Iron Blooded Orphans Review
Let me begin this review by saying I have never been a fan
of gundam. I have always viewed the idea of Gundam as this abstractly Japanese concept
that never yielded any interest on my part. Although the idea was cool I never
thought I would gain interest in this area.
Iron Blooded Orphans however, enraptured me.
I’ll try to review this series on a few main metrics.
Mainly, I’ll be looking at animation, story, characters, soundtrack and overall
score (essentially how all these parts meld together to form the show)
Story (synopsis)
Poverty runs rampant on the surface of terraformed Mars.
Finding regular employment is difficult due to the stranglehold that
Gjallarhorn (a military faction) has on the economy. In an effort to save the
Martian cities from total economic domination, Princess Kudelia Aina Berstein
requests that she be escorted to Earth by a private military contractor, Chryse
Guard Security (CGS)’s Third Group. This Group is largely comprised of child soldiers
who were forced to join a military faction due to poverty. Orga Itsuka, a
member of CGS decides to take charge and lead a rebellion against CGS and join
forces with Princess Bernstein to form a new military organization, Tekkadan.
Story (Rating)
First of all, I’ll start by saying that this series is very
enjoyable in terms of watch-ability. The story itself is complex, but
simplistic at the same time. It explores how politics functions without going
so deep as to detract from the viewing experience. Furthermore, it’s a series
that doesn’t take a single perspective where there are only good guys and “baddies”.
Characters
The characters in this series are surprisingly good (in my
own humble opinion anyway haha). All the characters in the series have flaws,
which make them more humanized/relatable. I feel this is a deviation from usual
anime series where the main character is a broody over-powered know-it-all with
the supporting characters essentially contributing nothing to the show. If a
character is broody and cold in this series, there’s a reason for it. The
supporting characters in this series are also absolutely awesome. They provide
excellent development in relation to the main characters as well as themselves.
A supporting character in this series is usually directly helping the “team” in
some form or another, not just sitting back on the sidelines watching as the MC
do all the heavy lifting. As the characters delve deeper into the “business”
that is war, they soon find that it is not all glory and simply defeating an “enemy”.
HOWEVER, I will detract points for the ending of Season 1.
This is just me, and you will have to decide for yourself if this has a bearing
on your PERSONAL rating of the show (please senpai, don’t hurt me).
Soundtrack
Ok, if you have read this far, THANK YOU for putting up with
my boring writing and actually giving a damn :).
The soundtrack in this series is absolutely perfect. I cannot express how good
the battle scenes and also more subtle moments of the series are coupled with
the soundtrack. I personally believe a soundtrack can make an average series
into a significantly better series, Iron Blooded Orphans does that even if the
series was bad to begin with haha.
Animation
Alright, I know story-telling and media should rely less on
visual stimulation BUT GOD DAMN, Iron Blooded Orphans has some absolutely
stunning animation sequences. Don’t expect recycled scenes where the MC battles
generic enemies over and over. NO, this series give you awesome visuals with
each individual enemy having what is essentially sparring sessions in swords,
maces and unarmed combat (IN SPACE!!). These scenes coupled with the excellent soundtrack
make for some awesome moments (IN SPACE!).
(And on land, so yeah, it’s really cool).
Overall Score – 8-ish/10
Overall, if I were to give this series a numerical score, I
would score it somewhere close to the 8 mark. Having watched series such as
Ghost in The Shell and Black Lagoon where I found that character development
and story-telling to be extremely important, Iron Blooded Orphans can proudly
stand (atleast kinda close) to these titles. Being a new title, I thoroughly
enjoyed the new animation techniques and sound design. They really added to the
overall experience of watching the show with heaps of intense scenes and
awesome character development.
TLDR;
Gundam Frames
Awesome Characters
Awesome Animation
Story is awesome and not too convoluted in terms
of politicsYou should probably watch this
Reasons for writing this review: I’m really drunk right now
Thanks for reading if you made it this far :)