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Soko no Strain
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Animation - 7.7 |
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Sound - 6.7 |
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Story - 6.3 |
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Character - 7.0 |
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Value - 7.0 |
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Enjoyment - 7.5 |
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Average - 7.0 |
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| An amusing, touching series about a strong woman who defies the odds to succeed.
An age-old question - can a series be carried by one character? Recent examples (Mushishi, Kamichu) show it is possible but hard to pull off. Here is another example of where it worked.
In a very distant future, humanity has split into two different factions - Union and Deague. They have been at war for as long as anyone can remember. Union military technology is reliant on manned crafts called strains while Deague utilise the non-manned Tumours. Sara Werec, one of only two survivors of the highly respected Werec family, is training to become a Reasoner, someone who pilots a Strain. She hopes to catch up to her highly revered brother, Ralph, who is a decorated hero and currently on a mission sending him into the depths of space.
The night before Sara is set to graduate as her school's best student and join the Union army, Sara's school is attacked by Deague units. Sara is forced to watch the horror of her best friends dying right in front of her. Worst of all, the murderer is none other than her brother Ralph. To top it off, Ralph destroys Sara's Mimic, thus making it impossible for Sara to ever become a Reasoner. Despite this, Sara joins the Union army under a false name to further her training, hoping to one day confront Ralph. However, during her training, Sara comes in contact with an abandoned doll, Emily. Sara begins to develop strong affection for Emily, who begins to display signs of being alive. As a result of this meeting, Sara is able to pilot Strains once more. Thus her quest to hunt down Ralph begins.
Soukou no Strain never shoots for being epic. Yet for what looks like a medium-budget series, it manages to do a fairly good job. Character animation varies from mediocre to good from episode to episode while battle CGs for mechs are given a more consistent touch. It certainly feels the more intense and intimate scenes were given the majority of the budget. Opening and ending themes are reasonable J-pop, nothing special. In-episode music gets a bit more care, particularly for battle scenes.
As discussed above, the crux of the series is Sara's quest to confront her brother and reclaim her stained, true identity in the process. Little is explained about the rest of the cast and not much of the origins of the Union vs Deague split are explained. But this is made to feel minor because this is a series whose focus is Sara. You will either be captivated by her resilience, her struggle to make things right, but most importantly, to reclaim the happy, loving woman within herself that her brother murdered years ago - or you will simply yawn and switch off. Don't go looking for deep themes, for steamy romance or for team chemistry. You know how this starts, you know how this will end. But that is beside the point. This is all about Sara's journey against the odds to do the seemingly impossible - to confront Ralph and stop him from doing what he thinks he must. However, there is a plot behind this all, centred around Emily. Once it is revealed, as well as what caused Ralph to go bad, it makes one to want Sara to succeed that much more.
So how about Sara? Her ability to do what is necessary and right is admirable. Most people would be broken for life and live in constant fear of what Ralph did to her. But she does the opposite. She abandons her innocent, optimistic self and shelves it deep inside her until the day her ordeal is over. She focuses on her goals, resists the taunts of the jealous and the petty, keeping her eye on the prize and not letting anything stand in her way. However, that part of her is painful to watch. Because in the first episode, you got to see what a beautiful, happy, affectionate and caring person Sara was. To see her have to bury that part of her and assume a resilient, sheltered, determined self is both a testament to what a strong person she is and a tragedy to see such a nice character suffer more in one night than most of us ever will in a lifetime.
Thankfully, she doesn't stay shelved forever. Her fated meeting with Emily slowly reawakens the kind, positive part of her, displayed in her affectionate, maternal-like protection and devotion to Emily. She doesn't display such things to other people, even those that try to bond with her. Although as the saga continues, eventually people realise just how important Emily is to Sara and that allows those she relies to gradually bridge the gap to her. When Sara is forced to confront her true identity, she once again takes it in her stride and doesn't let it destroy her. While she isn't perfect, she has a seemingly immortal determination to succeed that can't be denied. That aspect of her is why her teammates stick by her to the bitter end no matter the cost and is why she is able to carry this series. So when all has been done and said, Sara is finally able to embrace her true self through Emily and move on. It is fulfilling to see, as is her eternal devotion to Emily.
As for her allies, they're barely above average. Lotti is an equally determined girl who sees Sara as a worthy ally and uses Sara to fuel her own desires to succeed. Once one sees her motiations and how that affects her actions towards Sara, one can understand why Lotti is the way she is. Livinia is the comedy side of the team. There is no secret she's a lesbian and has the hots for Sara. A certain moment in Episode 7 provides the funniest girl-girl moment ever in anime, full stop. The rest of the team are the typical types in mech/action series that are servicable but nothing more. As for Ralph, he is ever so easy to hate. A classic example of a hero falling so far and ending up as a tragedy and utterly despicable, even moreso than a Shakespearean fallen hero like Macbeth. So when one finally understands why Ralph does what he does, it makes one feel nothing but pure hate for him. He ends up being nothing but a mere psycho and someone who lives for nothing more than to fulfill his own selfish intentions. Being such a source of hate makes it ever so easy to want Sara to win.
