Kurogane no Linebarrels - Episode 1

If you had to sum up Kouichi Hayase's life in one word, it would be "sucks". Despite his delusions of being a hero of justice, he's a weakling who gets bullied at school and even his friends only look out for him out of pity. Just when things seemingly can't get any worse... A giant mecha and a naked girl fall on his head.

Of course, we already know from numerous anime series that only school kids can pilot powerful mechas, and so it turns out that Kouichi's "destiny" is to pilot the mecha of this show's title, Linebarrel, thus proving that his delusions of becoming an hero actually weren't so far off the mark after all. But at what cost as he gained that power?


To be quite honest, there were a few consistent thoughts running through my head for the duration of Kurogane no Linebarrels opening instalment. First, I don't like the animation style, it just doesn't work for me. Second, I really don't like the use of CG - The mechas look clumsy and their movement is anything but realistic, and considering they're a pretty big selling point of a series like this that's rather disappointing. Thirdly, I kept muttering under my breath "Stop trying to be like Evangelion" - While the plot holds little in the way of similarities, the mecha and cockpit designs have more than a passing nod to that seminal series, and even the music at times sounds like it's trying to parody Eva.

So, this first episode of this series has left me with nothing but a big, fat "Hmmmmm..." for an opinion. Even ignoring its aesthetics I found myself taking a dislike to all of the characters for one reason or another, and the overall plot could easily have come from some kind of "Mecha by Numbers" book - Hell, even the Sixth Sense-esque finish to the episode was blindingly obvious if you applied any measure of logic to it. I don't intend to give up on it after a single episode, but Kurogane no Linebarrels is already teetering at the edge of my drop list - Can it really offer anything that hasn't been done better a thousand times before?