Mecha-ude (TV)

Hikaru Amatsuga's days of tranquility come to a sudden end when he rescues Alma, a mechanical arm crying for help. Alma fuses with his jacket, introducing Hikaru to the world of mechanical arms: mysterious, sentient weapons that normally become a part of their users' bodies. Forced to flee for his life, Hikaru is eventually captured by Aki Murasame, a twin mechanical arms user working for ARMS, an organization that protects the machines against unethical treatment.

The Kagami Group, a nefarious organization that treats mechanical arms as mere tools, seeks to recover Alma. Hikaru is deemed a failure by ARMS for his lack of natural predisposition to be an mechanical arm wielder, so Aki is assigned to be his bodyguard. But Aki is defeated by Jun Kagami, who cruelly tears out her two mechanical limbs, condemning the girl to a slow death. Unwilling to abandon Aki to her grim fate, Hikaru miraculously awakens his power and neutralizes Kagami. Now a full member of ARMS, Hikaru is determined to unravel the truth about mechanical arms and protect his newfound friends and allies.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Murasame, Aki Main

Shimamura, Yuu Japanese

Amatsuga, Hikaru Main

Toyonaga, Toshiyuki Japanese

Kagami, Jun Main

Park, Romi Japanese

Alma Main

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Twos Supporting

Ishigami, Shizuka Japanese

Fist Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Kayano Supporting

Tono, Hikaru Japanese

Kagemaru Supporting

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Tani Supporting

Nishiyama, Koutarou Japanese

Toudou Supporting

Amatsuki Japanese

Kinoshita, Tetsuya Producer

Okamoto Director, Original Creator

Takadera, Takeshi Sound Director

Sawano, Hiroyuki Theme Song Arrangement, Theme Song Composition, Music

Reviews

Dec 19, 2024

Marinate1016

Recommended

Funny

Mecha-Ude is the most underrated anime of Fall 2024, hands down. In fact, it’s one of the most underrated shows of the entire year and it angers me so much because this show is amazing. The long crowdfunding journey for the show to even get made makes it all that much more special as well. Sawano and Yamamoto on the OST, classic studio trigger vibes, awesome characters and great sci-fi action? This had all the ingredients of an instant classic and for me it lived up to that.

Mecha-Ude is one of the few legitimate passion projects we have in modern anime. This actually ... started way back in 2018 as an OVA and crowdfunding for it to be made into a full blown anime went on for years, finally coming to fruition this season as a proper 12 episode show. The lack of big backers and a traditional production process gives Mecha-ude a unique feel compared to most other anime. It’s a little rough around the edges at times, but that gives it a charm other anime don’t have. The character designs and art have a certain freshness to them and are endearing. The animation at times feels low budget and you can tell it’s a smaller team, but it has some amazing moments where the sakuga is up there with the best of them.

Story wise, Mecha-Ude has quite a few twists. I definitely wouldn’t call it generic or your run of the mill seasonal. You can tell a lot of time went into crafting a story that’s engaging and impactful. There were multiple times throughout the series where I had my jaw on the floor from how crazy a twist was, a big reveal, a death, etc., I have to tip my hat to whoever was in the writing room because they cooked. There’s a lot of similarities with transformers as well so if you’re into that, you’ll enjoy this. Hikaru and Aki as leads worked very well. I’m a big sucker for the haters to “lovers”(both literally and figuratively as in a platonic love) trope and think it was executed well here. Aki is a bad ass lead who can hold her own and often saves Hikaru’s ass from some tough situations. We get to see our MC master his abilities and be able to stand in his own by the end which was really cool. I quite like the storytelling technique of an outsider getting suddenly thrust into a big war or secret society, learning the ins and outs and then becoming a big part of that group/movement. The mecha-arms themselves were also really cool. Lot of interesting lore, abilities and directions that were explored not just here, but potentially in future multimedia projects if they choose to.

I’m gonna be honest, one of the biggest reasons I love this show so much is the Sawano OST. Sawano is my fave composer of all time and probably my overall fave artist as well currently. So anything he touches is gold to me. SennaRin , a frequent collaborator of Sawano’s and another of my faves, worked on the OP as well so this was like a match made in heaven for me soundtrack wise. As usual, Sawano’s OST really took this to new heights making the big fight scenes so hype. I will definitely be listening to this OST consistently.

