So one of the series I said I would be definitely blogging came out.I’m gonna try and stick through this to the very end, because I find the premise intriguing. Will I provide any sort of screenshots? No. Maybe here and there but not as crazy as I did with Girls und Panzer and the STRIKE WITCHES movie. And in return, the series will be under the ‘Quick Thought’ category.
No opening, just the windswept view of an abandoned field. Within this amazing example of scenery porn, comes the three characters.
The story progresses as the three girls delve deeper into radioactive Tokyo, finding a highly irradiated man in a suit. Their sponsor, or rather, Vice Principal, arrives in a seemingly modernized JGSDF Chinook, and after taking custody of the irradiated man, chastises the leader of the trio, Ibara Naruse, for using a rare and highly coveted drug on a man who is so highly irradiated that it will only provide temporary relief.
Ibara will not have any of this, pointing the tranquilizer gun (a modified P08 Luger) at the commander’s/Vice Principal’s head.
Anyways, the first episode is bereft of action in the sense of people slashing each other about or giant mutated things eating someone’s mom. We find out more about the other girls. The annoying one, as I call her, is Aoi Fukusaku, while the bespectacled one who is in touch with her animal side is Takeo Nomura. They can survive without any of the protective gear thus far seen on people due to the fact they are COPPELION. Genetically engineered humans with higher than normal resistance to radiation, making them the perfect vessels for exploration in the irradiated Tokyo.
But not really.
I imagine the series will be focused on the teenagers, as they aren’t hardened soldiers. It seems their personalities will change as exposure to the ghost town that is Tokyo increases. They may be immune to radiation, but they aren’t to the eerie silence and reclaimed state of irradiated Tokyo. This comes especially true when Aoi and Ibara encounter a feral dog/wolf that was scavenging on a human corpse. Even before the introduction of the wolf, Aoi had broken down over seeing the dead body (suicide), indicating they were chosen less for their mental fortitude but their resistance to radiation.
We also got to see some hot Tranq-Luger action with Hollywood physics.
So in short:
- Animation Style: Rough outlines, much like superimposed over the scenery.
- Scenery is breathtaking, but eerie, much like Chernobyl.
- Character movement rather…unnatural, that or really peeved at the genki girl.
- A coming of age story superimposed over a cautionary tale on nuclear power?
Regardless on this rather slow opening, I look forward to the rest of the series.
Even with such a slow opening. Why?
A view of the radioactive epicenter.
Because I’m an unabashed supporter of nuclear power. The only other alternative I believe works better than coal/natural gas/oil to me is hydroelectric, and it’s limited by where you can dam up a river. This throws it out there, and shows not only Murphy’s Law permeates all, but as well as TANSTAAFL. For the pros, there must be cons. As Jeremy Wade has said in his show, specifically the episode on the Chernobyl Wells Catfish, there are hundreds in the United States alone, and each can go up like Chernobyl.
There is also the underlying moral and existential question on being alive as a member of the species Homo Sapien/Homo Sapien Sapiens or being something completely different. Is it a Darwinian to think they are bred selectively for survival in irradiated Tokyo? Or just plain mad scientist?
Anyways, like Zephyr on RC, I look forward to this. I just won’t be writing or taking screenshots as much as he is.
A Journey Through Life 
Well, the good, the bad and the ugly of the Copplion episode 2:
The good – nice “Chekhov’s Gun” with hazmat suits superior to those used by military. Definitely a hint of something going on in the background. Also, something akin to a society of outcasts living in the nuclear wasteland. There were people who intentionally moved into Chernobyl “zone” either to escape law or simply live free of stifling Soviet state. While Japan is far from totalitarian I guess there are people who don’t enjoy Japanese societal norms to the extent they would take a modern Robinson’s life amongst the ruined Old Capital…
The bad – both the girls team and the survivors dont act too convincingly their roles. Survivors act exaggerately irrational, resulting in both of them dying and their daughter almost sharing their fate. Girls, on the other hand suffer a jarring mood swings from tears to sudden optimism after just walking away from a kid that lost her parents, due to girls being unable to protect them. I know, maybe this was all unavoidable, but in their place I’d be struggling with responsibility. “What could I have better?” would be on my mind.
The ugly – or rather the eerie beauty of decaying metropolis, scenery remains a very strong point of the series. It is so fascinating that it make syou forget some storyline hickkups.