Initial Impressions: Vividred Operation

Am I the only one getting distinctive Saturday Morning Cartoon vibes off this anime?

Moe-moe designs and not-so-subtle butt shots aside, there's something about this series that takes me back to the days of Saturday morning excitement, and I'm not quite sure how to put my finger on what it is. Objectively, there was nothing particularly special about this premiere other than the animation quality from A-1, so perhaps it has to do with the fact that there's a talking stuffed animal involved (after a body switch, another familiar little device) in this sci-fi spin on magical girl anime. Of course it's still too early to judge after just one episode, but I'm reminded a little of another magical girl anime that didn't exactly wow me in the first couple episodes and turned out to be shockingly good. I don't necessarily think that Vividred has that kind of potential (MSMM didn't have obvious fanservice, for one thing, and Gen Urobuchi was writing that anyway), but I can't really tell you just what sort of series this is trying to be yet.

From what we did get in this first episode, we can surmise that this is going to be a series revolving around loli girls (I'm not sure how old they're supposed to be; they have mixed-age classes) who don super-suits and save the world from alien invaders known as "Alones". So far we've only met one of the girls, Akane Isshiki (Ayane Sakura), a cheerful girl with a fear of heights and an inventor for a grandfather. Her father died and her mother is hospitalized for unknown reasons, but she and her sister Momo get along just fine, until their island home comes under attack by an Alone and Akane's friend Aoi gets caught up in it. In an attempt to make a suitable weapon for use against the invaders, Akane's grandfather accidentally transfers his soul into a stuffed animal, from which he directs his granddaughter in a rescue attempt for Aoi and the island.

Following with the color theme, Aoi will likely be the second member of the "Vivid System", though we've yet to see what sort of powers and abilities these technological magical girls can wield, other than the power of flight. It's not a terribly complicated premise, and it seems that Akane has a traumatic past involving the Alones. None of the characters are particularly interesting despite that, and while the premiere didn't stand out, it didn't do badly either. In any case, this seems like a simple series that won't try too hard to break out of its stereotypes so far, and it's likely to use the "female friendship" cliche for its central hook. If it weren't for the fanservice, I'd think this were an anime aimed at a younger audience, but perhaps it really is and I'm too out of touch with what children's shows are supposed to look like nowadays. I'm willing to apply the three episode rule here though, as A-1 still has very good production values and the series may actually turn out very differently from this first impression.

Episode 1 Screencaps: "First Operation"