cues from the original show (which was intentional, apparently), it’s another thing for an unrelated show to do what SEED did.
Also brings up a second point, if you’re going to copy, copy a good series.
If not the rest of the episode, the opening (or ending in this case) clearly gives me some Gundam Seed feels. I am enjoying the anime because I’ve been short on my mecha dosage, but it’s hard to say that it’s anything more than cliche right now. Though, if they do something interesting with the “vampire/Code Geass-like” concept then who knows.
Haruto Tokishima’s Facebook status: You have 3,6000 friend requests(and encounting!!!). 0_0
POWER TO THE SOCIAL MEDIA!!!
Oh shit. The end felt like Code Geass. I am satisfied 🙂
Oh man. This is gonna be quite a trainwreck. At least the premiere was better than Majestic Prince’s!
But yeah. The developments in this first episode were so forced they pretty much killed my suspension of disbelief (from Shoko’s apparent death that it’s PAINFULLY OBVIOUS didn’t really happen, to Haruto deciding to get into Valvrave’s command seat – what the fuck was his motivation? It felt out of place. It felt out of place IN A MECHA SHOW. That’s a really bad sign there).
And then… the vampire thing. Where do I fucking begin?
It’s like Sunrise wanted to one-up Majestic Prince’s “Super Sentai mechas” by releasing a “Kamen Rider mecha” show in the same season. Hell, down to Valvrave’s different forms AND THEIR COLOR SCHEMES, TOO. But then they noticed they had no plot at all for it, so they said “recycle Code Geass and Gundam plot points and mix them with whatever we can rip off of Kamen Rider and we’ll do just fine”.
This is gonna be such a goddamned trainwreck.
And I’m gonna watch every minute of it.
I find it hilarious that people are talking about how this is copying Seed when Seed’s pilot had people yammering about Seed copying the original Gundam.
But I will say, Kira and his pansy ass nature pissed me off to no end, but that five minute sequence when this main character was deciding whether or not to pilot this mech (way to try to avenge your woman, dude) was the most frustrating thing I’ve ever seen in a pilot episode. Good grief, they couldn’t cut some of that shit down and show what was happening in the cockpit while he piloted the damn machine instead? Or something? Whoever directed that episode needs to be fired for that. What a joke.
Haruto looks like Saji Crossroad from Gundam 00 Series.
Valvrave’s design somehow reminded me Muramasa design from the Ntro+ VN. Another borrowing, I guess..?
I feel the same as you, it’s nice the staff have the guts to try something new with the boy-falls-into-cockpit formula, now to wait and see if it’ll work out.
>killing off the best girl in the first episode
Dropped.
Just kidding. But seriously, I shat bricks when Shoko died. They had such great chemistry together and she was so adorable when Haruto was about to confess.
Though with this vampire twist in the end(which definitely shocked me just as much as Shoko’s death), will we get to see her rise again like with Haruto? Unlikely I guess but with Sunrise adding something like that in this mecha show, who knows.
Though it’s probably just me wishing she was still alive T_TAnd OMG, TM Revo and Nana Mizuki singing together?! GLORIOUS.
Except Shoko isn’t dead. Even if an anime is going the “anyone can die” route, there’s a certain way of portraying death scenes, especially in anime. You don’t simply wipe out a character that’s part of the main roster.
And she’s also featured in the OP.
Shoko’s alive.
I, too, feel the same way. But if so, then this show is more twist-tefying than Code Geass, LOL.
Is it safe to expect some sexy vampire-sucking-blood scenes with Haruto and this girl? like the ones in Black Blood Brothers or something like Show Spoiler ▼
.
It feels like a love triangle between Haruto, Saki and Shouko(well if she’s still alive that is)
– Shouko dies
– Protag in disbelief
– Friends tell him to “ACCEPT IT! SHE’S DEAD” since that’s what friends are for right?
– Protag walks past friends and climbs up ladder into cockpit with injured arm
– Friends wait until he walks past them and climbs into cockpit before telling him to stop.
O.K.
Well whatever, it was flashy, pretty and a fairly solid premiere.
Yeah, that’s what I thought. This anime has one of the worst pieces of dialogue that I have ever seen in my entire life (anywhere, not only in anime). It’s all very, VERY amateur and retarded.
Another part that was pretty bad was when the guy was trying to activate the robot. There was a big screen in front of him with a big, bright and colorful YES button indicating the activation procedure. The guy, however, spent a lot of time trying EVERYTHING and did not press the god damn button until the very end. During this part I was: “WTF is he doing? Is this guy retard or what? I can see the stupid button from here and he can’t?”.
