Argevollen

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!