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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Unevaluated | Stretch | # | ||||||
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(Seven episodes watched): Two things immediately struck me about episode one of Pailsen Files: first was that the timeless Votoms theme song had been replaced. A lot of classic series have been getting remakes/sequels recently, and one common tactic is to modify the original songs, in order to both maintain a link with the original version and modernize them somewhat. I wish this had been done here, because I didn't particularly care for the new OP song. The second thing I noticed was that the CG animation of the mobile suits in the OP sequence seemed kind of crude--or should I say so perfectly simple that it's clear that these are computer generated images, which makes it hard to suspend disbelief and get into the story. Fortunately, the animation of the bulk of the episode was better. The first episode opens with an attempted amphibious landing by mecha, which ends in a bloody shambles. The thought immediately occured to me that whoever designed this scene must have been using Saving Private Ryan as a guide! The futuristic assault engineer techniques were pretty interesting, especially when they didn't work like they were supposed to. The CG animation of the mobile suits was quite three-dimensional and realistic, while the conventional animation of the characters themselves was little changed from the 80's. The story shifts to the court-martial of Colonel Pailsen, former commander of the elite Red Shoulders unit. It gradually dawned on me that this fellow was in fact the same man as Colonel "Peruzen" in Red Shoulder Document: The Roots of Ambition, which by chance I had just watched for the first time a week or so ago--nice timing! In fact, he's apparently being tried for offenses committed during that OVA, so this series seems like a direct continuation of the Votoms timeline. The mood of the ED song seemed ridiculously out of sync with that of the remainder of the show. All-in-all, however, Pailsen Files seems surprisingly faithful to the style of the old Votoms anime, which is a relief (I especially liked the station break, which did retain the original music). It's too soon to be sure, but this seems interesting and the only reservation I have about watching it is whether it will get too weird, too supernatural, about Chirico's skills as a "perfect soldier". The implication that a thousand men, each with a precious Votoms mecha, have been sacrificed as a test of Chirico's skill is difficult to take seriously. In episode two I realised that the style of character illustration reminded me of old made-in-Japan-for-th "This show is pretty damn cool!" I said to myself during episode five. A complex and sophisticated conspiracy is being smoothly unveiled in a skillful and intriguing manner--no wasted time, as I had feared early on. The theory of an "Abnormal Survivor" is a little difficult to take seriously, but certainly doesn't spoil the story. The one thing that's bugging me is that all the signs so far are that Chirico really is invincible and invulnerable. Obviously he won't be killed, since this is a prequel to a lengthy series he appears in, but that would mean he's not really in any danger at all, which would spoil the excitement. As the saying goes, even Superman has Kryptonite. At the moment, it's more a matter of wondering if his fellow squad members will survive. Still, this is a fascinating show, far better episode-for-episode, I would say, than the original series was. Yes, the episodes of Pailsen Files definitely have a delicious tone of excitement, conspiracy and danger. No one can be completely trusted (except Chirico, of course), and the makers don't make it easy to tell who's on which side. In episode seven an airplane carrying the squad crashlands in hostile territory. You almost say to yourself, "ah, here's where the pilot and copilot get picked off, like red-shirted Star Trek guys", but in fact they play an important part in the story and one lives to fight another day--a sign of the makers having some respect for the intelligence of their audience, I'd say. The mecha action is done in an exemplary manner which restores your respect and fear of Mobile Suits even after all the lackluster series you have watched. Indeed, I certainly cannot claim to have seen all mecha anime, but I'd say anyone who would like an example of a good way to portray mecha in action should come here. I'm frankly surprised that so much talent was devoted to what seems a relatively little known series. I would describe Pailsen Files as my second favorite mecha series of all time. Buy it if you're a fan of mecha, but at least Rent it even if you're not. Last updated Wednesday, June 25 2008. | ||||||||
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