Eleven-year-old Sara Werec's elder brother, Ralph, was sent to the frontlines of an interstellar war 130 light years away, and Sara vowed to reunite with him one day as a comrade. Five years later, Sara is a student at Grapera Space Armed Soldier Academy, training to become a Reasoner, a pilot of an advanced weapons system called a "Strain."
When the academy is suddenly attacked by enemy forces, Sara enters battle against a Strain that quickly overpowers her. After incapacitating her, the pilot reveals himself to be her Ralph. Killing all the other students and destroying the school, he disappears, leaving Sara to question everything she has ever known. Soukou no Strain is the story of Sara as she reenters training under a new name, now determined to confront her brother and make sense of her brother's actions.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Nenhum episódio encontrado.
Comentários
MrGaz
Soukou no Strain is without a doubt one of the best sci-fiction series out there. The series isn\'t heavily focused on the war itself and between regular mecha battles but instead its primarily focus is on Sara Werc, on how she cope with the loss of her friends and the betrayal of her brother. Clearly the first episode is what drives us towards the edge of our seats. With the lost of Sara friends and the shocking revelation of being betrayed by her own brother, it instantly give us the questions into why he betrayed her? what made him betrayed her? etc. and in addition, whois the strange \"cute\" girl being taken by her brother? what is his intentions with her? whats his purpose in taking her? etc. etc. All these questions and many more are being answered constantly as we progress throughout each episode while new questions are being brought out and answered towards the very end.
The storyline is excellent! We can not ask for a better storyline (with no cliche) full with drama and thrills and seeing there are no \'fillers\' along the way, there is never a dull moment from start to finish.
While the series may not be for everyones taste or it does not live up to your average mecha series, I sincerely hope you give ep. 1 a try because it intensity reaches at a climax point towards the end. With great character development and full of mysteries and suprises ahead, the series lives up towards it hype and no viewer will walk away without a smile on their face.
sife
This is quite simply one of my favorite anime series, ever. It's amazing how much tension, mystery, drama, romance, and anguish it packs into just 13 episodes. Occasional comedic interludes underscore the generally serious nature of the show. So, what is it about? Set in a far-off future, it tells the story of a fascinating young girl named Sara Werec. She is smart and competitive, yet kind and caring. She is also completely devoted to her older brother Ralph, who is all the family she has in the entire galaxy. Unfortunately Ralph, a mecha pilot, has been sent to theopposite end of said galaxy to fight. Because of the time-distorting effects of near-lightspeed travel, the only way Sara will ever see her brother again is by becoming a pilot herself.
Of course if things could work out that easily, this series wouldn't be nearly as exciting as it is. Soukou no Strain is full of unexpected twists and turns, perfectly delivered. However, unlike other series that execute decent plots with cliche casts, this anime derives its impact from its strong and varied characters. Sara, Ralph, and a few others make up the core. The development of this group over the course of the series is in turns pleasant and horrifying, but always dramatic and interesting to watch. Even the support characters stick out in my mind; though superficially stereotypical, they are put in trying situations that expose an inner layer of thoughts and emotions. Ultimately the focus of this story is on the characters, and therein lies its power.
At the same time, Soukou no Strain is a well thought out piece of science fiction. It uses non-trivial scientific concepts (ie. consequences of relativity) in a credible manner. The beautifully designed mechas are smoothly animated. Action sequences are exciting and involve an array of interesting tactics. There is actual thinking involved!
If you are a fan of thrilling stories, real characters, or intelligent science fiction, you owe it to yourself to see Soukou no Strain. The first few episodes are especially intense, and I have no doubt that they will get you hooked. I re-watch them more often than anything else from any other series. Particularly, the scream at the end of episode 1 gives me shivers just from thinking about it.
