Reideen

Saiga is a normal high school student with a gift in mathematics. His daily routine is disrupted when his family gets news that his Father's remains have been discovered—a noted archeologist and researcher who had gone missing while exploring a site many years before. Among his remains were notes and artifacts that needed to be identified by the family near a notable triangular mountain in Japan known as "Japan's pyramid", a place suspected by some to be man-made. A meteor containing a strange robotic lifeform falls from the sky and begins to cause destruction, putting Saiga in danger and causing a mysterious bracelet from his father's research to activate and merge him with an ancient robot burried within the pyramid—a robot the runes describe as Reideen. It is now up to Saiga and guardian Reideen to fight against this unknown alien threat from the sky.

(Source: ANN)

Saiga, Junki Main

Azuma, Masataka Japanese

Midorino, Akira Main

Chiba, Saeko Japanese

Maedasaki, Taro Main

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Kobayakawa, Shiori Supporting

Okada, Yuka Japanese

Hoshikawa, Hana Supporting

Honda, Takako Japanese

Roxell Supporting

Nojima, Hirofumi Japanese

Terasaki, Soji Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Kuroki, Rui Producer

Hongou, Mitsuru Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Series Composition

Mima, Masafumi Sound Director

Ono, Manabu Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Jul 1, 2023

Haustlaufivindi

Recommended

"Where there is life, there is conflict. And talking doesn't always solve everything" the "fairy" Maedasaki instructs the protagonist in his dream. "Reideen" is full of conflicts. Between aliens and humans, between giant alien "robots" and Reideen, between Reideen and the army, between the army and military intelligence, between departments of military intelligence itself... But the main conflict of "Reideen" is internal. This anime is in conflict with itself, unable to finally decide what it is and what it is about. As a result, it loses the battle to itself. Those mecha lovers who are attracted to action will find "Reideen" boring and overextended. Combats ... are rare, Reideen's transformation animation cutscenes are frequent and lengthy, and the movements of the giant machines are slow. Fans of trash, entertaining stories and humor will not find either one or the other or the third in "Reideen", but they will find it too serious and grave. Fans of melodrama, blood and boobs will also be disappointed with "Reideen" - there are no emotional anguish, no dismemberment, no kawaii girls suffering from breast hyperplasia. Fans of romance will find only a very crumpled hint of it, hastily built into the very end of the series. Those who are interested in serious anime will be repulsed by the indestructible stupidity of the protagonist, often manifested in completely illogical (like fleeing from the alien base ship when it was defenseless and could be easily, safely and methodically shot down) and stupid actions, fragmentation of the narrative and gaping plot holes (incompleteness of separate storylines, "magic" with dressing up of the MC, which can only be attributed to sclerosis or hack-work of scriptwriters, etc.).

The protagonist, Junki Saiga, is also stuck somewhere between narratives - between his strong, bold and determined "prototype" from the original 1975-76 series and the ever-doubting, timid, stupid, whiny and weak modern days anime protagonists modeled after Ikari Shinji. He should be taller and more mature than his classmates, an excellent and aggressive kendo swordsman, fighting on equal terms with swords with an experienced alien warrior Roxel, controlling Reideen like an extension of his body and receiving physical damage when his "robot" is attacked, but he is actually depicted as a rather frail nerd, who at the beginning does not even try to fight, being one-sidedly beaten up by ordinary punks and is not even able to get angry at a deliberate "friendly fire" by the army. At the same time, there is no limit to the stupidity and passivity of the protagonist - most of his problems come from his own slavish obedience and revealing all Reideen's secrets to the government. Like the hero of the original series, he yells "Ruuuydin! Faido-in!", but it looks completely ridiculous with his character and in a remake that wants to be serious. Just as ridiculous is the futuristic moped in the remake in which the sportbike of the protagonist of the original series was "turned" into.

"Reideen" cannot decide what story it is trying to convey to the viewer. There are many “hinted” stories, but they are all fragmentary, loosely connected to each other and not shown properly. Starting with the detective story of the mysterious death of Junki's father, the anime soon completely "forgets" about it. Political intrigues within the army can not be taken seriously against the backdrop of the epic stupidity of the protagonist, who, like a suicidal, plays giveaway all the time, cannot distinguish enemies from friends, and only in some completely incomprehensible way (often miraculously saved at the last moment by alien enemies, performing the role of deus ex machina for the MC) manages to escape death. The title theme of Junki's "growing up" is rather vaguely illustrated and mostly only voiced by the other characters in the anime. The romance line, which is barely traceable for most of the episodes, then suddenly develops rapidly, leaving a feeling of crumpledness and understatement. The key theme of the hero's acceptance of himself and his responsibility is not sufficiently emphasized and is raised only in a couple of episodes, ending with a short comment by Midorino. In general, Midorino voices almost all the key morales in the "Reideen", which, given the small amount of screen time allotted to her (in her human form), blures the message of the anime.

