I have to admit that I’m a sucker for space series, but I was a bit apprehensive about this one. The character designs and animation were nice but felt a tad on the generic side, reminding me of some other series that I can’t quite recall at the moment. The promotional materials for the show also seemed to be pushing the bevy of female characters as the centerpiece, and thus I also assumed that it would be a fanservice show as well.
Luckily, after viewing the first two episodes, I’ve been proven wrong, and now I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment. As mentioned by many other bloggers, the first episode itself doesn’t make an exceptionally good impression due to the rather large cast of characters and the flurry of events that muddle up the plot right at the beginning. However, the second episode helps clear up much of the confusion, and the actual plot is starting to become defined.
The convoluted backstory goes something like this: a crew of cadets and officers are completing the “shakedown voyage” for a new ship model, when they are informed that their homeland (under the command of pacifists who had overthrown the previous prime minister) has unconditionally surrendered to an invading force. Due to the strange intricacies of interplanetary politics, the crew is essentially like Tom Hanks in The Terminal, countryless and rather unsure of how to proceed. All of the commanding officers (except for one) basically ditch the cadets and abandon the ship via escape craft, and the cadets are expected to follow suit.
However, greater forces are at work here, as some of the cadets (secretly acting under the guidance of an unknown person) convince the others to defy orders and take control of the ship to fight as a rebel force against the invading Kingdom. Since all the military property of the conquered nation is to be sold on the market at rock-bottom price, the cadets reason that they could legally purchase the ship if they had a wealthy benefactor. Enter the Galaxy Network, a media conglomerate that agrees to buy the ship in exchange for the rights to send a reporter onboard, broadcasting life and death aboard the ship in a twisted reality TV show manner. In a sense, the cadets are basically reduced to pawns for the Galaxy Network, and their lives only serve to boost ratings.
Although the series seems to be only slated for 13 episodes, I’m hoping for some rapid plot and character development. A plethora of ulterior motives and secret factions already seem to be in place on the ship, and could create an explosive mixture if the producers play their cards correctly. This mixture of politics, crew factions, and cumbersome capital-ship sudden-death battles is somewhat reminiscent of the superb Infinite Ryvius, but the smaller scale of matters certainly differentiates the series. All in all, I feel Starship Operators has potential that can only be fulfilled with exceptional handling. With only 13 episodes, such a feat would be impressive indeed.
8 Comments
Although the graphics are *extremely* good and the space setting is quite dear to me, this series doesn’t really seem compelling.
First of all, the producer is horribly tactless (”make sure that space burials look good”), and secondly, the combat centers *solely* on getting their main gun to fire properly. In my opinion, it might have been better if they used one/two-man fighters instead of a battleship (i.e. as seen in Stellvia), but then again, maybe not (^_^)
Hehehe, since when were reality TV show producers *not* tactless?
I still see that David hasn’t given up yet
I don’t even see the main emphasis on the space battles yet. Ep3 will come entirely without them. This is a very fine slow character-based show which has an unfolding plot which I don’t even see too rooted in action or war.
I’ve found out by now that the series is indeed based on novels, so it should be open-ended (and with the potential of a second season). Nice!
And PLEASE spare me with fighters. So cliche’, so standard, so boring IMHO. I liked that this is shaping up as Star Trek without reset button. The damage from ep1 was carried over to ep2 and it was quite relevant. Same in ep3. It’s a nice story for grown-ups. More of that ^_^
Hiya, just started reading the blog you guys have here. Good stuff, like your reviews, lotta work and you guys show how passionate you are about it =). Just started a gundam discussion blog at http://gundamaddict.blogspot.com, hoping for a link with you guys and would be happy to add you to mine in exchange. Thanks
Excellent points, Mentar (of course
)
Although I will concede over the fighters, I’m rather skeptical on the potential of this story as a character drama, simply because the cast is so large.
As a case in point, in episode 2, three people died (!!!), but the emotional impact was nearly non-existent - we didn’t remember their names, and no real loss was felt. Given that character dramas usually rely on the viewer forming a bond with the protagonists, it’s hard to say that Starship Operators can be a success, if its characters are so . . . expendable.
well David, I think obviously if one of the “main” characters somehow dies they’ll be more of a lost. My guess is they had the scrubs dead to bring home the point that it’s war, not some game and they have no real place to call “home.”
… or something like that.
BTW, Ben Davis pretty interesting gundam blog. Nice read so far.
David: You’re perfectly right, the emotional impact was relatively low. Except for Iriki, we didn’t even see any of the dead before. However, the sober presentation is what I actually _liked_ about SSO. In episode 2, you simply don’t HAVE a strong bond, so let’s not overdo it.
Compare it to Fafner for example.Here the characters would have screamed and cried their pain out for everyone in the world to see what a horrible tragic had just happene. And I’d sit in front of the monitor and muttered “give it a rest already”.
In SSO the scene served an obvious purpose. To “inform” the audience that this anime would inflict realistic casualties - it’s a war story too. To develop Say and Shinon as characters who care, but have the professionalism to suppress it - and Shinon, that her heart isn’t in the war aspect at all. And Peter, that he’s a cold-hearted bastard only concerned about his ratings.
The _purpose_ is different. Most animes go for the cheap drama effect and milk it. They WANT the audience to cry too. SSO purposely _underplayed_ the drama, because it doesn’t. It “used” the deaths for other reasons.
I guess it all boils down to what kind of anime you prefer, that’s just my personal take on it ^_^
I notice you state that you love space anime. What others do you recommend?