Kurogane no Linebarrels

Alright, this anime finished recently, and I have to say I actually was anticipating for the last episode. In brief I'll just say, I was on the verge of rage-quitting this anime after the first 3 episodes - and if it wasn't because I started late (so that I didn't have to wait in between weeks) I probably would have dropped this anime. This is why I gave character the lowest scores, because the main character really annoyed me at first. But despite that, I pulled through and the anime really is good. I'm not a Mecha-anime fan, other than Full Metal Panic! I normally don't watch Mecha-anime (Ihaven't seen one episode of Gundam before). So despite that, it really was good and kept me looking forward to each week. Although it's not GONZO's best work, the story was well done, and the art was brilliant - especially on High Resolution! Loved the use of the music in key points. So overall, it's definitely something to watch I reckon :) Just fight the first 3 episodes!

Need a demonstration of the power a main character wields over a series? Watch Linebarrels. Kouichi is a vicious, self-absorbed prick with delusions of grandeur and nary a whit of empathy, and his very presence makes the first four episodes of the series nearly unwatchable. There is a train-wreck fascination to watching a series with such an utterly vile lead, and there's no denying that the poisoning of Kouichi's mind by constant humiliation and the consequent brutality of his reaction to empowerment ring a lot truer than happier takes on the same material do. But so repulsive is he that the series is intolerable solong as he holds sway. Not even the show's knowledge of exactly when to kick him in the balls can change that. Only when Kouichi himself changes, thanks to a vicious little plot twist, does the series get sufferable. Unfortunately it also loses its spine, giving itself over completely to soggy harem comedy and unelaborated us vs. them warfare. Excruciating as they were, the episodes where Kouichi rampaged his hateful way across the screen had ambition and a sort of unpleasant magnetism. With Kouichi sanitized, the series becomes nothing more than another fan-service-laden save-the-Earth mecha bore. It gains a sense of humor, albeit one dependent on tentacle monsters and "oops I saw *insert name here* naked" snafus, and dabbles amusingly in romance, but it's still a snoozeful letdown. Not that the show had much in the way of options. The choice between a series that's an object lesson in the need for a sympathetic lead and a series made flaccid by an ambition vacuum is truly a rock-and-hard-place kind of choice. And even if you wish the series had chosen the rock, if only because it has character, you can't really blame it for settling on the hard place. If relative effort is anything to go by, Linebarrels' animators weren't enamored of either option. Hisashi Hirai's typically precise character designs are sloppy and poorly differentiated throughout, Gonzo's 2D animation is even more careless than usual, breasts balloon and shrink, faces fluctuate drunkenly, and after episode one action sequences are slapped together with little concern for comprehensibility. After a small post-debut dip Gonzo's trademark 3D mecha remain consistently sharp and fluid (if not particularly pretty) and the exploding stuff is sufficiently neat, as are the urban settings, but that's as far as the animators' enthusiasm goes, regardless of which stage—boring or painful—the series is in. Musically it fares little better, though its auditory woes owe more to messy eclecticism than to a lack of artistic engagement. Some musical snippets are good (generally when Kouichi is thumping something) but many are bad, layering on dopey 50s sci-fi noodling, ill-considered techno, and ascending strings that are intended to communicate mecha coolness but sound instead like musical escapees from a Murder She Wrote climax. The opening by the Ali Project, like everything in their unique oeuvre, grows on you, and Maaya Sakamoto's closer is so easy on the ears that it may go right through them without imprinting the gray matter in between. Through a combination of scenes mildly mussed in translation and Josh Grelle's well-meaning rounding of Kouichi's more abrasive edges, Funimation's dub manages to soften the opening episodes, bringing them more in line with the duller, easier to swallow later ones. Lost in translation is the passive-aggressive disdain in Kouichi's exchanges with Yajima, along with much of his self-satisfied grandiosity and self-pitying petulance. Which makes his rampages much easier to watch, but also throws the tone of the opening act slightly off and weakens the contrast between pre- and post-episode-four Kouichi. Other characters have similar shifts in personality, but being non-essential have less impact on the series. The comic episodes for their part are played fast and loose (just the way I like 'em) and Barry Yandell's boisterous take on Kouichi's unhinged boss is great fun, but the dub still leaves less of an impression than the original—Grelle's excellent wigging out notwithstanding. Amidst the usual extras detritus (clean OP/ED, trailers, promos) is a commentary track for episode six featuring ADR Director Caitlin Glass, Grelle, and Alexis Tipton (Emi), all of whom get along boisterously well. Fun and info abound, though some will bristle at the comparison of Linebarrels to the infinitely superior Godannar. (Grr). Messy, ugly and mercurial, the potential for sudden change is never far from Linebarrels' surface. In a series that is only interesting when it is impossibly unpleasant, that potential is one of the few things to inspire hope. Hope that the next corner it whips around leads to greener, or at least less painful and more challenging, pastures; and hope that we'll be able to hold on until they're reached.

