Kuromukuro

During the dawn of the 21st century, the United Nations Kurobe Research Institute was established in Japan to investigate an ancient artifact, which was discovered during the construction of the Kurobe Dam. Scientists from around the world have gathered in the facility to study the object, while their children enjoy their everyday lives attending Mt. Tate International Senior High School.

Yukina Shirahane, a reserved high school girl, is the daughter of the facility's head scientist. While visiting her mother at the facility, Yukina manages to solve part of the artifact's puzzle. To her surprise, what appears before her is Kennosuke Tokisada Ouma, a young samurai from the Sengoku era.

As a threat approaches from outer space, Yukina, along with Kennosuke, finds herself defending Earth against the invading forces. Along the way, she discovers the mystery behind Kennosuke and the reason he is determined to protect her.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ouma, Kennosuke Tokisada Main

Azakami, Youhei Japanese

Shirahane, Yukina Main

Ichimichi, Mao Japanese

Noël, Sophie Main

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Muetta Supporting

Toyosaki, Aki Japanese

Zeringer Mundef Bischlei Supporting

Soya, Shigenori Japanese

Borden, Tom Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Shirahane, Koharu Supporting

Asakura, Momo Japanese

Liu, Shenmei Supporting

Ueda, Hikaru Japanese

Akagi, Ryouto Supporting

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Ogino, Mika Supporting

Seto, Asami Japanese

Horikawa, Kenji Producer

Nagatani, Takayuki Producer

Fukuda, Jun Producer

Okamura, Takema Producer

Reviews

Jul 8, 2024

CodeCypheur

Recommended

GIVE ME SEASON 2!!!!!!!!!

Now that I've shouted that into the void - Kuromukuro is a rarity in the mecha genre. It's a simple show about humans in mechs fighting aliens in mechs. It quite literally doesn't get more complicated than that? It doesn't try to be anything else; it knows it's story and sticks with it, it doesn't get itself lost in trying to be a pretentious Eva knock off.

Starting with my favourite aspect of the show - the characters.
Ken is the star - he struggles with his identity and purpose, a theme which is echoed from many of the characters. His circumstances change rapidly ... throughout the series and each time it forces him to reevaluate his goals and values.
Yukina is meant to be the star alongside Ken but let's be real - she's an audience self-insert. She's your typical timid, clumsy female mc, but it would be a diservice to say she doesn't have her own arc. She struggles with her own purpose in life, starting very much as a lost character with little guidance. But when Ken is introduced, she truly begins to shine.

Ken stands on his own as a character, Yukina helps to bring out his development - challenge his values and force him to rethink his goals. Their dynamic is genuinely so adorable, I don't know what other words to use to describe it but it's one of those that had me giggling n kicking my feet pretty much everytime they were on screen together. They compliment each other so well.

Almost every side character was fleshed out, and had their own struggles which were given enough time to flesh out through their own mini-arcs. Considering how big the cast was, it's a feat the studio successfully accomplished in making each character convey the themes of the show.

I'm now going to dedicate an entire paragraph to quite literally the only reason why I capped my rating at 7. Marina. This character could have been removed and the show would instantly be better...AND THE STORY WOULD BE EXACTLY THE SAME! She serves literally 0 purpose other than being an of-age fanservice pony. I have such a deep hatred for her it genuinely makes me so viscerally angry to think she was literally only included for that???? I hate her character, I need an option to add most hated characters onto my profile so she can be right there, she's literally the only character that has made me feel this way, she was just a completely unnecessary add-on that ruined every single scene she was in.

Anyway back to reviewing, continuing with the negatives: The facilities security.

**SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR THE FACILITY SETTING AND TREATMENT OF CHARACTERS**

This has been mentioned in many reviews so I won't say that much, but you really have to rely on suspension of disbelief when watching a lot of the scenes in the facility regarding how the 'prisoners' are treated. They're escorted from place to place with only two guards and their hands bound? In what world would that be acceptable security measures? Obviously they have to dumb it down so the plot can progress but it gets a bit tiring when the security measures fail again and again, and are so lackluster in what is meant to be a state-of-the-art facility that holds such magnanimously important objects. It makes it feel like it was run by children, makes the leaders seem stupid and dumbs down any feeling of it being an important location.

A more personal gripe I have is with the tone. It never goes down a dark path - despite having everything it needs to do so. It stays safe the entire time. I believe this is to the shows detriment as it holds it back from ever really saying something. This whole point does pretty much contradict my entire first point, but it's still something I wanted to mention in case anyone was expecting something along the lines of Eva, Terror in Resonance or Erased in terms of a deep or serious tone/messaging.

Back to positives as my reviews have to get at least one confusing vote or else I'll feel I would have failed to touch all bases:
Quick firing the generics:
- CG was good, not amazing but definitely very good for 2016 and probably the best I've seen in comparison to all I've watched previously
- Art was fine, standard style synonymous with anime
- Music was great, not amazing but enough for me to add it to my spotify list of songs in animes - both OP's AND ED's, which is a feat as I rarely deem ED's memorable

Overall I recommend people to give this a try, it's an easy watch - 26 episodes long so not too much of a commitment, even if it's on in the background it's easy to digest. I class it as a romance because the MC's chemistry beats MC's from actual romance anime's I've watch, the fighting was great so it's got a bit of something for everyone. It made me stare at my TV at a loss when it finished because it's 8 years old with no sign of another season and now I have no idea what to watch that's going to live up to the mc's dynamic. Did I mention I love the MC's dynamic???

Give us a season 3. Thank you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Feb 14, 2023

dr_prof_germann

Mixed Feelings

Slightly above average. Not that great though, but if you have nothing to do and you already watched all good titles in your season - it is worth trying. It's not mecha heavy and it's not totally predictable even if you are an anime veteran, so why not?
Characters are not that bad and pretty likable. There are a couple of twists that were interesting and it was pretty nice mix of genre.
Main character are also not bad, but you doubly will remember them latter. Ending is also pretty smooth and don't made you grab your head. Just remember to grab something tasty, because filler ... episodes can be kinda boring.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 6, 2018

ekko_wolfgang

Not Recommended

This is a shitty remake of Evangelion with a less interesting cast and borrowed storylines from all over the place. Idc if it got melee fighting or stuff like that, it got 0 original character development, some of the scenes are as unimportant to the main plot as scenes in later Gundam, the dialogue is nothing. This is what i call a A4 or a netflix anime, a anime created purely for the sake of cashing in, following the most basic of storyline formulas and executing it poorly. The focus is all wrong, looks like the creators took more time creating good nature scenery instead ... of creating a good story with interesting characters. :)

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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