First Impression – Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars
Cute girls piloting kick ass mechs is the best!
You know when mechs pop up in any anime you can bet i’ll be the first to check them out! I was kinda surprised by this first episode because I originally thought the girls summoned their giant mechs and they fought by themselves without a pilot, but yeah I was completely wrong about that! I just hope this series manages to be fun and not depressing or sad like WIXOSS…
—————————-
We haven’t had a super-serious moe show in quite some time; at least not on Gakkou Gurashi or WIXOSS levels. So what do we have when we cross dangerously cute loli with dangerously magical mecha? Let’s find out…
—————————-
Giant Freaking Robots
What kind of chuunibyou spell is his?!
What makes a mecha series entertaining? The story? The setting? The pilots? The mechs? Personally as a fan of the genre I want a bit of everything! Great story elements, cool characters, unique setting and awesome looking mecha designs; however for the most part we don’t get to have all of that! Usually the balance is off and we get stuck with a dull story, stupid characters and horrible looking mechs aka the most recent batch of not so great mecha series like Aquarion Logos, Heavy Object, Comet Lucifer and Schwarzesmarken. So what does Regalia offer for the hardcore mech fan? I would say the giant robot fights? Especially if you’re a fan of Suzuki Kanta‘s mechanical designs or a fan of stuff he worked on Mazinkaiser SKL, Aquarion EVOL, Gundam 00, Code Geass and my all time favorite Star Driver! As for the setting and story as it stands we don’t really know whats going on at least I sure as hell don’t! I mean other than the fact that twelve years ago a bunch of people got vaporized because two mechs beat the hell out of each other? I can only assume Rena with her red mecha caused that to happen or was it the cause of the other two other girls in the white mecha? I’m gonna go ahead and say Rena caused that because her machine was standing alone, but hey they could say the red mecha went berserk and Rena tried to stop it? It did have that odd black smoke cloud around it.
If WIXOSS ever taught us anything beware of any white hair LOLi
Character wise we’ve only met Rena and Yui who are “siblings” but not really? Rena already revealed that she isn’t “human” which means she is either a super advanced android, an Alien or possibly an AI with an artificial body? I’m almost willing to bet she is probably the AI for the red mecha? If so chances are high that Kei is also the same as Rena? Then again the guy Rena fought on the ship yard looked to be a robot after half of his face melted off. So lets go with androids or robots and now that i’m thinking about it that would explain why Rena and Kei still look like they haven’t aged. Yui on the other hand is apparently royalty? She has the title of Empress of Enastoria, I’m kinda curious about what she is going to say next week! I assume she will talk about the “explosion” and how it wasn’t a giant freaking robot battle? Also who were those people hanging out in that dark room near the end? Just kidding we know they are the bad guys!
LOLiMECHS
SleepyLOLi
You know, I think I’ll get my complaint out of the way right now and move on. I do wish that a fantasy like this took place somewhere familiar. They go into great lengths to make it look generically urban-European, so why not go whole hog and just plop us down into New Brussels or Amsterdam After The Bad Thing Happened? Why do the producers have to go for these plain, insanely clean, overly-generalized places that don’t add any character to the show, or don’t give us value for the risk. It really takes away from the intimacy you could invest in a real setting. Or has Neo-Tokyo exploded enough already? As it stands, the balance of that investment has to rest on the characters. I think they’ve done a pretty good job with them so far. The ones we focused on during this opening episode are both daring and darling in equal measure, with our LOLiMECH being far more daring and darling than her “sister; and there are bits of an oddness in character we can see in both of them. The place seems to be threatened by some sort of generic unseen evil, and that kinda worries me in a way. But I think they might be hyped on “the thing we most fear is the unknown” trope.The youngest looking one, Rena is actually the eldest of the two, and it was a neat visual touch to show us that quietly with that row of pictures. But it’s pretty obvious that she isn’t a human character, and that’s a quality she hasn’t quite gotten over yet.
