P.A. Works has tried a lot of genres in the past, but I really didn't expect them to celebrate their 15 year anniversary with a mech-action based show, an original work too! Kuromukuro is a show about saving humanity as we know it from alien invaders in overwhelmingly powerful mechs, extremely similar in theme and plot progression to the early part of Aldnoah Zero. However, the P.A. Works character-centric touch is here in its full glory. If you're looking for a show with a bit of mech and action but is, at its core, about its characters, look no further. Kuromukuro is a fun, enjoyableride and I'm glad to report that this is another outstanding success under P.A. Works' belt.
Animation:
Though the show has good coloring and decent shading, it's a step back from previous P.A. Works titles. The setting takes place in Tateyama, only a stone's throw away from P.A. Works's real-life headquarters. Given the proximity to lush mountains and serene waters, I'd expected there to be more of a focus on the backgrounds like in Nagi no Asukara. Unfortunately, there just isn't; perhaps bowing to general industry trends, you can definitely tell that more of the backgrounds are CGI generated. Likewise, the fairly diverse group of CGI mechs isn't what I'd call pretty; someone on the team was clearly obsessed with having lots of limbs. The actual characters fare much better. I see a lot of similarity in the drawing style between this and Nagi no Asukara; the girls definitely have a touch of moe. Facial expressions are a touch above your standard show- this is pretty important considering the complex nature of our heroine.
There is a large amount of action in this show. A vast majority of it consists of mech to mech battles, luckily there isn't any particle spamming here- just melee combat with what look like gigantic, shiny vibroblades. The choreography is not bad and our protagonist's mech performs admirably in one versus many situations. Unfortunately, you can only impress so much when all the action is in 3D CGI; even the "bleeding" nanoparticles upon damage looks really fake. As with typical mech shows, expect a fair amount of blood and mass slaughtering of hapless regular soldiers. Though there is your typical bath scene, I wouldn't consider this an ecchi show.
Sound:
I likewise think that the sound package here isn't category leading. The show has two OPs and two EDs. Both OPs are by the same artist and share rock-based instrumentation and a playful feel. I don't particularly like either melody though the second one perhaps is a tad better. The first ED feels more fitting for the show, with an electro-inspired instrumentation and a decent melody. The second ED has a good melody and is rock based like the OPs. The BGM is supportive and lends well to tension at times, but doesn't have any core, repeating themes. There's just a single melody that I would consider memorable.
The VA cast, on the other hand, is very strong; there's so much power in this cast that I don't even really know where to start. Our heroine Yukina is voiced by Mao, who does a great job and at an octave higher than her roles in Bahamut and Netoge. I think Asami Seto has come a long way from her earlier roles, and her performance here as Mika definitely shows it; honestly, her acting is what made Mika the second most interesting character in the show. Obviously, our out-of-place samurai, voiced by Youhei Azakami, is the most interesting, and is well voiced despite the VA's relative inexperience. Aki Toyosaki also lends her expertise in the latter half of the show to great effect as well.
Story:
In a parallel modern world Japan, the UN has set up a research facility to study mysterious artifacts, which happens to include a mech. Our heroine, Yukina, is a rather unmotivated teen who happens to be the daughter of the UN facility chair. While on a routine visit to the facility, the world suddenly comes under attack from an unknown force. Seeing one of the artifacts glow, Yukina touches it and out pops an ancient, 18-year-old samurai (Ken) who instantly greets her as "princess". The story follows this, rather quarrelsome pair as they are forced to work together, as Ken happens to be the pilot of the artifact mech, which he calls kuromukuro.
The story follows a central plot that is told at a brisk, action-packed pace; for that reason, it feels a lot faster than Nagi no Asukara. The early part of the show reminds me of a synergy between the character elements in Inuyasha and the battle patterns in Aldnoah Zero. It's extremely enjoyable for me because Ken has to quickly adapt to modern society, and his reactions remind me of Inuyasha in the present time and Sagara Sousuke from FMP. The battles early on are rather predictable and, like A/Z, have antagonists showing up one at a time. Half way through the season, a pivotal event occurs that knocks the plot onto a different trajectory. This then builds to a very predictable climax and a rather interesting, open ended conclusion.
