Linebarrels of Iron - 01 October 4
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Summary:
Hayase Kouichi is a high school boy who gets bullied a lot, and despite his childhood friend Risako trying to stand up for him, he does what the bullies tell him to. He doesn’t mind because he thinks that eventually the bullies will follow him since he represents justice. In fact, he believes that he has a dormant power within himself, and even when his other friend Yajima offers help, Kouichi claims that he’ll be okay by himself. The bullies want Kouichi to go buy some bread for them at a bakery far from school, and on his way back, he’s thrown off his bike after it hits a bump in the ground. At that moment though, a giant mecha falls out of the sky right on top of him. When Kouichi regains consciousness, he finds himself in some rubble with a naked girl laying beside him. What’s more, there’s now a giant mecha sitting in front of him. Figuring that the situation is dangerous, Kouichi gives the girl his shirt and carries her off. She wakes up a short while later and thanks him for saving her, but she claims that she doesn’t remember who she is. Since she needs some clothes, Kouichi takes her home so that she can borrow some of his sister’s.
While they are there, they notice an explosion in the distance. A group of ARMA mecha have appeared in the middle of the city and have started wreaking havoc, and the girl immediately realizes that these are her enemies. She rushes out of the house towards the commotion, and she watches as the ARMAs take out another group of mecha that had just arrived on the scene. Although Kouichi wants to run away, the girl feels that they have to do something, but before they take any action, they’re found by Yajima. He tries to lead them to the school, however one of the mecha fighting the ARMAs gets tossed in their direction, and it breaks a wall near them. Yajima protects Kouichi and the girl by holding up a piece of the collapsed wall, but this frustrates Kouichi because he’s always being taken care of by his friends. Kouichi ends up punching the wall, and to his surprise, he shatters it. At this very moment, the girl remembers that her name is Kizaki Emi, and she subsequently asks Kouichi if he’ll fight together with her. She places his hand on her breast and tells him to summon the LINEBARREL if he has the will to fight, and this causes a reaction that results in it suddenly appearing.
Full of confidence now, Kouichi takes Emi and leaps up into the LINEBARREL’s cockpit. He’s able to control it, and with some help from the LINEBARREL’s self-repairing abilities, he is able to easily handle two of the ARMAs. When he faces off against the third and final one, he declares that he’ll defeat it because it’s evil and he’s an ally of justice. The clash of the two titans results in the ARMA getting sliced up, and the shadowy man calling the shots orders the ARMA’s pilot to retreat. In the aftermath, Kouichi laughs with glee because he’s finally obtained power, and he truly believes that he’s on the side of justice. However, Emi then surprises him by revealing that he’s already dead.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「雨が降る」 (Ame ga Furu) by 坂本真綾 (Sakamoto Maaya)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming
I was all prepared to hear a ALI PROJECT song (as some of you might know, I dislike their music), but there was no OP this week, and I was instead treated to a very good Sakamoto Maaya ED. Such a good song feels almost wasted on a series like this.
I think this might be the first time I’ve ever hated a main character after just five minutes of the first episode. It’s bad enough that Kouichi starts out as a weak, angsty male lead, but then he changed into an arrogant, self-righteous lead, and the combination of those two makes him completely unbearable. To make matters worse, since Kouichi is voiced by Kakihara Tetsuya, I immediately had flashbacks of Kazuki from Dragonaut. I can’t help but think that Kouichi will end up as a joke of a character like Kazuki was (I already laughed out loud during the ridiculous scene when Kouichi summoned the LINEBARREL by touching Emi’s breast). Fortunately, at least Noto Mamiko was decent as Emi, and after Geass, it was interesting seeing Fukuyama Jun voice a villain.
Gonzo did a decent job with the production quality, and I didn’t have any big complaints there. The CG was okay; not nearly as good as Macross’s, but serviceable. I’m also not quite used to how Gonzo animates Hisashi Hirai’s character designs - the way the faces were drawn was weird - but that may be because I haven’t watched anything that he’s worked on since SEED Destiny. In any case, I think there’s some potential in the series overall, but at least for this first episode, I had a hard time taking it seriously. The only interesting thing plotwise was the revelation at the end that Kouichi is already dead, but I fear that that’ll just lead to more angst on Kouichi’s part. I may watch another episode of this to see if it gets any better, but I’m not keeping my hopes up.
