Anime: Heroic Age

Review
Heroic Age was a positive surprise back in its day and perhaps the best work of studio Xebec when it was released. If it could be summarized, the series was a mixture of an epic journey through space with a shounen atmosphere filled with colossal battles between godly-powerful beings. The concept can be a bit cheesy, but the execution in overall is superb and the premise it is build upon is exotic and breathtaking.

Everything starts after the Golden Tribe, a race that governed the universe and had the power to create planets and starways decided to ascend to another level of existence. Before they traveled, however, they called upon the lesser races who reached the space. Four races responded: the Silver Tribe, the Bronze Tribe, the Heroic Tribe, and finally humanity, known to them as the Iron Tribe.

The Golden Tribe also left behind a prophecy and gave the other races the control over the last five members of the godly-powerful Heroic Tribe. Humanity, led by princess Dhianeira, started their journey to find their hero, whom they believe was destined to save them from the opressive power of the Silver Tribe.

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1. It's damn epic
   Heroic Age's scope is absurdly high. What is in stake here is simply the ruling of the entire universe and the means to achieve that involves the power of the Heroic Tribe and massive cannons, capable of destroying planets without much effort, perhaps even stars. This epic scale is backed by a constant thrill delivered through tons of action, dramatic moments, and some motivational speeches and decisions. It is quite hard to find a show that delivers the sensation of Heroic Age's tale because instead of only relying on the typical "who is the best fighter" discussion of typical shounens, it invests much in making you shiver in excitment as some scenes play out.
   
   It is a superficial feeling though
   Although it does succeeds in putting emotion to the show, Heroic Age is sadly very superficial in its take. How's that? You may ask. The reason is simple: most of this excitment is backed by amazing themes, solid and fitting voice-acting and awesome animation. Beyond that however, when you think about what exactly is happening on screen, you notice that the cast is never really in danger, that Age is certain to win every time, and that the outcome will most likely be a positive one, even if it manages to surprise you in how it's done.
   
   A limited cast barely gets things done
   Considering the scope, Heroic Age's cast is severly limited. Basically, it falls to Dhianeira and Age to solve humanity's problem and to Prome O and Paetho O to act as beacons of the Silver Tribe. Amongst these, perhaps only Dhianeira can save the day when it comes to a decent personality and superb character development, as she grows with each and every turn the crew of the Argonaut takes in their struggle against the Silver Tribe.
   
   Age, on other hand, is absurdly shallow. While in beast form he is a massive unstoppable destructor who is fated to win no matter what. While in human form, he is a dumb guy who sometimes says deep things he's learned from the Golden Tribe. Many can argue how the hell the fate of humanity and the universe as we know is in the hands of such a dumb guy that remains that way throughtout the show.
   
   It could have a lot more
   If there is one thing that truly lacks in Heroic Age it is an attempt to give more life to the universe it presents. Humanity, the Silver Tribe, and the Bronze Tribe are only basically presented. After all episodes you still don't know much about the structure of their civilizations, you know only about the existence of half a dozen of each race at most, and even those you know receive very little screen time to develop into someone you can truly understand. The Heroic Tribe is the only who is better developed, yet it still feels as if you know very little about their history considering how colossal the scope of the show is. Perhaps if this was a 50-episode run with many minutes dedicated to showing off these nuances everything that is at stake by end would feel more intimate and important.
   
   It's an amazing animation
   As I told, Heroic Age's sense of epicness is backed by the solid sound direction and stunning animation. Studio Xebec did a superb job here, delivering action scenes filled with amazing powers, destruction of planets, spaceship combats, and so on. The character design is also very fitting to the show, made by the same guy behind other great space series such as Gundam Seed, Fafner and Infinite Ryvius. This convergence of great production values, along with the interesting premise, are perhaps what lifts Heroic Age from being a generic tale of space warfare with mindless overpowerful beasts.
   

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Comments
Heroic Age truly got me back in 2007. The epic journey, the amazing combats, the great animation. Everything is done to please fans of shounens, especially those who enjoy combats mixed with dramatic moments and epic scores. These, however, are all superficial flavors to a show that lacks in character and that never truly explores the amazing setting it proposes.

