God Eater Anime: Thoughts and Analysis
I have been aware of the existence of a God Eater TV series for some time, but never actually considered watching it. It is a 2015 anime adaptation of the first God Eater video game. A 12 minute anime promo released in 2009 is sometimes considered a prologue to the 2015 show because they were both made by Ufotable, the same company that does the opening movies and cutscenes for the video games. The anime was also released as part of the franchise's fifth anniversary and probably as promotional material for God Eater Resurrection, a remastered version of the first game.
Most episodes include a unique song by the band "Ghost Oracle Drive" (G.O.D). I have included links to the songs in the episodes where they are first heard.
Spoiler Warning: I am going to give a synopsis of each episode and my opinions at the very end. If you plan on watching the anime spoiler free, do so now. Its 13 episodes long.
Prologue
Episode 01: Lenka Utsugi | Song: Have you ever seen...
Lenka retrieves his God Arc from the maintenance gal Licca and undergoes training with his fellow God Eater in-training Kota. It isn't long before the walls surrounding the Fenrir facility come under attack, prompting Lenka to disobey orders and break out of Fenrir. Naturally, a rookie like Lenka proves no match for the low level Zygotes, Ogretails, and Kongous attacking the walls. Queue the dramatic entrance of the video game's main team: Lindow, Sakuya, and Soma. Episode one moves fast; its basically one huge info dump that anyone unfamiliar with the source material will probably struggle to keep up with. I like the glimpses of injured God Eaters throughout the episode that highlight what a dangerous profession it is. Really this episode is just laying the groundwork for whats to come.
Episode 02: Lindow Amamiya | Song: Long Way
We get a few quick glimpses of Alisa, a New-Type God Eater en route to the Far East Branch from Russia. Her plane is attacked by a swarm of freeze(?) type Fallen Zygote, which gives Lenka the chance to prove to the Fenrir board that he shouldn't have his New-Type status revoked. There are a lot of new characters being introduced at a rapid pace and I'd honestly be surprised if anyone remembered them. Heck, I played the video games and I barely remember them. Eric's death scene was a highlight though. Significantly better than the one in the game.
Episode 03: Alisa Ilinichina Amiella | Song: Maintain Maintain
What is an Ouroboros doing in the clouds? How did it get up there?
Episode 04: Aegis | Song: Broke My Stake
Lenka, Alisa, and Kota join the 1st unit with Lindow and take a day to themselves. Hints are dropped at something amiss with Alisa and her creepy, pill-pushing doctor. Meanwhile Lenka and Kota visit the slums. Coming from the outside, Lenka learns a little about how civilian life works within Fenrir's walls and how only those compatible with a God Arc are allowed in. The Far East Branch's "Aegis Project" is meant to address the issue by confining all of humanity to an island where the Aragami supposedly wont be able to reach them. Up to this point the show has been action heavy, so "Aegis" is a nice reprieve from that.
How did they expect to keep the flying and swimming Aragami away from their island project? We're never told.
Episode 05: An Eye For An Eye / All In Vain | Song: Human After All
Hello my world. Every nightmare call on me... - Human After All
Episode 06: Stay True | Song: NO WAY
Episode 07: A Flower in Bloom
Lindow takes Alisa and Lenka to a settlement created by the people rejected by Fenrir, and the place is somehow better looking than the buildings within Fenrir's walls. Lindow even single-handedly supplied them with a warehouse's worth of supplies... somehow. And figured out how to raise Aragami trees that attack other Aragami but not people. The anime is really pushing my suspension of disbelief in regards to how much Lindow can accomplish on his own and in secret.
A lot of weird stuff happens in this one. Lenka's God Arc miraculously revives itself just in time to save the settlement from a Borg Camlann. Alisa takes a bath and then hides in a closet. This is probably my least favorite episode. It diverged from the video game's narrative and introduced too much anime melodrama and "we can do anything if we just believe in ourselves" type stuff for my liking.
Episode 08: Sakuya Tachibana | Song: SUNDAY
Powerful Aragami are seen gathering near the Far East Branch, seemingly in response to the Aegis Project's island. Lenka and Alisa are put on medical leave while Licca and Dr. Paylor try to assess why Lenka's God Arc snapped, something that shouldn't happen, and discover he is dying. Meanwhile, Lenka proves himself to the Combat Unit leader Tsubaki by guiding Sakuya, Soma, Kota, Tatsumi, Brendan, and Kanon through a mission via radio.
