New Anime Series: Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova episode 1

Hello there my lovely readers!!! Taking a break from Pokemon hijacking to blog another anime post. The game was a complete surprise to me. X___X Why do they make new game systems so expensive? But yes I have been very appreciative of my gift. More so today when work was beyond slow because of the holiday and I had nothing to do for hours.

Squish squish.

Since I did a lot of Pokemoning at work I had to do some animing when I got home. Just today was an off day and I had a hard time focusing on the task at hand. Sorry if that makes this post seem a bit off. Here is another new anime for the Fall 2013 season, Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova. It seems pretty good but I guess I will let you be the judge. Spoilers for episode 1 include....well....killer ships?

Err...what is this?

Episode Summary: 17 years ago terrible things happen. Humans were doing a great job of wrecking their own planet. But then one day...from the fog....Fog appeared. Meaning tons of ships named Fog POOFED and started taking over all the water ways. Various countries tried to fight back but Fog was way more powerful than anything humans could create. The ships GLOW different colors okay. Soon most of the waterways were lost to the Fog ships, ships that seem to have no passengers in them. Tons of casualties on the human side of things, including Gunzo's father who was high up in the military. Years later humans are still trying to fight back despite being cut off from from one another as many forms of communication have been taken out. In Japan what is left of the military is attempting to launch what appears to be a satellite into the sky. It is very important but the launch site is very close to a water source. A Fog ship appears and starts to attack the military boats that are trying to protect said launch. A lot of dramatic conversations and attacks are taking place. The Japanese military seems to be losing when all of a sudden they see that 1-401 is on it's way. This Fog ship starts attacking the enemy one. Inside 1-401 is a human crew and the humanized program for the ship, Iona. The ….crew seems colorful and young. The captain is Gunzo as he interacts with Iona. She gives the stats on the enemy ship and they start launching a counter attack. More lovely explosions and prettiness. The enemy tries to protect itself with its super shield but 1-401 ends up winning. Instead of the military thanking Gunzo and his ship off they go, away from both sides. The satellite is launched successfully into the sky. Later Iona the avatar looks at the broken down Fog ship. She thinks to herself how it was just following orders when Gunzo joins her. They talk a bit and he says the only reason she is with him is because of orders. She agrees and it is time for a flashback, a walk down memory lane.

We aren't in love yet?!

About 2 years ago Gunzo was a ordinary high school kid. He appears to be top of his class which causes whispers among the other students, that maybe he doesn't deserve that. Only because his father was a military legend is this kid so high up. Gunzo ignores it all and takes part on a school trip to some secret...military area. Because they are top students and one day will work there. They are shown the last hope of humanity, a captured Fog Ship 1-401. As all the other students just look at the ship Gunzo touches the side of said ship. This activates the avatar Iona. Her memory has been wiped out and all that is left inside of her is the command follow Gunzo. The ship itself starts to act weird so everyone is evacuated. Later at school Gunzo is hanging out with his weird friends. Iona is seen walking to the school and everyone wants to know who she is. She walks up to Gunzo and says she needs to talk to him. When Iona is around the electronics near her don't seem to work. Gunzo has no idea what Iona is going on about and doesn't want to spend time with a prank. Still he agrees to meet with Iona later. She passes the time by “touching” things, star fishes. Gunzo shows up and Iona explains who she is. Gunzo is like.....what? Iona explains that she was reprogrammed by his father and all she has left is the words follow Gunzo. Since Daddy is dead this is a big deal to Gunzo. He agrees to take on this mission, for killed in action Dad and committed suicide Mom. Iona breaks herself out of the hanger she is which causes a lot of damage and mayhem. It takes a lot of energy for Iona to use her shields but eventually they escape and now Gunzo is on the run with...most of his high school friends as the crew mates. Back in the present Gunzo thinks about their current situation, almost turning against humans and Fog. Gunzo meets with the man who did hire them to protect the satellite. It turns out to have the weaponry needed to get rid of Fog and it was destroyed in the atmosphere. Now the man who hired Gunzo wants him and 1-401 to go to America and deliver the plans, as that country is the best to mass produce these weapons. Gunzo wants to know why the military can't do this and the man is like well we have our reasons. The crew discusses this as they will be in Fog territory when this all goes down. They decide to proceed anyway. Out in the water many Fog ships gather with all their female avatars talking to each other, eager to show off their....personalities. The lead ship eventually tells a particular Fog ship to go after the traitor 1-401 and take them out. THE END!

