First impressions – Buddy Complex
Will this be the second coming of Valvrave or something more complex?
After Valvrave, Sunrise is at it again with another mecha this season and what a start. Lots of action and our protag-kun in trouble. It’s too early to call it a fail so let’s get on with first impressions with Fosh.
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It looks like the first batch of first impression posts are coming out at last so things will be very exciting on Metanorn as we kickoff the winter season starting with Buddy Complex and tagging along with me is Kyokai, but I really hope Sunrise can redeem themselves since their last attempt at a non Gundam series with Valvrave because I think we can all agree it was a mix of good and bad for most of us! Anyway time to get on with the review.
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Time travel woooooo
Aoba-“Welp I can’t return to my world but at least I have my own giant robot!”
Buddy time start!
Hina-chan is so cute-oooooooooooo!
So what the hell was going on in this first episode?! Just kidding I think we have a basic time travel story with Aoba being some super important guy in the future and I guess Hina was basically sent to the pat protect him and just like Kyokai it does feel like the plot of all the Terminator movies but we don’t really know what Aoba does in the future so that will probably be one of the many mysteries of Buddy Complex and while we have that bit to chew on until the next few episode I have to ask did it manage to hook you into wanting more or are you going to pass on this and never look back? I mean sure that is hard to say since we only have this one episode. Besides that I am really curious to see the enemy forces and hopefully we have a good explanation as to why they are at war in the future and what about Aoba? Will he be able to return to his time or is he stuck there forever? I wonder if they have some kind of portal system that allows Aoba to return to his time sorta like the well in Inuyasha? If they do allow that I think that would make for an interesting plot ,but of course I can see the very predictable ending with Aoba eventually returning to his own world at the end of the series or will they do something original with him staying in the future? Anyway before I wrap up did anyone else instantly think of JOJO when they revealed that the other main characters name was Dio? I know I sure did! Now we just need to find out if Aoba and Dio have a bromance relationship like L-elf and Haruto in Valvrave or are we getting real romance between Aoba and Hina? Probably not…
Extra buddies
Just like every anime dude~
The mecha designs remind me of Rinne no Lagrange.
Already a cute pairing or will this be all Aoba and Dio?
Aoba is a great character so far!
End thoughts
Nice coupling? ROTFL. Okay, Sunrise, you really have used too much of a mash-up here. I am sure that the reason behind of throwing the audience one twist after another was to generate curiosity but I hope it can deliver in the remaining episodes because we are not only talking about time travel here but interaction with his future-self and many other plot paths that this story can take. For everything to mesh together though, I have to identify with Aoba and from the first episode at least, he doesn’t look like a whiner, which is a good thing! I’m done with whiny mecha pilots of being put under a spotlight and they not dealing with things. For now, Aoba seems pretty happy-go-lucky, who is aware of his surroundings and it usually good with people. What he will do in a future he doesn’t belong to, including some testy pilots (I can already see this Dio giving him a lot of pain), and overall confusion of added responsibility of fighting unknown enemies? We’ll have to see, but I’m at least staying for another two episodes.
Well damn Buddy Complex you definitely have me wanting more, but I just hope that the super time traveling mechs do not run off memories because I will be quite mad! So for starters I have to say good job to Sunrise for the animation like the character designs? Hina looked great and I bet the girls watching will like Aoba’s look! Alright I will give a giant high five to Buddy Complex for not being crappy but I am going to give this a few more episodes just to see where things end up.
Preview
Wow even the ending is straight out of Gundam SEED/Destiny.
