First Impressions – ID-0
Gatchaman in space or more like Mecha Moretsu Pirates?
This season has some serious slim pickings when it comes to mecha anime so I hope this is enough to hold me over since Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans ended, but I have a feeling that nobody is actually going to watch this full CG anime or even attempt to give it a shot.
CG ftw?
Yo! It’s ya boi Rick Ayer!
When it comes to these full 3D CG series you either love them or wish they would die in a fire, but they are on the rise even though we get like what one or two every other season? And for the most part if you ignore the odd animation choice they have some interesting stories! Like we got with Knights of Sidonia and yes even Arpeggio which i hated originally, but I eventually warmed up to it after re-watching the series and the two movies. As for the current season besides ID-0 we’ve got Seikaisuru Kado from Toei which is another full CG series with some bits of normal 2D animation here and there. Getting back to ID-0 it’s coming to us from SANZIGEN who worked on a few CG series making them the go to studio for these kinds of series along with Polygon Pictures, but I know not all of them are great! Black★Rock Shooter (mostly the BRS fights), Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova, Bubuki Buranki and 009 Re:Cyborg to name just a few. Aside from animation Taniguchi Gorou is directing and he has a somewhat good track record for mecha working on stuff like Code Geass, Active Raid, Gun x Sword, G Gundam, Gundam Wing and Mugen no Ryvius; however I think this is going to be more of a Planetes type of series which he also worked on given the fact that ID-0 is going to be all about doing space stuff and not traditional mecha on mecha fighting? That could change of course. Character design is from Katou Hiromi when I originally thought they were done by Horiuchi Osamu who did Last Exile because Maya looks so much like Fam Fan Fan and Lavie Head or maybe it’s just me? Anyway enough with the boring details.
FK YA SPACEEEEEE!
Yep look at all that amazing SPACE!
So what are we doing in space?! We’re digging for giant red space rocks called Orichalt which is used for the warp drives in ships allowing them to Miguel Jump which appears to be an odd combination of warping and teleportation. That also explains kind of why that red ore is so valuable or is it? We did discover during episode two when Ido and Maya touched it directly their mind were flooded with random memories and at the end a loli aka Nazo no Shoujo appeared coming out of the huge chunk of Orichalt! So what’s the deal with the red ore? Are they collections of memories? People that died in space? Then again everyone on the pirates ship was shocked by this so I assume this is the first time any of them have seen this happen? Whatever the case I can’t wait to find out more.
I love the use of scale in these shots! Damn I-machines are HUGE!
Now this does have mecha in this series called I-machines and I loved the unique twist on them instead of the traditional pilot getting into the mech you basically “become” the I-machine by connecting your mind directly to them via the Mind Trace System. And don’t worry your mind is saved on a backup hard drive! Which is totally safe right? Suuuuuuure! Anyway why would you even want to this? Basically for work purposes? Why hurt your fragile human body when you can simply use a I-machine to do some of the harder jobs like construction or mining in space. It would make those kinds of jobs a hell of a lot easier and prevents workers deaths or getting injured on the job, but there are obvious dangers in using the Mind Trace System like we saw with Maya not being able to connect to her body! Your mind is basically stuck inside the I-machine. That concept of connecting your mind directly to the I-machine had me curious! Well mostly the part about not being able to connect back to your original body.
Welp I hope you remembered to save your progress Maya.
Thankfully in episode two that idea was brought up even though it was beaten into us with Maya asking Ido to jump back into his body and abandon the I-machine because it was heavily damaged. I think we all knew his answer was going to be “I can’t because I lost my original body.” but I wasn’t expecting his answer though! He said gave his body up because he’s a Evertrancer? I can only guess it’s a group of people that would rather live as I-machines forever and not as humans anymore? That is interesting and I think that applies to the rest of the pirates or some of them? At least in their virtual meeting room we know Ido and Rick and the pink cat or dog aka Fa-loser have robot avatars while Maya, Grayman, Clair and Karla have human avatars; however like I said maybe all the pirates minus Clair and Maya.
Extra Space
Love these two <3
I mean who really needs to wear clothes in space? Certainly not Maya.
Surprise space LOLi was unexpected! I thought she was the real body of Fa-Loser.
Dat warp drive crystal is coooooool.
I think all those headstones are backups for humans using the Mind Trace System
I need moar Clair~
End Thoughts
So far I think ID-0 is doing a good job of setting things up for Maya and the space pirates and tossing in an interesting twist on how the mechs work, but story wise it needs more time to give us the real “plot” of the series unless they are going with a Moretsu Pirates kind of story where we get wacky space adventures with some real plot thrown in here and there. Besides that I liked how Maya got roped into being a pirate due to needing money and the fact that she is now a wanted criminal? At least she can finally put her Astrogeology skills to use. The only real issue I had with these two episodes was how dumb Maya was and how she complains about every little thing the ENTIRE TIME?! Yeah I know it’s her first time in space so everything is scary and she has to live with complete strangers who happen to be pirates, but of course I know when dealing with dumb characters it’s going to take time for them to develop and adapt to their new life. So are you going to watch this or would you rather not? To be honest I really need my mecha fix for the season so ill be watching! Also it helps that Hisako Kanemoto who I love a lot voices Clair and she was also Atra from Gundam Iron Blood orphans so yeah I have to watch this! Oh and apparently Ari Ozawa who I also love hearing voices Fa-loser so good job playing the trapped in a giant freaking robot animal character I guess? Ah well somebody has to do that role.