And yet, I liked the remake of "Reideen". Largely due to the things which are not in it and what many will consider a disadvantage - there is no anguish of passion, blood, fan service, trash, intoxication, hurricane action, kawaii, saucer eyes, cellulite oppai, blue, green and other pink hair, stupid jokes and sentimental nonsense. The Art Nouveau 3D animation of Reideen and its transformations is quite beautiful. In general, the drawing and animation in "Reideen" is on top from the very beginning - for example, the animation of movements in the second episode in the hospital, when Junki, while fleeing from the "zombies", slips on the turn. The design of the characters is especially good - without the grotesqueness and colorfulness inherent in anime, but with a certain stylization for the Art Nouveau or even mannerism - the figures and faces of people are beautiful and slightly elongated, but not exaggerated. The anime has a pleasant opening with a city-pop song and a green-eyed beauty Midorino posing in various clothes, as well as a blue-eyed, golden Reideen shown in the ending which is made in the Art Nouveau style. Seiyuu are all good - the main and secondary characters are voiced superbly. Some of these secondary characters are also well written - especially Hoshikawa and the obsessive Shiori.Roxel is quite stereotypical, but nonetheless interesting with his imp cat. I liked the repulsive for many viewers “inhibition” of the movements of “robots”, because it conveys the size and mass of gigantic machines. The same applies to the "prolonged" transformation - this is exactly how military equipment functions, which always requires time to deploy. The romance line, although rather crumpled, pleases with the lack of melodrama and, especially, how it ended for the annoying stalker Shiori, the obsessive childhood friend of the protagonist. The main character behaves with the girl he is in love with, quite believable for his temperament. At first he is gathering his bravery and looks for an opportunity to get close, some sign that she likes him, and only after that he gains the courage to speak.

Although vaguely, here can be traced the main line of the anime which is Junki's coming of age - from a kid obedient to someone else's will, avoiding responsibility, by the end of the series he transforms into a capable guy who knows what he wants from life and is able to act contrary to the opinions of others (one can only hope that growing up also helped him get rid of stupidity and he was smart enough not to tell the military about who Midorino is). In general, if you omit the fantastical assumptions like giant robots and aliens, "Reideen" is a coming of age story. In the story-dream of episode 22, everyone calls the MC only by his last name and he needs to find himself, become a person, by recognizing his name, encrypted in an anagram in the name of his "magic sword" - this is the only way he can defeat the monster and save the princess. Throughout the series, Junki gradually "finds himself", while literally (through communication) and figuratively (by symbolically fighting with the help of Reideen) interacting with Midorino. By contrast, his childhood friend Shiori doesn't "grow up" and, unlike Midorino, doesn't help Junki grow up (and deal with problems), and therefore, eventually, loses him. The contrast between Midorino and Shiori is emphasized in the episodes with Junki's "supermoped" falling - where Shiori remained indifferent, Midorino hurries to help Junki to lift the moped. While MC grows up, he learns to overcome his "limits", take responsibility, not be afraid of conflicts, but, defending himself, solve and even create them, if circumstances so require, resisting the will of others. The need for a "symbolic crutch", which was Reideen, disappears, and Junki gets his princess. Both with the moral message (albeit poorly illustrated) and with the ending, the series is all right, and the animation and art are quite capable of bringing aesthetic pleasure. The characters are written worse, especially "suffered" from the screenwriters the main character. But, nevertheless, the characters here are noticeably more interesting and behave more believably than in most other anime, especially in the "mecha" genre. So, despite the serious problems with the narrative and a very narrow niche, "Reideen" deserves the attention of connoisseurs of aesthetics, allegory and unhurried narration.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 6, 2023

AnimeEnjoyer420

Mixed Feelings

Reideen is the epitome of a slow starter. Though it does find its footing a bit towards the end of its run, it's a show that requires patience in the early going, because the first 10 episodes or so are a real slog to get through.

One reason for that is the uninspired setup. If you've seen one "high school student is chosen by an ancient artifact to pilot a mech and defend Earth from an alien invasion" show, you've seen em all, and Reideen certainly does nothing to distinguish itself from that crowded field early on. Another factor is that the big mech action setpieces ... are absolutely horrendous. They are slow, plodding affairs that look like they take place in slow motion. The mech CGI looks terrible and fights generally take place at night to mask some of the ugliness, but instead that just throws a muddy color palette over the whole thing and makes it look even worse. The backgrounds are reduced to flat, featureless black plains during fight scenes as well, which gives the whole thing a distinct feeling of taking place in some sort of video game arena instead of reality. While the 2D scenes look better and have some occasionally strong animation, they similarly struggle with a dark and drab color palette that drains the energy from the show. Perhaps the most aggravating issue is the frequent re-use of animation in the mech scenes, specifically the scenes of Reideen being summoned or using his special moves. This can account for as much as 3-4 minutes *per episode*, and when you've seen Junki yelling "God Sword!" and the same exact minute-long animation of the sword flipping through the air 20+ times, you start to check out on the episode every time it happens, and the fight scenes are nowhere close to exciting enough to bring a viewer back from that.