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
The mechs run of the tears of your future frustration…
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Now that would be a great power source for the future.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
From it Fosh. Eventually you would reach Peak Frustration, and then there are no more tears.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Sunrise can harvest the tears of many Valvrave fangirls as a power source!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I can still see the shattered windows of memory haunting them all…
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
We all know that Aoba will turn into Jesus in the second half of the anime. Who knows, some angsty kouhai will be added too
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I hope Aoba cries less than Kira Jesus Yamato~
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
well, i kind of don’t…at least kira seemed human…though Yzaak has always been my favorite…after Lacus of course
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Kira yeah I just hated how he was all about justice and being a hero by blowing up the weapons instead of taking people out, but thats just how he rolled…
Buddy Complex needs a Lacus idol type! I vote Hina~
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
i second that…
hina for the win
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
We have to go back…
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
The new OP for Buddy complex should have been this! YES!!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Uh-oh. It looks like someone plagarised/stole mecha designs. Unless the mecha designer here is Kaishaku. The white one reminds me of the Ame no Murakumo.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I think Sunrise easily has the biggest backlog of mecha designers that they don’t need to steal designs, but yeah I looked up the Ame no Murakumo and they do look similar so good call on that~
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
I’ll be honest. From the images I could find, I don’t think Buddy Complex is “plagiarizing” mecha designs. The two only look vaguely similar.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I had to check this since the title sounded campy and had me skeptical though this concern has been put to rest nicely. Not bad for a start although a little quick and so far, Aoba seems like an alright protagonist. Let’s see if this will be a suitable replacement from Sunrise because I’m still latched on to Valvrave whose lingering effects is still burning my views on mecha anime because there’s no “Do you resign as a human?” activation question for the mechs.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah so far Aoba seems like he will be a decent protagonist! I just hope he doesn’t turn emo like some other mecha pilots that we don’t have to name but yeah we shall see how complex this series really gets.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I don’t have to worry about that because I don’t know many mecha pilots. 😉
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I know, I’m a little still attached to VVV, but I’ve found little that I really liked in BC. Of the two mecha this season, both Buddy Complex and Nobunaga the Fool are lacking in one area or another, however, I will continue watching both to see if they get anywhere.
As roughshod as Nobu’s going, I think that it can actually get somewhere in one cour, however, I’m worried about how Buddy Complex, a mecha series set in a new setting, is going to make it in only one cour. It has me pretty worried.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Come with me if you want to live
John ConnorWatase Aoba!Think they’ll introduce the council of time vampires later on? 😛
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Slightly unrelated, but the Witch Craft Works first episode was also very “come with me if you want to live”.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Haven’t seen that one yet.Any good?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Same I have to watch it tonight and its JC Staff they really love their magic themed anime like Shana, Index, Familiar of Zero and tons more so I have high hopes for Witch Craft Works.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
I thought the premiere was rather rushed, but fun all the same.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I’ll have the FI post out in a couple days, but I really enjoyed it. The main characters have a very different feel for me.
Oh, and the ED is something pretty special.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I highly doubt that.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Well, I’ll say this for it–at least the hero isn’t some angst-ridden whiny teenager. Aoba seems like a well adjusted guy and a good athlete–just the kind of guy you’d want piloting a mecha rather than some wishy-washy kid who keeps freezing up. So he should make a good protagonist. I can’t say this episode particularly grabbed me, but I’ll give it the three episode test.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I KNOW RIGHT? I was happy he wasn’t rocking back and forth after seeing that giant robot wreck his school but at the same time he seems kind of dumb but only a tiny bit and yeaaaah we need more episodes to find out more.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I don’t know, I just can’t feel Aoba. To me, he feels as if he’s gone too far in the opposite direction of the dime-a-dozen whiny MC. Instead, to me he seems like he actually lacks enough emotion. Not emo, or completely unemotional like L-elf or something, but rather, that he just goes along with whatever’s happening without any sense of true interest or question. There’s just not much that defines him for me.
He’s like a piece of bread: okay, but rather plain and boring for the most part.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah that is what I am thinking too!
