Monday, January 12, 2009

Chrome Shelled Regios Episode 1

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Welcome new hero!!!

Chrome Shelled Regios has finally aired. :) Whoever was the subbing team picked it up real fast. thanks for such fast and awesome work guys. Below is my summary and thoughts of the first episode. it gets a little picture heavy so I apologize in advance. Enjoy. :)

I also apogize in advance if the summary is a little wordy. X_X But a lot happened and I was trying to help viewers by recording ALL the names in this episode for future reference. That and everything I write tends to get a little wordy. :P
Chrome Shelled Regios Episode 1 Summary and Review

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Aw, our sad hero needs a hug already!

Little bugs are crawling all over the place. Quite frankly a pretty gross opening scene. A voice is telling evacuees (?) that they will be safe from the filth monsters that are trying to break into the colony. That is not reassuring as one of the monsters breaks open the escape hatch and eyeballs them. Suddenly three motorcycles come barreling down the desert towards the monster. There is a group of people standing off in the distance watching and possibly helping the fight. Apparently one of the motorcycle people is a newbie and these people are giving him a pep talk. The van carrying the colony citizen’s tries to escape but the massively ugly bug is blocking their path and lots of little bugs are everywhere. The three men start attacking the bug as one of the citizens looks on like a frighten kitten. One of the men with long silver hair comments to the newbie and they all start slicing up the bug. The bug bits start exploding once they are cut off and the bug can regenerate. Awesome. The newbie tries attacking the monster again and his team mates try using magic to help. Nothing is really working too well. Then CUT to a scene with the newbie and a girl (the queen/princess). She kisses him and apparently sends him on his way….We see a broken dome in the background and a lot of sand. The newbie travels along a waste land highway littered with dead bugs.

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Pretty nasty bugs...

Cut to a school scene. A blue hair boy is quitting the 17th platoon and some blond hair chick is not happy about that. She goes to pull her weapon on him, but he takes off his badge (making him a citizen I guess) and declares it illegal to hurt him. A green hair (Harley) dude tells Nina (blond hair chick) not to fight or their platoon will get dissolved. Harley tries convincing Nina and their other team mate Sharnid-sempai that all they need to do is convince someone else to join their platoon. Since it is opening ceremony day that shouldn’t be a problem so naturally it is. Nina is scanning the crowd but they either are normal students or military students that have joined another platoon. Sharnid says that their platoon sucks so no one is going to want to join theirs. Nina spots someone who looks good but is interrupted by bald looking man (Dean). Nina tries claiming she saw him first but Dean and his blond hair friend are not going to let her have her way. Apparently something happened in Nina’s past to make her not eligible or something. Very cryptic conversation. A strange girl is watching in the background…being strange. The newbie from earlier tries entering the school but is accosted by some pyschofreak trying to take his picture. Newbie’s name turns out to be Layfon and he just transferred to this school. Pyschofreak claims to be a reporter for the city’s newspaper but her friends call her out on the bs. Pyschofreak’s name is Mifi Rotten and her two friends are Narki and Meishen. They ask where Layfon is from and he gets all sad…like his homeland was destroyed or something. Two military students decide that they are going to have a little fight and pull out their restoration weapons and proceed to mess up the school. People are looking on unsure of what to do. Meishen almost gets squished in the attack, but strange lurking girl from earlier sends out a message for someone to help and Layfon saves her from being splatted. Two students were watching from the balcony, a red hair girl and silver hair boy referred to as Gorneo. They seem to know who Layfon is. Everyone is all staring at Layfon and his amazingness.

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New student is already savin the ladies...

After the commercial break (yes…this all took 12 minutes) Layfon is taken to see the student council president Karyan (who looks a lot like the crybaby from the fight scene earlier). Nina wants to know more about Layfon but Harley tells her she better haul butt before he gets expelled. Anywho Karyan is talking a lot and basically….the city they live (Zenri) in has only one energy mine because they did bad last year in the inter-city matches. I am guessing that is what the platoons are for. Basically Karyan wants Layfon to stop being a general ed student and become a military student on their dime. Layfon is not impressed but is undressed by a gang of squealing girls and given a military uniform anyway. Nina busts in the door and demands that she be given Layfon. However he is laying dead on the floor after being assaulted by so many psychopaths. The student council present is amused and apparently makes Layfon join the 17th platoon. They take a bus to their dorm rooms and Nina runs off leaving behind a scarred little Layfon. He then runs into the little lurker from earlier whose name I THINK is Feri. She is the one who sent him the telepathic message…and she is currently attacking a pipe and screaming. Layfon tries to make small talk with her as she is also wearing a platoon 17 badge but she walks away. Mifi is off writing all the adventures of the day and Meishen is nearly having an orgasm just thinking about Layfon. Feri looks out her window and sees Karyan talking to some boys (blue hair boy who quit earlier and the two fighting students) all secretively. She calls her brother an idiot and leaves the window area. Nina happily adds Layfon’s name to their room and smiles. Layfon is in bed just thinking about how special his life really is.

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What guy doesn't want to get changed with 4 hotties helping him?

Suddenly we are back to the fight and the ugly monster keeps regenerating. The random people watching the battle comment on how smart this creature really is and all that jazz. It is decided that they have to use their kei and squish the thing to death. Insert battle and cool fight scene here. But they kill the bug of doom finally. The people on the sidelines are arguing over using the Heaven-Blade and whether or not it was fair to use it in battle. The girl that kissed Layfon earlier is talking about the world they live in and how she understands that Layfon wants to go off and start his life over. She just prays that he comes back one day to her. Layfon wakes up from his dream/memory all startled.