Just following orders ya'll.

Okay. So that went differently than I thought it was going to. I am not sure why I assume anything from shows I haven't watched before. XD As if a brief PV and synopsis could tell me all. But first impressions could count for a lot. Let's just say I am slightly....better now that I have seen the first episode. Or rather I thought something was going to happen that would make me MEH but now I think it will go in a different direction so it's more like OH?

I want to draw you...I mean destroy you!

I assumed going by the limited information that these new ships were going to be alien or from the ocean. I think I thought it was more so the alien until I researched this more. Then I thought we were dealing with some environmental anime. Like humans messed up so bad the fail safes at the bottom of the ocean were activated and took out the pollutants. That these ships were somehow here to get rid of those hurting the planet. Which could still be happening. Like Prometheus without Aliens. XD But yeah these things probably came from space or were made by those from space. Or course...they are rather large. How did they get here?

Look we are in danger again!

I don't think that will be answered for a while. And at the time of the attacks humans weren't caring either. All they knew was giant ships were in the water and were blowing them up. I wonder how long it took the humans to figure out that no one was piloting these vessels. Given how much ass kicking took place when Fog first arrived it might have been awhile. Join together forces of Earth. This planet is made up of 75 percent water (perhaps more in this timeline given the damage by humans).. That is a lot of places Fog is, can be, and will be. The Fog: Coming to get you.

Things have not been going well lately..

I don't think humans were going to be that cut off from each other. However in my mind there was more devastation. I don't know why I thought that. I guess if they are super ships they can fire into the middle of continents right? But I didn't think satellites would be gone in the sky. Underground cables gone yes. But um I am pretty sure in Independence Day they were using Morse code. So...you know...The ships from Fog are in the water. Not in the sky. How did this all happen? It appeared the students were on the internet in the lunchroom so yeah. I can see how nations like Japan would be totally screwed. Island Nation. America might have places of screwed. Or at least I would be in Florida. All the crops and cows in Idaho are safe ya'll.

Woohoo for hope?

So why is this anime even happening? It has been several years since The Fog and their different colored ships appeared. Japan is attempting to launch something into space. At first it is believed to be a normal satellite but it's not exactly. I was going to snark them for launching it so close to the ocean but it's not like you can literally rebuild a structure of that size, especially in the Fog Apocalypse. Things are not going well with this launch. These Fog ships don't play around. Like BAM die. Won't anyone save us?!

We are here to save the day!

Enter 1-401. This Fog Ship has quite a reputation....and a young crew. At the helm is Gunzo. Please forgive me if I accidentally say Gonzo from time to time. Yes folks this Fog Ship is with the humans. The ship is named Iona and she has a real body? Iona able to detect all about the enemy Fog ship. (because only one was doing all of this destruction) and the rest of the young crew was doing amazing. 1-401 manages to take down the Fog Ship before there are any more causalities and the satellite does launch.

So who is the real enemy?

But all is not well. I mean....1-401 did just kick some ass. But the military wasn't expecting them. Nor was it WOOHOO we won!!! More like oh look who is here, the legendary 1-401. Tension. Why is there tension? After 1-401 gets...well away from the military. Iona goes on deck to look at the destroyed Fog Ship. Which means she actually has a real body and isn't a hologram. I wouldn't call what she did as mourning. More like...this is happens, no one is at fault. The Fog Ship was following orders and course humans fought back.

Look at me...Captain Gunzo.

Mr. Gunzo is the captain of this defected Fog Ship. He isn't old enough to be the shift leader at Starbucks. But this is how anime rolls. You better be amazing before 20 or else. He looks at the wreckage too and asks Iona a question that will allow us to have a flashback. To explain why this is all going on. Iona was talking about how the ship they destroyed was just following orders. Gunzo confirms that Iona herself is just following his orders. Iona confirms this. So right away I am like okay so this isn't ship meets boy, love at first sight. There will be more to this story yes? Flashback time.

I didn't want to explode my computer again with awesome graphics so...here is your purple ship.

Oh so I should talk about how awesome the battle was? I guess I am always impressed with how anime works verses other types of animation. Really American cartoons are based for kids. Or are stupid as hell. So when it comes to their battle scenes something everything gets done on the cheap. All things that are technical are glossed over. I am sure there is some scientific backing to it. Just when I watch anime it makes more sense. Well not much sense in my head but I can see how it could be possible. Like they put effort into creating something that could be real. Not just trying to sound scientific and hope no one really notices. Because anime is made for people with deep pockets. You make those battles dramatic and fleshed out. You use language that applies to this made up universe AND could make sense. Needs more explosions. But beautiful explosions. Glide ship glide. So yeah...the art was pretty and impressive for the battle. Some of the nonimportant students at school? Not so...err...fleshed out.

