Back Arrow – 01
There wasn’t much of anything in the premiere of Back Arrow that was interesting. But it did cause me to ponder an interesting question – is mecha done?
Let me elaborate on that. Nakashima Kazuki is a good writer. Or at least we know he can be, as he was good (albeit a long time ago now). But this was pretty stupid, on the whole. And if we’re honest, most mecha series these days are. I think the genre has been done so many times that there are no more interesting original takes on it to be found, or at minimum not outside very exceptional circumstances. This whole “conviction” thing just reeks of a writer trying desperately to come up with a twist that hasn’t been done. Deca-Dence is another example, although somewhat more elegant (if not ultimately much more interesting) than Back Arrow.
I think if writers are going to do mecha, they should just try and do something interesting with a baked-in premise rather than do contortions trying to be “original”. I think that ship has mostly sailed, which makes me sad but is hard to deny based on the reality on the ground with anime in 2021. As for “Back Arrow” it’s actually a play on “bakayarou”, which at least is a description that fits the Kaji Yuuki (to be clear, he’s not remotely the problem with this premiere) main character here. There were a couple of microscopically amusing moments but on the whole this was tired, generic and dumb stuff. Moving on…
Hataraku Saibou Black – 01
To be clear upfront – this was perfectly fine. Pretty good, even. I think Hataraku Saibou is rather good at what it does, generally speaking. It’s just that what that is isn’t a thing I find all that interesting, for whatever reason. I think the hook here here pretty one-note and everything that happens is riffing on that same note over and over. I’m also bloody sick of the “use the new guy on the job pretext for exposition in the premiere” routine, but I can’t really blame Hatarabu Saibou Black for something it seems like every other show is doing nowadays.
Something else every other show (at least) seems to be doing is casting Enoki Junya as the male lead. He seems to be anime’s current it boy for whatever reason (and Tsuda Kenjirou, playing the narrator here, it’s “it man”). Again, fine – I don’t have a problem with him generally speaking, nor here. And I do find Black modestly more engaging than the parent story just as I suspected I might, as its premise allows it to be a little harder-edged and biting than the fluffy original can be. The body as a black company is a good gag (and sort of meta, since working at a black company could be a major cause) but again, for me it loses its impact when it gets recycled over and over and over (and over, and over).
To summarize – Hataraku Saibou Black is admirably competent, it’s just not for me. It’s a horses-for-courses sort of thing. But if you like the parent story I see no reason why this one should let you down.
Jay
January 9, 2021 at 12:05 pmIt’s surely easier to make more people happy on a consistent basis if all you do with a mecha series is, say, taking Gundam as an existing popular IP and decide to work within the same mold. You’re not taking a big risk since the audience members are already wired to accept the formula, by and large.
That is why I’m more generous towards shows that move away from what’s currently popular, even if they aren’t for everyone. I am into throwbacks like Back Arrow because for me there’s always been something charming about old-school Super Robot shows that isn’t really found in the self-serious Gundam series. The action was pretty good too, plus I enjoyed the music and the cast doesn’t bother me even if they’re not super deep at the moment.
Guardian Enzo
January 9, 2021 at 3:20 pmI get what you’re saying, but I’d rather see a Gundam scenario that actually makes sense – even if I’ve seen it a dozen times – over something so ludicrous and artificial that it immediately takes you out of any buy-in with the premise. That’s why I’d just as soon mecha shows just recycle the same stuff at this point, and once every 3-4 years some genius writer can come along and pen a mecha series that’s both innovative and watchable.
Color2413
January 10, 2021 at 6:29 pmI am still a big fan of Fafner, that slowest of slow-burn mecha shows (except for NGE and maybe Gundam if you consider its various spin-offs as a continuum). However, I think I might die of old age before Fafner The Beyond finally delivers its final six episodes. It’s hard to believe that Fafner started 16 years ago.
KumaShock
January 16, 2021 at 4:10 pmI thought the second episode of Hataraku Saibou Black was much better and introduced some elements we would never see in the original series. Have a look at it and see what you think.
Todd Clawson
January 18, 2021 at 9:03 amGood mecha anime do seem to appear less and less often unfortunately. They also just don’t seem to be as made as much anymore unless it somehow involves the mecha/ships/airplanes also being cute girls. Sunrise still makes fun Gundam OVAs’, but I am having a hard time of thinking of any enjoyable mecha shows that have come out in the last few years. I think a good direction might be if they made more mecha anime in in the vein of Patlabor. Make the focus of the story on a smaller-scale (a police unit in the case of patlabor) rather than always having the setting being galactic war or end-of-the-world scenarios. Heck you could even have the big war, but focus more on normal soldiers with standard mecha rather than special pilots piloting special mecha like the 8th ms team from Gundam.
Guardian Enzo
January 18, 2021 at 10:26 amI like that idea. Not totally untested but it hasn’t produced a really big hit.
Rita
January 21, 2021 at 3:29 pmYour comment about mecha made me think of something. I’m not a rabid mecha fan, but I enjoy certain shows that HAVE mecha in them. I think when a show tries to hit the tropes of mecha (or the more action leaning ones, like Majestic Prince or Valvrave), whether or not I like it boils down to the characters, the plot, the usual stuff for any anime show really. And I think that’s why mecha shows that are mostly fanservice for the mecha themselves sometimes fall flat for the same reason a lot of isekai does, premise over plot (maybe not the most apples to apples comparison, but it’s the closest I could think of).
I think the only time where I’ve been completely on board with a mecha show FOR the mecha is the really old school stuff, where the mecha was arguably an allegory or reflection on the consequences of power in human hands. Or the ramifications of essentially handing out super tech beyond what moral development of a society is ready for (an argument found in technology ethics today still). I think the best way to describe it is the original Godzilla, ironically. Where the big monster is an allegory for nuclear weapons and the whole thing plays more like a tragedy on the follies of human nature and such.
Or I’ve been reading too many byronic hero stories WHO KNOWS. But there’s definitely a distinction in my head, even if I can’t quite put it into words properly.
Guardian Enzo
January 21, 2021 at 6:47 pmNah, I get what you mean.
Possibly the best mecha series of the past decade was Nazo no Kanojo X.