Sunday, 13 January 2013

Vividred Operation - Episode 1

What should be my final new season 'blogging selection for the winter is Vividred Operation, which wastes no time in introducing us to its veritable utopia - a world where science has solved any issues with power generation, and the entire planet is thus provided with all of the energy that it needs.

The mastermind behind this breakthrough is none other than the grandfather or our protagonist Akane Isshiki, a veritable mad scientist.  Such is his craziness that it appears that nobody has paid much attention to his claims about beings known by him as "Alone" (they're probably called Alan and he just misheard them) - a fatal mistake it seems, as a huge metallic, robotic object appears from nowhere one day and seems dead set upon attacking the Manifestor Engine responsible for creating all of that power.


None of this is really a concern to Akane however as she goes about her everyday business and looks forward to the return of her friend Aoi - when Aoi gets caught up in this attack on the Manifestor Engine it's a different story, leading Akane and her grandfather (who by this point is a stuffed toy weasel - it's a long story) to rush to the site of this assault to try and save her.  If this seems to be beyond a schoolgirl, even if she has a flying bike, you've reckoned without her grandfather's latest invention which has only just been completed...

Trying to set aside any Strike Witches comparisons for now (yes, our main character seems to prefer wearing cycle shorts to skirts whenever possible), and without cooing too much over a fantastic if fan service-y transformation sequence (then again, aren't they all?), Vividred Operation's opening episode falls very much into the category of "yeah, it's okay".  It certainly doesn't have the immediacy of Strike Witches - wait, I promised not to compare these two series, didn't I? - and its characters all feel a little cookie-cutter, but there is certainly potential within what ostensibly looks to be a science-based magical girl premise and there's not a huge amount to dislike at this early juncture, so perhaps it can grow on me over the coming weeks.  From what I've seen so far, I'm certainly happy to give it a fair crack of the whip.

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