Rate me! This review is based on the R2J fansub DVDs and is fair and final.Beautiful to look at but slightly askew.
Reideen 2007 is a retelling of the previous Yuusha Reideen series, and it has some strengths and telling weaknesses. Direced by Mitsuru Hongo (Pilot Candidate, Outlaw Star, Immortal Grand Prix) it has more energy than it's predecessor, but it still feels like a monster-of-the-week episodic series. At the core is the story of a giant robot, a quiet student, a beautiful and mysterious love interest, funny sidekicks, evil enemy aliens and a underdeveloped main character backstory. So much more, this could have been, young Skywalker.
The plot is interesting, but becomes enemy-of-the-week action, then the character development suffers, and finally the ending is not completely satisfying. It's not the fault of the director; Mitsuru Hongo did a good job with his material. What he does is give us good action, nice (if often reused) animation, good atmosphere, good characters, and really good foley and sfx work. They did well, but it's 10 degrees askew. Not enough for a series hit, but definately popcorn watchable.
It's appropriate for ages 13+ based on mild comic violence.
Animation: the plus
Animation by Production I.G., it's excellent work on the whole, except for a bit too much reused material for the transformations from student to mecha pilot. I am a fan of good (emphasis on good) 3D animation. But it can't dominate the story, and the seams can't be too visible when it switches from 2D to 3D (my eyes just boggle). Reideen uses a lot of 3D and it's just got too many seams to work well. Also, every time there is a "fade in," the same cels (or more exactly, computer renderings) are reused. So, a point off for each, but extra credit for having very pretty backgrounds, good 2D work, crisp lines, and overall good work in the facial details. Animation is 8-
Sound: another plus
Seiyuu do a decent job in this one. With relative newcomer Masataka Azuma (Mobile Suit Gundam 00 as Lichtendahl Tsery) as Junki Saiga, you feel his youthful angst a bit less than you want to, but he's believably heroic. The rest of the cast sell their parts well, especially in the comic parts. Voice acting gets an 8.
Sound Box did the foley and sfx, and they matched their usual technical competence. Soundstage in DVDs is wide and deep. Technicals are excellent, a 9. Opening Theme is "manacles" by Tomiko Van and the Ending Theme is "Kakeashi no Ikizama" by Ataru Nakamura. They are good, but there is a caveat:
I don't watch anime for stirring OP/ED music, but I do want it to match the emotional tone of the show. I want it to set me up, as it were, for the story. Reideen starts with an OP that makes me think it's a romance, when in reality, it's a giant robot action series. There is no emotional tone match here, so 1 point deducted (though as a romantic OP, it's pretty good). But it has good foley/sfx, wide sound stage in 5.1, and the voice actors do a good job (except I hated "fade in" every time after the first) in selling their characters.
Sound is an 8+
Story... a minus
The series introduces us to Saiga, who is a normal high school student with a gift in mathematics. His daily routine is disrupted when his family gets news that his father's body have been discovered at a dig site in the mountains, one he'd been researching many years before. Among his remains were notes and artifacts that needed to be identified by the family near a notable triangular mountain in Japan known as "Japan's pyramid", a place suspected by some to be man-made. A meteor containing a strange robotic lifeform falls from the sky and begins to cause destruction, putting Saiga in danger and causing a mysterious bracelet from his father's research to activate and merge him with an ancient robot burried within the pyramid- a robot which the runes describe as Reideen. It is now up to Saiga and guardian Reideen to fight against this unknown alien threat from the sky, and to battle his own country's bureaucrats.
The weakness here is the slow plot; episodes are made up mostly of the "enemy-of-the-week" variety of shows. The aliens are not given understandable motivations, the side characters don't have independent aspirations or problems, in short, it's all about Saiga Junki, and his destiny to be the pilot of a giant robot mecha. But who is the antigonist? Is it a battle against monsters, or the military? Evil aliens, or evil bureaucrats? The enemy is all over the map. And it needs a more satisfying ending.
Points off... 7-
Character
I am at a loss to decide if this is a strength or weakness. I cared about Junki, and wanted to see what happened with his family, friends, love interest, even his enemies, until I just couldn't figure out who to hate more. Character development in side characters is iffy, but it's there for Junki, so I guess it's a little above average because I finished it and liked him... so, 6+ to 7- and I'm rating it a 7 because it wasn't the weakness that the story was. As the eponymous character, the robot Reideen never had much of a "character," yet his name is on the series. Tough to name the series after a robot with no independent character.
7 points for good characters, especially the comedic ones.
Value and Enjoyment
Tough one. I have the DVDs, and I'm quite happy with the episodes I have seen, but don't plan on watching it again soon. That usually gives me a 6 on value, because I enjoyed the first viewing but don't plan on seeing it again soon. Enjoyment? Maybe because I am a sucker for giant robots, I found it enjoyable, but frustrating because I never identified with the title character. Maybe they should have named it Junki?
Enjoyment gets an 8- on the strength of good animation and excellent sound.
Conclusion
Worth a watch on a rainy weekend, or if you're a fan of the style. I didn't expect to be moved, or even impressed, but I expected to pop some corn and watch action. Reideen delivers on the popcorn action level.
