Vividred Operation

I've been a fan of Strike Witches so when Vividred Operation was announced, I was pretty excited. After all, this series is about saving the world without pants once again. In fact, the world that this series takes place in doesn't seem so ominous. As a matter of fact, Vividred Operation looks like one of those paradise worlds from the future and one that I would definitely want to live in. It looks like a paradise, it has some features of a paradise, and maybe it is a paradise. Rather though, I gave this series a shot and what I discovered it was from farit. Vividred Operation is original anime series produced by A-1 pictures and handled by Kazuhiro Takamura, the same director involved with Strike Witches. Thus, expect some of the similar character designs and themes presented here. Among those themes include friendship which ties the main characters together. However, Vividred Operation doesn't pull everything together right and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Like its predecessor, Vividred Opreation takes the skies once again with its style of saving the world against unknown alien forces. From the surface though, the series looks clean and peaceful. In fact, it seems that the world is at peace, with a lack of global warming, and has advanced technology beyond our times. It definitely looks like a paradise. Set in Oshima, a powerful piece of technology known as the Manifestation Engine has made all of that possible. However, there's a problem now and they're threatening humanity: The Alones. The series involves a group of young girls that relies on battling the Alones and saving the world. With a little motivation and desire to protect what they cherish, the young girls of the series wishes to protect Oshima and the world that they reside in. It's a fairly simple and overused theme in many series. As a matter of fact, the same theme is present in Strike Witches, Senki Zesshou Symphogear, Freezing, etc where normal girls gains powers and abilities. For the girls though, they are tied together by a strong bond known as friendship. The girls are united by friendship and whether you believe it or not, it is one of the keys to prevent the destruction of their world. With science and a little genius behind the works, it must just seem so. At least so, that's what it looks like. The new enemy known as the Alone makes their presence well known by causing mass destruction with seemingly no purpose at first. Rather though, they are likely after the polar opposite of what the people living in Oshima wants: war. In fact, their attack on the Manifestation Engine proves this as even in the pilot episode, the Alone are single-mindingly bend on spreading their terror. It certainly kills that laid-back atmosphere and turns the series into more of a dramatic battlefield. It's something that almost no one wants in their world especially Akane, a friendly and outgoing girl. From the surface, Akane seems like a normal, outgoing, and cute little girl. Her love for tomatoes seems to symbolize her happy personality and with that, she is easily able to get along with others. It's often shown where she cruises around the city on her scooter and joyfully enjoying the atmosphere of what the Manifestation Engine has bought to their world. Well, that was before the Alone made their grand entrances. And as things are present, Akane vows to put an end to this destruction especially after an event in the beginning that even involves her own family. Luckily though, Akane doesn't seem to be alone. With her is Aoi Futaba, Akane's best friend who has came back to the peaceful city. Like Akane, Futaba presents herself as a a friendly girl who is helpful and caring to those around her. Despite her poor health, she has a strong heart and believes what needs to be protected in their world. On the other hand, there is Wakaba Saegusa, the captain of New Oshima Academy's Female Kendo Club as well as being a pro at kendo. She is also the president of her class and is highly respected among her peers. Finally, last but not least, there's Himawari Shinomiya who although lacks the brawns makes it up with her brilliance in technology. These four girls makes up the team and what humanity has hope for. Outside of that cast though is a girl named Rei Kuroki. Her presence in the series is seen as more of a mystery because of her actions. Seemingly strange enough, Akane treats her as a friend but her actions tells much more of a different story. In fact, her actions is malevolent and considered a threat to society. Furthermore, it seems that she doesn't like society herself judging by the fondness of animals rather than with people. The "Alone" themselves may be a symbol of what she stands for because Rei always seems so alone, even though she has people who truly wants to be her friend. Talk about being the anti-Akane here. Now, let's get