Oh yea, I almost forgot to mention. This series is going the same official subs on streaming video route that several recent Gonzo series have. You can find the crunchyroll stream here.
xfyux at 12:09 am on October 4th, 2008
Oooo mecha…the drawing looks good also… now to wait for the subs to come
Amatsu at 12:10 am on October 4th, 2008
me get 1st comment
Amatsu at 12:11 am on October 4th, 2008
2nd…T_T
blissmo at 12:13 am on October 4th, 2008
I read the manga, but I don’t remember the black-head chick lols
tau-tau at 12:14 am on October 4th, 2008
I can’t help but roll my eyes at Kouichi’s lines during the latter part of the episode…
At least Maaya’s ED sounds great. :S
match at 12:14 am on October 4th, 2008
is this going to be subbed by gonzo?
Exia at 12:15 am on October 4th, 2008
hell yeah i cant wait for the subs! this comes out every saturday or sumthin?
omo at 12:17 am on October 4th, 2008
mamiko noto lead characters have like a 35% of getting naked in the pilot episode.
Kaioshin Sama at 12:18 am on October 4th, 2008
Not going to take on Gundam 00 anytime soon it looks like.
Genestarwind at 12:18 am on October 4th, 2008
Whew another GSD’s designer D:
Matheys at 12:19 am on October 4th, 2008
Wow
Gonzo + Mecha
Can be a new masterpiece of japanese animation like Gankutsuou, Samurai 7 or Last Exile (made by Gonzo)?
Lets see, for now it seems very good
Kami at 12:20 am on October 4th, 2008
How could Omni not like Ali Project. Theie music is great, but thats my opinion and I respect his. The animations was great it reminded of Gundam Seed a little. It was a an alright episode.
nozomi at 12:20 am on October 4th, 2008
I don’t really know what to think about this show, like omni already said the lead chara is so easy to hate. I hated Kazuki too, is Kakihara doom to voice this kinds of chara?… I rather watch Fafner all over again for some reason, but I’ll give Linebarrel six more episode before deciding whether to drop it or not…at least I think I heard Nakamura Yuuichi in there briefly, or I could be imagining things >.<!
Matheys at 12:24 am on October 4th, 2008
it’s too early to say that is a bad show
lets wait for the first 10 episodes
Lime at 12:26 am on October 4th, 2008
I felt the same way!! HATING THE MALE LEAD.
You forgot he looks (brown hair and eyes), dresses (white uniform) and sounds(”I am justice!”) like a certain Lancelot pilot .. which is the basis for my HATE.
Exia at 12:31 am on October 4th, 2008
imho ali projects music just sounds like garbled words into a unrhythmic rhythm.
Rental at 12:32 am on October 4th, 2008
lol I can’t believe I dislike him even more now. His manga version is more tolerable since they did the whole bullying thing when he was younger, not at this age. And he’s already all arrogant by the beginning, but I still didn’t the like his manga self since he was arrogant in a psychotic way. The first episode of the anime seems to greatly differ from the manga so far, but I’ll give it a few more episodes I guess.
meromero at 12:34 am on October 4th, 2008
Nooo, not another Kazuki >_>. I spend all Boobnaut wanting him to die. Plus, the last time I saw Hirai’s chara design was in Heroic Age, which was extremly boring. AND it’s Gonzo. I think I’ll pass ^^.
Kadian1364 at 12:38 am on October 4th, 2008
>>> imho ali projects music just sounds like garbled words into a unrhythmic rhythm.
And dischordant melodies. Plus they ALL sound alike. Japan’s Linkin’ Park.
If even Omni thinks this is full of Lulz, I’m sure to stay away from Gonzo’s latest.
Attackariah at 12:39 am on October 4th, 2008
T-T Why Gonzo, Why? I’ve read the manga, and I have to agree that the main character is easily hateable. But thats where the depth comes in, where they show how he changes and becomes begrudgingly likeable. In the manga, he starts out arrogant, and develops his sense of justice as he becomes less of and a-hole. In this one, they take roughly 10 years and 1 full volume of character development, throw out the parts that make sense, and puts it all in 13 minutes of the first episode. Its like they shredded the first 3 volumes and picked out little bits of mis-matched plot from the pile so they could make this series. I’m well aware that lots of people think the original is always better than the anime version, but theres no excuse for such poor execution of a fairly interesting character. Theres a difference between an anime adaptation and a bastard child, but Gonzo never seems to realize that. /Rant Plus, the lamest ending line ever, “You’re Already Dead”