Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion The Animation

I remember when the mecha genre used to be one of the most popular genres in the anime medium. Around the early 80s to the late 2000s anime studio’s used to produce and release a tone of mecha anime ranging from Gundam, Brave series, Gurren Lagann, Ideon, Macross, Patlabor, Evangelion, etc. A lot of anime fans that grew up around that period loved the mecha genre and the genre helped the industry from crashing down in the early 90s. Unfortunately, as time went on the mecha genre granted faded out to obscurity thanks to the rise of the isekai and ecchi genres in the 2010era. It didn’t help that many of the popular mecha anime from the last decade weren’t that good or at the very least pale compare to the mecha animes from the 90s, 00s. Darling in the Franxx, Aldonah Zero fall into the bad category while SSSS Gridman and Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans fall into the decent but pale other mecha anime from the past category. Excluding Gundam the Origin and Promare many of the great mecha anime were more on the obscure side such as Gundam Build Fighters (Season 1), Planet With, Gundam Unicorn, Little Battlers Experience Wars and my favourite of the bunch Shinkalion. A show that I never expected to good due to its kid’s label ended up being one of my favourite animes as being one of the best animes I have seen from the last decade. Shinkalion is at its core a celebration of the mecha genre. It homages every well-known mecha series out there from Gundam, Brave, Getter Robo and especially Evangelion, one of the most important anime ever made packed with the soundtrack and character appearances notably Shinji Ikari. Shinkalion also features Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, who’s a recurring character in the show, as a full-fleshed pilot. When the show is not homaging various mecha anime from the past it delivers and man what a plot this is. The story of Shinkalion may not be the most original thing ever but, the execution and story structure are what makes it stand out. Evolution is the key to Shinkalion’s successes. It starts as a simple monster of the week however as early as episode seven after the show establishes Hayato, Akita and Tsuraunki characters with their two-part introductory episodes the show break takes a spin of the monster of the week formula that we all use to seeing. Sure the Kitoralsus still ditch out monster of the week objects to fight the heroes, but from episode seven onward will you discover they are strategic and well-calculated villains that analysis our heroes every move, so much so that will start to gain an upper hand in various fights causing our heroes to think before they act. This alone really made the story engaging as I was always thrilled of what the Kitoralsus are going to do next. From reducing enemies numbers to summoning monsters that exploit various Shinkalions weaknesses the Kitoralsus are forced to be reckoned with. Speaking of Kitoralsus they are a fantastic group of villains. Not only they are an engaging threat from beginning to end they are also well written. They may appear as your typical black and white kids villains but again as episode 7, they grow out of the black and white villain status to a point they come just as human as the heroes, despite their race. When the show is not showcasing mecha fights the show spends its time at world-building and comedy and speaking of world-building. The world-building in Shinkalion is fantastic. If you want to learn about the Japan Railway System, and Japan lifestyle then you came to the right place. Though the 76 episodes run you will learn how trains operate in Japan, discovering different Japan city lifestyle that is different from Tokyo and certain places where people with certain interests would hang around. The world in Shinkalion feels accurate and alive and that aspect really strengths the writing in the series. On top of all that the show is simply self-aware of itself. Similar to Symphogear, Assassination Classroom and Martian Successor Nadesico the show pokes fun of its humour, for example, each character has a catchphrase that enhances the show self-awareness especially when certain characters would steal their owner character catchphrases. Oh, the show is simply funny. Many of the humour that the characters ditch outflows thanks to great comedic timing and chemistry. All of this was made possible by the show’s great pacing and writing. Toy/Card product shows tend to struggle in that aspect as their promoting Toys/Cards products rather than telling a meaningful story that kids can learn and while Shinkalion is certainly a toy product anime it has enough substance to make it stand out from its peers. Shinkalion moves at a consistent smooth pacing nether feeling rushed or dragged. Every single episode has a purpose wherever for character development, world-building, or story advancement. Themes of bonding, friendship, humanity, and communication are beautifully executed in the series. Shinkalion is a simple series that has focus. It doesn’t