This was not a terrible episode, but it wasn’t very good either. A 7 year old could write something better that I what we saw. C’mon, they weren’t even trying.
He was running… obviously he would slow down when climbing? Didn’t you see his friends running towards valvrave during the time haruto was climbing?
Hypothetically speaking, a war was shoved onto your face from nowhere, you just broke your arm from an explosion, your girlfriend just died instantaneously, you are full of anger, grief and a torrent of emotions, your heart beat is running berserk and you are breathing erratically from the adrenaline and exertion from running and climbing.
Now, you are in a cockpit of a god knows what weapon of mass destruction, faced with a mess load of controls. To top it off, a giant robot is smashing on your door, throwing you around the cockpit, accumulating more bruises. Now, how much different from haruto will you be acting I wonder. I don’t know about you, but I would be confused and wondering why is it asking me to give up my humanity. you are a machine right? stop throwing me stupid questions and move already!
yeah, he doesn’t know anything about the weapon yet he obliterated all the enemy just like that. makes sense.
NOTE: Sorry FiveOVER. It seems I can’t reply to kyuuzo’s comment (probably because it’s too far down.
@kyuuzo: Didn’t you see? Haruto only beat all the enemy mechs after being injected something into his neck by the pilot seat. It seem’s pretty obvious that the process that turned him into a vampire inserted knowledge of how to pilot Valvrave into his brain, allowing him to defeat the vastly inferior enemy mooks.
@starqo. quite convenient, ain’t it? a deadly weapon that can be easily used by anyone with no fail-safe mechanism whatsoever. makes sense.
Please pause the scene and read the terms and conditions, then sit down and think for a bit
not unless you’re hoping that the person stealing the unit reads at a speed of one word per hour that doesn’t do anything.
That,s not my reasoning. Fear of the contract is not the main reason here. Think wider, in terms of the price.
if you’re pertaining to the fifth clause, that still doesn’t stop anyone from piloting the unit. if your only purpose was to steal it all you have to do is give the pilot enough time to get it on to the surface and have a transport team ready to take it away in case the pilot is killed in the next few minutes or so.
Sigh… you know, when there is technology advanced enough to turn you into a vampire with one injection, it is not too farfetched to think that the pilot’s life is at the hands of whoever’s holding the trigger(of whatever form or shape). Otherwise, those terms wouldn’t mean anything.
It is also likely that all freedom of movement has been taken from the pilot from the moment he/she got the injection.
Sigh… you know, when there is technology advanced enough to turn you into a vampire with one injection you’d think that they can make a way so that it can’t be easily taken away from you like say… hmmm… i dunno, have the dna of each and every citizen of the neutral country in its database so that it can only be piloted by their own? but that would make too much sense.
And you are assuming they don’t?
any reason i should? oh wait… a bunch of guys not from their country tried to take it away from them.
I’m pretty sure that they won’t be interested in stealing it in the first place if they knew everthing about it, including the securities.
so you think that they’d go all through that without any kind of plan? they just hatched the plan in a day without spying on a country with little to no security at all to see how they can steal a deadly weapon. makes sense.
that was fun, FiveOVER. but im gonna go sleep now and leave this show for you guys to enjoy while i have fun with mjp.
It’s all about risk against gain. The reward of getting a high-tech that could help them win the war is really worth it even if the risk of failure is high.
There is no point in stealing the unit itself if the spies already got the blueprints. And they didn’t even know the location of the weapon!
I enjoyed Valvrave, Gargantia and Majestic Prince and am just sorry that this show didn’t do it for you. Have a good night.
This show feels more Urobuch-y than Gragantia: here they kill the love interest on the first episode(but why is she in the ED? I have doubts this is the last we see of her.)
A mech that turns its pilot into a vampire/undead person/thing. Okaaaay then. Sign me up. I enjoyed the episode when I wasn’t busy rolling my eyes. Still, it was a solid showing and I plan to watch more.
that last scene after the song…
What? when someone sticks a knife in your heart and then get shot 3 times you not get up and bite on the neck the wretch who has ruined your shirt? I never seen a vampire piloting a mecha… by the way let the chesnut haired girl die happily, the black haired girl who appears with her… Somebody knows her name? XDDD
this show is good but become super generic and stupid when author kill off shoko XD
I feel like this anime could be as amazing as Code Geass, or as disappointing as Guilty Crown…
Being either of those is quite the achievement.
