Opening Songs
OP 1 - Preserved Roses (TM Revolution x Nana Mizuki)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - Boku Janai (Angela)
ED 2 - Soba Ni Iru Yo (Elisa)
Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Science Fiction
Episodes: 12
Here's another one for you mecha fans out there. "Valvrave" caught my eye immediately when I looked at its promotional art. I mean, the main mecha's design is so friggin badass, one of the best looking mechas I've seen in my anime life. However, I wasn't sold just yet, it took a trip to AFA 2013 to finally seal the deal. I attended the "Valvrave" on stage special event, where they showed the first episode along with special appearances from Ryota Ohsaka and Ryohei Kimura. Needless to say, I was impressed with episode 1, and I was impressed with the first few episodes. I was impressed by MANY things, the songs included, because "Valvrave" has an incredibly badass set of songs! However, towards the end I was a little puzzled. What can you expect out of "Valvrave"? I have only one thing to say in comparison to something else...think of it as a sub par "Code Geass" (goes to hide and prepare flame shield...). Its nice, but you'll question the direction that its headed to towards the end, believe me.
.jpg) |
| Believe me, there's a semi yaoi esque thing going on. |
The opening song is one of the most brilliant pieces of music I've heard in a long time. "Preserved Roses" is by TM Revolution and Nana Mizuki, as a song sang by both of them, its fantastic. The arrangement EASILY tells me that its more of a TM Revolution song than a Nana song. It gives off a vibe that feels similar to those of the old Gundam animes back in the early 2000s. It serves as a great nostalgia piece, but on its own, its still pretty damn f**king awesome. The first ending theme is "Boku Janai" by Angela. Its been awhile since we've heard any Angela songs, and they came back with a strong song for "Valvrave". "Boku Janai" is exactly what you'd expect. Its classic Angela at its best. "Soba Ni Iru Yo" too, its a song by Elisa used as the 2nd ending. Its classic Elisa, and it being one of her first songs since her short hiatus, its a nice piece.
Rating: 7.5/10
I know this is supposed to be one of the blockbusters of 2013 blah blah blah. This is my opinion, that's all there is to it. While I really did enjoy the first half of the anime, the 2nd half just felt lazy and a little bit weird. The mecha action is pretty good, the characters are all pretty damn shitty (except L-elf, he's cool), the plot starts off strong then goes completely WTF at the end....I'm sure they intended to build up the tension for season 2 but...nobody likes cliffhanger ends, let's just leave it at that. The mecha designs were awesome, and as I mentioned, the action was good, but it started to get freaking old when they were fighting the same god damn enemies for the entirety of the season! How many f**king times have we seen A-drei and his crew eject from their mechs after losing a fight?! It gets seriously old, and then they throw in a pointless sex scene towards the end that defies a lot of the logic that the anime has provided us with. At the VERY last episode they do something so stupid that throws everything COMPLETELY out of the window. What a way to end it....
.jpg) |
| You like seeing mecha tearing each other apart? This anime has plenty of those scenes done well. |
The anime stars Tokushima Haruto as the main character, a lousy ass, whiny ass, generic as all hell protagonist that we all have seen before (he's no Lelouch). He and his friends study aboard a floating sector in space, and he attends a high school there. He lives life like a normal high school student, until one day JOIR, their small little neutral federation, is attacked by the Dorssian forces, one of the two nations that are at war. JOIR, being a neutral nation with no power, surrendered unconditionally. Haruto's school was attacked by Dorssian forces, and the entire city was placed into lock down. Haruto and his friends were escaping when his crush, Shoko, was blown away in the rubble by a Dorssian mech. Feeling enraged, Haruto got into a nearby robot to exact revenge, and the robot would only operate at the expense of his humanity. Having no choice, he agreed and fought against the invaders with his robot, known as the Valvrave...
I feel that "Valvrave" was just a set up to season 2. It had a ton of unanswered questions and the plot just made no f**king sense when it ended. Season 2 is well underway and will be completed soon. However, if I judge season 1 alone, its just a pretty average anime with nothing special, just tons of awesome mecha action. If that's what you want, go for it.
Peace.
