Revisions Episode 1 Review: Shibuya Transfer

I’ve been out of the mecha game for awhile, but, Winter 2019’s revisions has stepped up to fill the void. It’s yet another ambitious undertaking from director Goro Taniguchi, whose portfolio includes several critically acclaimed sci-fi epics. Is revisions poised to be the next sci-fi hit or does it ultimately fall flat? Find out in my review of Episode 1.

Plot

Daisuke Dojima was kidnapped as a child and was saved by a mysterious young woman who told him that one day he and his friends would be called upon to save the world. Taking her words to heart, Daisuke trained and prepared himself to fulfill his destiny at the expense of his relationship with his childhood friends. But, the joke’s on them when a strange event known as ‘Shibuya Adrift’ transports Shibuya and all of its residents 300 years into the future! But, the future they find is a veritable wasteland overrun by mechanical beings known as ‘revisions’ hellbent on destroying Shibuya. Now it’s up to Daisuke and his friends to protect the city with special mobile suits.

Episode Highlights

CGI Animation Style: So right off the bat, Revisions takes a detour from the usual traditional animated style we see in anime, taking a page from RWBY and a handful of early 2000’s animated series like Dragon Booster aaaaaaannnnnnd… it’s okay. It’s a mix of both styles that I suppose works better with a series that is inevitably going to use a lot of CGI on its mecha. Two birds one stone, but, I’m not gonna lie, it’s a bit off-putting at first. However, it certainly isn’t the worst use of computer animation I’ve seen and it is really fluid during some more action-heavy scenes.

Themes & Trivia

[Insert name] Will Save the World: What better way to start off an epic hero’s journey than with a good old fashion destiny speech? In the first two minutes, Daisuke says ‘destiny’ at least 10 times during what can only be described as an epic hero monologue about how he’s going to save the world because a mysterious [insert hair color] woman told him it was his destiny. It’s the same thing we’ve seen before and it’s arguably just as cliche here as it is in the hundreds of other anime like it before.

Childhood Friends: The main cast of characters is made up of a group of childhood friends. It’s the usual bunch; the jock, the tsundere, the shy one, and the upbeat/genki character. And when you throw Daisuke into the mix, you have a regular five man band!

Comments

Daisuke is the embodiment of every shounen hero I have ever hated and yet… I find his dedication to his destiny oddly endearing in a ‘it’s so ridiculous it’s comical’ sort of way… I’m not sure if that was the intent, but, I couldn’t help but laugh every time Daisuke said the word ‘destiny’. After a while, the word starts to lose its punch. But, Daisuke is 110% dedicated to his mission to be the protector of the world. I almost get a Samurai Flamenco vibe from him…

Now, the animation… if you’ve read my Piano no Mori reviews, you’ll know I’m not a big fan of poorly rendered CG animation, so when I realized that the entire series would use a similar style I was prepared to hate it. I will admit that it isn’t the worst use of CG animation in the world, buuuut, it isn’t the best either. During the non action scenes the character movements are clunky and awkward, since the CG animation doesn’t do a great job of capturing the fluidity of natural human movement. There were a few scenes where characters just walking in the background had this oddly mechanical twitchy movement that made them look like they were possessed… On the other hand, during high action scenes the CG really shines, it really works well with faster movements giving the animation a fluidity that is just missing in some of the slower moments of the episode.

My Time Has Come

revisions is a combination of Goro Taniguchi’s Planetes and Code Geass franchises, with its unique characters and intriguing sci-fi fantasy premise. The CG animation is a bit hit or miss, but once you look past that, Episode 1 of revisions definitely sets the foundation for what promises to be a pretty solid anime.

I’ll be back next week with another Revisions review, but in the meantime, be sure to check out MANGA.TOKYO’s other amazing Winter 2019 reviews!!