What's unique about this interpretation of the mech genre is the character-centric focus. Rather than focusing on the political overtones in war or exploring why we fight, it focuses instead on the relationships between the students and researchers caught in the middle of it all. It's a refreshing twist that works rather well as the character development fits well in-between the many battles. Overall, it's not nearly as deep of a story as Nagi no Asukara, but definitely feels more contiguous than the painful trek through Valvrave.
There are qualms with most shows, and this show is no exception. I definitely question some of the decision-making by protagonists and antagonists alike, and really feel like the studio has serious issues against the UN for some reason. It also doesn't help that there are some pretty strong plot shields on particular characters (think like the pilots in Valvrave) and that a fair amount of plot questions remain unanswered. However, I felt the strengths in this category far outweigh the faults.
Character:
The main cast in this show is superb. Our hero, Ken, is a brash, impulsive warrior who definitely stands out from your standard nice guy; given his historic background though he is still completely inexperienced at dealing with girls. His interactions with the initially reluctant and honestly petrified Yukina are extremely fun to watch, and their behaviors and feelings toward each other change through the show. Pay close attention to Yukina's career choices at the beginning of the show, I really liked how the show tied this to the ending.
The show has a fairly large supporting cast consisting of a group of students at Yukina's school and a subset of the research workers and pilots at the UN facility. Though there is relatively little exposition on these characters, they still contribute meaningfully to either the plot or the main characters' development. I also appreciated how many of these supporting characters had a good deal of depth in personality; Mika and Yukina's sister Koharu are great examples. However, I do feel that a few of the other supporting characters were a bit on the superfluous side, such as the fearless student who was obsessed with streaming everything that was happening. The antagonists were also mostly unexplored, pretty similar overall to those early on in Aldnoah Zero.
Overall, I found this show to have a great amount of character development, good balance of character chemistry, and just enough of a hint of romance to keep me happy, especially considering the amount of screen time dedicated to action sequences.
Value:
Dynamic characters and good character designs/animation aren't usually the main selling points of a mech show. However, these P.A. Works hallmarks shine through in this show. Kuromukuro combines these with an original, contiguous story that is well-executed albeit still partially unexplored. There is some re-watch value as well as there are some foreshadows that could easily have been overlooked in an initial viewing. If you enjoyed previous P.A. titles or liked shows like FMP or Inuyasha, this should be an entertaining watch. If you're looking for a more traditional mech show with politics or inspiration for your next model kit, look elsewhere. While I won't consider this an absolute masterpiece, it was a greatly enjoyable watch and definitely worthy of the P.A. Works name.
LeLegendAqua
October 1, 2016
Recommended
Kuromukuro was one of LA's most indecisive animes of Spring & Summer 2016 as LA really didn't know whether it was good or not?, well did it succeed in winning LA over or did it crash and burn?...let's find out. For what a premise is given to us, Kuromukuro at a glance is essentially Neon Genesis Evangelion with it's "invading aliens", a main female protagonist named Yukina Shirahane voiced by Mao Ichimichi who is reluctant to pilot the "Black Relic" as "support" and a boisterous amnesiac mysterious Kennosuke "Ken" Ouma voiced by Youhei Azakami who's the main pilot for the "Black Relic" and having to fightalien robots trying to invade for unknown reasons, Kennosuke also goes through knowing how the modern age works due to his samurai-era like ways getting him A LOT of attention as well as troubles that goes along with it......yeah feels like Neon Genesis Evangelion just in a slightly lighter tone doesn't it?. Well for that LA can say that the notion of this being an Neon Genesis Evangelion clone is a farce as it has it's own identity and own plot that strays away from being a clone of NGE quite quickly.
In terms of mystery, there are several, like who Kennosuke really is, who are the invading alien robots and what does it have to do with the United Nations Kurobe Research Institute, what link does Yukina have with the Black Relic?. These questions for the majority are ALL answered thankfully the the end of the anime. This intrigue really was what kept LA from watching it to the end. These mysteries more or less justifiable as the plot progresses and it makes the world building of what the Black Relic and the invading aliens "Efidolg" motivations *cough* world domination *cough* typical *cough* and the plot twists do get explained MOST of the time.
