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+================
+ Robotics;Notes
+================
+:CreationDate: 2015-03-08 16:16:10
+:Id: anime/review/robotics-notes
+:tags: - anime
+       - review
+:rating: 3.5
+:original: http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/roboticsnotes
+
+When I was in Japan last April, I was on the lookout for interesting
+new manga and anime that may make their way to the rest of the world
+in the near future. The "Robotics;Notes" manga caught my eye for the
+flashy cover and the air of general enthusiasm about giant robots. So,
+when I discovered that not only there was an animated version, but
+that it had already been translated, I jumped on it and watched it
+all. Yes, doing that was a bit hampered by Manga Entertainment
+deciding (as too often happens) to release a 22 episode series in two
+batches of 11 episodes each: never doubt the lengths I'll go to, to
+provide comprehensive reviews :)
+
+This series is vaguely related to "Chaos;Head" and "Steins;Gate", but
+mostly because of the semicolon. The main authors of the other two
+series, Nitro+ and 5pb, had nothing to do with "Robotics;Notes", which
+was developed mainly by SHIKURA Chiyomaru (志倉 千代丸) who produced
+and supervised the other two series.
+
+So, what's it about? In the near future, SENOMIYA Akiho is the
+president of the robotics club at Tanegashima High School. She got her
+passion for robots from her older sister, Misaki, and the very famous
+TV show Gunvarrel (yes, they actually spell it that way in the
+original). Misaki had founded the club some ten years previous, and
+had started building a sort-of full scale replica of Gunvarrel. Akiho
+is carrying on the dream of completing it, after Misaki left the
+island to go work in Tokyo. Things are not looking very promising,
+since the only other member of the club, YASHIO Kaito, spends all his
+time playing an online robot fighting game called Kill-Ballad. To make
+matters worse, the school vice-principal balked at the huge funding
+request that Akiho presented her, and demands the club be
+disbanded. But of course the story can't end there: with the help of
+the grumpy owner of the nearby hardware store, the genius developer of
+Kill-Ballad (FURUGOORI Kona, in my opinion the best character of the
+show), the engineers of the nearby JAXA facility (where Akiho's father
+works), the president of the Space Candy company, and a few
+schoolmates, they will overcome adversity and build their dream
+robot. Or maybe not: Kaito becomes aware of what appears to be a large
+scale conspiracy that has been running for more than a
+decade. Investigating the reports of this conspiracy will lead to
+revelations about the lives of people they care about, and even about
+why Gunvarrel's last episode was never aired. But in the end, the
+giant robots of Justice will always defeat evil and save the world,
+powered by courage, friendship, and a lot of technobabble.
+
+"Robotics;Notes" builds quite a good narrative, with characters who
+feel different than the "stock" figures we too often get: Akiho loves
+robots and wants to show her sister that she's not less capable; Kaito
+looks very self-absorbed and quite rude, but he is curious and cares
+about others; Kona seems to be a caricature of the shut-in pervy
+otaku, but her backstory explains why she became what she is, and
+she's determined and capable (still pervy, though :) ). Even the bad
+guys have some semblance of motivation, and there's a couple of
+interesting plot twists that you'll have to wait for the second half
+of the series to see.
+
+It's really not one of the great works of anime, but it is engaging,
+and I wanted to know what was going to happen to all the people in
+it. Sadly, a few details were handwaved too much, leaving some holes
+in an otherwise consistent plot. I liked very much the idea of a
+"second generation" robot story: young people growing up with robot
+anime, using the technology they have access to, to build giant robots
+like they saw on TV. The fact that they had to come to terms with
+their budget limitations made it all the more interesting. Also of
+note, the setting is real: Tanegashima Space Center is an actual JAXA
+facility, on Tanegashima island, near the southernmost point of Japan
+(only Okinawa is further South).
+
+If you have even dreamt of building your own fighting robot, if you
+like mostly-consistent near-future SF stories, and conspiracy theories
+make you curious, this is really the series for you.