天下制覇

They don’t make anime like this anymore.

You know, I’m still waiting on that Tales of Symphonia OVA. And now I have to watch… this.

Also, FYI, the literal title in Japanese is Cardboard Fighters (or War Chronicle, or even "The Record of Cardboard Wars" if you wanted), but the game’s localization title is The Little Battlers. I don’t know if it’s an improvement.

Impressions:

The year is 2050. Cardboard technology has evolved so far that it now absorbs 80% of the impact when something strikes it. Truly a miraculous material. However, this amazing cardboard technology has found a new use. Yes! That’s right! The Japanese are now building inch tall combat papercraft robots out of cardboard to compete in battles in a cardboard arena that they control with their cellphones! However! Ban’s father was a researcher for these mechs and died in a plane crash, so his mother now hates them so Ban doesn’t have a chance to play much. That changes when a researcher who worked with his father drops the KEY THAT WILL SAVE THE WORLD into Ban’s lap, a very special little cardboard mech. He’ll have to fight past the government organization who has sent clowns armed with their own inch tall mechs before he can find his destiny! Also, his father is still alive.

…

Yes, that is indeed an accurate synopsis of the first episode.

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Who comes up with this stuff? I mean, sure… it’s ‘based’ on a PSP game that came out in 2009 was delayed until 2010 MAY OF 2011, but cardboard fighting mecha arenas? Key that will save the world? What? This feels even less realistic than that kid’s show where the powers of 80s pop fought the powers of The Man using a sneezing fairy. It makes me think of Hoihoi-san, except instead of being gags about tiny robot maids fighting cockroaches/each other, they took a generic mecha storyline and superimposed it into some kind of monsters-in-my-pocket thang and played it completely straight. Also, there are clowns. It really says something that the big ol’ super secret DOOM organization sends three clowns, and those three clowns then have to send three inch high robots to mug a kid.

It’s a kid’s show. What do you want from me? Admittedly, I was laughing my ass off through most of it because of how ridiculous the whole thing was even before they introduced clowns, but don’t take that as a recommendation. It’s just that they deliver everything so seriously. Super cardboard. Inch tall mechas fighting in dioramas. The key to save the world. It could be fun to watch in a group and laugh your ass off. I suggest taking note of everybody’s hairstyle and attire. In particular, I like that one of Ban’s friends is wearing a sweater and ear muffs while the other one is so manly that his shirt can barely contain him. Make no mistake about it, this show is a spectacle in every sense of the word.

Preview:

Wonders will never cease.