Star Driver - Episode 2

Star Driver's opener was very much a game of two halves - a largely school-based first segment followed by a mind-blowing rush of jargon, nonsense, flashiness and giant robots that was certainly impressive but also succeeded in giving me a headache.  Luckily I have a headache before I even started watching this episode (which is what five 'blog posts a day will do to a guy, I guess) so there's no danger of a repeat performance this time around.

Generally speaking, this second episode starts off as if nothing much has happened, with Takuto et al back at school as per usual, although some decidedly odd people are on hand as you might expect given the first instalment of this show, complete with a couple of supposed strangers kissing through the glass window (which seems to be a euphemism that runs through this entire episode).  From here, Takuto is brought along to meet the school's drama club - at least that's what they call themselves, although they appear to be more concerned with fending off the insane goings-on we saw previously, as they finally bring a little explanation to the series as to what Cybodies are and why the so-called Glittering Crux Brigade (I'm not making these names up, I promise) are experimented with them.  In essence, it boils down to the usual story of looking to make the most of the power of these mecha to make themselves hugely important upon the world stage, rather than the freaks in orgy masks they currently appear to be.

With a little exposition finally out of the way (oh, and a bit of tantalising almost fan service to boot), we finally come to what I'm guessing might well be our weekly dose of action, as Takuto and his Cybody Tauburn find themselves under attack by opponents looking for revenge, and of course the opportunity to get their more accomplished foe well and truly out of the way.  While it looks for a moment as though they might succeed, in typical giant robot anime fashion Takuto steps things up a gear when he needs it most and wins the day once again.  Hurrah!

Although it's easy to poke fun at this series in numerous ways, I have to confess that it knows what it's doing when it comes to the action side of things, where it becomes mightily impressive to look at and watch - indeed, the Glittering Crux Brigade's lair is also a fantastically realised bit of work too which matches strangely well with the striking visuals of the show as a whole.  On the other hand, it still feels like we're quite some way from understanding exactly what's going on, and I can't decided whether this is a good thing or not - it's certainly leaving me hungry to know more, but by the same token I feel like I need more information to actually settle into enjoying this show or otherwise.  For now though, I guess I'll just watch it for the moments of spectacle and see what transpires.