Incidentally, the character names and storyline of Soukou no Strain are loosely (and I mean, loosely) based off of Francis Hodgson Burnett's 1905 book "A Little Princess". Watching this anime inspired me to check it out at the library. I was delightfully surprised by a charming tale that wormed its way into my heart and remains a cherished favorite. I believe you can find the text online; I highly recommend you give it a try as well.
tentacle_raep
In the future there are giant robots (shocking, eh?). Humanity has been forced into a civil war (for some reason) and is battling each other in space (wow). There are two factions, arbitrarily named the Union and the Deague; about the only noticeable difference is that the Union uses robots called Strains, which have to be piloted by a cannon-fodder teenager--in this series named after characters from The Little Princess. The Deague is smarter and uses unmanned drones. Oh, yes, to pilot a Strain, you also need a mysterious black box which is the crucial plot element in this story. So, there's Sara Crews, Cruz, Werec,whatever. She wants to be a strain pilot. Her dream is dashed when her batshit crazy brother, Ralph, steals something from a research facility, pwns her and starts off a rather amusing trend of killing off characters you've just met. So Sara goes into space, now piloting a more ghetto cannon fodder robot, because she can't use her black box thingy, in search of her brother for revenge, reconciliation, big brother complex, whatever.
What's more to say.
There are stock characters with names from the Little Princess who otherwise share no commonality with the book, unless the part about giant robots was left out by my mother when she read it to me. There's an entire lesbian episode that does nothing to further the plot. Sara is obsessed with a mysterious doll she finds, which along with a superpowered Strain collecting dust in the ship seem to be the most coveniently placed deus ex machina elements in the story.
The plot is clumsy and vascillates between people hating Sara, Sara being emo and withdrawn, pining for her brother, obsessing over her doll, and of course space battles which rely on a creative misiterpretation of time dilation. We're supposed to care, but with the throwaway chracters, lesbianity and streaking coming out of nowhere in a "serious" anime, and the critical plot "twist" of why Ralph went batshit insane in the first place which is poorly paced and thrown in near the end, and the show all falls apart.
Sara and Ralph, and the rest of the cast, are terribly one dimensional. Oh, yes, and then there's the lolis.
Without adding spoilers, there are these mysterious space lolis and how the show deals with that element is also cliched and tries to teach a lesson about humanity that is an overused and recurrent theme.
This is a casual space robot jockey anime pretending to be serious. It'll make you laugh at all of the wrong times. It's beautifully drawn, tho, and the Strains are a strange and new mech design.
Mecheye
this show was fantastic! not good enough to be called a masterpiece, but very close. as to be expected, a mecha anime usually has action in it. this is no exception. you'll get all the action you want in the short 13 episodes it has. but lets break this series down a bit. the art was very well drawn. the drawings seemed to be rather sharp, and a wide variety of vibrant colors were used so it never seemed to get boring. in simple terms the art was great! the way the design team meshed the computer generated design of the ship with the standard art ofthe show itself was astounding. if your not really sure what i mean, there are several shows where your watching it and suddenly the robot comes on and its blatantly 3D when everything else is 2D. that fallacy was kept to a minimum here, i couldn't tell 99% of the time the main show from the computer aided design, and that made me very happy. aside from that, the design of the characters themselves were very well done. the lines seemed quite soft and the drawings were very pretty. the only real difference i can find between this show and the very picturesque art seen in Haruhi or Kanon was the lack or ambient lighting, some shading and a little detail on the clothes and walls but that didn't take away from how well it looked as a whole.
As for the story and plot, i though that it was surprisingly well written and entertaining. i found myself very drawn to it. something about the series made it very easy to get enraptured by. the story, plot, maybe both mixed with the characters. either way i found it very enjoyable and thats all that matters.
the plot was well organized, so confusion was kept to a minimum. which is good for a short show like this one. it didn't leave you with nagging questions, and any nagging questions you did have were cleared up posthaste in some way or form.
as for the story, it was...well...rather dark. not sad enough to make you cry over it but the emotion and story were so well put together that i got hung on it very quickly. you could almost taste what the characters were feeling.
