So I was at a friend's house recently watching some anime, as is our custom when we hang out together. On the family smart TV, we put on some DanDaDan on Muse Asia's YouTube channel. After two or so episodes of it, I personally wasn't enjoying it too much. And so I opted to "change the channel" and watch something else, to which he was fine with. That's when I found Girls' Frontline, among Muse Asia's large selection of shows to watch. I didn't even know it was based on a game. Regardless, I decided to check it out since I thought it looked kinda cool...

As I was watching, I already had some things to yap about in regards to the aspects of this cyberpunk-ish, waifu war anime. After having finished the whole thing, I yapped about what I had to yap about in a Discord server I'm in. That was when, along the way, I thought, "why not just put this on AniList, along with other stuff I could yap about in the future regarding anime?". I thought that maybe it'd be better to just do that instead of having these people have to put up with the paragraph wall of text from a 22 year old Filipino weeb who seems to specifically have a tendency to yap and puke out text walls of his opinions more than other Filipino weebs in the server. And so here I am.

What follows is basically just me copy pasting what I had to yap about in the server, which might seem a bit disingenuous, but it's more convenient than having to articulate the same points again with different phrasing and such. And no, trust me, the person who is writing this is exactly the same person who wrote that text wall in that server. So don't go thinking that I'm just copy pasting someone else's words on their behest lol. Go see for yourself. If you're in the server, you know this. It's named after adobo (one of our iconic local dishes), centered around our blue-rose lord and savior. Consider this my first review. Oh, and spoiler warning.

Girls' Frontline

Overall... ayos naman sya (It's alright). But I feel like it could've been so much more
Medyo may wasted potential (There's some wasted potential), and also some complaints
So let me start with the good stuff

First of all, the action's pretty good. It's well-played out with actual tactics instead of just whatever Mary Sue bs the writers can pull out of their arse. And the metal soundtrack that accompanies these battles are pretty damn good. The OST as a whole is pretty decent. The opening sequence is also pretty good along with the accompanying theme song (the ending theme also sounds like that song from KPDH)

I also like how there's a theme of humanity amidst artificiality, alongside the Dolls being treated as tools. It's a pretty nice stand-in for a dark reality in our real world; that oftentimes, soldiers are used by the powers that be as tools (if you listen to songs like War Pigs by Black Sabbath and Master Of Puppets by Metallica, and really listen to the lyrics, you know what I mean). And amidst that fact, the dolls of G&K manage to defy that notion by being able to display humanity, acting with self-agency instead of just following orders to a tee. There's also a theme of "disposability", in which these dolls are at times, reprogrammed. And if they do die, they can be easily replaced, like with what was implied with AR-15 later in the end when she sacrificed herself.

But then onto the criticism

First of all, I find that pretty much each episode focuses a little too much on missions and battles. The characters don't really seem to get the time to really take a breather and we don't get to explore much of them outside of the battlefield. Save for perhaps M4A1, AR-15, and M16, we don't really seem to get much of a deeper look into the characters in terms of what they think, what they contemplate about, etc. Then again, I guess a 12 episode format couldn't facilitate that in terms of pacing

The character designs are kind of a mixed bag. I personally like M4A1, AR-15, and M16. I also like how distinctly goth and edgy looking the SV antagonists are. Unfortunately, that and maybe some personality from some of them are all that's going for them as I'll explain later. The rest of the cast in terms of design are... alright. Nothing too special. Commander Gentiane tho, why tf does she look like a ripoff of Liz from Sword Art Online? They're lucky Reki Kawahara didn't go out and sue them. Well, then again, a lot of look alike clones exist without much problem. Just look at most modern isekai protagonists who look like Kirito or the various Saber clones of the world.

And then there's SV, which is my biggest criticism to yap about.

I'm not a fan of how they're just there to be the "bad guys". Like, the whole conflict between G&K and SV just feels like a rather simplistic, black-and-white, "good vs evil" kinda conflict, which in my opinion is pretty shallow and undermines the plot of potential depth and nuance. Most of the antagonists are just there to play the role of "stage level boss", and many of the battles with them feel one sided in G&K's favour. They get tactically outplayed, they get killed by a G&K doll, and so the good guys save the day. It's that simplistic, save for the last few episodes where it does ramp up and get a little more interesting with some lore. The SV antagonists aren't given much depth other than just threats to be put down. They don't get much background, or anything that allows them to be more than just "enemy bosses" in a way that gives them personality and depth and themes. The worldbuilding too, in general, feels lacking. The plot just seems to revolve around the conflict and nothing much else outside of that.

Like, it would be so much more interesting if SV was given more depth; their side of the story, what they feel, their outlook on the world, their goals and motives. Stuff like that. Maybe some story elements that actually give us a valid reason to humanize them and see where they're coming from amidst what they do? Like a group of anti-heroes in which what they do is morally wrong, but you can understand why they are the way they are

Or even better, what if G&K and SV turned out to be both "evil"? If G&K actually isn't as faultless as one would think just because they're the side of the protagonists? That would give room for some interesting nuance and dynamics and can also be a good stand-in for how neither side of the geopolitical conflict between powerful nations aren't as faultless as they think they are
But no, instead, they're just there to be the bad guys without much depth as to why or where they're coming from. Just there to be opposed by the "obviously righteous and just" G&K, and to be put down, being called "scum". The antagonists just seem to be evil for the sake of being the antagonists, without much exploration as to where they're coming from. It's such a boring, un-nuanced, shallow way of writing conflict imo

Like, the reason why stories like Demon Slayer are great imo is because the "bad guys", aka the demons, are given a human side to them. They're written in a way that gives us a good reason to feel for them despite what they do (without completely giving them mercy as to excuse their actions). They were lost, broken people who were beyond salvation from their becoming as demons, instead of just merely threats that Tanjiro has to put down. I think it would've been interesting if SV was written the same way. But instead, they were written exactly as "just mere threats to be put down".

And lastly, there's the emotional connection between the characters, or the half-bakedness thereof. Again, since most of the episodes focus too much on battles, there isn't much room to elaborate on the characters and really establish a deep bond between them in a way that's emotionally satisfying. The most you're gonna get is SOP II wanting to save AR-15 and the friendship between the latter and M4A1. There's also that one character from SV (I forgot her name, the theatre girl with a minigun) who wants to avenge her fallen comrades. But because we're never really given any point of reference that established some kind of emotional connection between her and them, like, what they meant to her personally, it comes off as hollow. The half-baked relationships and dynamics between the characters undermine potential for more poignant and cathartic emotional payoffs. Like, I like how AR-15 sacrifices herself in the end for the mission, but it would've been so much more emotionally satisfying if her friendship with M4A1 and the gang had more depth in a way that makes us feel for them and their camaraderie.

Idk if the game or manga actually has more to it than the anime does, or if there's gonna be a second season where the plot might actually expand and stuff, but that's honestly what I think

So yea, overall, it's mildly entertaining. There's some pretty good action. But beyond that, it's a show with much wasted potential in terms of depth, worldbuilding, and emotional connections. Not bad, but certainly not peak fiction either. But if the writers had more to say, and if there were more episodes to facilitate exploration and expansion of ideas and themes, then this show could've been at least close to peak fiction.

(end of copy pasted yapping). There you go. What I had to say about Girls' Frontline. Like I said, it's an alright show, but just felt kinda half-baked and it could've been so much more.