About Foshizzel
Is huge anime fan from Florida! who loves to watch anime and also enjoys drawing and collecting pictures, my favorite genre of anime has to be Mecha, there is just something awesome about giant robots beating the crap out of each other! Other than that type of show, I love a good comedy or action series :D
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
I really like this one, and I hope you can get to it week to week, as it’s great to keep up with one that has so many great moving parts.
Space Pirate Robot Miners with Fleshy Human Meat Bodies/Ghosts Thingies!
When they brought up Orichalt, I thought of orichalcum. It was like the special metal that Plato though gave the Atlantean’s super science and stuff. But as it turns out it was just a really good alloy of bronze, which was the metal they used for shield and weapons and things. It’s funny, with Celtic myth you get “Cold Iron” which is really just steel. Back in those days Iron and Bronze were really soft, and could only be used as weapons before they got warped and had to be forged back into shape; something you cannot do when your in a battle! So any other culture that made better than you must have had SUPER TECHNOLOGY!
So today, we have fantasy stories or sci-fi that assumes the same thing. So I wonder if they’re going to connect the Gates the Storms and the Orichalt to Ancient Atlantis! Or somthing odd. That graveyard and that dudes cathedral like office make me think some religious or mythic overtones.
But anyway, that was a great show. It has all the stuff you need for adventure. Maya is pretty easy to like, and even if the pirates are pretty darn tropey, they’re an easy to get along with tropey,right?
Oh, and surprise LOLi!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I’m going to have to correct your view on bronze weapons. An alloy of about 10% tin makes very good weapons, hard and tough. The same alloy has been used to make cannon, which of course subject the metal to considerable stress when fired.
However, you are right about early iron weapons. For at least their first few centuries a good bronze sword would chew up a good (for its time) iron sword. This has been proven experimentally, at least once. The BBC made a documentary on an iron sword versus a bronze one. To make the swords they got an iron worker skilled in making reproductions of early iron weapons to make the iron sword. For the bronze one they got a worker skilled in making reproductions of Bronze Age weapons. Both of them warned the filmmakers what would happen. The bronze sword chewed up the iron one.
A bit about me so you know I’m not just some online know-it-all. I belong to an online forum dedicated to the Bronze Age, including making reproductions with a heavy emphasis on weapons. I also know through Facebook (and a few exchanges outside it) an archaeologist, Dr. Barry Molloy, who specializes in the Bronze Age and wrote his doctorial thesis on bronze age weapons, including making reproductions and testing them.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
…if it’s something I’ve shown some ignorance via some earlier curiosity I learned, then I’m happy to be corrected.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
You’re far from the only one thinking that about bronze weapons, including professional archaeologists until some of them started making and testing reproductions. Not a surprising view when you consider that when a 3,000 year old weapon is dug up it’s in rather fragile condition.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
This is true, but then I was painting in a broad narrative swath about a different subject, right?
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Right. But I couldn’t help but chime in on the fact that bronze weapons were actually good.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Oh, I completely understand.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Of course, the proper steel alloy will make a better sword than bronze.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah the scifi elements are really strong with this so far and I like the use of mechs even though i’m sure this isn’t the first time we’ve seen the use of connecting minds to robots but hey its cool for me!
Right the Orichalt on paper definitely screams “fantasy magic rocks” which adds a bit of supernatural element to this series and the surprise appearance of that LOLi? That part and I want to know why Ido became an evertrancer? Because in a way I could see people thinking of being a I-machine forever is a type of immortality which imo is more of a fantasy idea even though scifi toys with that idea in their own ways.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Well I guess the thing is, being an I-machine forever, is that you’re raised in a meat body with a meat mind. So unless the transfer of consciousness could somehow edit that out the “meat memories” more or less permanently? That might make some people batty! You’ve heard of phantom limb? What about your whole body?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah I suppose so but from the way Ido talks about being an Evertrancer hes become more coldhearted and maybe he had a frail body so the choice was easy or he was dying and had no choice to fully become an I-machine? Who knows we shall see and yeah I’ve heard of phantom limb, but for your whole body sounds terrible.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I’m not a fan of the CG on this show. However, I am a sucker for space opera so unless the story jumps the tracks I’m on board.
I don’t find anything wrong with Maya’s character so far. Considering her world’s been turned upside down, she’s been thrown in with a group of skeevy seeming strangers and she’s just found she’s been labeled a criminal by a man she trusted and admired, and he took credit for her work, it’s not at all surprising she’s been whining about her situation. However, if she doesn’t grow out of it soon I’ll be very annoyed with her character.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I think the CG will be a hard sell for this series, but I guess since I saw both seasons of Bubuki Buranki I’ve gotten used to this kind of series? Or you got people that don’t really care what a series looks like as long as the story is interesting enough to keep them coming back for more.
Yeah Maya has been dealt a crappy hand that her mentor sold her out and tried to have her killed so I can somewhat forgive her complaints and yeah hopefully she does change for the better.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Bad animation is always going to be hard on the eyes, but a good story and characters make it easier on. So far I like the tone of this show just fine, so the CGI is fading in just fine as well. Bubuki was just harsh on story for me, so I guess stuff stuck out and looked horrible at times? I guess! It’s an art not a science!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Spammy ate my comment on the show itself.