THAT brings me to character development! the characters weren't developed to the point of learning their amazing back stories, the show wasn't really long enough to allow it. but what they did give you was enough detail to understand the character and what kind of person they were without the need of a detailed history, just enough to develop a liking for a character without drowning you in back story. it also managed to create a true sense of emotion that i felt had been lacking in action shows for the past few years*. when something happened, the characters let you know how they felt. you didn't have to guess what the macho hero was feeling. the emotion in that sense was so incredibly realistic that the characters developed themselves without the need of a life story.
the humor, however, could use some work. it often timed seemed misplaced or overworked. really just timing issues. several times i hand to shake my head at the attempts to make a funny. however it wasn't horrible, and it didn't ruin the series at all.
aside from that, the amount of realism used in this show was astounding. the concept of physics and space-time relativity was implemented fully. the fact that the design team put their understanding about the structure of light speed and how it effects time made me extremely happy. I'm an astronomer so thats mostly why it excited me.
but don't get me wrong. even though it was a mecha anime they went through the trouble to add a very good level of realism to the show and thats pretty awesome.
the music was normal. nothing new here. the opening, and to an extent the ending, theme was smooth and catchy (the OP is still playing in my mind as i write this) and seemed to tie into the show well. i don't listen to the lyrics. no offense but most of the lyrics i read seem silly. i listen to the music itself and how the voice meshes with it. to that extent it went good with the theme of the show.
i want to make an effort to point out the sound. i'm trying to think of a good word for it, but i have to settle for "awesome." not so much that the explosions and what not were deafeningly loud or well used, but that every sound was different. i didn't hear the same crackling noise every time something sparked, and the sounds that were used repeatedly were changed and bent to fit the situation, so you never recognized it from before and if you did it made sense for that situation. very well planned!
what else...ahh. the only real complaint i have is that i wish the series could be longer. i would have liked to see more of it and learn more about the characters.
overall, i give this a 9/10. in essence it should be a 10 but it just didn't seem to reach high enough, granted how very close it was. all it was missing was a little more detailed artwork and a few episodes longer and it would more than qualify.
*my experience with mecha shows really only extends past Gundam Wing, 8th MS Team, and a few episodes here and there. so i'm not sure what to expect from new ones like SEED or...what have you. the mecha anime types doesn't really interest me that well and, honestly, i started watching this show completely in the dark about what it was about. i knew nothing. boy was i surprised! but don't let that dissuade you, i loved this show!
lisnoire
Although mecha figures greatly in Soukou no Strain, it is not the focus and that is a good thing because I found them generally lack luster. That aside, with the exception of a throw away ecchi episode, the rest of the show is first rate. It takes off at a good clip and continues to pickup speed. There is plenty action, drama, romance, tension, as well as the mystery of why Sara's beloved hero brother turned trator. A couple of times it was even more than a little sexy. Strain racks up a body count equal to most Gundam's butsadly, no pun intended (the good ones never are intentional), but the series is too short to build the kind of emotional attachment that brings one to tears, although at one point I was saying, "Awww, no, don't kill HIM!"
The science part of the fiction isn't too bad; light speed and space-time relativity, etc., . . . except for the part when a hole gets punched in the side of a ship and people don't instantly find themselves dead . . . but then, I guess I'm just picky about such things.
Artwise, it is a good looking anime even if I didn't care all that much for the CG mecha. I've seen a lot worse. There was nothing exceptional about the music but the sound effects were excellent. Listen on decent speakers if at all possible.
At 13 episodes it was Very Good, actually a bit better than that but I can't give it an 8.75. The plot progressed without confusion but kept you wondering what would happen next. Imagine what it could have been had it been spread over 26 episodes! We might even know why the two sides were fighting. This one is well worth your time.
Joby05
Summary: This is the perfect epitome of a good anime. It has a handful of unique and fantastic moments but for the most part is fairly straight forward and forgettable. It isn't bad, it isn't great... it's good. If you're looking for a middle of the road mech anime that focuses more on character development than fighting you will likely enjoy this, but I doubt you'll be moved. One thing I should emphasize is this is NOT ecchi. This is a mech anime. There are a few topless scenes for... reasons... and if you come in thinking high school dxd meets mobile suit gundam youwill be VERY disappointed.
Story: 6/10
The story is pretty typical. Sara Wernec becomes a space cowboy because her brother is a space cowboy and she wants to follow in his footsteps. She develops mostly superficial relationships with characters (they are disguised as deep relationships but feel very superficial). She has an arch rival who she needs to overcome to ensure the safety of the world. The reason for the main antagonist existing is to watch the world burn because of some terrible thing humans did. These are all very typical tropes and I don't think there is enough difference to make this anything but good.