But all of that is not to say that Reideen is a *bad* show. It puts its worst foot forward, and is too cagey about keeping its plot mysterious during the first cours. But once it gets into the meat of the story, there's an interesting little plot here about various factions struggling for control of Reideen, and a surprisingly deep exploration of how competing incentives within the military industrial complex can lead to irrational decision making and destructive policy. It takes far too long to get there, but the viewer's patience is eventually rewarded with an engaging series full of intrigue. The mech action never improves to the point that you could describe it as anything other than bad, but it does get *better* in the last few episodes as well.

One piece I would have liked to see them do more with is Midorino, the mysterious transfer student in Junki's class. While we do eventually get an explanation of what her Whole Deal is, far too much of the series is devoted to longing and mysterious looks between the two of them. And even after she's incorporated into the overarching plot, she has a handful of lines in the entire series and barely has anything resembling a personality. Considering that she's front and center in the series advertising, all over the OP, and so forth, you would expect her to have a big role in the series, but it's actually easy to forget she even exists most of the time. She has no real impact on the story and no presence even when she's on screen.

Overall, I would not call this series bad, but it's tough to recommend because it takes so long to get going, and mech fans that may be inclined to give it a chance will likely be turned off by the boring and badly-animated action scenes. Much of the best material comes when there are no mechs or crazy alien devices on screen, and it comes late in the series too. While it does improve to the point of being very watchable by the end of the series, I'm not sure it's worth the time investment to get there when all is said and done.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 2, 2016

ggultra2764

Mixed Feelings

This one's quite the mixed bag. Serving as a modern telling of the 1970s super robot series Brave Raideen, this 2007 anime focuses on high school student Junki Saiga coming upon a powerful mecha called Raideen that he must control to protect Earth from a mysterious alien threat. As the alien threat escalates, Junki finds himself contemplating how to handle his role as Raideen's pilot while multiple factions seek to exploit the mecha's power or presence for their personal gain.

My reasons for finding Raideen to be a mixed bag come from the mixture of what it does right and wrong with its series elements, and ... I'll elaborate on what it does right first. For a refreshing twist to the mecha genre, Junki isn't portrayed as an unstoppable pilot when utilizing the Reideen as he finds himself increasingly challenged throughout the series by the alien threat as they continually change their tactics when trying to lure out and capture the mecha with the alien threats unleashed mostly taking more than one episode to resolve. In addition, Junki finds himself conflicted throughout a good chunk of the series with what role he should have in the conflict surrounding Reideen and eventually comes to terms with what he wishes to gain out of it and hints are dropped with some of the characters having bigger roles in the conflict than one would assume on the surface. Also, the presentation to the series is great for the most part with excellent CG animation work on the mecha and alien weaponry, fluid mecha battle scenes against the alien threat and a good number of tense musical tracks with Reideen's soundtrack that are fitting for the show's serious mood.

What greatly hurts the series are a number of significant flaws that it has in regards to its storytelling and depth. The series quite often relies on deus ex machina for Junki to get out of any major crisis with the Reideen whenever it seems like he is about to be finished off and this results in a rather poor ending for the series when this lazy storytelling device gets milked to the umpteenth degree. Also, the series does a poor job of fleshing out and focusing on a number of major story elements and characters critical to its plot. The alien Roxell is introduced as a rival for Junki seeking Reideen for his own ends in the middle of the show's run, yet doesn't show up again until near the end of the series and his motives don't get much fleshing out. The mysterious transfer student Midoriko is hinted to have a connection of some sort to Reideen, yet the series never bothers delving into great depth with it. Also, the aliens attacking Earth to claim Reideen also lack depth in their motives and where they come from.

Pretty much, Reideen's mixed bag status stems from what it does right and wrong with its mecha storyline. While it offers a great presentation and some solid twists to your typical mecha storyline, it suffers a number of major storytelling flaws due to dabbling in deus ex machina and not fleshing out a number of its major series elements. Your mileage will certainly vary with how you warm up to this modern retelling of the 1970s mecha anime classic.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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	Poll: Reideen Episode 26 Discussion zanmato666 - Sep 20, 2007	7 replies	by Archean-Return »» Feb 29, 1:42 PM
	Poll: Reideen Episode 1 Discussion Stark700 - Oct 23, 2012	3 replies	by WAIAOK »» Apr 6, 2021 12:41 AM
	Poll: Reideen Episode 25 Discussion Hannah_Ana - Jun 7, 2015	1 replies	by WolfWood37 »» Aug 24, 2016 6:08 AM
	Poll: Reideen Episode 24 Discussion Stark700 - Oct 25, 2012	1 replies	by WolfWood37 »» Aug 24, 2016 5:46 AM
	Poll: Reideen Episode 23 Discussion WolfWood37 - Aug 24, 2016	0 replies	by WolfWood37 »» Aug 24, 2016 4:06 AM