Revisions

Revisions was never quite going to be the show that would set the anime community as whole or even the mecha community, despite how seemingly desperate for good content they seems to be, ablaze. From the very start the fact that this show quickly dumped online months before an official Netflix release, or the long fansubbing experience that gave that much more attention to the also flawed but definitely underrated Juushinki Pandora and ID-0 of the previous two years. This applies even if though the CG of this series is an obvious step up from the awkwardness of the Sanzigen produced ID-0.

Revisions for the first time that I've seen in n all CGI mecha show puts as much effort into making sure that movements of the characters and their expressions look expressive and as well as delivering the choreography and spectacle of the mecha action. For once we're largely free of doll like head tilts, jerks, and off manipulations. There's even some fun had wth the storyboarding. Scenes with the antagonistic stuffed animal smart ass Nicolas very bluntly show how well this show can be as if not more expressive than your average anime.

The cast as well recaptures a hint of the spice that made Taniguchi's other, best, and almost equally underrated Infinite Ryvius so captivating. Daisuke'sinsane hero fixation is very refreshing twist on your typical robot piloting messiah archetype. The traumatic experience that shaped his life and touched the life of his former friends consumed his personality alienated those around him. Worse anime would have neatly gave him the heroic story that he desperately wanted to be a part of, but instead he winds up being no more capable as a pilot, and measurably more shallow as a person than any of his team mates.IT's a neat idea that isn't quite handled as well as it should have been, but it works.

The supporting cast has a real presence that makes a respectable jab at filling on the setting. This show is also about the struggle of the community to survive in situation of creeping destruction and it's mostly represented by the supporting cast. It's a different take from Ryvius, but an appreciated one.The adults in the cast believably have a problem entrusting the safety of everything they love in the hands of a bunch of teenagers.

The robot anime genre hasn't been in the best of places for a while now, even with the landmark year of 2018 the community seems just as fractured and hopeless as it's been since the decade first started. That sentiment isn't quite fair to shows like Revisions; it will not save the genre from it's alleged death spiral, but instead it serves to remind us that we're still getting neat takes like this one. Don't dismiss this one too quickly.