Story: Well this whole show was one cliche after the next and most of it early on from the fillers to the stupid humor done by the president who never took anything seriously made it tough to watch this show early on, the story had some plot twists but they were decent and the last and final twist at the end just made me chuckle and go why did they even have to do that it didnt make a whole lot of sense, the ending though was decent and probably the best part of the story, give it a 6. Art: My one pet peeve whenit comes to anime has to be CG and for whatever reason gonzo is pretty well fixed on having it in most of there series and it was plentiful in here considering all the machina were done that way and it grows on you after awhile and you get use to it but in the begining it looked awful trying to do fast paced action with CG just didnt look right, give it a 6. Sound: Eh average at best the opening theme and ending theme were decent nothing that would make you want to go out and by the soundtrack to the show, the in show music didnt change much using the opening themes beat most of the time, give it a 5. Character: This was another downfall with the series i never cared to much about the main characters they all played there typical roles that again made it cliche, hayase himself was the biggest problem with this show for being the main character he was pretty boring at the begining i did like him as we went crazy with having power but after he became the cliched hero it went down hill from there, i gave it a 4. Enjoyment: Out of the 24 episodes i would say there were about 4 or 5 good episodes the other ones were pretty dull, hard to enjoy a show that played off of every other mecha series out there, the ending was the best even though it is kind of predictable i still rather enjoyed it, i gave it a 6. Overall: This show i thought was always on the edge of being good but it never was able to get over that hump, mainly for cliches horrible humor and characters i didnt really care for it just stays right at the decent level it is something people can get through but i wouldnt suggest it with the other well done mecha series out there i gave it a 6.

The overall feel of this anime is similar to “Code Geass” in the personel struggle with the main character bridging the line between good and evil, black and white. Now that being said Kurogane No Linebarrels is a much shorter series with less twists and turns, a more simplified plot, and a less complex lead character. Nonetheless the series had a good entertainment value and pretty good action sequences. The plot though pretty simple does keep its interest through a twist or two, character growth, character relationships, and the looming battles between mechs (Machinas and Armas). I found myself looking forward to Hayase’sgrowth in particular as he grew through his relationships, and battles, though as a character he was on the dumb side his nature to never give up somehow keeps you rooting for him and looking forward to his conquests. Due to these reasons the plot was overall average. The art was clean and had good depth, however lacked orginality. Orginality to me makes all the difference from a good anime to a great anime, that being said I was not turned off by the artwork, it just wasent a masterpiece in my opinion. I was quite happy with the battle sequences and the clean transitions of lighting and affects. To me this made the artwork good overall. The characters each had their own appeal, however their ability to truly connect to the audience and Hayese greatly lacked. As I watched the series I felt that Hayese was an outsider, even though they worked together and had relationships he did not match up with the other characters. I would site more specific examples however it would lead to spoilers for the series. Despite its flaws I was very entertained in the simplicity of this short series. Due to this fact of sheer entertainment value I would still recommend this series…if other similarly related animes have already been watched that is. Rating 5/10 POSTED BY @GameJok3r

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