off rails just to meander to a certain target audience nor does it try to do something that is clearly not to a point it becomes incomprehensible gibberish. Shinkalion knows what it wants to do, and it achieves it with minimal hiccups. The beautifully crafted story won’t be effective if the characters weren’t not up to par. Thankfully the characters were not only fun to watch but they were nicely written. Let’s start with Hayato and man what a brilliant and lovable character he is. From the first two episodes of the series, I knew that he was going to be a compelling, interesting, and fun protagonist to follow. I love his fighting determination as well as his nerdy passion towards trains to a point where his friends have to speak rail language just to get his attention. Despite his rail obsession, Hayato is still human and character development and flaws showcase that from his naive drive that causes him to do reckless things at times, his fear of heights, to overall lack of psychical discipline, and he thankfully grows as a person through the influence from his friends that he encounters in the series that lead him to become a better leader. Lastly, I love how he influences various characters in the series to become better people, and his hobby reflects that as the true reason why he loves trains so much is he wants to protect everyone’s dreams by people’s using the Shinkansen as transportation. Hayato is the main component of Shinkalion successes and without him, the show wouldn’t be the same time. Easily my second favorite character in the show, as well is one of my favorite protagonists alongside Sana Kurata, Nagisa Shiota, Lelouch, Atsuko Kagari, Ciel Phantomive, Sena Arata and Iruma Suzuki. I liked Akita more than I should. He could have easily been the most boring character in the due to his distant personally that contracts Hayato and Tsuraunki happy personalities respectively, but the show proved me wrong thanks at his great character development. I also enjoyed his character growth throughout this series. He starts off a cold and less talkative individual, but he quickly starts to open up to others as the series progresses with the help of Hayato and the group. He’s has a catchphrase where he comments about where is the story is heading. Finally, I found his chemistry towards the other characters especially Tsuranuki and Shinbou to be impeccable. Tsuranuki is my favorite character in the series. From the minute he appears in the show I knew, he was going to my favorite character in the show. Hayato and Akita are strong characters in their own right Tsuraunki won my heart. I love his hot-headed and humorous personality. He also has the most sympathetic background out of the main cast coming from a family of engineers. What made him so special compared to the rest of the main cast for me is that his unpredictable mature. He’s still the hot-headed one of the team with his flashy catchphrase, but he’s more mature than his usual archetype. He doesn’t have a massive hot-headed egao nor does he think his superior to the other drivers. His a passionate friendly person who respects his friend’s strengths and weakness. He also a good exposer and roaster. Lastly, I adore his development as well as character chemistry towards the cast, especially to the Red, and Blue oni dynamic with Akita. They play off each other with their contrasting personalities to a point where they grew to respect each other as teammates and friends. His character development about the value of being a kid instead of jumping to become an adult was fascinating to watch as thanks to Hayato and his friend’s we see him enjoying the kid’s life as he rarely got to experience it since the passing of his dad. I’m honestly shocked by how much I liked Shinbou. I thought he would be the generic ninja kid character of the show, but I was shocked by how the show handled him as well his development. He starts off a skilled but quiet individual who rather work on their own but as the series progresses thanks to Akita and his peers he dramatically comes off from his shell becomes more talkative to his fellow peers. He’s increased screen time in the third fifths in the show is also a reflection to as he hardly presences for the slice of life bits in the first two-fifths of the show. Sadly I cannot talk about Sieryu without going into massive spoilers, but I can say he’s a wonderful character that receives the one of the best character development in the series, and I liked his interactions towards the cast. I also liked the other Shinkalion pilots. Sure, they aren’t as focused compared to the main four excluding Rei and especially Ryūji (My third favorite character in the show) who are just as well-developed as the main five but I still found the other Shinkalion pliots to be entertaining and likeable. When I first lead my eyes on Azusa, I thought she would be a useless character, but she ended up being one of the fun characters in the show. Even though she’s not a pilot, she provides great support, humour and chemistry towards the main pilots. The beauty of Shinkalion cast is they are