Heavy Object

In terms of story, Heavy Object is pretty bare bones. The main premise is somewhat unique since instead of focusing on Object battles it instead focuses on the main characters Qwenther and Havia defeating a variety of different Objects without using an object and instead using careful planning, tactics and some split-second decisions. Because this premise is filled with infinite possibilities the whole anime is split into different arcs about 2-3 episodes long each focusing on Qwenther and Havia dealing with a different Object. Because of that it could have been a show that got boring after the first half but thanks to the light-hearted tone and funny characters nothing in this show ever drags at all and the episodes fly by pretty fast. I’m glad they do since there are a few episodes were almost nothing happens. There is also a bit of an overarching plot dealing with another group of Object users but it isn’t really that interesting and major stuff doesn’t happen a lot with it. Overall Heavy Object does a decent job in the story department and you get what you would expect from an arc based light novel adaption.

The words run of the mill might come up a lot in this review and never is this more apparent than with the characters. The two main characters Qwenther and Havia not only have very silly names but are also very, here it is again, run of the mill. They are your average action show duo: ones got the brains and the other got the brawn (or to be more specific, the ability to fire a gun). While they may be generic they are never boring to watch. They both have good chemistry with each other and have some pretty funny moments. It’s never a dull moment with Qwenther and Havia which is a good thing since they made a potentially boring anime into an enjoyable one. Other than Qwenther and Havia the only other characters (apart from a couple reoccurring villains) that appear throughout the show are the Object Pilot Melinda and Qwenther and Havia’s strict commanding officer, the crazily named Frolaytia Capistrano.

Contrary to the previous sections of this review, Heavy Object achieves something other than run of the mill in its sound. It achieves above average. This is mainly due to the forgettable soundtrack and first Ending but the main reason is for its dub and the two openings. The openings One More Chance and Never Gave Up by the band ALL-OFF were not only a great choice for this anime but they also fit Heavy Object surprisingly well. They are two very good openings and One More Chance is good enough to have a spot in my Top 50 Anime Openings. The second Ending is also nice to listen to as well. Now let’s talk about the best part of this anime in my opinion: the dub. Before I watched this anime I knew immediately that I would watch this in dub not only because it is dubbed by the best dubbing company around, Funimation but it also has a really good voice cast. Justin Briner who is one of Funimation’s newcomers voices Qwenther and does a really good job and he really fits the character. Micah Solusod voices Havia and also does a really great job. It’s also nice to hear Alexis Tipton and Morgan Garret’s voices as Melinda and Hot Fan Service Girl (Frolaytia) respectively. No voice actor does a bad performance in this dub, but that’s to be expected with any Funimation dub and it’s always great to see Funimation using their newcomers so much which makes me excited for any of their further roles.

This is where it goes a bit downhill. Even though this anime is animated by J.C. Staff who are one of my favorite studios the animation in this show isn’t that great. The action scenes are pretty good and the CG isn’t terrible but the show has one of the ugliest and bland color schemes I’ve seen in a recent anime. Bright colors are used but they all feel washed out and are not very pleasant to look at. The character designs are also uninteresting and very bland and simple. Granted the show isn’t unwatchable by any means but it’s just not the best to look at most of the time. So instead of average the animation is slightly below average which is unfortunate since if the animation was nice it would have been another positive to the show.

Average is the best word I can come up with when talking about Heavy Object. But it’s not average in a bad way since this is a really fun anime to watch. Despite its flaws I had a good time when watching it and while it’s no contender for Best Anime of 2016 it deserves at least an honorable mention since while it does have many minuses, the pluses outweigh it enough you to give this show a watch. It’s a 24 episode thrill-ride with a crazy premise and a solid execution.