Despite everything, Heroic Age is an amazing show and a true member of the amazing group of shows that came in 2006 and 2007. Those looking for a space epic in the likes of Yamato or Terra e... can find a good deal to be enjoyed here.

Reading other reviews one truly needs to laugh, the more downrated this show get from them the more fanatical behaviour can be felt toward first seen/read shows/books. I couldn't care less who or how the ideas shown in this anime made them before. Ideas are born randomly in will always be improved. My review will be very short.

Animation does not need anyting to be comented on, it is very sufficient for this type of show - space opera. If you have seen Legend of Galactic Heroes then in essence space battles are very same.

Sound is acceptable and everything can be understood like it was ment from creators.

Enjoyment is pretty much individualistic to everyone being based on experience for these type of shows, but if Gundam and Azure and Code Gease is seen before than enjoyment can hit very high for those who despise suicidal pratagonists (not always it has to be main one) especialy if this kind of behaviour is assigned to future setting where battles of ideas and resources expand furhter than earh and into space . Personaly I could not finish any of forementioned shows.

Value is above avarage cos if stared it can drag viewer till the end, nothing special but.. if outer space calls you then it will remain in memory like one of dreamy ventures into future similar to 20th century short sci-fi novels where is nor good nor evil, only ideas seen through eyes whose barely grasped the very idea of traveling of man into space.

Story is layed out in pace where everything is predetermined by someone who was first to discover and first to realize and to 'save' those latebloomers left some 'clues' behind. For once story holds togather without additional logic and thinking from viewerside, that means plot follows common sense and logic, not very sophisticated but still logic is there and it can be followed very clearly.

Charachters (individuals) are very very simple, but determined in theiry course of action, and their development goes according to facts in 'their' universe and common sense in 'our' real life. One must realize that in this show actual charaters are just 4 - main races (gold, silver, iron and heroic - not bronze) themself are displayed as charachters and they are the ones who actualy develop.

That being said I truly recomend this show for those who seek animes based in space and like to be not interfired with emotional breakdows of pratagonists stuck into selfevaluation (puberty) crisis and unneccesary love triangles.

I simply don't agree with most review here. I've re-watch this anime a few times already (no scene skipping). Compared to the majority of anime out there, most of the reviews here are harsh and doesn't describe how good is the anime actually.

Animation / graphics
Animation is splendid. Everything is fluid. As for the lack of landscape, since most of the scenes are in space and the spaceship are mostly metal, I can forgive the lack of details there. For most part, there is no lack of effort from the creator. A rating between 7-8 is okay here.

Sound / music
Some of the reviewers here felt, the speech and lips are not synchronized. I think, their computer need a replacement instead because I noticed no such thing. Seiyuu is typical for animes and matched the characters. Dunno about the dubbed versions though. OP/ED is wonderful. I give it a 9.

Story
Story is fine. I have no complains about the physics either simply because the anime doesn't pretend to get the physics correct unlike some show (gurren lagann, gunbuster, diebuster etc). Even for those with short attention spans, they could probably finish it. 8 is okay.

Characters
Most characters feels like an evangelist or saint. With each of their action seemed to be lead by unknown force. But at least it is quite refreshing; compared with the generic angst, or mentally retarded mecha anime characters. Thus a 5.

Value/Enjoyment
For those of you who skip episodes, shame on you. This is easily some of the better mecha animes out there. The animation doesn't get old and you get to discover more about the story with every rewatch. The battle scenes are simply awesome without getting ridiculous. I give it a 9.

Notice:
This is my first ever written review for an anime series, but 2 things that led me to writing this review. 1) I completely disagree with the other reviews as they are completely different from the recommendations. The recommendations feel the same way I did after watching this series... delighted to of watched this. 2) Considering this is an awesome series, I felt compelled to write a review for this series. So without much further ado, here is my first written review.

Animation:
The style that was approached for Heroic Age was a great choice. It felt just right, because there are a lot of planet explorations throughout this series and the artwork is fantastic. Also, the animation in the battles are not blown out of proportion. There are always anime series which have awesome animation, but is evident that all the anime budget for that particular series was dedicated for just that aspect and the other aspects of the show suffer. However, for Heroic Age, that is not the case, because the animation is truly great and yet all the other aspects of this show are left untouched and are allowed to flourish as the series progresses.