human. Scriptwriter Kento Shimoyama has a clear understanding of how kids would behave and act in real life. They are not just a bunch loud kids who aimlessly worship the same hobby being mindless railgeeks just marking greed. Each kid has their own goal and ideals that they want to achieve in life and all the hobby that the kids have all tied to key elements in real life such as creating, surviving and discovering. It had been a long time since I watched a kid’s anime that feature characters that resemble human beings. Granted the whole kid’s characters resembling human beings thing has been before such as Cardfight Vanguard Season 1 and Digimon Tamers but the since then the majority directors that worked on kids anime have frankly played it too safe to a point where characters from their respective series feel like husks that only exist promote a certain toy/deck with no soul nor passion. Shinkalion doesn’t fall to those traps as the characters in Shinkalion are not only fun to watch but there were very well written. For a kid’s series that came out in 2018, I found the visuals to be polished. It may not be on par with stuff like Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, March Comes in Like a Lion and Land Of The Lustrous, but it’s still one of the better-looking anime I have seen from the decade, especially for kids show when they usually have average production values. Character designs are distinctive from each other. The background scenery was well detailed due to the bright and smooth color palette and the actual animation is competent for what it is. The mechanical designs are beautifully designed. Each of them has their strength, weakness and gimmicks that make them distinctive from each other. For example, E5 Hayabusa is a balance type that can combine with various Shinkalion, E6 Komachi is a range type, E7 Kagayaki is a power type, E3 Tsubasa is the Speed type, N700A Nozomi is the close combat type, 800 Tsubame is the flight type, etc. My favourite’s mecha designs are the E5 MK II, Black Shinkalion especially its berserk mode form, E7 923 Doctor Yellow and N700A Nazomi. The stunning mecha designs were only better by the show’s good use of CGI. It fits well with the traditional animation. The CGI is smooth, nicely drawn, crisp and it rarely felt out of place with the 2D animation. Excluding the stable super robot transformation sequences as well as the finishing moves at times the anime doesn’t have much stock footage used. The soundtrack by Toshiyuki Watanabe is nothing short of outstanding. The soundtrack features a strong mix of upbeat, bright, sci-fi and orchestra tracks that fit the tone of the anime. Opening theme Evolution Theory is an upbeat catchy song that perfectly captures the spirit of the show. Shinkalion has 5 ending themes and all of them were fantastic in their right. My favorite ending of the bunch is Go Way by SILENT SIREN due to lighthearted and upbeat the song is. Voice acting is strong all across the board. Every Seiyuus did a fantastic capturing the spirit of their respective characters with strong line delivery. The best performance goes to Ayane Sakura as Hayato who also voiced Ochako from My Hero Academia, Nero from Black Clover, Tsubaki from Your Lie in April, and Yuzuki from Selector Wixoss. She perfectly nails the dorky railfan Hayato. Rie Murakawa, who beautifully portrayed the highly spirited Tsuraunki who also voiced Ram from Re: Zero, Anzu from Hinamatsuri and Constanze from Little Witch Academia. Kei Shindou perfectly captures the ambitious Seriyuu who also voiced Ranma from Buddyfight Ace, Kyouka Jirou from My Hero Academia and Wang Liu Mei from Gundam 00. Ryota Osaka superbly disciplined Ryuji who also voiced Sena Arata from Little Battlers Experience Wars and Ikki Kurogane from Chivalry of the Failed Knight. There’s currently no English dub for this show, but I am perfectly fine with the show not having a dub in this case, as this is one of the shows that wouldn’t work in English without completely butchering it. “No one who loves Shinkalion could be a bad person!” Hayato Hayasugi. Shinkalion is the end product of passion and ambition. It is a series that knew wanted to be and never abandoned its objective in favor of dumb pandering. Shinkalion is also one of those series that made an impact of me on how I view anime as a whole. Every single episode of Shinkalion has a purpose whatever it’s for characterization, story development, and world-building. I’ve learned the Japanese Natation Railway System as the people who live in cities that operate the system. It is a series that can be enjoyed for both kids and adults due to how simple and well written it is. Shinkalion is a series from beginning to end that made me laugh, cry and smile, and all of this was made possible due to the staff having ambition and passion of making a series that is worth something. With that said anime studios please, take notes. This is how you make a good modern mecha anime. Not that corporate greed nor that power fantasy crap. This how it’s done and I hope future mecha/kid’s anime will follow on Shinkalion’s footsteps.