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
well as a mech-specialist i must say…i approve of the series…if things continue as they are going in the second episode…as a mecha fan…not that much, the mecha’s design is impressive, the battles are wonderfully stilized…but the time travel valvrave followers plot kills me…overall i liked, just for the record…i’m cheering for the other side, not to say that i disliked Aoba…he’s kind of cool… but,i’m evil, i dont’t normally like the protagonists… after all the dark side has cookies…and being evil is awesome…
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Ahahaha yeah I cheer for the baddies sometimes too so you are not alone there! Like Gundam has a lot of epic villains and I will continue to watch this but I don’t know if I will be blogging it after this xD
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
yeah me too…if it’s worse than valvrave i’ll run to the hills
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Well, after taking a bit of a break between seasons, I’ve started up again with the new Winter Season and Buddy Complex.
Sigh…what to say…
First, I guess the good’s in order. The characters aren’t “bad” persay, and the music is okay. The time travel idea is interesting and one I haven’t seen lately, and I like the wormholes…
Yeah, that’s about it.
Now for the bad. Wow, were these characters bland! Not one bit of interesting characteristics, boring as a plank of wood, and that could be no more obvious than in our lead for this venture, Aoba Watase. This is the most bland mecha MC I’ve seen in a long time, and I can already tell I’m going to have to hopefully find more interest in other characters. The mecha themselves are horribly simplistic and bland as well, showing no originality at all and are blocky and kid-like the look like they came out of the wrong anime.
And talk about no originality, that OP and ED was so generic. I literally laughed out loud at the astounding lack of effort put into it. I even showed it to my little brother, who also laughed at it. We couldn’t believe how much they wanted to simply take SEED/Destiny’s OPs and just paint over it. We even compared the two finding this show’s version of Kira, Athrun, Cagalli, Yzak, Murue, Mu, Badgirul and other characters that looked like carbon copies. Wow, Sunrise, you really decided to be lazy these day, hmm.
This whole thing is generic and I don’t know if it’s from coming off the twists and turns and adrenaline rush that was Valvrave and then coming to this, but I was not impressed in the least. I spent a lot of the time waiting for something to happen, for Aoba to stop being a boring, generic, bland MC, but alas, it wasn’t to be.
I’ll keep watching for a while, simply since this is a mecha series and I usually give them a chance. Plus the time travel angle is interesting, so there is at least a hope that other characters and plot will be worth it to keep watching. However, as of right now, “Buddy Complex” with it’s ridiculous name, is one of the most utterly bland mecha shows I’ve seen in a while.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Just wait for the time vampire council to show up! ;D
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Hahaha, that’s wishful thinking, friend. Assuming there is such a thing in this show. Valvrave has certainly put us in a fix so I imagine there is going to be some otherwise heavy comparisons.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Sorry to hear you feel that way and yeah I agree with some of your problems with this first episode.
I will probably continue to watch just to see where things actually go and who knows maybe it will be another MJP where things get better but of course I never really had any high hopes for this series anyway.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I’m actually hoping it gets better too. I’m actually really interested in learning about the war and the nature of the mechs and the two opposing sides and characters as well as the time travel aspect, so I will keep up with it. However, I wasn’t impressed with the first episode.
However, I haven’t been really impressed with any of the first impressions from shows I’ve seen so far. They usually range from really good to simply okay. However,I’m optimistic the shows will get better in time and there might even be some surprises.
For instance, I though Space Dandy wouldn’t be for me, but since everyone was hyping it up and everything, I decided to take a look and was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was hilarious, and so I’ve happily added that to my winter roster as well. 😀
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, I mean, the character design is just mediocre, and they could take a few tips from the Kawamori school and jazz things up a bit on the mechanical design.
It looks blocky and wooden.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I liked this one. Aoba seems a bit Gary Stu, but how that turns out depends on how he’s used. It almost doesn’t feel like the same studio, because in this one Sunrise didn’t just throw the kitchen at us and hope people thought it was cool.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
hahah yeah so true.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I would have taken a kitchen sink or two, with happiness. Heck toss in some tasteful bathroom fixtures and a bloody pissing cherub water feature. Mecha should be CRASH BOOM BANG. This isn’t that at all.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
You should watch Nobunaga the Fool. That one was all CRASH CRASH [EXPOSITION] BANG!
