Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen (白銀の意思 アルジェヴォルン)
is a 24 episode military mech series by Xebec. The show originally aired in Japan in the
second half of 2014.
Ingelmia invades
its neighbor Arandas in a move to cede more territory. Independent Unit 8 is a small mech platoon
for Arandas. As they are moving to the
front lines they come across a civilian convoy under attack. The convoy is transporting a new experimental
mech unit, Argevollen, and Private Susume Tokimune boards the mech after his
own is ruined. With the help of the mech
they are able to fend off the attacking units and rescue the mech and its
mechanic. Due to the nature of the
neural link the mech is now keyed to Tokimune, meaning Unit 8 has to use it in
their ranks. This causes more trouble
than they anticipate as word of the new technology reaches the enemy who wants
it for themselves. As the platoon does
its best to survive the use of the new unit leads to more troubling
events. The mech is utilizing an
upgraded AI system originally tested by Tokimune’s dead sister. His platoon leader, Samonji Ukyo, was linked
to the trial of that prototype and Tokimune’s sister. Once it’s confirmed that Argevollen is being
used to further that dangerous technology Samonji and Tokimune have to face a
dangerous future as the mechs abilities are needed more. Industrial military groups working in the
background are playing a dangerous game with both nations militaries to further
their own technology and fill their coffers.
I really enjoyed
this series. It’s a straightforward
military intrigue story. It was
entertaining but nothing original and not very deep. The main characters are actually rather one
dimensional but the large cast of supporting characters are entertaining. There are few moments of pointless fanservice
in the earlier episodes but all of that gets swept under the rug as the
intrigue starts to kick into gear. The
intrigue is nothing new or inventive but its handled in a way that I
enjoyed. The artwork is rather
substandard, much of this show felt like something you would expect 20 years
ago. The only thing I really didn’t lake
was the design of the Arge. All of the
older mechs in the series are this clunky hulking Battletech style mechs, which
I love. Arge and its offspring look like
Evangelions. This show really taught me
that there is a division in mech design and where my interest lies. A good portion of the mech fan base didn’t
like this story because it didn’t feature power ups and dramatic battle
sequences like it was some shonen fight show.
To hell with that, there’s enough of that to go around and I’m not
interested in that type of stuff.
Honestly, this series could have been just the same without the mechs,
instead transferring the technology that was the underlying plot to something
else. It ended well which is a
relief. There is a solid, nothing left
out in the open, closure about the end of the series. You can watch it and feel satisfied that you
got out of it what you deserved. This
series makes up for the untimely ending of Pumpkin Scissors.
The series was
simulcast on Crunchyroll but there is no word on any North American disc
release. Too soon to tell. What would be cool is to see some sort of
console game port for the series!
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