Star Driver Episode 1

A great, great first episode. Possibly the most promising TV anime since Tatami Galaxy.

As the first episode throws you in at the deep end I won’t try to do a full synopsis, so lets just reel off what is great.

1. The use of Venetian Masks and Commedia dell’arte imagery. This is what people are claiming is flamboyant and homophobes are claiming is gay about the show. At this point I don’t know if they are going much deeper with the imagery that just using it because it looks cool and different. The fact the bad guys also have this Hellfire Club thing going on with fishnets does make you think that they may have just liked Eyes Wide Shut a lot.

   On the other hand, the hero does have an element of performance to the way he behaves, both in his cracking jokes and his eventual appearance with his robot. And he dresses in white and doesn’t have to wear a mask to activate his robot, so he may be meant to represent Pierrot. Something definitely worth following up on when the series is complete.

2. Using a bonkers giant robot story as a metaphor for being a teenager. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what a secret conspiracy out to break the seals of maidens is a metaphor for. That and the fact it actually takes place with a high school backdrop reminded a little of Devil Hunter Yoko (particularly it’s “every devil is a man in disguise” theme tune) another show that took the basic sexual subtext of many a magical girl shows and pushed it further to the fore. Thankfully this is much better made, and it has the twist of making the magical girl a boy with a giant robot. There’s been plenty of robot shows with school backdrops, but few use the robot aspect to actually reflect school life. It will be interesting to see how this plays out too.
3. Finally, and this is the big one, Takuya Igarashi is awesome. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed direction on an anime this much since Tatami Galaxy. There’s just shot after shot that are composed with such skill it makes you realise how little thought is put into most anime. It feels at times like a unification of his work on Ouran High School Host Club and Soul Eater, with the great acting and comedy of the former and the great action of the latter. And it moves along at a fair clip too, throwing you right in at the deep end. I love the way it gets you into the meat of the story just before the belated opening sequence. While you will be bombarded with mysteries by the episode’s end you don’t feel stupid for not knowing what’s going on. Compare that to the new Super Robot Wars OG anime where it seems to assume you have prior knowledge and so if you don’t, you find yourself wiki-ing mid episode to figure out what the hell is going on. Here you feel they’ll give you your answers down the line, so just sit back and enjoy the show.

And your bonus point of greatness – the Opening animation was apparently by some chap called Shinichiro Watanabe!