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Our hero has had a long day. :(

Oh Dear LORD! That was a WHOLE lot thrown at my face all at once. Let me try to count the number of faces that were introduced in this very first episode (not counting random students or the far off watching the battle people which number about 8 in themselves). About 16. 16 people whom are probably going to either be main characters or supporting characters. And that is NOT including those magical people off to the side. Who the hell starts off a show by throwing every single character in the series IN THE FIRST EPISODE?! Someone who wants me to pass out and die.

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No name character with really bad hair.

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No name character who probably will start problems.

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No name character who may or may not have been snarky.

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No name character who is a hottie!

Also I want to thank the creators of this show for having the most unique names ever. The only names I could remember after watching the first episode was Nina and Harley. The pause button became my very special friend so I could write down all the names correctly (or as correctly as they were given on that particular fan sub). I am not even asking for EASY names. I am an avid anime watcher; I can handle most typical Japanese names. Nothing about these names was simple..but I did laugh at Mifi Rotten :P Thanks for that laugh. But I will not memorizing names any time soon for this show.

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Interesting name...and hair style.

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A group of friends with very special names.

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It's hard to pick which name is worse...

Putting aside the point of way too many characters…the episode was pretty interesting. I was a bit thrown off with the art but decided it was just different from what I am use to. I am use to the more shojo style and not shounen or whatever category this show falls under. But the art is pretty good now that I went back and watched it a second time (to jot down all the names). The bugs…are gross though. But I guess they did a good job of making the bugs look so gross.

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But funny faces are appreciated no matter the drawing style.

The whole doomed Earth future always makes me stop and take a look. I like the thought that we won’t be driving around in cool space cars and have instant teleport. I like seeing how somehow we messed up the future and we will now pay for it. Of course, I am also amused that Mifi was using a typewriter after all the COOL stuff they seem to have in the future. We go so far in the future we go backwards. :) Awesome.

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And we still got normal guns XD

Layfon seems like the typical retired hero character that is going to play the hero AGAIN even though it is against his will. Heroes can’t help but be heroes right? But I am very glad he is not ONLY surrounded by hot babes. There are some guys thrown in the mix too. Because without multiple guys how can I form yaoi pairing in my head people!!!! And right off the bat Layfon has three possible love interests all ready: Nina, Meishen, and Feri. Meishen reminds me a lot of Shirley from Code Geass…so she might die a crazy death later and Nina just might go the Kallen route. Actually….X_X Feri is a little bit like C.C isn’t she? No matter, I was going to cheer Feri on anyway after I saw her kicking that tube. CRAZY CHIBI FOR THE WIN!

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I want sparkling hair!!!

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Um...she is my least favorite...

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Nina is pretty amusing too though.

I hope that we see more of the “other” side of Layfon’s life…and not just because that dude with the long hair was pretty hot. I want to see how he really can’t leave behind his life of fighting and that he needs to come back eventually. That or they come running back asking for help and his whole platoon/new friends go with him. I just don’t want those characters to be off forgotten while he gets to experience his new “fun” life at school.

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And I wish to know more about her!

Karyan with Jae’s voice (from Tales of the Abyss) is creepy. It also ups the creepy factor when he is just as underhanded and all knowing as Jade. He is also a well of information as we are told some of what the show is going to be about. But I am just assuming that it will be about how different colonies are fighting for resources. I am sure if that IS the case they will ban together in the end…because really they should be focusing on fighting the baddies and not each other…Now that is reminding me of Tsubasa Acid Tokyo….X_X In any event, Karyan might be even MORE underhanded than Jade so we will just have to watch him as the weeks progress. As an afterthought…this is also like the manga Kamui. X_X well, maybe not as original as I once thought but good enough I can come up with references….

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Lots of things to be explained...

I am not thrilled with the concept of combining schools. Why not just make a general education school and a military school. Nothing good ever comes from combining two different schools. It just leads to the two groups hating each other or one group getting looked at as superior. I rather everyone just be equal in their own school. But then…we wouldn’t have hapless co-eds to save now wouldn’t we….

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Of course...combined schools is better than the alternative...

The uniforms were pretty interesting though. I am not sure how functional or hot they are…but pretty interesting none the less. I just want to see how interesting their battle uniforms will be. And anything is a step up for Layfon after wearing that mummy wrapping on his poor head!

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Such a fashion statement!

The only thing that MIGHT have turned me off from this show was the amount of fighting. I tend to stay FAR AWAY from mangas that ONLY have fighting scenes and am pretty selective when it comes to animes and the amount of action in them. But this series seems to have a fair balance of action and drama. As long as we are not subjected to 30 minute long battles like in Dragon Ball Z…I think we will be okay. And judging from the second episode there is going to be enough comedy in this series to satisfy everyone.

I would talk more about the characters and the events…but the summary ended up being really long. And there are way too many characters to write about or explain. Not to mention hardly anyone really had any air time besides Layfon and Nina. Hopefully next week they will focus on few characters and give us more substance! :) But I am happy this show did not suck and I have a new series to add to my New Weekly Anime list. I hope everyone watches this show and enjoys it as much as I did.

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