Tanegashi Accel Impact!
Robotics;Notes is the third anime adaptation of one of the Science Adventure series of Visual Novels by 5pb. and Nitroplus, following Chaos;Head (produced by Madhouse) and Steins;Gate (produced by White Fox). This time they handed the keys to Production I.G, and FUNimation has already licensed it to stream on their website.
Robotics;Notes takes place in 2019, presumably in the same universe as Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate (a bit more on that later), and ostensibly centers on a high school robotics club in danger of losing its club status. Its only two members are the terribly disinterested gamer Kaito and the overenthusiastic club president and mecha freak Akiho, who is obsessed with completing a giant robot that the club has been working on for years. I say "ostensibly" because clearly there is more to this story. All signs point to it being more than just a show about a high school club building a giant robot together. Kaito and Akiho are linked by a mysterious incident in their past and something awfully weird is going on with the world...
I will start by saying that this show is slow so far. I personally don't think that's a bad thing if it later makes sense in the greater context, but slow shows have to work harder to keep me interested, and I definitely think R;N is accomplishing that so far.
First off, the characters are all interesting (especially Akiho). They all have personality quirks that don't feel generic, and all of them show signs of a deeper backstory that will slowly be revealed as the show progresses. In particular, the Kaito-Akiho dynamic is very interesting, and it reminds me a lot of the relationship between Okabe and Mayuri on Steins;Gate in terms of being fun and playful, but having more to it than just that. In general, R;N appears to be one of those shows that is funny and light hearted on the surface, but has a more sober and serious core to it. And it's definitely funny, but not in an overly silly or goofy fashion, and the voice acting is very good. The humor is another thing that reminds me of S;G, which was a show that made me laugh quite a bit.
Like the man said...
I wouldn't call the character design groundbreaking or hyper original, but it is fine, and not everyone is a Greek God/Goddess like in, say, Code Geass. The art and animation in general are good so far, and the visual narrative elements work well. For example, one of the characters wears bionic prosthetics on her legs, and they are clearly visible in several scenes, but it takes a few episodes for it to even get addressed, let alone explained. There are plenty of little things like that which are positive indicators of what's to come.
Another thing I liked was the technology and the culture of the PokeComs that everyone carries – these are basically your near-future versions of mini tablets that include all the typical smartphone/tablet applications, as well as some really nice augmented reality features. In fact, AR seems to play a very important role in the story. Also nice are the various holsters that people use to carry them around in and the fact that everyone is always staring at their goddamn PokeCom. It gives it a nice air of realism.
Can you stop looking at your fucking PokeComs when I'm talking to you?!
Despite being yet another show about kids with otaku tendencies, R;N comes across as less Fanservice and more Meta. It has plenty of inside jokes about the mecha genre but it also explores aspects of that world that aren't usually tackled. It's almost like the show exists in a mecha world, but instead of being about soldiers fighting with military-grade hardware, it is about kids who are into robotics and might someday be the ones designing the next best lethal killing machine.
I guess you could call this Fanservice. If you were a fan of Radio Shack.
This show presumably takes place the same universe as Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate, but since S;G contained only one vague reference to C;H, I doubt you would have to watch either of those first (even though I have an inkling that references will exist). You definitely should, though, because both are great, especially S;G. (Yes, I know. I sound like a broken record.)
Robotics;Notes is definitely a crapshoot at this stage. I've said a lot of positive things about it, but all those things will be worthless if the plot isn't satisfying. I've said many of these same positive things about shows like Eureka Seven AO and Guilty Crown early on, but they ultimately couldn't sustain their initial strength, which made that early positive stuff seem like a waste in retrospect. That being said, what I've seen so far definitely makes me want to keep watching.
