FLAG

[Cruton]

"Hey, guys, I've got a great idea for a show! How about a series that follows the peace-keeping actions of Western powers in a central asian country torn apart by political and religious extremism, as told through a female Japanese photojournalist who herself is experiencing a crisis of identity? You've got current issues, both foreign and domestic, and we can use novel story-telling techniques like observation through second-hand medium."

"Sounds great. But naturally, we'll have to make a few tweeks here and there."

"Of course."

"First, there has to be a giant robot. Preferably a transforming one."

"Excuse me?"

Ai, yi, yi, yi! This show is absolutely beautiful! It has marvelous directing and high budget all around! So of course, it has to be hamstrung by over-the-top, pretentious writing.

The scenario, involving a war photographer named Saeko who gets invited along on a UN mission in a war torn country, doesn't sound bad until the details start coming out. See, this all-too-human, shades-of-gray storyline is actually pretty black and white. The UN has already come in and helped "the people" take the capital from the previous regime (whoever they were). The mission is to get a single flag, stolen from "the holy temple", back from an unidentified extremist group or else the whole peace process (they keeping using the term "road map") could be derailed "permanently". If you can suspend your disbelief over the UN actively overthrowing a government or the loss of a single symbol destroying a nation, why not consider that the team assigned to do this has been given a prototype giant robot? There isn't much else to consider, since the imaginary country where this all takes place and the politics and the customs there of given barely a glance.

The culture is some half-baked mixed of the Indian subcontinent, Southeastern Asia, and the Middle-East, ultimately creating a setting that's just "foreign" without any real substance. There are some tantelizing hints about some leader called "the living buddha" and a common symbol of two woman's eyes, but there's nothing definate. Not even a news report. The landscape so far is nothing but crowded slums and barren desert. Even the main character, who's supposedly returning after a previous tour, never actually interacts with the population she supposedly feels so empathetically for.

The ridiculous writing is only high-lighted by the fact that the characterization is brilliant. I really felt for Saeko. In a series filled with shadowy homunculi, she felt tangible within the first five minutes. I still want to see what happens to her, even when frustrated with the lack of anything else resembling drama or detail.

It deserves a few more episodes, to see if this tortoise rights itself, but the prospects are grim. It's a king who ended up a begger.

[Skittles]

does seem a little OTT but then again i guess it goes in hand with the kind of worl its set in(not too different from our own(minus the mecha and UN doing stuff)). Admitidly i did get a bit bored half way thru and watched teh rest later. The ED is good tho XD

[Ultra]

the animation on this series has a unique feeling to it..but yea the situation there is similar to ours...

looking forward for the next episode.