Gen: Lock Episodes 1-2 Review

"It's unlike any mecha we've seen before."

This was the slogan Rooster Teeth (of RWBY fame) is using to promote their now airing series 'Gen: Lock'. Creator and series director Gray Haddock cites the works of Gen Urobochi (Thunderbolt Fantasy, Madoka Magica), and mecha/sci-fi shows like Gundam and Ghost in The Shell as inspirations. Having said that, the mecha community ridiculed the series over its slogan and its trailer, myself included, as there wasn't much in it that distinguishes itself from other mecha shows like Gundam, or Macross, or others such as Code Geass or Getter Robo. And given the reputation sites like Polygon have, it's hard to take their reviews of Gen: Lock seriously.

Another is a more personal reason - I never really liked RWBY. While I am aware of the critical and commercial success it has made over the years, it's one of those that for one reason or another, I could never jump into and enjoy (Clone Wars also comes to mind). I also have this mentality that promoting an animated series or film by having a celebrity do voice-acting is more of a marketing ploy to get people to watch it, rather than picking them because their voice-acting is as good as when they do act on camera. So as I begin diving into the first two episodes of Gen: Lock, I have low expectations of it.

Truth be told, it’s not bad so far. There are still a number of issues it has though. For the purpose of this review, I will compare it with other mecha anime that I’ve seen over the years, from Astro Boy, to the original Mobile Suit Gundam, to Darling in The Franxx.

The one thing shows like Gundam and Macross have done so well is that when it comes to a war between two or more factions, they give you a quick glance as to what is going on before we are introduced to the main cast. But for the first two episodes of Gen: Lock, we don’t get anything as to what’s going on. Instead, we are introduced to the protagonist Julian Chase (Michael B. Jordan) and his relationship with Miranda Worth (Dakota Fanning) before he gets shoved into battle with a faction known as the Union, gets killed, and comes back years later as part of a secret project on piloting experimental mechs known as Holons. And after two episodes, we STILL don’t know what’s up with the war between the two factions other than one of them being portrayed as the bad guys.

Now let’s talk about these ‘Holons’. They are your typical Real Robot-type (mechs used mainly for warfare) combat units found in Gundam and Macross. The difference lies in that there is no human pilot, and instead the pilot’s own consciousness is uploaded to the Holon to control it (think James Cameron’s Avatar). I’m guessing this is what the show’s slogan meant as I personally cannot recall a mecha series with a similar concept. The closest would be Tetsujin 28 (Gigantor in the US) where the title mech is controlled via remote control, and the first of its kind.

I wasn’t too keen with the mecha designs of the Holons as they look more like the Armor Slaves found in Full Metal Panic. That said, the Opening Animation that reveal the Holons will be upgraded with unique abilities and weapons. So there is some promise the Holons will look good in combat. The other mechs found in Gen: Lock are mainly generic and none of them stand out or even memorable.

As for the characters, the first two episodes didn’t bring much reason for me to actually care for them. Again, like Gundam and Macross, we are given protagonists who are given a reason to fight, with enough character and charm to connect to them as soon as possible. Chase lacks such characterization that I don’t connect with him at all. Hopefully the later episodes explore his character, as will the rest of the cast. The performances of the celebrities aren’t bad.

One voice actor that really surprised me was the inclusion of Koichi Yamadera as Kazu Iida, one of the 5 Holon pilots who hails from Japan (the series has a diverse cast). Anime fans know Yamadera as the Japanese voice of Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop, and more recently as the voice of Beerus in Dragon Ball Super. Unless I’m mistaken, this is Yamadera’s first participation in an American produced series. His character doesn’t speak English, though for some strange reason, he understands it when spoken to. It’s just as weird that he speaks Japanese and everyone gets it.

There really isn’t much for me to say with regards to the animation since it used the same style as found in RWBY. I’ve pretty much grown accustomed to it thanks to Knights of Sidonia, and more recently with Netflix’s Godzilla Trilogy.

