I gave this a vote of 6, which is the lowest of the votes so far, so I guess I'd better justify it. This is a hybrid of the combat mecha action anime and the high school romantic drama anime. Similar hybrids have done well in the past, but this one doesn't quite work. It has some good episodes, likable characters, exciting action scenes in the first half, and a righteous theme song, but overall, I just can't give this a high vote.
The setting is interesting, with Japan being the last part of Earth not overrun by alien(?) invaders, and the government having to draft high school students to fight. The anime focuses on one high school class, which mixes school work and classes with being on alert and having to fight off Genju attacks. The first half balances the two genres pretty well, but the second is firmly set in romantic drama. The boy and the girl eventually get together, but the larger conflict against the Genju is never resolved. We never find out where they came from, why they started attacking, or much of anything else about them. For example, we see an interesting tactic in the first episode that the Genju invaders use to defeat a human counter-attack. They apparently take control of one of the Japanese helicopters and then use it to destroy the main force. It's never explained how the Genju could do this, and then it's never seen again in any other battles. In addition, there are tantalizing hints about halfway through the series that the appearance of the invaders is connected to the conflict of WWII. This is never followed up on either. The whole romantic angle is fine, but it just isn't satisfying by itself when the fight for humanity's existence is left by the wayside.
To be fair, while I'm a fan of both genres, I prefer mecha action to romantic comedy drama, so I do have a little bias. But overall I found this somewhat disappointing. If you're an anime fan, I recommend renting the first two discs, and if you really want to see the boy and girl get together, then go ahead and see the third, just don't expect much beyond that.
The setting is interesting, with Japan being the last part of Earth not overrun by alien(?) invaders, and the government having to draft high school students to fight. The anime focuses on one high school class, which mixes school work and classes with being on alert and having to fight off Genju attacks. The first half balances the two genres pretty well, but the second is firmly set in romantic drama. The boy and the girl eventually get together, but the larger conflict against the Genju is never resolved. We never find out where they came from, why they started attacking, or much of anything else about them. For example, we see an interesting tactic in the first episode that the Genju invaders use to defeat a human counter-attack. They apparently take control of one of the Japanese helicopters and then use it to destroy the main force. It's never explained how the Genju could do this, and then it's never seen again in any other battles. In addition, there are tantalizing hints about halfway through the series that the appearance of the invaders is connected to the conflict of WWII. This is never followed up on either. The whole romantic angle is fine, but it just isn't satisfying by itself when the fight for humanity's existence is left by the wayside.
To be fair, while I'm a fan of both genres, I prefer mecha action to romantic comedy drama, so I do have a little bias. But overall I found this somewhat disappointing. If you're an anime fan, I recommend renting the first two discs, and if you really want to see the boy and girl get together, then go ahead and see the third, just don't expect much beyond that.
