This one came out on Netflix over the weekend so I thought I’d check it out and maybe binge a couple of episodes. Then I got to the end of episode 1 and figured I had other things to do.
Impressions:
It should be pretty obvious that it was not love at first sight for me and ID-0. It isn’t that there is anything grievously wrong with it. My few complaints are either minor nit-picks or just personal taste issues mostly relating to the main characters shrill voice, the unexciting feel of the episode, the illogical design of the system being used to transfer their consciousness into a machine and some minor issues with some of the character designs and animation. None of these are actually indications that a show deserves an instant drop and if we weren’t about to launch into a new season of anime, I probably would stick this one out a bit longer. At some point I’ll likely go back and try it again when I’m in a slightly better mood as well.
But, this episode really didn’t do much for me. Stuff happened. Young and inexperienced girl gets dragged in over her head and then abandoned by her team who are apparently selling information illegally anyway. The end result of that being that her consciousness is trapped inside the machine she was in and her body is still on the ship and she can’t get back. Um…
Didn’t the ship back up their consciousness in case the machines got broken? And the other guys’ machines were smashed to little pieces and so they just woke up? So surely somewhere in their infinite wisdom, someone programmed the thing so if it got out of range is assumed the thing was destroyed and consciouness would be returned to the body? Right? No. Apparently not. Apparently you can just get stuck in a machine and your body, without you in it, can go off elsewhere.
I’m a fantasy fan so I’m used to premise’s that have holes in them but that seems like a technology killing issue. No one would ever use it if that could happen so easily.
Anyway, they do give us some back story on the protagonist. She’s an orphan, needs a scholarship, yada, yada, yep, usual deal. Again, not bad, just not interesting to me right at this point and time.
It is amazing how each issue isn’t that big on its own but the snowball effect was that overall this episode just fell pretty flat and even though I’d set up to binge watch (had snacks and everything), I passed on this in the end.
Oh yeah, there’s like space pirates and government groups and all sorts of other issues going on. Bit of a space battle (like 1980’s style with green lasers everywhere), and then episode ends.
Thanks for reading.
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Thanks,
Karandi James.
I wasn’t a really fan of the show either so I dropped it after the first episode. I’m honestly surprised Netflix finally released it though because it’s probably the most obscure license they have picked up so far.
I honestly haven’t figured out if Netflix has a plan when it comes to anime. They seem to be very random in the titles they distribute.
As I am currently already watching five shows (something I am not used to do lol😂), I;m not adding another one. Honestly though, I have to admit I am intrigued by the story and more than a little curious. 😊 Sorry to hear it did not work for you.
It happens sometimes when you think something will be fine and then for whatever reason it just doesn’t click. This was one of those times.
If you do get around to checking it out, I’d love to know your thoughts on the episode.
Sounds like a lot of fun to me. Maybe I’ll get to it when I’m done watching Angelic Layer!
Hope you enjoy.
Sorry to hear that it didn’t work for you. I’m not that big of a fan of mechs and thought I wouldn’t like this show, only to be pleasantly surprised by the story. I would suggest giving it another try, but I can understand if this was enough to deter you from it.
I did admit I should probably go back and give this another go when I’m in a different mood. There really wasn’t anything all that bad about it, just a lot of small things that kind of annoyed and again, if I watched it later when I was in a different fram of mind they probably would be that bad (or maybe they would be).
Glad you had some fun with it.
This is really more of a series for science fiction fans than fantasy people, so nobody I’d say would probably convince you want to watch the show, but for me there was already enough interesting material for me to watch a few of the episodes in one go. Even so, I do feel like trying to address a few of your issues right now:
“Didn’t the ship back up their consciousness in case the machines got broken?”
The machine isn’t broken, is it? Therefore, it’s working as intended.
That’s why her body didn’t wake up (at least not until later in the episode, that is).
“So surely somewhere in their infinite wisdom, someone programmed the thing so if it got out of range is assumed the thing was destroyed and consciouness would be returned to the body?”
Let’s wait for a minute. If we’re going to make the assumption that such computer systems are not free from error, which sounds like what you’re implying here in order for your extrapolation to work out, then I’d also like to suggest it would be far too trigger-happy for such a system to immediately activate without a certain amount of time passing first.
In other words, I honestly don’t think there’s anything wrong with the system not immediately jumping to the conclusion that the machine is broken if it is simply out of range or facing an error. Which is why I think there’s a lot more room for both reasonable and logical leeway in this situation than you’re willing to give it credit so far.
“Apparently you can just get stuck in a machine and your body, without you in it, can go off elsewhere”
See above. That and they eventually recovered her body after the credits (the animal-like mecha did it, which is briefly addressed near the beginning of ep 2). But I get the feeling you didn’t see that scene, heh.
“No one would ever use it if that could happen so easily.”
I’d beg to differ, due to what I’ve already written above.
Given basic safety standards, I can’t imagine any machine where a possible intended side-effect of the machine working as intended is that you could get separated from your body long term would ever actually be approved for use. So if that machine is working as intended and there is no safety feature to prevent that situation from occurring, there is no way that machine should be being used as an industry standard which seemed to be the implied case. So either the machine is broken because of the storm (in which case it still lacks a sensible safety feature) or the machine is working as intended in which case why is it allowed to operate in that way.
While I appreciate that sometimes we have to suspend disbelief for fantasy or science fiction to make sense, this fundamentally doesn’t seem like it should work and the way people just accept that she’s stuck in the machine (even if it is only a temporary situation) makes it seem like it happens a lot.
Well, my point is absolutely nothing in the first episode was dealing with the long term. Not much time passed, so I think you may have jumped to conclusions too quickly. I think it does work fine this way.
Glad you enjoyed it.
I saw that on Netflix. Maybe I’ll have a go, look and see .