Dec 30, 2007

Anime Review: Sokou no Strain

My husband and I watched all 13 episodes of this series over the course of two days. I have mixed feelings about this show. I think the basic story was compelling, but the execution was poor. The story takes place in an alternate universe in which mankind is split into 2 factions -- the Union and the Deague. It's never really explained what the main difference between the two factions is -- which is sad, because it could have been used as a red herring in the story. Anyhow, the story begins with the parting of Sara Warrick from her beloved older brother Ralph. Ralph joins the military to battle the Deague and Sara promises to join the military too so she can be with him. Stuff happens and while Sara is in training, her brother comes back as a traitor in league with the Deague and destroys the military academy and kills all of her friends while retrieving a mysterious little girl. And so the story begins with Sara confused about her brother's intention and her quest to find her brother and to figure out what the hell is going on.

For some reason Sara's personality is reset such that she's a haughty asshole that does not "do" teamwork and acts like a crazed recluse. There's lots of bitch-craft involved in this story which, while being typical, nonetheless, still pissed me and my husband off to see played out. There's gundam battles a plenty, a little romance, two goth-lolis, and yuriness. The "yuri" episode is quite funny, but also precipitates the end of this tragic, but fractured tale. There are a lot of story threads that are started, but forgotten, like the impending battle-to-end-all-battles between the Union and the Deague, the nonsense about the Emilys, and why any of this was going on in the first place. I give this 3/5 for a OK anime series.