So the mechas are designed by Okawara Kunio (Gundam series, VOTOMS, GaoGaiGar), yet I get the vibes of Valvrave being the love child of Macross F’s Messiah and Demonbane.. Not that I don’t approve, but it just feels different from Okawara’s traditional designs.
Kunio Okawara didn’t design all the mechas.
According to the official site the mecha designers are Makoto Ishiwata, Naohiro Washio, Kenji Teraoka, Takashi Miyamoto, Takayuki Yanase and Kunio Okawara.
Kunio Okawara probably only designed the Waffes.
blah
Sorry ’bout that. I haven’t been able to post anything for like a week and that was just me testing. Guess I got banned or something (dunno why though, I don’t think I was being rude or anything) ’cause I had to use my old e-mail for a post to show up.
Anyways, I felt like this episode was my favorite first episode of the season. Dunno why but I liked the mecha action better than Gargantia. Kinda surprised they killed off Shoko so early and Haruto going all Bram Stoker’s Dracula on L-Elf.
Looking forward to the rest of the season fr sure if it keeps this up though.
I thought this was an excellent premiere. Well, technically, after Guilty Crown’s mind-shattering failure of a premiere, pretty much anything feels like a masterpiece, and at least this show’s shock factor appears to be intentionally ridiculous and made me laugh out loud.
I don’t really like the character art or the janky movement of the title mecha though, wish it was smooth as all hell like in Majestic Prince. Let’s hope Valvrave can hold the title of ‘most of insanely over the top’ show of the season, and cross our fingers for something of more substance.
I love the character designs in Valvrave. D.Gray-man and Hoshino Katsura’s work have always been pretty impressive.
That’s the impression I got as well. Many complained about the CGI in MJP, but I thought it looked state-of-the-art, definitely comparable to those we’ve seen from Sunrise and Satelight.
And if they have spies that already obtained the blueprint of the unit, is there any merit in stealing the unit itself. That just means the information is more safely guarded than it seems. The intruders didn’t even know where the weapon was hidden!
Bah, copy-shmopy. Twas entertaining > I liked it. No such thing as an original narrative anyway.
http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/3113/79259983.png
Go! AQUARIOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!
This anime gave me an incredible sense of nostalgia considering the last Gundam show I watched was nearly 5++ years ago(SEED series). It was exactly what I expected and more. I’m glad the protagonist doesn’t look like he’s going to be another Shuu.
Good Lord, Twitter on steroids… If that’s what Twitter will look like in the future, I don’t want no part of it. -_-”
Also, Shouko is voiced by Seto Asami? (*beat*) Oh my God…they killed Laffinty!
Heh, they killed off both Lan and Chihaya XD
As soon as the confession was about to happen, I was saying to myself, “Well this development might be a death flag for Shouko. Hope it isn’t.” Then when Valvrave appeared before the group I knew that they were going to kill her off to give Haruto a reason to fight.
I had a bad feeling it was going to happen but it still hit me hard when it did 😡
When the episode first started I was like oh that girl (Shouko) is cool and then they killed her off. At least Marie Nobi didn’t die and neither did the gym/swimming instructor 🙂
Looks to me like that long, blue haired girl will take Shouko’s place, if the OP is any indication. Although I really like that redheaded NEETish girl, but then again, I have raging hards for pretty much any modern 2D redhead.
Yeap, her presence was very minimal in the premiere but it seems like Saki’s the real female lead of the show. A tsundere who is voiced by Tomatsu Haruka, I like her already :3
Didn’t anyone else get a Linebarrels vibe from this episode? All I could think of when he first started up the mecha to when he didn’t die when shot was, “crap, another linebarrels mecha with a loser male lead”
Rather than vampire, I was thinking more like zombie meets geass. Lol.
I’ve got high expectations from Sunrise.
Couldn’t help but noticed another Merlion(the lion head fish tailed statue that sprouts water) scene at 17.04!
Feels somewhat proud to be a Singaporean lol…
Even if it turns out to be a hockey gimmick, I’m still greatly intrigued by the nosferatu element in this otherwise typical (is atypically violent) mecha anime. Bring on the weird genre mash-ups!!
The L-elf and gang infiltrate, reminds me of Gundam and Gundam SEED.
The uniforms of the antagonists, reminds me of those from Last Exile.
There even one with similar hairstyle as that Dio character from Last Exile.
The mech’s OS, does that avatar hold any significance?
lol, so the mech creates the ‘Newtype’ 😛
The mystery of the Valvrave system pulls me in.