to the action part because what else are those cool gear and gadgets used for? Of course, if you're thinking to kick some Alone butt, then that's the right answer. The action presented in Vividred Operation is somewhat entertaining but at times, just seems too cliched. It gets crazy at times too when the girls does spectacular aerial displays despite never ever having prior military experience. Even Aoi Futaba who is seen as physically weak pulls out the stops wit her jet catching and battle sequences. When did these girls get so talented? Among other things involving the battles are teamwork that is literally presented when they fuse together to bring out a stronger entity. Oh it's flashy but at many times, it just seems too forced. Furthermore, let's not forget about the outfits the girls are wearing. The way the young girls are dressed become a joke with the flashy outfits and transformations. It's like taking the 'let's save the world theme' and give it a more visual touch of crotches and ass. On the other hand, the Alones are designed with the typical science fiction trope. They have strange shapes, strange attacks styles, and most of all, a strange mystery of their background with their origins. Well, at least they give off that science fiction feel. I mean, just look at them standing some hundred feet tall and roaming around not giving care about what happens to the peaceful world. They seemingly declare war on humanity and brings that feeling of terror to the people in Oshima as well as the rest of the world. As mentioned before, friendship becomes a symbol and a major source of the girls' power. In fact, it is what ties them together in states of crisis (especially so in later episodes). Unfortunately, the deeper dynamics of their friendship is an unexplored territory. As a matter of fact, there is a lack of real development between the characters. It could of done so in one of the first few episodes but the producers instead throws in one of those fun/fillerish beach episode to give fans service. It just doesn't work out right and makes the friendship theme more weaker than it should be. Furthermore, the character of Rei becomes the antithesis of friendship in this series. She seemingly has no real friends but rather a mysterious being that she often has conversations with. These conversations are also not very pleasant and among other things, she seems to have a dark past. Additionally, the potential friendship she has with Akane gets killed in a single episode. This lack of development destroys the mood of the series and makes it seem as if Rei is even worse than the Alone themselves. Despite this though, I do find the series to be entertaining and cute at various instances. Most of this comes from Akane's cheerful mood and that energetic personality of hers. She is one of those girls where it's almost impossible for anyone to hate her. Besides her strong bond with her friends, she wishes to protect the world and an everlasting peace. She views Alone as a factor that stands in the way of this and something of an abomination to what she believes in. Visually, the series is pleasant and A-1 pictures did their jobs right here. The sun reflects a cheerful atmosphere like a paradise across Oshima. The series also makes the usage of some of the technology through CGI to give the Alone their science fiction trope. However, at times, it lacks any real favor but rather fits into a more category of the 'alien design department'. Additionally, some of the designs of the Alone looks similar to Strike Witches although it doesn't come as a surprise given Kazuhiro Takamura's involvement in the series. And of course, who can forget about those outfits the characters wear? In terms of music/soundtrack presentation, the series seems alright but becomes crispy at many instances. With 5 different ED songs, the series gives every character a chance for spotlight. However, the soundtrack is just medicore and nothing particularly stands out. The background music is typical and although the seiyu does their work right, I just feel like nothing really particularly stood out more than the others. Overall, I found Vividred Operation to be a series of fun and entertaining but becomes frustrating to watch as the episodes passed on. The seemingly lack of story and weak character development/relationships makes watching the series feels like a chore. Additionally, some of the fan service are distracting and the Alone themselves seems to have no motivation rather than seeking endless destruction; their designs are also generic and doesn't stand out too much from my perspective. It serves just as a device to bring out the 'save the world theme' with no regards to making any lesson of morality. Ultimately, this show is more of a way to pass time for me, but it did have some of its fun moments. After all, who ever said you need pants to save the world.

