天下制覇

Oh, apparently there's now hidden mecha shows this season.

I would say that this slipped under the radar in season previews, but checking their Twitter feed and site history, it wasn't even announced in Japanese, let alone English, until October 5th. It's an original anyway. Also, despite one single episode airing today in Japanese, Funimation posted two episodes with Chinese audio as its 'simulcast.' I'm not really sure what to make of that, or what it says about the show's broadcast schedule. Also, I did check both the Japanese broadcast and what Funimation posted. Aside from characters being named completely different, the two versions are also edited differently. For example, the intro sequence happens before the OP in the Chinese version, but after in the Japanese. So, uh… right. I didn't dig deep. I watched the Japanese version in any case.

Impressions:

Anyway, while technically another mecha show for the season, this is very much more in the vein of shows like Strike Witches or Sky Girls. Yeah, there's technically an alien invasion of generic CGI large robot squids going on, and yes, they'll go out and shoot at them, but the actual thrust of the show is girls doing their best while representing every possible different culture and stereotype, mostly through wearing ridiculous over the top costumes. And yes, I quickly thumbed through the Chinese second episode to affirm this. Sure, the world is being invaded, but apparently the giant robots only bond with random 14 year old girls, so that's what our entire military is now, but not invaded so much as to take it that seriously. There's still time for silly talent show audition processes.

We were not impressed, suffice to say. It could've pulled things back at least a little had the invasion bit that was clearly meant to be the climax of the episode not been so woeful, but it was a lot of G-rated explosions while the main characters huddled together in a very fetishistic beam of light showing their protagonist predestiny before quite literally obliterating the entire invasion with a single wave of the hand. At least put in a little effort, struggle a bit, or show some skill. Create some drama around it, don't just decree the protagonists invulnerable, unstoppable gods as decreed by the unseen hand of the author. Oh, but I'm sure she'll struggle because of the legacy of her dead sister until she discovers the power of friendship. Gag me.