Art: 7/10
The art is good. The mechs look cool and the mech combat flows nicely. The characters all have diverse models and the art is drawn well. I likely how the MC Sara had a kind of butch haircut... it felt unique and I thought it was a good look for her.
Sound: 7/10
Again... good. There were a few songs I liked and the acoustic guitar rift playing during the climactic fight was an interesting take. You likely won't download the OST but you may grab a song or two.
Character: 6/10
The conflict between protagonist and antagonist was intense and the one scene with Sara and Lottie was fantastic (you'll know it when you see it). That said, all the rest of the relationships were trite. Nothing new, you've seen every one of these relationships 10 times at a minimum and they were likely done better at least a few times out of those instances.
Enjoyment: 7/10
At this point you may think I didn't enjoy this. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it very much. It was paint by the numbers but that didn't mean it didn't have a few unique elements and certainly doesn't mean it was bad. I almost never watch mech anime so these types of anime aren't as played out to me. There is enough unique elements to keep you watching to the end. The ending was a smidge rushed but it was a single season anime with a clear and established ending... considering how many anime can't get this right in several sceasons I'm going to cut this one a break.
Overall: 7/10
Overall, a good mech anime. If you a connoisseur of the genre you will likely see how generic and lackluster it is. If you're not huge into mech but like a story driven narrative and don't mind a bit of the familiar in regards to plot and character relationships I suggest giving this a watch.
StarsAbove
While the real plot of this show doesn't come out until you're a few episodes in, the story is very engaging and pleasant. It doesn't dwell overly long on most subjects, and gives a fair amount of time to character development, something I deeply enjoy, as it delves deeply into the main characters motivation for their actions. As the story focuses primarily on Sara Werec, and her brother Ralph, it gives sufficient time to the other major characters. The plot, is fairly simple and easy to understand once it is laid out for you in about the tenth episode, but until then it keeps youfairly well hooked for the most part though some areas are over done. The animation of Strain is very high quality works well overall. The sound was fairly well made, the only thing that lowers my rating in this area is the fact that the action music could have been better.
Dragnoer
The individual rating describe the first 2/3 of the series, the overall score is with the ending included. Most of this series is semi-constant and believable, but why bother if you are going to screw shit up in the last episode? That and the characters and story excellent but they crashed and burn after episode 9 or so. This series got an 8 instead of a 10 because they fucked up so bad. This series could have been a great and very realistic series worth of a 10 if they had extended it, taken time to expand on the implication of relativistic travel and spent more timeon the characters reaction to the "he's my bro" reveal. Instead they cut it short and made crap. Come on: ships being "swept away", what the hell! Is space viscous? Are all those ships flying around in massage oil?
It's worth watching, but it could have been so much more. Prepare yourself for disappointment.
ethan_u
Oh my FReaking god!!! There haven't been an epic like this since... Code Geass yes... This series have been a great run from begin to end. Man oh man where to start ... the Agony, Dedication, Drama, Thrill, Tension heck even the fanservice as a part of the story connected SO well it is worth watching. (although I wish there were more male character screen time) normally I do not write reviews but seeing how this have less than 10 reviews and only 2000+ watches is just unbearable. Story- 10/10 The story is relatively simple in the beginning and takes a complete BARRELROLL YES A BARRELROLL fromstandard environment to dramatic experience to standard environment in less than 2 eps, which, constructs the plot. However, it doesn't end there. (not gonna spoil)
The only bad part I seem to dislike is the character development is very short lived. However, considering in an anime like this only in 13 episodes it is superb.
as i finished this series I thought this was like somewhat like "Sweeney Todd" everyone have a motivation in the beginning and then everything falls apart till there is nothing left. ( I wish there was a manga series for this i'd be all over it :)
Art- 7/10
I am more of a story fan but the art of the main heroines is neatly neatly animated; however, the supporting character doesn't seem to get the same treatment lol no doubt. But the Mecha's especially, I thought they did really well with the motion and movements with streaks and such. Overall throughout the series the art done its part and I'd call it very well done but not amazing.