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yep I can’t wait to see it ahah
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
More like [EXPOSITION][EXPOSITION]BOOM CRASH[EXPOSITION]CRASH CRASH BANG!
Weirdly, Nobu the Fool is your standard opening Gundam episode, but set in historical time. Has a little too much exposition and background history weighing it down, but it was a good start.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Renaissance spaceships…Love it!
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
I tried to adequately express the amount of exposition, but was severely lacking. Irene’s description fits much better.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I did prefer the first episode of Nobunaga the Fool to that of Buddy Complex. It could turn into a real mess with all the historical figures from different periods thrown together, but so far it’s looking pretty interesting. You certainly can’t say it was bland!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I’m kinda relaxed about the historical figures. This is clearly an alt-reality, or a spin on history. Once you have giant robots and Renaissance Spaceships, that’s pretty much a clue to sit back and not take it too seriously….
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
It starts to get a little too Super Friends for me, personally.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I too am a little concerned about the historical figures bogging the story down. It’s kind of weird that all the Western ones are all thrown in there from different periods of history and are only traces from their original counterparts, and the Eastern ones through are all from pretty much the same period of time and all have some form of relation to each other, and mostly keep to their original historical position.
I’m also concerned that knowledge of historical events may be necessary, especially considering Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, and Ranmaru, all of whom I knew nothing about until I was informed by others on Animesuki. If I had known more about it, the whole very beginning part of the episode might have made more sense to me. But alas, I will talk more about that when the First Impressions come out. 🙂
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
It’s not so much the historical figures per se but nationalism that they came to represent. It’s repeating ideas. This is Kawamori, he is smoking repeating ideas, and destiny, and reincarnation. EVOL? 00?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
See, I thought this was fine with a plot with just people and robots and and a chase scene and a big fight that actually went like a fight, not that went like Dark Helmet’s big reveal to Lone Starr:
I mean, I’m not going to say it was understated, because giant robots smashing up the town isn’t exactly subtle, but you don’t need to fire goopy conditions at the story and hope that they stick for it to be entertaining. Put in too much of that stuff and it’s Mr. Incredible getting caught by Mystique in the computer room.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Well, Sunrise doesn’t always throw everything and the sink at us, I think CG,GC, and VVV kind of makes it feel that way, but think of the Gundam franchise which is their main mecha bread and butter. They actually pretty much stick to the same formula over and over again, in fact, so much so, that they actually call it “a formula”.
I actually see it sort of as Sunrise going to back to the standard as a bit of break after Valvrave. I doubt it will last long though since as far as I know, this show is only lasting one cour, so enjoy the return to basics while you can. 😉
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Wasn’t GC animated by Production IG?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yeah, Guilty Crown was produced by Production I.G, Aniplex and FUNimation.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 88 comments
Talk about a ship that sunk before it even left port.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It might be a little early to pass judgment on that. Valvrave didn’t seem to have anything significant about it until the very end of the first episode and that gave everyone a serious jump start in anticipation.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Not to mention judging by a lot of the peeps reaction, this is Sunrise answer to those who didn’t liked Valvrave.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Am I right in assuming the number of those who didn’t like Valvrave is at least equal to those that did?
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Judging by how most of the posters in BC thread was like “Blahblah better than Valvrave blahblahblah”, so I’d say yes.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Because personally, Valvrave was alright because it was seen to its end but since this series is still at the starting line, it has yet to be judged as a whole so story wise, it’s completely premature to say this is better. However, if you ask me, the mechs in Buddy Complex aren’t as appealing as those of Valvrave.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I liked Valvrave and liking this so far. Ooooh, does that mean I’m part of both 50%s? So I’m 100%?