L-lewd! Vividred Operation has become the butt of a lot of jokes since it aired. In a manner not dissimilar to its spiritual predecessor, Strike Witches, this anime has been dismissed as bottom-of-the-barrel pandering trash, an asinine attempt to cash in on the sexual obsessions of those gross otaku. This seems terribly unfair to me. What ought to be taken into account is how well Vividred Operation succeeds on its own terms when you more closely examine the contours of its plot and characters. It's unreasonable to hold Vividred responsible for not following conventions that it had no intent to follow in the first place. Vividred Operationis well produced. The visuals are soft, round and pleasing to the eye, and the animation has the glutes to pull off well-choreographed fight scenes. For a show with such a half-assed premise (a quasi-magical girl spin on the moe militarism trend in which middle school girls use powerful technology to fight giant enemies called Alones) and obvious use of stock characters (you'll peg Kuroki as the Fate/Homura of the show instantly), there's no expense spared on making the visuals nice and meaty. The music is dull but functional. The main characters are cute moe archetypes who are characterized solidly enough for the purposes of the show. Their individual arcs are predictable but they're nonetheless consistent—well rounded and fleshed-out quite sufficiently. Of course, the hungry gaze of the otaku is omnipresent, pupils dilating as Akane squirts mayonnaise all over her food. My major hump with this show is that while it succeeds completely in achieving what it so clearly set out to do, there's only so much value in that. If short shorts and explosions were the highest of high art, this would be a 10.

I was going to write an introduction to slowly draw the reader in, and compel them to read my review. It was going to be full of evocative language and rhetorical flourishes. But you know what? This is going to be crazy long as it is. Let's just get started. STORY: Awful plotting, awful continuity, and awful character motivations. Yeah. That about sums it up. Vividred Operation is a decent series. It's about a young girl who, one day through strange happenstance, stumbles upon a threat that could wreak chaos upon the Earth, and takes up arms against a threat from another world. Oh, sorry. That's MagicalGirl Lyrical Nanoha. Let me try again. Vividred Operation isn't a bad show. It's about a few young girls who team up to become magical girls. However, the show is less about the plot itself, as it is about the relationships between the characters. Despite its flaws, it manages to be a memorable show with some solid characterization and interesting twists on the magical-girl formula throughout. Oh, sorry. That's Puella Magi Madoka Magica. One more time. The problem with Vividred Operation is that it doesn't really try to do much that was new. It doesn't try to put a spin on tired material. It doesn't... try to do much of anything. The story is just a mish-mash of tried tropes tossed into a blender by some uncreative writers that thought that whole silly "writing a creative story" nonsense would simply get in the way of their panty shots. The amount of continuity glitches, plot holes, and ignorance of base human psychology run rampant. Characters know things they could only know through reading the script. The show's "science" is more or less a bunch of gobby-gook that the writers make up on the spot. The show doesn't bother to even try to keep its own continuity straight! Yes, yes. I know the plot is goofy. I know that I'm probably not supposed to take it seriously. That's no excuse to not try. The show isn't even popcorn-movie level entertaining, because of the rampant continuity glitches and illogical and incoherent character behavior. It distracts you and pulls you out of the story even IF you're trying to do nothing but have a good time! CHARACTERS: Oh, hey! Let's chat about the characters! They existed. Aside from Kuroki Rei, I'd say that we already have a solid candidate for the most boring cast of 2013. I don't know what to say about most of Vividred Operation's cast. I thought about comparing them to cardboard cutouts, but then I realized exactly how cruel that was to cardboard cutouts. Here's your typical Vividred Character: They have a name. They have one or two defining character traits. In essence, that makes up their entire identity as a fictional being. But what about character development? Nah. Almost all of them go through a minimal character arc, and really... don't do that much. The story really tries to make it look like the cast is developing, they really do. But we don't see it. The characters seem to go through experiences that should change their attitude towards other members of the cast, and then this is mostly disregarded and almost never talked about again. There is little self-reflection, and almost none of the characters even bother having any kind memorable backstory. Notice that I kept using qualifiers. There is a single character of interest: Rei