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[series:3428#628] | ||||||
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(Rent+ or Buy) (All episodes watched): I was very skeptical of this show going in, but before long was forced to admit that it was kind of fun and I wouldn't mind watching some more. The three-dimensional animation initially rubbed me the wrong way, as it seemed closer to live action than animation (and I suspect conventionally animated characters could express emotions on their faces more easily than these can), but once I got used to it I didn't mind so much. Indeed, it made this show sort of unique. Perhaps it was some colorful characters, especially 'Dammy', that appealed to me; and/or the fairly intriguing plot that was introduced. Animation of action scenes was wild and fluid. Due to a technical flaw I initially couldn't watch the entire first episode, but I mostly liked what I saw. The Power Rangers-like costumes suggested that the show might be not terribly original, but ultimately that, too, would not be a problem. I hoped the plot would be explained well enough to keep me from becoming confused and disoriented, because with the bizarre weapon that Z possesses, that could easily happen. As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about. The plot is in fact sophisticated yet easy to follow, which definitely isn't an easy thing to do. I hear that this show is a crossover in which characters from four different classic Japanese hero stories come together and cooperate. I haven't watched any of them, which is why I didn't recognize anybody. This is actually a pretty fun show; the plot makes sense and is unpredictable. The bad guys aren't pure evil, they have different motivations and some may switch sides before it's over. The good guys have an amusing interplay among themselves. The CG animation, which makes the characters look like Barbie or GI Joe dolls at first glance, is something you can get used to. There's enough action to be exciting, but the plot is clearly driven by the characters, not by a need to include lots of fighting. The explanation in episode seven of why Z has been destroying whole worlds was surprisingly clever and intriguing. He isn't just a evil sadist (as the villain would be in a cheap anime), no, he has an understandable reason for doing these things. While he has been doing wrong you can at least understand him and it's kind of hard to blame him. That makes him a much more interesting and dynamic character. Even his villain underlings have interesting and believable 3D personalities. And the four heroes find themselves in a damned-if-they-do-and-damned-if-they-don't conundrum: they can apparently either save their home worlds, or they can save Emi from her impending fate, but they can't save both. It's a clever and intriguing twist of a caliber that I wasn't expecting when I first started watching this show. The climax comes in the next-to-last episode rather than the final one; the fact that what exactly happened in the climactic battle was unclear was somewhat confusing. I kind of wondered what the point of the final episode was until everything ended in an upbeat and pleasing manner. This was a show which was definitely not just resting on the laurels of four beloved Japanese superheroes, no, it made an honest and largely successful effort to be unique and of high quality. Indeed, this show turned out to be one of my favorites of the fall 2017 season. ...I hear that there is an Infini-T Force movie in the works, scheduled for release during 2018. Hopefully it will expand on the teaser we got at the very end of the final episode. Last updated Wednesday, July 04 2018. Created Sunday, October 08 2017. | ||||||||
