Anime Review: Kurogane Communication

Anime Review: Kurogane Communication

Submitted by: Bryan Khoo (VP)

Cast:

Yui Horie as Haruka
Rica Fukami as Angela
Hiromi Ishikawa as Spike
Houchu Ohtsuka as Cleric
Junko Shimakata as Trigger
Kenyuu Horiuchi as Reeves

Runtime: 24 eps at 15 min
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction, Mecha
Age Rating: Teenagers

Summary (courtesy of animenewsnetwork.com): The Earth is deserted. The human race has been wiped out. Robots now inhabit the world. However, only one human remains. A young girl named Haruka is the last human left on Earth. With the help of 5 robot friends, she will find out how the Earth became a place for robots, and her own past. The five consist of Spike, Reeves, Trigger, Cleric and Angela.

Main Character Haruka

Animation: Well, this series is about 10 years old so the animation is pretty dated. However, the robot designs are very varied which makes each individual on the show unique and easily identifiable. The backgrounds might seem a little bland but once the more mechanical backdrops are shown, the details look very good. Overall I think the series has some good animation.

Reeves: the strongest male robot ever with an apron

Spike, Trigger and Haruka

Sound: I liked both the opening and ending themes, and some of the BGMs like the suspense one really fit into the scene. However, many of them weren’t as inspired and kinda lacked any ‘ommph’. Maybe 3/5 for sound.

The whole gang

Storyline: The beginning episodes till about 10 are mostly for developing the characters and at times can be very slow and dull for those who want action or a good story. After those episodes though, the series does pick up. Issues such as the loneliness of Haruka can really be felt and the development of the robot Angela is very interesting. This series also has a very happy ending so those who hate sad endings will love this show.

Angela (or Major Motoko?)

Cleric: The smart one

My take: The series is quite short if you watch it and probably can take just 1-2 days to complete thanks to the roughly 10mins runtime of the show. The show is more interested in developing the characters and exploring certain themes so those looking for an all out action anime will be disappointed. The robots are quite ok in terms of characters with maybe only Angela really being interesting. But, she really looks like a mechanized version of Major Motoko from Ghost in the Shell. Spike becomes very irritating and I kept wishing he would die because he gets on my nerves. Reeves is excellent as the only gay robot I’ve seen to date. There is some nudity later on which is a little warning to those who are turned off by it. However, it is a great series that you can watch with a friend or if you’ve got some spare time.

3.5/5 stars