Gigantic Formula Episode 1 Review
Episode Summary
In 2012, the world was ravaged by a climactic change that came to be called the Equatorial Winter. In 2035, the United Nations sought to control a war-ravaged world by suggesting the Wisest World War. The idea was passed unanimously, and the world started a war that was unlike any it had ever seen. A war with Giant Robots.
A boy visits his parents grave, telling them that he won’t be able to visit as often since he has to move to Tokyo. He is interrupted by a voice from behind him. As he turns around, he finds that the voice belongs to a cute girl, and he doesn’t hesitate to comment on that. After the girl gets embarrassed, he explains that he has a bad habit of blurting out things that he thinks. He speculates that the girl might be lost, and offers to help her with whatever problem she might have. After seeing a vision of a Giant Robot’s head, the girl asks of him: “Please, fight… and win.” He responds easily by saying that’s not a problem, since it’s better to win than to lose. The girl smiles and thanks him, which causes him to turn around in his own embarrassment. She’s even cuter when she smiles. He ponders about what she meant, thinking about the Gigantic Formula finals that he’s taking part in soon. When he turns around again, the girl is gone.
After being seen off by his teacher (?), the boy (now identified as Shingo) heads for Tokyo. Meanwhile, people scramble to make preparations for the fact that the next Wisest War is about to start. Even though some people didn’t believe it, it seems that Japan has a Gigantic to fight with this time. As a result, when Shingo gets off his train, he is greeted by a rather empty street. After visiting city hall, Shingo muses about how it doesn’t seem like a metropolis on his way to visit his new school. He realises that he probably should’ve gone to the stadium first, and decides to take part in the Gigantic Formula finals from a remote location at the school, even though he will be at a disadvantage due to lag.
The cute girl from earlier heads into a back part of the stadium, shows a guard her id (her name on the id is Kamashiro Mana), and is saluted on her way through the door. Inside, we see the scrambling people from before. It seems that they’re in a hangar. A younger girl taps away at a keyboard and tells her that since they’re in the middle of pilot compatibility testing, it’s not the time for her to be infatuated and wander so far away. Mana denies her infatuation with Shingo, and the younger girl says that she meant it in a general sense, talking more about wanderlust than anything else. Mana is appropriately embarrassed.
The Gigantic Formula finals begin, and elsewhere someone is planning an attack with a Gigantic of their own. While they deploy their robot, time skips ahead a bit to the end of the finals. It seems that Shingo has won it, even though he was at a disadvantage because of his location. The people in the hangar seem pleased with this, and change their tune when a warning buzzer goes off. It seems that the attack is coming. As the enemy attacks, the Gigantic in the hangar, identified as Susanoo, gets up on its own. On the way up, Mana deftly jumps into its open cockpit, ready to go and fight. She comments to herself that this has never happened before, and wonders what is going on.
Susanoo still acts on its own, running away from the enemy Gigantic. It runs to the school that Shingo is at, and is stopped just outside. Fighting happens between Susanoo and the enemy Gigantic, and Susanoo loses one of his arms. Even still, Susanoo stops fighting long enough to save Shingo from would-be assassins who know he’s the chosen pilot. Susanoo then brings Shingo into the second cockpit. After seemingly synching, Susanoo and Shingo take the fight to the enemy. Susanoo rips off the enemy’s right arm and uses it to replace the one it lost. At the sight of that, the enemy Gigantic makes a full retreat. Just after it does, the enemy’s arm (that is attached to Susanoo now) glows and takes the shape of Susanoo’s arm, and the repair job is complete. It is then revealed that the enemy was from China, and that the Wisest World War has officially begun. Shingo then finds out that the other cockpit was occupied by the girl he met in the cemetery before he came to Tokyo.
Characters
Suwa Shingo
Eurkos: Shingo seems at first like a normal everyday kid. And he is, for the most part. I’m seeing more and more characters in mecha anime that are in their element in the cockpit, and I like it. Shingo might not have the battle experience necessary to be the best, but he seems to have a lot of talent, and he’s had training experience. He also seems to like the idea of piloting, which is also good. I actually wonder what sort of hurdle he’s gonna have to get over as the series goes on.
Calophi: I pretty much agree with Eurkos on this one - I suppose someone’s realized that angsty somehow-they’re-good pilots are…well, boring, for the most part. We don’t know what family Shingo has left, though it’s obvious he’s lost someone. I think the hurdles will start when someone actually dies in this Wisest War thing, and maybe he won’t be so keen to pilot anymore if he needs to kill people.
Kamishiro Mana
Eurkos: I bet she’s gonna have more hurdles to get over than Shingo is. She seems to have mixed feelings about Shingo, but I might be wrong there. She didn’t seem too upset that Shingo said she was cute, and was embarrassed by the suggestion that she’s infatuated with him just enough to suggest that she is to an extent. But then, she seemed to not like the fact that she wasn’t able to bring Susanoo’s full power out by herself, and she doesn’t seem terribly happy to see Shingo at the end of the episode. I’m not sure if I like her or not yet, but I’m sure there’ll be more of her as the series goes on.
Calophi: With Shingo being the basically happy character, Mana is probably going to be the one having more of the issues in this series, at least earlier on, and maybe has a bit of low self esteem. That’s based on the things Eurkos said, really. She’ll probably switch on and off with being friendly and sniping at Shingo for a while, and get irritated when he protects her and such. Though, since Shingo isn’t the stereotypical pilot, Mana may not be the stereotypical tsundere, either.
Younger girl
Eurkos: I might’ve missed her name in the episode, but I don’t know what it is. She seems to be the whiz kid type. Really good with machines and computers, and far too young to normally be that skilled. She’s the cute part of the show, I guess. Better than a little mascot that says the same word over and over, really. Don’t have an opinion of her otherwise. She’s highlighted because she’s probably important.
Calophi: I don’t have an opinion on this girl. She’s there so someone actually has information on something, though Eurkos is right about her being way too young for her skill to be normal.
Storyline Thoughts
Eurkos: I am very intrigued by this shows storyline. The Wisest World War is a neat idea, and I really wanna see how it plays out. Aside of the fact that Susanoo looks like a Gundam, the storyline of this show could shape up to be very different than what I’ve seen in mecha anime before.
Calophi: I also liked the Wisest War thing. What a great way to make giant robots fight each other without it being a space war or aliens! Fight a war to save the economy. Nice. This will bring in a lot of fun elements too, such as how other countries handle the war, when it will inevitably go sour, who will become allies, things like that. I also think we’ll be seeing Susanoo “evolving” more like he did with the arm, and hopefully won’t look quite so Gundam-ish at the end.
Final Verdict
Eurkos: I actually watched the first episode about a week ago, and I found myself finishing off this review so that I could watch the next ones. I predict that this one will be involved in my 3rd ep post later. Easily makes it through to the 6 ep test. I’m looking forward to more of it.
Calophi: After I got past the abnormally large eyeballs, I really got into this series. The only reason I haven’t watched more yet was because I didn’t do the review, and the reason I didn’t do the review is because Pokemon came out last week! Anyway, story and characters are unique enough for a mecha series to keep my interest. Definitely in my 6 episode test!
