Jinki Extend 1

January 19, 2005

Title: The Girl that Saw the Battlefield
Fansubbed by: Nanashi Fansubs

A girl called Aoba is kidnapped.

When she awakes, Aoba discovers a mecha . . .

and fights an enemy.

The End.

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RATING: B

As pointed out in excellent reviews of Ten, Fencedude, and Momotato, this episode takes us on an entertaining rendezvous between a girl and her mecha.

In one sense, Jinki Extend really doesn't bring anything new to the table -- the whole concept of a character discovering a mecha of their own has been repeated *countless* times throughout anime history. Nevertheless, this doesn't diminish the enjoyment factor at all -- for one, Aoba is a far cry from the staple shonen protagonist of this genre, and more importantly, the level of polish is simply miles higher than any current competition. As a case in point, this episode does a stellar job at illustrating the monumental scope of the main battles, given the tremendous size of a mecha footprint.

Although there is a rather confusing leonine plot thread intermixed with the action, there's no doubt that Jinki Extend is a quite engaging representative of the mecha genre. Given the excellent story, music, and character design, one can only hope that future episodes will maintain this high standard.

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