People ask for underrated or hidden gems all the time and this is one of them. I feel like this’ll be a show that as more people watch in coming years will be more appreciated ala kiznaiver. Great story, characters, soundtrack, action and made with pure love. A long journey, but one well worth it.

Mecha-Ude gets 10 arms out of 10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Dec 22, 2024

GT3_gamer

Mixed Feelings

As much as I want to promote this anime because of their dedication as I said in the "pilot" episode, I might want you guys to watch this with low expectations. Trust me because you would definitely be highly disappointed.

Let's start this review with animation. I am in love it with. Not only did it feel nostalgic it also didn't use 3D, at all. It is those classic cartoons, anime, or animation TV shows back in 2011. I can't praise enough how much I love this animation quality. Again, they should be proud of their achievement, they got a new fan. Although the animation is ... top-tier, unfortunately, it doesn't carry all aspects of the anime.

Another good thing about this anime is, the VA. I can hear their enthusiasm while playing their roles, especially, Amaryllis. Like holy sh*t girl, your screech is so good. You can't deny that Youka Hikasa is very good at acting like a crazy b*tch. I love her voice. I also like Jun's voice, these two were like screeching buddies. Other than them, I feel like they did a great job. Kudos guys.
*Edit: (Add bonus segment, after seeing Youka's carrier as VA)
Holy moly I can't believe I didn't even notice it, this woman's voice acts as Stephanie in No Game No Life, Lord Enorme in Gushing Magical Girl, and Olivier from No Guns Life. No wonder I love her voice.

The last good thing about this anime is the OST. Well, once again, we got the good ol' Suwano on the department to bring the OP and ED. Good job delivering Suwano's masterpiece to the scene, Setsuko. I love the OP and ED a lot. I don't think I should say it again many times about the OST in the anime itself. I'm giving two thumbs up for those.

Anyway, let's move on to the most important part, the plot/story. Man, I was so hyped for this but I got let down. I swear every time I feel like the thing I like gonna be good it always ends up messed up in any shape or form. I do understand why they had to rush the story, their budget is probably not really big to begin with. But man, if only they could extend this anime a bit to marinate a lot of plot points, I guarantee that this anime would be a hit. At least get this anime to hit 24 episodes in length, I can definitely see the potential. But as it is, it felt like Chain Chronicle all over again. So many characters, and so many events going on in one episode that you can't even keep up with what's going on and who is the one in the scene right at that moment. I was disappointed.

Characters. I don't even know what I can say about this section. Even Alma and Hikaru, the MCs of the story, don't even have a strong character to begin with. It's such a letdown.

Overall, I give this anime 6.7/10. It's such a letdown, man. I wish them good luck on their new project, though I can definitely see the potential in Trif. They know how to animate things well. As for now, they only have nine projects, some of them are ok, and most of them are not that good. I hope they can get that hit show to make their name in the field because their animation brings so much nostalgia to me and some of the people who watch this.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 18, 2024

WollenbergGaard

Not Recommended

Well-written

Preliminary (11/12 eps)

I've been struggling with trying to write this review for weeks at this point, and I am as a result also still unsure if "Not Recommended" is too harsh a rating to give the show for what I actually think of it.

The reason this review has been so hard to write is because Mecha-Ude isn't an outright bad show, but it is also not a good show either - it mostly just feels like a chore to sit through most of the time. As a result, my feelings on this show are more subjective than average and I could fully understand why some viewers might ... come away from it having completely loved it.

However, when watched with "my eyes" Mecha-Ude is a bit of a mess that jumps from scene to scene with very little connective tissue between them; and even worse, the show barely feels like it has any story to tell to begin with. This COULD have been fine, since this show is clearly focused on its action first and foremost, but since it has so little story to tell, it becomes very hard for the viewer to find themself invested in what action scenes are presented to them. Mecha-Ude thus has very little going on other than "fireworks" most of the time - "fireworks" the viewer barely even feels like watching.

As stated, I don't hate this show at all, but it simply has so little to offer the viewer that watching it feels more like "work than play" and that is pretty much as bad a flaw a show can have - especially one focused on action like this one is. As a result, the show mostly feels like a waste of time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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