Sound- 8.5/10
Usually I watch the OP/ED once and skip right to the series and that is exactly what I did here lol nothing special with the OP/ED. but as for some parts of the animation there are BGMs that fits the scene nothing spectacular though. Overall the sound was good; not too impressive though. I would love it if the main heroine had a more dramatic tone and would speak or think more throughout the show.
Character- 10/10
I would not like to spoil this but the focus is mainly on the main heroine some of the supporting characters that surrounds her which was superb. Other characters like the crew on the ship was really far off, there was no sense of fear in their tone and they are not hesitant but we are not suppose to focus on that neways XD; the antagonist also have his own story (Ralph Werec) which was absolutely amazing. OH and the bullies!! they pulled a fastone there .
Overall I enjoyed everyone, they all have their own problems and some are not willing to share it.(Aren't they nice or what?)
Enjoyment- 10/10
I walked away once just to go to the restroom, came back, finished all at once.
BoyOboy, if this were a painting, then the paint would be mere sadness itself the brush would be Drama with a tail full of Thrill. I simply loved the story! not to mention the weird techy stuff was also intriguing as hell... loved the idea with the Baxter Gate, it made me think so much about the time travel I've seen put in pace with reality. Overall I enjoyed it, did you?
Overall- 10/10
See for your self :)
Let me know what you think feel free to comment in my profile :)
Moonstream360
i thought this was one of the best animes i have ever watched, i highly recamend this to anyone who likes giant robot battles mixed in with big plot twists, unpredicting outcomes and breif lesbian nudity ;) *im not into lesibians im a straigt girl but theres this one part in the series that made me die laughing* The anime that made me cry! What an amazing story! I mean, I normally hate robot animes and oldish *well not really old but sorta like 2001 ish old i think you know* animes, but WOW! Soukou no Strain is about a girl who's brother gets shipped offinto space leaving his sister, who has no parents, who loves him dearly behind. Many years later she is training to be a Strian Piolet Cadet *a strain is like a giant robot* and when she and her freind Sedi *hes a guy* are dancing on a rooftop they noticew a bunch of Deague begining to attack there school. not thinking properly Sara *the main SHE ive been talking about* and her three friends get into there STRAINS and begin to fight off the enemy buy then a gold strain comes and kills all three of her freinds! Sara survives though due to Sedi who had saved her due to his hidden feeling towards her. and with that sara follows the golden STRAIN into this lab *i think i dont know X3* thats on the cadet acedemys grounds, and she gets out of her strain and follows the golden strains controler *which is a guy btw* and sees him carryin gout this girl with red eyes *which well later know as Emily* and begins carrying her into his strain, but at a closer look sara noticed this man as her own brother Ralph!!! angered toward her brothers actions, and her feelings toward him, sara relizes she has to kill him with her own hands, because sh loves him that much...
i think it'll be worth someones while.
Black_Lightning6
This anime manages to pack so much story and character development into just 13 episodes, while it doesn't get respect at in its ratings. I've never written a review for an anime and this is my first but I felt that I had to because I enjoyed this anime so much. I can't comment on the Subbed version because I watched it Dubbed and the voices were great. The story isn't really hard to follow but it is complicated enough to have some plot twist later down the road. Again for having only 13 episodes there is a lot going on in each episode notenough to overwhelm you with information but enough to keep you interested in the characters as well as the overall show. This show is for action fans but it does do a great job of blending elements of other genres together. Strain isn't just a mindless hack and slash mecha anime. Some characters do die in the show but their deaths all contribute something to the story.
RauLeCreuset
Soukou no Strain. This anime because it was a "mech" anime I was super excited to watch it for that reason alone. Something automatically attracts me when an anime has a lot to do with mechs or gian "robots" it actually makes me even more interested. My other genres are Psychological, Samurai, and what I have been watch a lot of here lately and that is "historical" anime that has been part of our earth for many years. This anime really did have a "strong" female lead, and I think there needs to be more anime just like this in the very near future.
Hellarchy
If you are looking for a deep and comprehensive review, look somewhere else. Sure there is a lot to be said about this anime, what with its ever so deep plot... I enjoyed it. I will highlight what I consider to be the most important points. First of all let me ask, what better reason to start a war than over this: Naked alien lolis. That's right, I said it. Who wouldn't take up arms for these adorable creatures? Then on the other side, we have the bro-con sister who was abandoned. She seeks to understand her brother's motivation for his actions. She couldn't understand untilshe found out about the lolis too.
