The console wars were never this bland.
What They Say:
The empire of Ninteldo and their allies control 90% of the continent, but when a speedy new soldier joins the kingdom of Segua, war will never be the same.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the manga of the same name by Anastasia Shestakova and illustrated by Crimson, the show translates as In The Center of the Blue World. An eight volume manga series, the anime adaptation comes written by Crimson and animated by studio 5th Avenue for Tokyo MX. The show is one that upon reading the concept, you can’t help but chuckle, roll your eyes a little and lament for the days of shows like Bastard!! in which we had something a little similar, just done with heavy metal bands. Giving us a fantasy interpretation of the console wars as fought between Nintendo and Sega is certainly an interesting tact to take, though one that will make some fans grimace if they’re hardcore Sega fans (and still clinging to their Dreamcasts, like me).
The series takes place in the fantasy world of Consume where there are two main empires at work, that of Ninteldo and that of Segua. Segua has lost a lot of ground in recent years with the ascent of Emperor Marcus in Ninteldo as they now only have ten percent of the continent left. The focus turns largely to that of Segua where we’re introduced to a young warrior named Geare that is looking for a place to do battle against Ninteldo for his own reasons. And he’s definitely worth having as he’s quite powerful and very fast, intent on proving himself and moving forward in order to honor the life of a fallen friend. The initial test he has is simple but effective for showing the different abilities that allows him to excel and make quite an impression on those in power.
Things move fast in the midst of the Hard Wars that are going on and Gear’s quick ascension is even a bit too quick for him as he’s now being sent out to lead a big attack in order to gain back some territory. Gear is set up with Opal, a female archer, in order to work the mission while also heading off eventually with his younger “sister”, a girl named Nel. But he has to face off against Opal first since she’s not keen on the way he just blew into things and gained so much stature. It’s no surprise that he ends up winning over her and winning her over at the same time, which makes for that kind of awkward and blushing partnership to flourish as they deal with the real challenges ahead.
The group is also fleshed out with one additional member for the special forces group in the form of a mercenary named Tejirof, a real ladies man and all around playboy. His sauntering entry even has him grabbing the Seguan vice-general by the breast and making all sorts of sexual innuendo. Of course, Tejirof isn’t going to just join up without testing those he’s going to go against, so we get the obvious fight between him and Gear rather quickly, which puts Gear in his place until he starts to remember once again the sacrifice of his friend. Not that it helps, which is amusing to see, since it firmly establishes the power and experience of Tejirof and pairs it with the intensity and power of naïve youth.
In Summary:
Take away the gaming aspects of the show and what you’re left with is a pretty basic fantasy show. Or sort of fantasy show. There’s some cute character designs in a few places but the overall concept when you strip away the trappings of it is something that doesn’t really stand out all that much. The concept is one that certainly has potential since you can have fun with console wars of the old days in this way, but there’s nothing here that really inspires more episodes to be watched. The cast of superficial at best at this point with basic motivations getting them from place to place. Even the gaming aspects of it don’t feel like they’re really meshed into the actual content well as you can just change the names to something else and it doesn’t feel like yo lose anything. The show is one with a lot of potential for fun, but it seems to be playing things beyond safe here unfortunately.
Grade: C
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