BoredLOLi
This is going to be one of those “are you a person, or just a weapon” kind of characterizations. But the girl packs a huge punch as she has the magical mecha decked out in the Scarf of Badassery/Caped Mecha tropes, plus she took down that first episode jabroni like putting a hot knife through butter, only pausing when he taunted her about being human? And on that question? No definite answer yet. But, I’m equally intrigued by her “younger sister”, Yui. Now first, the girl makes a sweet looking plate of Eggs Benedict. I don’t know who in the room I was supposed to fall for the most, cause I really love Eggs Benedict. But it looks like she’s secretly an Empress? Or she’s secretly a commoner? Or she’s trying out playing at the Dandelion anime and doesn’t live in the castle, like she’s not officially royalty yet? Or it was being remodeled for a while? But how attached or unattached must Yui be to the two girls in the cold open? They both make a return appearance and try to keep Rena from having quality human time with Yui. It must be bad for LOLiMECh to form relationships? It looks like Yui belongs with her like a sister as much as she does a pilot, so that should be interesting to develop as the show goes on
Extra Mechs
Rena is probably 18? Maybe? She is the “older” sister.
Rena has secret tea parties with Chino from Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka??
It’s great for ages!
Yes it does! Or Rena stole her look from Setsuna’s Gundam.
I wish!
End Thoughts
Damn this was a interesting episode! I loved the giant robot battle between Rena and random minion of the week! That animation was impressive and it reminded me of Star Driver right down to the silly mecha designs of the enemy machines, but besides the cool fight scene i’m curious as to what Rena and Kei are? Robots? Aliens? AI for their machines? Also what is Yui’s role in all of this going to be? Is she the new pilot for the red mecha? Whatever the case I can’t wait to see where this goes and to see if Regalia stays fun or will it get dark and sad like WIXOSS? Personally I wouldn’t mind a dark story.
Well, I was anticipating QP:flapper doing character design again. I have to say that I am not at all upset, as all the girl are just as cute looking as the characters were in Sora no Method. Plus the animation is very natural and crisp. I complain about the generic looking cityscape, but it stands out very sharp and straight, and lends a nice contrast to the monstery and somewhat spikey looking mecha, I have a good feel and sense for what they’ve set up so far, as it looks like the personal story behind these girls will expand to the greater story of the world around them, almost like WIXOSS and GG? I guess we’ll have to see…
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: Lovely-pyon~ with 261 comments
“Cute girls piloting kick ass mechs is the best!”…Yes, definitely IF They doing it right…and now we had it!
So Now…Where do I begin? oh yeah, The Mech battle is pretty good and, the Plot execution (at least on this first ep) is OK, i hope they keep up for that, However i fear that this may easily dismay that leads to…fail the audience! Hope i’am wrong for this…
Now, As for the Girl (Yuinshel “Yui” Asteria…Right?), I was kinda shock that she is in fact a Head of state (Empress) of a Small(?)Country, (i feel kinda pity to her parents early demise BTW), She Gonna be very careful for this cuz, she will face big troubles soon, (Remember this show), Also This Girl is much better than…This Lady, A Lot!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I’m not really seeing a connection from Yui to Angelise, but you never can tell?
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 261 comments
As for now, I think they are both born from a royal family, in different worlds that is, except the other (ange) is following the royal rule, and the other (Yui) seem to be a simple individual, Well at least for a moment…
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Those are fine on the surface, I’m just not seeing it in terms of theme or tone…
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I got confused, because initially she was piloting the mecha, and then the second time she was a visual image in the cockpit. So confusing. If she riding the loli , the loli fused with the control interface, or what?
I didn’t pick up much from the initial scenes other than there was some past where the caped mecha somehow lost the arm (if the loli is the mecha, how does that work? Physical damage is reflected how to the loli? Unless she’s actually summoning the mecha and the two are really separate beings…)
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, there is a dearth of logistics going on. But I don’t think that points to it not making any sense. Rena can “pilot the mech” by herself with little problem. But you add a qualified pilot? The whole package gets better, it opens up more controls and she achieves a new job inside the mech. Rena is the mech, she’s self aware, but can only pilot herself so much.
As for physical damage? She has a higher threshold for pain and damage? I hope we get some solid answers next time, but for now it makes a sort of tonal sense to me.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Agreed. it doesn’t really detract from the show, just makes me wonder. I’m sure we’ll get more details soon… but I like the idea of summoning more than transforming. A loli transforming mech just seems a bit weird to me.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
In Girls und Panzer tank shells only really act like tanks shells when it’s dramatically important. Weird is a frame of mind…
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I just can’t tie technology to living things. I could maybe stretch my beliefs to cyborg or something like that. But a fully functional robot to living person and back again? My weird meter doesn’t allow for such possibilities.
