M3 the dark metal - Episode 3

Now that the Reaper - or Argent if you prefer - has been revealed and proven capable of being piloted by Akashi, the game has changed for our protagonist and his fellow trainees.

As a result, the group have now been renamed as Gargouille, with a mission to infiltrate the Lightless Realm using the Argent's abilities - this is originally sold to the students as a reconnaissance mission, but those involved are no idiots and quickly catch on to the true purpose of the mission, that being to fight against Corpses.  Of course, Akashi is the young man expected to lead that charge, but as testing of his abilities with and tolerance towards the Argent continue it increasingly seems as if he may be in no fit shape to lead any kind of assault against anything.

To further confuse matters, there's a new arrival to the crew too - Sasame Izuriha, a quiet and seemingly sickly girl who looks worryingly familiar to Akashi, even though she seems to have no direct knowledge of or contact with any Corpses.  Whether she's involved with them or not, bad tidings certainly seemed to have followed her, as an Admonition decides that it would be better if there were two of the group's tutor before causing general chaos as Garguoille try to fight back against the strangely childish behaviour of their enemy... behaviour which is entirely explained once the Admonition is defeated.

There are some interesting facets to its core conceit that make me really want to like M3, but somehow the process of actually watching the series is incredibly laborious at this point.  The show's cast really don't help here, as they all feel flat in terms of personality (further hampered by the dull visuals and poor animation quality), and any emotion which is wrung out of them feels forced as a result.  This week's episode also meanders from place to place without any punch and impact, and when you couple all of that to some moments that feel ripped straight out of the "I want to be like Evangelion" playbook - not necessarily a negative in and of itself, if played properly - M3 is really struggling to make an impact.