Synduality: Noir

I'm gonna come out and say it. This is just discount Xenoblade Chronicles 2 with a sluggish, meandering setup and a smorgasbord of tropes and character archetypes from some of the more illustrious mecha franchises crudely mashed together. I'm hard-pressed to believe that this show's story and setting was drafted by Hajime Kamoshida of Aobuta fame. That said, the aesthetics and character designs are quite easy on the eyes. But the character themselves do not get a passing grade, unfortunately. Starting off with Kanata: he's just a run-of-the-mill "got something to prove" main character who stumbles upon a macguffin that conveniently pertains to something hisdeceased parents were looking into. While I do appreciate his egalitarian outlook on humans and Magus, I can't help but feel disappointed over the lack of any other discerning quirks or traits to make him stand out. Next up is the eponymous meek Magus, Noir. As mentioned already, I love her design. Despite being featured in the title, she gets sidelined heavily in 60% of the episodes, which is a shame. Had they focused less on Drifter antics and more on the mystery surrounding her origins, it would've handily elevated this show's quality a few levels. Her status as the series' macguffin coupled with the reveal in the final episode, more manufactured drama and hot-potatoing incoming in the second cour. Okay, since this is dragging on. Here's a lightning round for the rest of the roster. Tokio - Kamina without any of the charisma Mouton - Tokio's devoted sidekick Ellie and Angie - The quintessential pinning childhood friend and her bridesmaid Micheal and Bob - Some mild comic relief, I guess? Kurokamen and Schnee - An amalgamation of the blandest parts of every Char clone and his lady-in-waiting Ciel - The badly written woman on the fence (Props to Nagisa Aoyama on the voice work and singing though. If you're a fan of J-pop like me, then Genwaku Desire and You & (A)I will catch your fancy) Claudia and Flamme - The two extremes (Of? That's for me to know, and you to find out) Alba Kuze and Ada - "Look guys! We made a mixed media project!" That about covers the notable characters. As for the plot, all it does is lay by the wayside while the cast just gets up to the most harebrained shenanigans we've already seen in hundreds of other anime. Simply put, the first cour was 70% filler and 25% plot. The build up for Kanata's coming-of-age moment shouldn't have deserved more than two-three episodes let alone an entire cour. The world building is also lacking. But there's an argument to be made here. One could say that they intended to explore the setting alongside the plot, but I've already expounded the problem with that in my aforementioned point. Ultimately, this show ends up being a listless mixed media project with a release order that does it no favours. The fact that they led with a sequel for a yet-to-be-released game and yet had the audacity to skip over establishing the setting is a very poor choice. Releasing the game first and having it do the heavy-lifting for establishing the status quo would have helped immensely, but alas it was not meant to be. The game has been delayed indefinitely as of this writing, and its release coinciding with the second cour is highly unlikely. Here's hoping the second cour gives us some answers in lieu of the game. All in all, this was a very disappointing affair, and the series is sorely undeserving of a weekly watch schedule. The best way to watch this show is to wait till all the episodes are out and binge it over a lazy weekend or two. This way, the lingering dissatisfaction and confusion won't overstay their welcome.

This is your generic and cliché trope where the MC will always try to do something for the sake of justice/good but he doesn't have the required strength to do so. His actions related heavily to his feelings, he went straight thru a dangerous situation and always ended up saved by random pedestrians. He's so gullible that you can practically sell him to a slave master, he'd straight up believe that you're giving him a harsh training and he'll overcome it eventually, sigh. Kanata as the main character had little to none character development on this first season. He shouts at people when he doesn't understandanything that is going on, he closes his eyes like a kid when he is in danger, he doesn't want to be treated as a kid yet he gives his robot the same treatment. Talk about irony eh? The only thing I've found entertaining is the 'Team Rocket' characters for this series, Range and Dolce. Both of them are made for each other to be honest. They act goofy, they clown everybody and their chemistry is perfect, it doesn't feel forced. On the other hand, the MC and his 'hardships' felt like the writer is involved on the story but gave no development to him. He was influenced by the decisions of the people around him, he seldomly makes decision to do something BY HIMSELF except performing machines' repair and maintenance. It's like watching a zombie, taking orders from everyone and when he's not, he's back to doing zombie stuff. What I meant by "the writer is involved" is, the people around the MC always initiate something to make the MC do stuff. He was 'spoon-fed' so hard, that some characters had to find a way for him to fight important figures or bosses even though he had no strength to do so. But, it's not a problem, plot armour prevails for this trope. But, I'll have to give credits where its due, props to 8bit studio for the excellent CGI and animations.

This presents a well conceived post apocalyptic world with great set pieces and environments and enough unique concepts to lay the foundation of a pretty interesting series. However, it pairs that with the most absolutely overused and boring plot one could possibly imagine for such a setting: our hero and an evil organization racing to the key to save humanity culminating in an entirely expected and boring ending. There are a few genuinely touching moments and when the setting / characters (excluding the comically one dimensional baddies) can shine it's pretty good. If you think you can tolerate the plot and associated nonsense, disappointmentand illogical plot devices, it's not a bad one-and-done sci-fi. However, I'd say most should give this a pass... where it shines other series shine brighter and without as much baggage.

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