In terms of characters, we do have our stereotypical mecha pilots from again the "kill all demons" Kennosuke to the reluctant "don't wanna kill" Yukina, to the deadpanned "do your job" Sophie Noelle voiced by Reina Ueda and her butler Toshiyuki "Sebastian" Mozumi voiced by Taiten Kusunoki and finally the foul-mouthed "RECKT YOUR SHIT" Tom Borden voiced by Ryouhei Kimura as well as all the bridge bunnies and commanders of the mech fleet of Kurobe Dam. On the school side of things is where things get rather tame, from the love interest of Yukina, Ryouto Akagi voiced by Kaito Ishikawa to Yukina's best friend cosplayer Mika Ogino voiced by Asami Seto, the butt monkey José Carlos Takasuka voiced by Shuusuke Takeuchi and of course the weirdest character Jundai Kayahara voiced by Yuusuke Kobayashi who always have a camera with him and records EVERYTHING, just LA or is Jundai the manifestation of the modern age considering his "record all AND NOTHING BUT THAT" mentality. Really due to this wide and expansive cast, you'll think the development is slim, well actually it's not, for the majority of the character development, it's really touches upon most of the character motivations for the future and how something like the alien invasion can put a stop to all that, really be it Ryouto wanting to tell his feelings to Yukina, to Kennosuke's fate and then after to what Yukina wants to do (before or after she was linked with the Black Relic), Kuromukuro's characters really develops this huge cast quite nicely. LA's favourite character?...Sophie Noelle, why?...she's one of the more intellectual characters in the anime as well as one of the professional mecha pilots and her moment in the spotlight arrives MANY times outside or in battle. She really is the ACE IN THE HOLE of the anime. LA also had the soft spot for the shy ditzy teacher Marina Unami voiced by Manami Sugihira during the early episodes when Kennosuke and Yukina were a bit more grating together than usual.
Yes on speaking of which, Kuromukuro does go into a rather vague romantic subplot, with a sorta love triangle formed with Kennosuke, Ryouta and Yukina and if you want to know LA's opinion of the romance, LA was pretty much sticking to Kennosuke x Yukina it was kinda obvious where this was gonna lead to. As for how LA actually thought about the romance, well that love triangle was predictable to say the least, but LA was more or less worried about Muetta voiced by Aki Toyosaki (Spoilers on this character so won't say much), Kennosuke and Yukina due to the complicated circumstance of this "romance" it was hard to pinpoint as well as erratic considering the situation this love triangle was in at the time. The romance is a more of an after thought as there are more pressing issues such as the invading mech army and their motivations, but LA can see why the romance element was there.
There are a few pacing issues here and there, but considering the various of genres it's under of sci-fi, action, mecha and later on mystery and romance, it's pacing is rather inconsistent, it's not until the halfway point, it really changes focus on it's main storyline and that's where it really starts getting into the nitty gritty, however because of this, the pacing is STILL inconsistent but in a good way (as in it finally gets into the details and focuses on the main storyline and it takes it's time with it with it's add slice of life "character developments" but yeah that goes around being "inconsistent" most of the time)
In terms of animation, expected of PA. Works to have the great detail in backgrounding once again, the character designs can get janky at times but that was really rare most of the times. Yes, LA needs to point out that the CGI on the robots are blatant most of the time, but NOT all the mech's are like this and more or less integrated them quite well on occasion. Really due to the varying and unique mech designs it also constituted the mech battles to be even more action-packed and fluid battles due to how PA Works integrated the CGI and traditional animation together and add in Yukina's tactical strategies and you have some very nice mech battles. CGI was used modestly to say the best and they just didn't put CGI whenever they could. Overall PA Works did great on the animation...which was expected.
In terms of voice acting, it was decent for the most part, keeping most of the characters personalities in check. Youhei Azakami was great as the boisterous Kennosuke as well as Ryohei Kimura as the foul-mouthed Tom Borden. LA's favourite voice actor?...Mao Ichimichi, yes Mao certainly got grating in the early episodes (what with her whining and her butting heads with Kennosuke), but further down the plot, her focus and development both as a character and relationship-wise really gave Mao A LOT more material. Second would go to Reina Ueda for Sophie, because Sophie was a badass through and through.