Can I play the part of the jerk?! Because life isn't hard enough you know.

Back to the flashback though. In this war torn world kids are still going to school. But it is probably more important than ever they get a good education. We don't know how many were lost during the initial Fog attack but the kids we got left need to learn how to be useful. Behold the young minds that might get to work on battle ships and new weapons. But since kids are still kids and have to be rude or hateful to someone there had to be talk about whether or not Gunzo deserves to be one of the top kids. His father apparently was a hot shot in the military before he was blown to pieces. Because that is who we should pick on folks. I mean.....is nepotism ever fair? No but I might not be bringing up this when the parent is DEAD.

More important things to do folks!

Gunzo don't care though. Like um I got better things to do. Like kill all the Titans. Oppies I mean giant ships. He and the other classmates deemed special enough to go into the secret area got to see the captured Fog ship 1-401. The ones who had no real faces of course. It was sorta like the scene from Independence Day. Gunzo touches the ship and POOF things start to happen. The artificial intelligence on board starts to react despite being inactive for so many years. People are panicking. No one is noticing with all their buttons and cameras that Gunzo TOUCHED the ship. What will happen now? 

Well Gunzo will go back to school like nothing happened okay. To hang out with his....amazing friends. All of his friends eventually join the crew. I am not sure if it was out of loyalty to him or because they were good at what they did. Because you know...Gunzo is a wanted person. But before the wanting happened Fog ship 1-401 woke up. Or was rather waiting for Gunzo. This is the part of the episode I was happy with. That Iona didn't fall in love with Gunzo. She is a ship after all. The ship's programming. A computer system if you would. So it wouldn't make sense for her to randomly fall in love with him. It makes more sense that Gunzo's father was able to crack the code and force her to wait for Gunzo. Instructions would be nice but yeah. Or you know....capture the ship and give to an adult you trust. I mean how did Gunzo's father know that Gunzo would follow in his footsteps? I know you can't trust people but yeah. Where am I going with this?

See? Real body.

Iona has a real body as I have already said. Which is odd. I am sure it will be explained later. This is a ship that is from outer space. And as Iona explains these ships are all following orders. From a different species? Alien? Different humans who hate Japan? Whatever/whoever the enemy is perhaps who Iona is based on. Like look we can make fake bodies. Go and find Gunzo. Make sure you name drop the father so you can get him on your side. This is YOUR SHIP!!! Come and take a ride...on me I suppose? I don't know. I am not very focused right now. X___X Too much medicine. The point is Gunzo was suspicious for good reason, Iona was vague for maybe good reason, and the military has no idea what is going so I can see how Gunzo is not really on their side or their enemy.

....Good thing that mission was a success.

In the present it seems that Iona and Gunzo are still in that stage of you are my captain and I will tell you what to do and together we fight Fog. But humans can't ban together and fight the enemy. No no because that would be too easy. Apparently there are different factions going on with the humans too. Which is why the dad couldn't leave the ship with just anyone.....anyway the military didn't ask for Gunzo's help. An outside source did. The dude was looking kinda sleezy. He wanted to help the military for his own reason. The satellite crashed or something. Or if there are aliens they blew it up. And it turns out the....plans or parts for some super weapon were in that satellite. Now Mr. Sleezy wants Gunzo to go ALL THE WAY to the United States as the cows and crops survived and they have the ability to mass produce these weapons. HMMMMM all the way to the United States. Isn't there a lot of water in between? This sounds like a bad idea Gunzo....so why are you doing it?

With very interesting fashion sense.....

The episode ends with a bunch of Fog Ships talking. I don't know how many of these ships there are. One of them can do a lot of damage. They have broken up into zones it seems. It kinda made me sad that a lot of them have personality. Like a lot of personality. I guess I want them to act more like programs and not individuals. One ship started to give out orders, to hunt down the defector. Who really hasn't defected per-say. Just got....reprogrammed. Again wish the things in charge of the ships were giving the orders but this is just episode 1. So run Iona and Gunzo. RUN! Or swim really fast. X___X Poor little review, all over the place. No concentration.