Thursday 19 January 2017

Almost Too Heavy (Heavy Object review)



Opening Songs
OP 1 - One More Chance (ALL OFF)
OP 2 - Never Gave Up (ALL OFF)

Ending Songs

ED 1 - Dear Brave (Kano)
ED 2 - Unchanging Strength (Yuka Iguchi)

Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Science Fiction

Episodes: 24



I'll be straight up honest with you guys, I only watched this one because its story was written by the great Kazuma Kamachi, the author behind the "To Aru Majutsu No Index" franchise. I was quite hyped to learn that another one of his many works got an anime adaptation, and soon grew quite eager for "Heavy Object" to end so that I could watch it. Sadly for me, while "Heavy Object" is a rather unique concept to say the least, I found it extremely hard to grow on the series as a whole. I'm not too huge of a sci-fi guy, so "Heavy Object" didn't exactly sell me on the premise alone, even after finishing the entire 24 episode offering, I was feeling rather iffy and confused as to what to think of the series. The series has its strong points, but I feel that it has far too many issues that stop it from achieving greatness. I mean, if you're into giant mechs and destroying them, this one might be for you, otherwise, I feel that "Heavy Object" only appeals to a certain niche audience.



Well, at least it shares ONE similarity to Index: It has
some great ladies in it.

For one, the series does have some solid theme songs, I'll give it that. Both opening songs are performed by ALL OFF, the first opening theme is "One More Chance", and the second one is "Never Gave Up". Both songs are fast, furious and get you freaking pumped with its high strung vocals and powerful instrumental flurry. "Never Gave Up" does feel a little bit uplifting, which is slightly questionable, but its still a powerful song nonetheless. The ending themes are your typical slow affair, with the first theme being "Dear Brave" by Kano, and the second theme being "Unchanging Strength" by Yuka Iguchi.



Rating: 7.0/10



While I personally don't enjoy it AS much, I'd say that the show does have some undeniable charm. "Heavy Object" is a sci-fi anime that takes place in the future, and it does have a rather ridiculous setting. Right off the bat, things will seem infuriatingly confusing and completely nonsensical, that much is similar to the "Index" franchise, that much I can say for sure. If you don't pay attention to even the slightest bit of detail, you'll have question marks flying out of your heads. The story itself is mostly your typical political struggle between countries and factions, nothing TOO complicated or mind blowing here. The characters are a rather strong point, since most of the screen time is focused on our main central 4 characters, which do turn out to be somewhat likable down the road (plus, Capistrano is a freaking goddess). While there are plenty of other side characters thrown in from time to time, the show's focus never breaks away from our central cast, which gives them some good character development. The show's main focus however, is the action, and while most of the mech battles are done in CG, the main meat of the show with regular foot soldiers taking down mechs can range from good....to "meh". Some of the battle arcs are nice, while others aren't that great, which is probably why I feel like this show doesn't appeal to me that much, since the later strategies to take down future mechs don't feel that mind blowing anymore.




Too bad it doesn't work like that.

Quenser is a regular young man sent out to the army to investigate and learn about Objects, mysterious mechs that surfaced in the world and took it by storm. An Object is a massive mech that is powerful enough to completely obliterate armies, tanks and any sort of planes that even dare to mobilize against it: simply put, it is the most powerful thing in the world. Since the introduction of Objects, wars have been completely skewed and even removed at times, with most conflicts between factions being settled between 2 Objects duking it out with one another. Whichever Object wins will have its supporting factory win the war, so to say. Quenser is a mechanic studying the Objects up close, as such, he is treated a foot soldier. There, he meets someone who'll become his best buddy in the battlefield, Havia, a prince from a faraway land sent to fight for his family's honor. Together they work under the voluptuous Major Capistrano and her Object pilot Milinda. They go on various adventures, fighting against armed soldiers and objects alike, except on most situations, Quenser and Havia have to deal with Objects by themselves...as mere foot soldiers.


"Heavy Objects" threads on a very niche line in my opinion. Surely it has its nice bursts of charm, but I feel like the show gets repetitive and bland after awhile, especially if you're not huge into mechs. As one of Kazuma's works, I feel like it's going to have a nice following, but for myself...well, we're just going to have to see how the future for this franchise turns out.