Like how do those mechanical bits transform into living flesh? Unless she’s really just something out of GiTS with some type of quantum magic to shrink and grow.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
A series where mechs are piloted by lolis…. Yeah, I’ve got mixed feelings about that. If not for the seemingly serious plot building beneath the surface and the appeasing mech battle, I’d have been put off by the overbearing moe element. I’ll watch a couple of more episodes to see where this goes before making a final decision.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Well if you think about this as WIXOSS with mechs maybe it will help? Then again I have no idea if you were a fan of those? I mean WIXOSS and Regalia both have LOLi-ish looking characters, but yeah I totally understand why people wouldn’t like it.
Is it going to be perfect? Probably not? It might be entertaining? I have no idea I’ve seen my fair share of terrible mechs in the past so I have no clue what this is going to do.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I followed WIXOSS purely for the Psychological aspect. The traumatic implications that come with following the conditions of playing the card game to the harsh consequences that come if a player loses along with any mind games the characters play between each other. It was never about the lolis.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Same I didn’t watch WIXOSS for the cute characters well besides Tama, but she had a interesting story and just like you I was invested in the Psychological stuff…so yeah we won’t know if Regalia will go that far until we see more episodes.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Well, this is probably another mecha series I won’t be watching. I thought the presence of the mechs and the action would balance out all the moeness, but nope!
What is it with mech shows starring girls? Cross Ange, Macross Delta, now this. Maybe it’s just that they’re not built for me. -_-
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
..this is an interesting point? Why would a female not like a girl lead mech show? I love all those shows you mentioned…
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I honestly think that many of these girl lead mech shows are geared for guys just as much as the regular mech shows, just in a different way. I have no interest in a girl’s female form or on how cute they are, in fact seeing those things pushed to the forefront so often in those series can actually be turn offs for me. I think many of the things that guys find about girls that they consider “cute” or that interest them about female, other girls are either indifferent to, annoyed by, or even pisses them off. I could care less if a girl has huge assets it’s no novelty to me. And a girl acting cute and bumbling, is annoying to me.
I couldn’t get through Cross Ange because of the T & A, and that I couldn’t stand any of the girls. I couldn’t get through Macross Delta since idol singing girls holds little interest to me (but to be fair, neither do idol singing boys either). Here, I find the loli and especially the Empress to be too annoying to follow them on a weekly basis. And I don’t think that will change much with any of the other girl pairs.
Other girls may of course feel different than me, but that’s how I see it. A female mech series, I would like one that has female lead who pretty much does the same thing as her male pilot counterpart. No acting shy and cute simply because they’re a girl, no extremely revealing outfits just to show off their bodies. I just want a normal girl that gets wrapped in an not-normal situation and becomes a mech pilot. I know that it’s a tall order for conservative Japan, but I know it’s possible.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I think the skin-tight mech-driver suit is pretty much standard no matter what your gender is. Ain’t noone getting in there with petticoats.
I do think that Rinne no Lagrange, if you haven’t tried it, is probably closest to what you say.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…that would be an awesome trope to mine. A very “straight-laced” society that has to pilot mecha to save the world (no other reason to pilot them…) and they only accept women in the role. But, the ladies’ refuse to give up on modern dress sense. So the entire ensemble is weaponize.
Put a boost in the bustle or a bustle in the boost!?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
To be fair Macross Delta has one female pilot and she doesn’t sing and she isn’t used for any kind of fanservice and in fact she is the ace/captain of her squad.
Anyway I feel you on Cross Ange that wasn’t the best mecha series either and yeah 90% of the time Ange is wearing a tight flight suit for fanservice purposes! Also later on in the series she has to get turned on while fighting to boost her power? Yeah…I didn’t care for any of that and I never ever saw her as a “strong” character unlike everyone else lol…
I do have a question what if Mika and Orga were genderbent in Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans and they didn’t change the personalities or outfits would it still work for you or not so much? I think it would work, but of course we know Gundam is very old fashioned and they wouldn’t ever have a female lead pilot which is sad! I really wish they would get with the times and try it once! They had the chance to have some female Gundam pilot with Reconguista’s Aida and Raraiya, but they screwed that up big time…
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
So the long and the short of it is: Dudes don’t like watching dudes being bumbling and dorky, and women don’t like watching women being cute and bumbling…But when there is a different gender in the watching seat, then the groove is way on? C’mon, ya’ll, you gots’ wasted opportunities here!
POWUH: iLurker with 2 comments
[…] Sora No Method. But there is quite a bit going on in the action department and that comes from Regalia: The Three Stars. So if you’ve seen even a bit of those shows, that might be why it looks familiar. Princess […]