Concrete Revolutio

Title:Concrete Revolutio
Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou
コンクリート・レボルティオ~超人幻想~
Overall:Unevaluated
Keywords: , , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - BONES
ISHIKAWA Kaito
TOYOSAKI Aki
UESAKA Sumire
Tokyo is flooded with countless heroes — choujin — during the time of "apotheosis." Their origin stories are all different. While some were altered by evil organizations, others came from space, magical worlds, or are fairies from ancient times or robots. But the Japanese government could not simply close its eyes as these superheroes ran rampant.
(Synopsis courtesy of ANN)

13 episodes
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Unevaluated Stretch [series:3105#628]
(Two episodes watched):

I have yet to put into words the formula that goes through my head when I get a first look at a new show and decide whether I'm interested or not. I'm having a hard time explaining it to myself, but something about Concrete Revolutio (did they mean revolution?) amused me and piqued my interest. Maybe it was the way the timeline bounced back and forth between two series of events which took place several years apart (although at first that also confused me to a certain extent). Maybe it was that this show apparently wasn't expecting me to take it much more seriously than the quality of writing justified, as is often the case with action anime about paranormal threats. Maybe I just warmed to Kikko, a modern day witch. Whatever the case may be, something about CR (though the construction material concrete doesn't seem to play any part) was modestly attractive. That is all the more odd considering that, again, I was somewhat confused; if I understood episode one correctly, the bulk of the episode is about how Kikko was originally recruited by Jirou into a government outfit that deals with 'superhumans'. Apparently, Jirou goes rogue after a disturbing experience and five years later Kikko is trying to track him down. I think I also confused Kikko with a similar looking character at some point (or was that her later on in life?). A lengthy transformation sequence made me wonder if this show might have been meant for girls. Come to think of it, maybe that was what interested me--it wasn't totally stereotypical in the sense of being meant for typical teenage boys. Maybe I was just imagining things when I sensed that episode one had something interesting to it, but it was good enough for me to watch some more of Concrete Revolutio. Episode two making more sense would definitely help, though.

Well, episode two kind of dashed my hopes because it wasn't about the intriguing premise of Kikko pursuing Jirou for years out of love or a need for an answer to some confounding question. No, the idea that this show would follow that track may have been largely a product of my imagination, because episode two was decidedly pedestrian and unremarkable. Instead, another Superhuman with an amazing skill but a totally uninteresting personality turns up. I fear that what I had thought was an interesting plot has been discarded in favor of a less risky but also less noteworthy one; namely 'secret organization with superhuman members who fight similar but evil people'. But such shows are dime-a-dozen. All of a sudden Concrete Revolutio is looking juvenile and goofy. I don't give a damn about Superhumans if they are cardboard characters in a show without an engaging plot. I wish the show had continued to expand on the relationship between Kikko and Jirou rather than set it aside and introduce yet another undeveloped character. I decided not to watch the rest of CR (which apparently did well enough to have a sequel).

Last updated Thursday, March 24 2016. Created Monday, October 12 2015.

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