Within all this slew of animated shows, Gen: Lock will have to offer something more than what it currently has to stand out from the rest of the crowd. It hasn’t done so yet. But it does have plenty of episodes to prove itself. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give the first two episodes of Gen: Lock a 2 out of 5.

re: ANN's Ep 4 review of The Rising of The Shield Hero

This really shouldn’t surprise me, but Theron Martin, who gives reviews for The Rising of The Shield Hero on ANN, is really downplaying the series with each episode review - quite contrary to its community score that is averaged at 4.5. Each time I read his reviews, I find the context to be less a review of the series and more of bashing it over his (and by extension ANN itself) social and political views. It is the new norm, whether anyone likes it or not, that sites like ANN would inject their bias in their journalism, while under the banner of an established entity that provides “fair and truthful” reporting.

While I’d simply just ignore his reviews and rate Rising in my own way (of which you may know I really loved the series so far), I do want to respond to some of his commentsfrom the series’s 4th episode, which came this week.

With regards to Motoyasu (the Spear Hero), Theron quoted as saying:

“...this episode shows that Motoyasu (aka Spear Guy) has enough of a blind righteous streak that he's easily susceptible to the machinations of a sly-minded pretty face. He's as out of his league with Myne as Naofumi was, regardless of their differences otherwise.”

If I were to say this in another angle, Motoyasu is the White-Knight in this series, in that he is over-privileged to do anything in the name of his obviously poor sense of justice. As such Motoyasu is obligated to ‘rescue’ Raphtalia from Naofumi because of this over-privilege, Myne’s influence, and of course hopefully adding her to his already harem party.

On Myne (or Malty as her real name was revealed in this episode):

“…she still comes across as a malicious soul who gets her jollies at Naofumi's expense simply because she has a twisted personality, which doesn't make her an interesting character.”

Malty isn’t supposed to be anywhere likable. The hate doesn’t come from Malty being a very bad character in the series. She’s vilified for her actions against Naofumi. She is a lot like Griffith in Berserk and what he did makes him such a hated character. Imagine Malty as a heel wrestler and you boo her because of her heelish actions. It’s different from booing her period because she’s a horrible wrestler. What she’s done in this narrative of Rising is the former.

Lastly, this one big paragraph on Naofumi as the protagonist:

“The big turning point is also fairly expected, when Raphtalia demonstrates that her loyalty to Naofumi has nothing to do with the master/slave relationship in such a way that even the other two heroes recognize her sincerity. The last two episodes have done a sufficient job establishing why she would see things that way, but this scene still didn't seem to achieve much emotional impact, because of how irritatingly heavy-handed the series continues to be about Naofumi's persecution complex. Almost none of Naofumi's issues stem from his own mistakes or inadequacies. He's being portrayed purely as a victim, which isn't a good angle for future character growth unless the intent is to show him casting off his victim mentality in some interesting way.”

This sounds more like he sees Naofumi as playing the victim rather than being one. Imagine being in Naofumi’s shoes. You’d have to be a total saint not to be cold and bitter to everything around you after what you’ve been through. Naofumi continues to fall into such despair that it did activate the Curse Series in his shield. We can see from the OP animation that this is something that gives Naofumi a huge power boost, but at the cost of own humanity. Raphtalia serves as his moral compass and to keep him from falling off that cliff towards the dark side. While trope-ish in that Raphtalia is devoted to Naofumi, at the very least, the execution makes her devotion legitimate. There was a slight change from the novel and manga in the episode’s ending in which those two versions had Naofumi kissing Raphtalia on the cheek. I find it a good choice not including that scene in the anime version, as that would’ve been quite awkward.

The next episode will be an introduction to the newest member for Naofumi’s party. It also appears to be a bit more light-hearted than what we’ve seen so far. It’s a good change of pace and something I’m looking forward to. As for this episode, if you couldn’t tell from it already, I really liked it, especially with Raphtalia’s progression as a character. ANN can pretty much shove it with their views on The Rising of The Shield Hero. But I’ll still go to them for Anime News.