(Spoiler-free)
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To combat a rampant army of robots and preserve their utopian society, the military creates casualty-free weapons - Intelligent, autonomous soldiers that will defend the people without the need for human bloodshed.

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Not amazing. Not awful.

Most of the narrative focuses on two groups of characters. One is an idealist female commander that has quickly risen through the ranks at a young age due to her tactical brilliance. The other is a group of societal outcasts who work on the front lines.

The female commander is viewed as naive, to say the least. She does everything within her power to prevent the loss of the autonomous soldiers under her command and is shunned for it. Her story is about adhering to convictions under societal pressure and acceptable loss.

The outcasts bring the narrative themes of duty and racial segregation into play. because they work the front lines, they are some of the only people in the country whose lives are in real danger as a result of the war.

Discussion

As I was watching the show, I was intrigued by the question, "What makes an artificial life less valuable than a natural one?" This was a missed opportunity with the show. I love philosophy, so I wrote a bunch of stuff about the missed opportunity in the About portion of my page. Check it out if you are interested

If you want to read my thoughts on the characters, I wrote them below, but be warned. It is blunt.

About the Characters!

Not convincing to me.

First, let me say that if you liked the characters, then don't read this. I don't want to ruin what you like.

Again, please skip this if you liked the cast.

Here is every cast member in the entire show that got at least 4 minutes of meaningful screentime:

• Adult = racist, complacent, jerk (abbreviated as RCJ for convenience) (3 acceptions over both seasons)
• Teenager = victim of RCJ adults (3 acceptions over both seasons)
• Kid = only 1 of these (Actually makes sense)

For our 6 acceptions, are one of these:

• Idealist leader designed to contrast the RCJ characters
• Was an RCJ adult, but does the right thing in the end
• Was a good character but turns out to be an RCJ teenager
• Introduced so we could kill you off in the same episode (1 of these, but arguably more if we drop the same episode condition)

This is a problem. Here's why.
We just defined the entire cast as being (a) defined by their relation to RCJ or (b) expendable. That is not diverse. The concepts were not original. The execution was poor.

Every time the female commander tried to intimodate someone, I cringed. She would threaten and blackmail when forced to, but none of her threats held any water and she was far from imposing.

I could say more, but you get the picture.

Enough of my deflation. Sorry if you liked them and read this anyway. I said not to.