Name: A great example of why you should always try watching whatever you find "interesting" even if you have low expectations
Item: Technoroid OVERMIND
Rating: 81
Author: Rinko

Waifra

A great example of why you should always try watching whatever you find "interesting" even if you have low expectations · Waifora

When I first watched this, I went into it with very low expectations, what with its low mean score and it being some very random and very niche idol anime. At best I thought it might end up a fun show that I'd forget half of in under a week after finishing.

But oh boy did it surpass my expectations a lot. This show that I went into with basically non-existent hopes, became my fourth favourite series. It has since fallen to fifth, but nonetheless the impact remains...~

Music:
I mean... I did not have high hopes for the music upon reading the title. This is perhaps the area where it exceeded my expectations the least, though it was still somewhat better than I had presumed, being more just simple pop music than outright techno.
And the secondary group has somewhat pop-rock-ish music, though they only have two inserts. They also have a great singer~ ...Who barely has any lines...~

Also, the opening, at the very least, ties into the story so well lyrically – to the point where elaborating on the meaning could quickly go into spoiler territory. And it's fairly likely all of the main group's songs have such lyrics, though I can only prove that off-hand for a couple lines.

Story:
It's simple, straightforward, and reasonably well-written. All around quite solid, and a pretty much flawless merger of the main genres.
It follows the conventional music anime plot structure perfectly – the biggest tweaks to the format being more build-up to the later drama, and the rivals' leader getting a focus episode before most of the main group.
The increased build-up, might be because said drama is not as character focused as a typical music anime, so it more reflects the sci-fi drama side of it.

The main complaint I can see, would be that it can be a bit too predictable.
I mean, whether you look at it as a music anime or a sci-fi, the biggest twist/break from the conventions of the genre is very likely its combination with the other.

There are a couple more minor issues I also have, that are spoilers...

In ep6,

Spoiler, click to view

how they still effortlessly cleared the fourth stage, in spite of the rumours spreading which even caused a drop in their fans... I feel like that was just done to make sure the whole plot fits. If the show were a bit longer, perhaps they would have failed there, worked to rebuild their trust, then rechallenged and passed.
Also as much as I like Neon and the message sent this episode, on my rewatch I realised the point was way more on the nose than any other part of the show. Especially strange considering resident mysterious guy Nobel was part of the problem.

I also said I took issue with the format of some exposition later on, but somehow that felt less annoying on a rewatch...

Characters:
Thanks to good execution of the typical focus-episode style, all of them are given reasonable depth and memorability. The small cast size, compared to many music anime, no doubt massively helps it in that regard.
The cast's personalities are all quite distinct and... hm, does that thought count as a spoiler... I'll tag it in case

Spoiler, click to view

The growth of the main group, the four androids, is really interesting. Unlike, say, Esola or Kite, we don't just see more layers to them... we see them gaining those layers. Aside from maybe Kei, for some reason, all of them have the most clear cut personalities to start with... but those seem to blur slightly as they learn more emotions, as their "hearts" develop, as they become more like humans.
Even Cobalt, our resident generic music anime protagonist... though I mean he isn't the only one to go into a somewhat despodent slump as part of the main drama ^^' I feel like his personality did grow a little more rounded by the end, unlike most others who go through that slump.
...just a little though he's still very much a typical music anime protagonist...~

I won't bother going over the characters one by one this time, since as good as they are, I'm not sure I have much else to say ^^'

Overall:
Mm... the way this show is, is so perfect for what it wants to do, I feel~

It's a good show... but how can such a simple, somewhat formulaic plot, resonate so deeply with someone? Enough to become an all-time favourite? Despite merely going down common routes, playing out like any number of other stories might have... something about this one in particular feels... different.

Perhaps... that's the heart of this story~

Yes, while looking at the plot and characters from solely a writing standpoint, it's not especially outstanding in any way – and even has some noticeable shortcomings... the show that knocked it out of fourth place for me wasn't a show that was outstanding in those regards either, even if they also had their fair share of exceptionally powerful emotional moments, but rather it was something else like this – just "good" with some clear shortcomings, that resonated strongly with me for some reason.
though okay maybe the writing in that other one was more consistent... I still think it was this emotional resonance that resulted in those positions, especially considering the scene that did result in this show's drop.

I think, everyone should give this show a decent try. Whether or not it leaves the same impact or not will depend on... something, but even if it doesn't have that impact, it's still a solid show~