This has some rewatch value but not plenty. It requires the mood to be able to sit through the wooden moments and savour Sara for all she is. That said, it was still a good ride.
Soukou no Strain doesn't aim high but ends up not far from it. With a strong female lead that carries the series and her inspiring story, enough of a series develops around her to enjoy. Despite its flaws, Sara shines in a way few characters do.
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2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.5 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Sara Werec pilots a mecha against mysterious aliens, struggling to uncover the secret behind her once-hero brother's betrayal of their country. A bipolar and confusing story line destroys an extremely promising opening.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Soko No Strain was overall an ok anime. The first 9 episodes were rather slow building up the plot to episodes 10 and 11 where everything comes together. If you can stomach the first 9 episodes than you may enjoy the last 4.
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Pakxenon |
(2007-08-29 23:29:11) 2007-02-25 00:48:51 |
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Soukou no Strain, brought to you by the director of KGNE, is a character-relations driven anime with mecha as it's backdrop and an EXTREMELY VERY REALLY TRUELY ALMOST-NO-FLAWS realistic setting (about 5000 years in the future; and is what makes this anime worth watching and higherly opinionized). With a tear-jerking first episode, one can wonder if the tragedies ahead can top it. Too bad it doesn't, but it doesn't slip either, and the story presented makes this worthwhile to watch. SnS chronicals Sara Werec's ups and downs after a traumitizing first episode, and with the help of an although "typical" cast, she struggles to find resolute to find her long lost brother.
One cannot argue about the realism this anime provides: time dilations, sub-speed travels, politics, gravity treadmills, and all things space-related. This provides a believable atmosphere, even when they introduce something absurd at around episode 10, and most importantly, it's just a helpful backdrop to the main story.
And coming from a director of a top-5 drama anime, the characters are at no mercy to his ways. People die when they are killed is all I'll say. This aspect is quarter shocker and three-quarters necessary for the drama of the series, and each death works quite well to alleviate or degenerate the mood of the characters.
Which brings me to Sara Werec and her story. SnS is largely about her dealings and resolve with everything that has happened to her, from traumitizations to being bullied to the verge of death. The approach to her story is very realistic (again, KGNE director proves his strengths here); step in her shoes and see how it feels like. Her hard-headedness is a rare trait among female characters of all media, too, which is both fresh and all the more likeable. No matter what happens, Sara is still rootable even if her tragedies were fixed. Though she won't win any contests, she might just fare quite well in any nominations awarding best female categories.
Overall, SnS is a remarkable ride through human emotions and dealings of loneliness. Not a bad choice.
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| Average |
8.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| This is only a partial review since the series has not aired in it's entirety yet. So far, watching this show has been a very positive experience. The story isn't very original, but so far it's been told and paced exceptionally well. There's more character development, and it's a bit more emotionally brutal so far than most series in it's vein, but the story it's self is essentially what's been seen before. There are some differences of course, but I don't want to spoil anything.
As I said, the character development so far has been better than a lot of other mecha, and the heroin, Sara, is very likable particularly. It's also very nice to see a mecha anime that features a strong female lead. At this point, the other main characters have only been recently introduced, so it's hard to assess how they'll turn out (if they survive long enough, the deaths aren't all just throwaway nobodies in this series).
The animation is quite nice. The character designs aren't spectacular, but they certainly aren't bad. The mecha designs themselves are very cool and feature the best use of CGI I've seen in awhile.
The soundtrack is nice, but forgettable. Nothing offensive to the ears, in fact it's quite nice, but like I said, you wont find yourself humming the OP or ED to yourself most likely. The sound effects were also good, but didn't stand out too much. The voice acting seems quite good though.
Overall, this series has me hooked. I'd suggest it to anyone who likes mecha anime as well as a good story. Particularly people who are sick of all the stupid Gundam crap.
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Watched up to the end (Fansubs)
Animation : Good drawings for all objects. smooth animation. The Characters still look alike, especially girls.
Sound: transparent and forgettable over the line, but does not harm the anime.
Story : a well paced but simple storyline with some fair plot elements. it is regrettable some unconsistent / unconvincing elements are injected (like a young boy in charge of a high level R&D dept or too many girls on a military environment)
Update: the story dropped a little and lacked content somehow. there was an unnecessary episode of gross shoujo ai that hopefully did not drag on further.
the end is unconvincing.
Character : there is more character development than initially expected from a Sci-Fi anime. Characters experience pain, they display some specific sets of mind. there is sometimes a taste of school life. A bit of mystery livens up the rest
update : little character development throughout. Dropped one point
Value : difficult to assess but seem fair on first few glances.
updated : mediocre overall. will keep it anyway but dropped 2 points
Enjoyment : I don't know why this anime that is a bit more than just OK is getting me pretty hooked, even more than some well ranked classics. I am very much looking forward to the following eps. I guess that seeing a female character displaying a strong will despite enduring pain and sorrow struck a chord.
update : enjoyment dropped significantly after the shoujo ai ep. little happened and what could have turned into a noir scenario à la SDF macross turned into nothing. 2 points lost
in sum up a good start but a disappointing final half.
mildly recommanded
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