Series Recommendation: Megaton Musashi
Megaton Keyword: Turnabout is fairplay!
Let’s go, Musashi!
Let’s go, Musashi!
The best way to start off 2022 is to watch the best series of 2021. And coming in with a massive victory is none other than Level-5’s multimedia series MEGATON MUSASHI! At last, after 5 long years of work (and delays), they have shown us what patience can do for a series. Level-5 showed none of its shortcoming with Gundam Age nor any reservation from LBX and just go full insane with Musashi. You can tell they really pulled out all the stops with the series
Megaton Musashi’s premise is quite familiar with us. The usual alien invasion and Earth’s getting absolutely wrecked and now a small military group with insane funding and facilities are standing up to them. Young and brass teenager Yamato Ichidaiji, along with snarky Teru Asami and headstrong Ryuugo form a team of three to pilot a gigantic robot called a “Rogue”. Their Rogue are different, stronger, faster, and much more awesome: the Megaton-class Musashi!
+ Plot: Well, reading the synopsis might give you about 10 different series with the same settings. But I assure you, the tropey stuff end after episode 1 and then we head into uncharted territory. Musashi combine a lot of ideas to create a unique settings that gives us a very fresh feeling as well as staying semi-coherent (because if you think about it hard enough, things stop making sense). But hey, it’s a bonafide Super Robot series like we see in the 80s, and the staff know it. They aren’t trying to write a series that will cover all the loose ends or plotholes, they wrote a series that focus on exciting events, genuine character development and badass action.
Yamato Ichidaiji – despite being a teenage Ryoma clone – is a very interesting character that we haven’t seen in a while. He forms his own conviction and bend everyone to his will, but not to the point of being unreasonable. He actually listens and trusts people and gave them a chance to express their intentions. Aside from Yamato, the other pilots are also well developed, especially Teru, though not to the point of Yamato but still very sufficient nonetheless. They make us care for them on some level. Even the “villains” was pretty well done even though most of them are one-dimensional except for one. Furthermore, the voice acting was pretty amazing, so you can feel their emotion better.
+ Plot: Well, reading the synopsis might give you about 10 different series with the same settings. But I assure you, the tropey stuff end after episode 1 and then we head into uncharted territory. Musashi combine a lot of ideas to create a unique settings that gives us a very fresh feeling as well as staying semi-coherent (because if you think about it hard enough, things stop making sense). But hey, it’s a bonafide Super Robot series like we see in the 80s, and the staff know it. They aren’t trying to write a series that will cover all the loose ends or plotholes, they wrote a series that focus on exciting events, genuine character development and badass action.
Yamato Ichidaiji – despite being a teenage Ryoma clone – is a very interesting character that we haven’t seen in a while. He forms his own conviction and bend everyone to his will, but not to the point of being unreasonable. He actually listens and trusts people and gave them a chance to express their intentions. Aside from Yamato, the other pilots are also well developed, especially Teru, though not to the point of Yamato but still very sufficient nonetheless. They make us care for them on some level. Even the “villains” was pretty well done even though most of them are one-dimensional except for one. Furthermore, the voice acting was pretty amazing, so you can feel their emotion better.
+ Animation: Well, we know where OLM’s focus went for this season outside of Shinkalion Z. Megaton Musashi is absolutely beautiful in both character animation and mecha action. The character art is quite unique (well, it IS Level-5) but they do have a “soul” to them. Their eyes and facial expression are very expressive. And the hand-to-hand combat is very well choreographed. Now onto the MEGATON-CLASS goodness, and there’s just one word: Perfection. The gigantic robot that must have weight like hundreds of tons moving so agile is a clear reference to the older classic Super series, just with modern 3D graphic this time. You can feel the “weight” of the Megaton-class with how they kick up dust with every step and how they “hit” the ground with a huge thud. Since Musashi is both a game and an anime, they took advantage of that and probably rip the game’s cutscenes to be used in the anime as well, particularly the hangar deployment. Can’t complain since it looks absolutely epic and immaculate. The special attacks look so badass that it will make you jump off your chair and shout it!
+ Mecha Design: Hello, the 70s called, they want to compliment you on your good taste. Megaton Musashi designs are like a blast to the past with the main units. You can absolutely see the Getter-1 in Musashi, the Jeeg Pantheroid in Arthur, the absolute chonk Gordam or Giant Robo in the Maximus. There’s no fancy edgy design, just good ol’ metal barrel with extreme firepower and weapons! And the head design with pupils and cat ears (yeah Musashi has cat ears) invoke a sorta B-Daman style to it, and when coupled with an enormous frame, it looks like a gentle giant. The enemy designs are nothing much to write home about, but they looks okay.
+ Mecha Design: Hello, the 70s called, they want to compliment you on your good taste. Megaton Musashi designs are like a blast to the past with the main units. You can absolutely see the Getter-1 in Musashi, the Jeeg Pantheroid in Arthur, the absolute chonk Gordam or Giant Robo in the Maximus. There’s no fancy edgy design, just good ol’ metal barrel with extreme firepower and weapons! And the head design with pupils and cat ears (yeah Musashi has cat ears) invoke a sorta B-Daman style to it, and when coupled with an enormous frame, it looks like a gentle giant. The enemy designs are nothing much to write home about, but they looks okay.
+ Music: MEGATON! MEGATON! MUSASHI! MUSASHI! The opening song will be stuck in your head after you heard it once, guaranteed. Zuma did a fantastic job with the OP “Musashi”. He said he has been wanting to sing for a mecha anime for a long time and he absolutely delivered. We also get the OP for the game, which is “Metal Samurai” by Mana which is not the energetic style like “Musashi” but rather a heroic feeling out of it. The series also use the classic “play the opening during decisive moments” as well.
+ Conclusion: Overall, Megaton Musashi is a great modern x classic mecha series. The designs and concepts of series are literally every Super Robot anime in the 70s-80s, while the animation and OST are modern-day high-quality product. The characters are engaging, the plot are full of logical yet surprising development. Definitely worth the watch. And season 2 will becoming Summer 2022, so check it out before then!
+ Conclusion: Overall, Megaton Musashi is a great modern x classic mecha series. The designs and concepts of series are literally every Super Robot anime in the 70s-80s, while the animation and OST are modern-day high-quality product. The characters are engaging, the plot are full of logical yet surprising development. Definitely worth the watch. And season 2 will becoming Summer 2022, so check it out before then!