In the end, after much hardship, death, and giant mechs fighting in space at light speed, they are brought together over their fondness of lolis. They do end up fighting over these lolis, and... Well, may the best lolicon win. Also, there is a touching brother/sister moment.
Thus concludes my interpretation of this overly complicated scenario.
Good day to you all, I hope you found this helpful.
helios90
I really enjoyed this anime, but that does not mean it was a very good production. There's is a lot that could have been done to improve the story telling and characters. Perhaps the director was limited by the amount of episodes since the story seemed rushed. A couple things stuck with me after I had finished. First, the protagonist, Sara Werec is memorable enough. She's your typical space drama lead character who is innocent but for some tragic reason is thrown into space to fight. Based on her personality it's impossible to not feel sympathetic towards her character so youare compelled to see the anime through.
Second, I enjoyed the music. The intro is very catchy, but not too serious. I wasn't in the mood for a serious anime anyways.
AnimeEnjoyer420
Summary: Strain is a solid sci fi action series for fans of mechs and space operas. While the action itself is not always the best, the plot is interesting and engaging and has a solid payoff to its various mysteries. If you like fanservice, there's plenty of titties and girl on girl kissing as well. Positives: + Interesting plot. The main story of Sara Werec and her attempt to understand why the brother she loved slaughtered all of her friends is appropriately dramatic for a space opera. The series is paced well and gives you answers at the right times, and it's funto follow along and theorize about it yourself as you watch.
+ Art is very good considering it was made in 2006. Apart from a handful of dated looking character designs, you would never know this series is that old. The animation and CGI looks solid and everything is well drawn and smoothly animated for the most part.
+ Emily is ridiculously adorable. You can't even understand until you watch it.
Negatives:
- Characters lack personality. Sara especially, while recovering from the trauma of her friends' deaths in the series opener, is basically a personality black hole. She rarely speaks and has no internal monologue, so you never understand what she's thinking until she begins speaking to a doll occasionally. The side characters are also all just there for the most part, only Lottie has anything like a real personality among the other Reasoners on the Libertad.
- Some poor voice acting. I noted more than once while watching this series that the voices sounded flat and like they weren't matching the emotion that the scene called for.
- Slight spoilers, but the absolutely ridiculous way of setting the plot in motion on Gall by having Lavinia suddenly become extremely gay for Sara and go to extreme lengths to seduce her was too much and was not set up well enough to take seriously.
- The action is sometimes kind of boring. The Tumors are uninteresting baddies and the action is not especially dynamic. Most battles become a one sided massacre and lack drama beyond "which characters are going to die".
- Lack of worldbuilding. I'm not asking for like Game of Thrones level lore here, but there is so little explanation of the broader universe that they live in that it feels a bit impersonal, or like there's nothing that exists in the show universe outside of what's being depicted on screen at that very moment.
- Sudden ending to the series that comes out of nowhere. Feels like it was missing the last 5 minutes or something, it was very unexpected when it went to a black screen.
IAmArt
Honestly,from the first moment of it had me captured. Soukou No Strain is one of the best animes I've ever had the pleasure of watching.It may be short,but the story line is just as good as 178 episode anime.I have to be honest,if you look at it the right way,there are no questions left waiting to be answered besides 'What happened Next?' But that happens with most.The story line was phenomnial,but not only that,the character's we're even better.I truly believe,that though not many have seen it compared to Inuyasha and or Bleach,it's one of the best anime ever made.
Azurefire17
Soukou no Strain is one of those rare shows I wish I never wasted my time watching it. The show is slow and boring and devoid of anything worthwhile. The characters are not interesting or fun the story barely tries and fails to be compelling in any regard. The animation is passable I guess but battles(for as rare as they happen) are dull. The music is bland or forgettable and the dub while yes not the worst one I've heard just being kinda eh at best. There's ideas of something that could have been good but the show either only mentions off handedly or broughtup too late to mean anything or just you know not done properly.