The plot twists given to Kuromukuro were rather unexpected to say the least and Kuromukuro really didn't give much hints to most of the mysteries LA said and the plot really likes to keep tightlipped about it. The plot twists does make Kuromukuro really ramp it up the tension especially during the latter half however one plot twist does feel like it went rather into an anti-climax which led it down the finale with some of the cliches to go with went to. Now for LA, LA kinda got the reasoning why, but LA still kinda saw the cliches bumping into LA distracting LA at the same time. On speaking of the ending...
The ending was left rather open ended with no definitive ending and LA was expecting this as considering the circumstances, LA can see why it was left open ended. The ending did have a rather good "final battle" in a ways and once again really holds onto the "future" themes that was lingering around through the meat and buildup to the finale of this ending. The "epilogue" with it's timeskip was also a great addition to it and seeing these characters somewhat grownup and seeing what happened to them was pretty good. Whatever reasoning as to this open ended ending...LA was still satisfied, not only because LA saw that this ending couldn't push all these loose plot threads all into the finale, but the ambiguity really hones in the "look to the future" theme and it was still a good ending nonetheless.
So, Kuromukuro...was it a bad or good anime?, well with what LA talked about with it's technicals, LA thinks the devil is in the details as just talking about technicals isn't enough to see how good Kuromukuro turned out to be, sure it had problems in it's early episodes but by the end of this anime as well as it's inconsistent pacing and for an original anime done by PA.Works and this anime being it's 15th Anniversary production, Kuromukuro did itself justice from it's intriguing mysteries, unique wacky characters and PA Works typically beautiful animation. LA really couldn't pin down if Kuromukuro was good or bad not until Episode TWENTY, there is a reason LA said it was LA's most indecisive anime of Spring & Summer 2016 but overall on LA's verdict, Kuromukuro did good, not great but still you did good nonetheless.
HiHinata-chi
October 1, 2016
Recommended
--- THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS --- Note (before review) : I wasn't expecting much from this series as I began watching it at the time of it's airing (Spring 2016) because it started off with some cliche aspects. But lemme say this, I'm glad I took a chance and continued to watch it each week while it was airing as the story started developing, my lack of enjoyment for it increased to a level ofappreciation for this series.
Kuromukuro may not be most original idea as it involves a character from a different time period being awakened to a more modern time period to his own. In this case a Samurai named "Kennosuke Tokisada Ouma", from the Sengoku Period waking up in the United Nations Kurobe Research Institute, summer of 2016 to save a Kawaii girl named Yukina Shirahane, who happens to look like his princess who he failed to save during his time period from the Demons, his enemy from his time period. The Demons turn out to be back this time around, and it gives him the reason to live in this time period to fight for revenge for his Princess, even if it costs him his life. During his time in this world it was pretty amusing seeing him not know much about this time period at which he is currently now part of, mixed with Mecha fights against the Demons known as the "Efidolg" to protect Earth. The Efidolg have a goal and may not be what you had expected them to be, which you will find out if you watch this series. It was pretty interesting that he fought alongside with his Princess in a Mecha against the Efidolg during Sengoku time period, & now once more doing the same thing, in this new time period with a new partner, a girl who looks like his Princess. Lots of the characters in a series usually means a lot of characters that barely contributed to an anime but in this case, no so much. Even the Camera Boy Jundai has his purposes in this anime even if it's minor but still, I guess useful for this anime's development. I have no hate for any characters and like most of them. Personally I had a lot of excitement watching the fights in this anime, as well as the romance in this anime. Overall I enjoyed shipping characters with each other along the way as I love romance stuff in anime. The soundtracks in this anime were pretty good and I actually listened to the openings fully while watching this anime series, each episode. The art was perfect for this series but the art for the Mechas were not anything special compared to most Mecha anime. Thanks for taking the time to read this review and I hope you guys who are planning to watch this series, do so and enjoy it just as much, or better as I did. Again, I left a lot of details out such as a lot of stuff involving Yukina & etc to not spoil you guys.