Kuroki. She's a dark magical girl (Well, Dark Sufficiently-Advanced-Technology Girl), who is working with the Alone and their mysterious benefactors for reasons unknown to the viewer. She's actually a rather compelling character- she has an interesting personality, she pretty much steals every scene that she's in, and when you learn her motivations, they actually make some degree of sense. (Okay, that's partially because she's a blatant rip-off of Fate from Nanoha. But I'll take what I can get.) The villians are rather stock with unimpression motivations. There's really no reason to watch the entire show just to learn exactly why the Alone are coming to Earth: it isn't a plot twist of mind-bending proportions. So congratulations Vividred. You managed to have one memorable character. In the long run? Doesn't amount to much. Art: Looks pretty, but ruined by the blatant fanservice. The animation is smooth, the character designs are decent (although several of the characters are colored such that they look like they're blushing half the time, which annoyed me), and the backgrounds are fantastically done. The show definitely does look pretty. So why did this get such a low score? Because of the blatant fanservice shots. And are there plenty of blatant fanservice shots. The amount of fanservice in the show is simply obscene, and in the end there is no excuse for it. Sound: Opening and Ending are pretty meh. Maaya Uchida is pretty much the only voice actress that even tries, and the sound is overall rather bland. Really, there isn't much to say about the music in Vividred Operation. It's... okay? I guess? It's nothing particularly special, and rather easy to tune out. The opening theme and end theme aren't bad, but they're pretty generic, as far as openings and endings are concerned. Nothing separates them from the hundreds of competing OPs and EDs out there. The seiyuu performances are... acceptable. They certainly are voices, and there certainly is acting, but pretty much none of them even try to go beyond their comfort zone and add personality to their performance. The except is Maaya Uchida, who voices Rei. She really does try to add some nuance to Rei's character, and you can tell that she's putting the effort in. It definitely adds to the show, and is probably a key part of what makes Rei a compelling character. It's just a shame her talent is wasted on this show. So... what have we learned?: Vividred Operation is a mess. Bad characterization, poor plotting, blatant pandering, and just poorly thought out on every level. There are plenty of shows that do exactly what Vividred tries to do, and do it better.

Watching this anime was painful in so many different ways, it's not all bad though so I'll try my best not to bash it too much... STORY: The story....this anime is one drawn out lesson of friendship conquers all, so basically expect the basic magical girl formula but with technology and aliens thrown in. The story is so irrelevant that if you watch the episodes where the girls join you could skip to the end and still be able to follow the story. Basically it's power rangers meets the powerpuff girls except less awesome than that sounds and more likely to make you hate your computer/TV screen. ART: The art is pretty good, the designs for the alone particularly the speaker's final form and the girls' docking transformations were awesome; it has that bright slice of life kind of feel the CG was amazing SOUND: The sound was pretty much average the opening and ending themes are nothing memorable and the voice actors do their jobs, nothing more, nothing less the background music does a good job of staying in the background. CHARACTER: I have never hated a group of characters as much as the ones in this anime,the girls are all pallete swaps of each other with one or two character quirks added that attempt to make friends with anything on two legs that they come across. Every single character is an underdeveloped cliché cardboard cutout. The most interesting character was the villain of the series who in my opinion was too good for such a weak show. ENJOYMENT: There was no joy here only suffering, I fell asleep more times than I could count and developed a newfound respect for the deep characterization and story telling that is power rangers, this show finally made me question my commitment to finish whatever I start and when I found I still had 7 episodes to go I came as close to existential despair as I ever have. OVERALL: I'm not exactly sure who this anime is for, the bright colors and non-existent story tell me it's for 10 year old girls maybe but the little girl swallowing, universe breaking entity at the end says otherwise, I'm sure somebody in some dark remote corner of the universe will watch this and like it but unless you want to keep being beaten over the head with "friendship conquers all" for 12 episodes watch something else, hell the bad guys are even called the alone so yeah it was pretty bad P.S: The so called ass-centric ecchi scenes aren't worth it

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