This is an ONA series consisting of six episodes – a 45-minute first episode and five additional episodes ranging from 27 to 30 minutes long – with a total run time roughly equivalent to an eight-episode TV series. It is based on a pair of novels by Carlo Zen, the author of the Saga of Tanya the Evil novels (which is probably why it got made in the first place) and debuted on Netflix back in May. I did not get to it at that time because I was way too busy with other things and then, frankly, forgot it existed until recently. Hence, consider this a make-up review.
The story is set in an indeterminate year “decades” after an interstellar Trade Federation came to Earth, overwhelmed it with superior technology, and subjugated it. Now, Earth as a whole is equivalent to a Third World country, with its citizens not considered “beings” by Trade Federation standards and its only exports being food and mercenaries, derisively called Yakitori. The death rate for Yakitori is so high that an ethnically diverse squad of five newcomers is assembled into unit K321, with the intent of training them a different way. After a year of said training, K321 is shipped off to Barca, a planet that the Trade Federation is “aggressively” negotiating with, where they get their trial by fire. Different training does, indeed, wind up getting different results, though not necessarily in the way that was intended – or was it?
Carlo Zen’s specialty is detailed descriptions of military minutiae and tactics, especially how advanced technology (or, in the case of Saga, magic) can affect both, and that stamp is evident throughout this series. That helps flavor what is otherwise a fairly conventional tale about a bunch of misfits thrown together who must learn to use creativity and teamwork to survive. Personality distribution is also fairly standard: nominal protagonist Akira is the angry guy who always wants to do his own thing but can be a decisive leader when he commits, Zihan is the analytical woman, Amalia is the snappy Brit usually at odds with Akira, Swede Erland is the peacemaker, and American Tyrone is the affable buddy-type. While the conflict on Barca plays out, the writing intersperses battle scenes with flashbacks showing how the group came together, trained, and eventually came to understand that they had to work together to succeed, including a showdown with one of the most stereotypical drill sergeants imaginable. They all work for a slick recruiter (who has a Russian accent in the English dub) who constantly gives the impression of scheming something and regularly interact with a military AI name Hatsune who’s a blatant rip-off of vocaloid Hatsune Miku.
A healthy chunk of the content is action scenes, and that’s where the strength of the series lies. Battle choreography is crisp and detailed, with the best scenes featuring conflicts with very nimble spider tanks. The all-CG animation is smoothest in those scenes, while depictions of character movements (especially for human characters) can sometimes look a bit stiff; essentially, if you normally are bothered by CG animation, this series’ visual effort probably won’t overcome it. Also expect plenty of bloody content; the animation does not revel in it, but this is still on the harsher side of the sci fi action genre. The closer also features some very involved animation of a mouse-themed Hatsune dancing to an electronica version of Mozart.
In fact, that’s the one visual aspect which could throw viewers off even if the CG animation isn’t a problem: all of the alien races are anthropomorphized Earth animals. I can tolerate a lot from alien designs, but especially given how detail-conscious Carlo Zen’s writing is, this just seemed lazy. It heavily interfered with my sense of immersion when the series has zebra-people keeping records in a trial and various different breeds of dogs (among others) as soldiers, though the bulldog commander Rimel did at least make a positive impression as a character. Having the population of Barca be all rat people was a little more effective, but the design elements just made the whole thing feel like more of a joke than it may have been intended to be.
The series is offered in the normal array of Netflix dub and subtitle options. The English dub is a mix of newcomers wand long-time veterans, but all of the roles are cast well. Performances are generally good, though a few awkward pauses were noted as voice actors stretched to match lip flaps. Interestingly, the AI Hatsune is still voiced in Japanese even in the English dub, perhaps because the actual voice of Hatsune Miku is used for the role.
Overall, the series provides decent but not spectacular military-themed sci fi action without requiring a big time commitment, Don’t expect much of anything for depth or extensive character development and this makes for matchable (but ultimately also disposable) entertainment.
Overall Rating: B-
USA Anime 