BladesArisen
[ This review previously contained spoilers. They have since been edited out. ] The following is an excerpt from the Deep Dive project: - STRAIN: Strategic Armored Infantry - Completed February 13, 2021 - TV, 13 episodes, dubbed - Not Recommended Wow, that was amazingly, painfully average. Honestly, it was below average. How do I even begin to break down the weird-ass anime I just finished? Well, for starters the writing is all around terrible. This was like a weird mecha adaptation of Black Bullet, only slightly less edgy and way less interesting. What first seemed like an odd, sibling-oriented hardcore drama turned into some kind of bad acid tripor something. ‘Woah dude, there’s all these trails of light smacking into each other all violent-like. And woooah dude, they’re weird robots. Radical. Totally radical.’ And like a bad trip, it spiraled out control into a total mess of themes and plot holes. Ugh, and trite writing. So much of that.
STRAIN is a sci-fi mecha anime that has far too much to say and nowhere near enough time or manpower to achieve it. Can I even call this a mecha anime? The fights are so damn bad: barely animated, barely choreographed, and most importantly, barely ever f_cking there! These mechs are in CGI for god’s sake, and yet even after such aggressive budgeting there’s still so little battle time. I doubt every fight scene compiled together even makes it past the ten minute mark - in a thirteen episode anime. Barely mecha. Anyway, this show is a mess. It’s got so many themes that all feel kinda weird in an anime of this genre, and it doesn’t really get anywhere with any of them. More on that later.
I have very little in the way of positive feedback regarding this show. The studio that did STRAIN is really talented in all non-CG animation. Top tier, expressive animations for these characters, even if the designs themselves are nothing special. Really liked all the artists that worked on this. It’s just a shame that all that talent and effort went to... this. At least the out of suit scenes are all animated well and pretty to look at. Well, most of them. I’m gonna quit while I’m ahead in terms of positivity.
[redacted] Don’t watch it. Me and my morbid curiosity already did that for you.
I have, in an afternoon, daydreamed up storylines that were leagues better than what STRAIN’s got. I have no idea how this script got cleared, or how this entire production even got greenlit. This studio couldn’t handle animating these complicated-ass mechs and it's obvious. There are approximately four types of mecha here, with the last one being on screen for like ten seconds. Every fight is either a spin followed by a bunch of explosions or two mechs doing passes at each other to no effect. I’m not even sure how these strain thingies even work. I know there’s stabbing involved and that’s about as much as I could decipher.
[ Two paragraphs redacted from the original review, due to spoiler content. To read the full unedited review, visit my profile. Otherwise, just be aware that this section is incomplete in its current state. ]
There’s no denying it; if Sara was better written she would have been a great protagonist. Unfortunately following a horribly traumatized girl for thirteen episodes is emotionally exhausting. No amount of ‘Hey, look at this cute expression’ could make me forget that one scene. The one where she just stops caring and [ redacted spoiler ]. Sara is so f_cked in the head she won’t even keep herself alive long enough to achieve her goals; and for basically all of the show, at that. I had to emotionally check out just to tolerate her character most of the time. Sara is like a beautiful flower with no scent whatsoever. You get there, you see the flower, breathe it in, feel nothing and then wonder what the bloody point was. All of her development is at the very end of the show, all at once, and with none of the emotional buildup or payout. They botched their cute female protag, basically.
Seriously, screw STRAIN with its dumb acronym and complete lack of substance. If any of this sounded even remotely good, go watch Gundam SEED. It’s like a much better version of this, with actual fights and mech animations. In fact, just go watch mainline gundam in general. Majestic Prince is another uniquely executed mecha sci-fi. It’s not amazing but it’s decent if you’re looking for sci-fi animu to watch. As for a mecha that has actual deep themes and not the mess described above, everything mentioned as well as Break Blade, one of my top ten anime ever. The six episode OVA run is the way to go there. If you’re brave you can also try Knights of Sidonia. It’s a 3D netflix mecha anime. I quite like it personally but be aware that Sidonia is very divisive in the anime community. Alright, enough of this review. I’m gonna go get some sleep and then watch something far better when I wake up.
( Editor’s note: Knights of Sidonia now lives on Crunchyroll. )