Episode 09: Soma Schicksal
Johannes, the director and founder of Fenrir, lays out plans for an "Operation Meteorite", an attempt to lure large numbers of Aragami into an area for extermination. The episode jumps between flashbacks of Soma's past and present day Lenka and Soma out on a mission fighting Chi-Yous. The memory segments reveal Soma was used in an experiment by his mother Aisha and father Johannes that eventually gave rise to the God Eaters. The episode concludes with Alisa's doctor conditioning her to see Lindow as an enemy.
Episode 10: Scattered Petals
"Scattered Petals" is a Lenka prologue. We discover he was abandoned as a baby, adopted by some random people, and met Lindow once before as a child. Lenka's adopted mother died from illness, his dad was taken by Aragami, and his sister slit her own throat so that he would seek out Fenrir and stop worrying about her. There is also some weird, incestuous stuff between Lenka and his sister that is far too common in anime.
"Prayers are useless in a world without gods." - Lenka's Mother
Episode 11: Operation Meteorite
"Operation Meteorite" commences, luring massive numbers of Aragami to beacons. The beacons mysteriously fail mid-battle, causing the Aragami to turn their attention toward Lindow and the settlement from episode 7. This is another light episode with a few nods to the video game sprinkled in, like the mention of custom bullets. I also saw Geese from the light novel and Haruomi and Kate from God Eater 2 make an appearance as background characters. There are possibly more cameos but none that I could identify.
"What if this is the hand of god." -Dr. Paylor
Episode 12: United They Stand/The First Unit
Lenka gets a God Arc upgrade that would give Cloud's buster sword a run for its money. I mean video game swords are usually freakishly oversized, but this is ridiculous. Lenka then single-handedly annihilates a horde of Vajra with God Arc flamethrowers and chainsaws. It's kinda entertaining in its absurdity. Lindow, Lenka, Sakuya, Alisa, Soma, and Kota gang up on the Dyaus Pita from before, and back at Fenrir's base the receptionist Hibari, Dr. Paylor, and Tsubaki discover a mole in their midst tampering with the beacons - Alisa's creepy doctor Daigo.
Episode 13: Lotus | Song: No Way Back -The Path of the Lotus-
Lenko kills the Dyaus Pita, but not before it kills Lindow. Johanne's "Aegis project" is revealed to actually be a spacecraft, not an island. The true purpose of the project was to keep a select few humans safe until Earth could be reclaimed. Among the humans with a place on the "Ark" is Daigo, who sicked Alisa and the Aragami on Lindow via the hacked beacons. Lindow was close to uncovering the truth behind the "Aegis project" and Johannes couldn't have that. Dr. Paylor vows to find a way to save all of humanity and believes a future is not far off when human's will one day be able to communicate with the Aragami. The series ends with a Shio (human Aragami) tease.
Final Thoughts
My immediate reaction to Lenka as the protagonist instead of Yuu Kanagi was that I didn't like him. He was stupidly irrational, loud, and reckless. It was nice to see him brought more in-line with the video game protagonist over time. The backstory they gave him was cliché but still a step up from the blank slate that was in the video game. Its just a shame that they ended the show right where things started to pick up. I can't say that I'm surprised though. The anime is basically a promo for the video games.
For anyone interested in what happens after episode 13, but doesn't want to play God Eater Burst to find out, here is a list of all the major story events (highlight to read):
- Shio becomes friends with Unit 1 and goes out on missions with them. She becomes especially close to Soma; inseparable really.
- Johannes tries to use Shio as part of his Aegis project but is killed by Soma. Shio is then left forever stranded on the moon.
- Lindow is alive, but has transformed into an Aragami - a Hannibal; it happens when a God Eater's armband is damaged. He cracked Pita's wing for Lenka, let Pita take his right arm so that HQ would think he is dead, and in the process made room for Lenka to take over as the new Unit 1 leader.
- The protagonist is one of only two God Eaters with the ultra rare ability to use other people's God Arcs without being consumed. They use this ability to communicate with Ren, Lindow's God Arc.
- The protagonist uses Ren to reverse most of the Aragami mutation Lindow has undergone, but one arm is left as an Aragami claw. Lindow marries Sakuya and they name their future child after Ren.
Comments
Post a Comment