Sound:
Though the sound in Heroic Age was in the back seat for the majority of this series, there are powerful moments that are intensified with correct use of music and volume control. Again, there are some other anime series that take away from the story or the moment of the scene with too much music, repetitiveness of the same music, or no music. But Heroic Age cleverly inserts the music were its needed and is smart enough to realize when its not needed, making this category all that much stronger... because we are not drowned with repetitiveness of music, its just right.

Story:
This is the category that makes or breaks an anime series because all the other aspects of the anime series encompasses the story. The story is exactly as the "description" describes this series to be... 4 total races which are: Bronze Tribe (composed of bugs), Silver Tribe (composed of telepathic people), Heroic Tribe (powerful beasts) and Iron Tribe (humanity). This description is the same from the start of this anime to the end of it, there is never a compromise to the story by adding random episodes that have nothing to do with the story. All of the episodes in this series, serve to progress the story progressively and proficiently. The story is by far the best trait of Heroic Age.

Character Development:
Every great show that you might have watched has a protagonist (good guy) and an antagonist (bad guy). But in Heroic Age, there are multiple antagonists that the protagonist must defeat. Yet the protagonist is not doing everything, he depends on his friends and comrades to get through a lot of the pressing issues presented by the antagonists. There is a lot of action in this series, yet romance seems to be just as strong in this series allowing more room for the characters to develop. I had no issues with the characters in this series, expect for the antagonists, but they are designed for that reason, so it feels all that more pleasing when they are defeated.

Value:
This is probably the best action/fantasy series that I have watched. I was pleasantly surprised when I took a chance on this series after reading all the bad reviews for this anime series, but you know how the saying goes "nothing ventured, nothing gained". Because all the elements in Heroic Age are great, the value is truly flawless. I guess the only slight dissatisfaction I had with Heroic Age was the ending, because after getting through the entire show, the ending is a good one, but ends in a way that the viewer needs to assume the very last scene... though I don't mind this, I would have preferred to actually see that last scene instead of assuming it. But other than that minor detail, the value is rock solid.

Enjoyment:
I had an awesome time watching Heroic Age... in fact, I watched this anime series in the course of 2 days, which for me is godly fast, because it usually takes me 1-2 weeks. And yet, after each episode I wanted to know "what happens next?", so I kept on watching and watching until I finally got the the last episode. I've seen powerful anime series, but Heroic Age is right up there with the all time most powerful shows in my books, in fact Heroic Age is now in my top 5 anime series of all time, that might not mean anything to whoever is reading this, but I have watched over 200 anime series and for Heroic Age to be in the top 5... now that's saying something!

Summary/Conclusion:
Like I mentioned in the very beginning... 2 reasons I wrote this review. 1) Completely disagree with all the reviews in here that are below a 8.5/10 rating and 2) Epic series (hence this is my first review).
All I can say is, if you are indeed reading this review and have not watched this anime series yet, you need to watch Heroic Age, because there are certain things you take risks on, in this case the risk is your time, but believe me, the "ends justify the means", meaning you won't regret spending your time watching Heroic Age!

Heroic Age is a Good anime with a mature theme scarcely seen through out!
If you're a hardcore anime enthusiast, then you probably have already seen every-
thing that is to be offered by this anime. Unless you are able to regress your mind
a couple of years back don't bother watching this or the lack of a mature feel to this
anime will drive you away.

Animation: The animation is solid and has much to offer. The scenes flow well and
have a variety of colors, that will catch your attention. The character animations are
focused on Age more than the other characters; Meaning he is the only character
who's character design stand out more than the rest, which in turn causes age to
become the most memorable character. Battle scenes are strong and you get every-
thing that you're hoping for and more.

Sound: It was acceptable and sometimes memorable. Although I have never understood
how they can have sound in space but oh well it's an anime! The sound overall is every-
thing that is to be expected.

Story: It uniquely reused old ideas and made it it's own. If you are new to anime it will
go down as a memorable anime in your mind, but If you are like me these ideas have
been used before in better animes. Overall the plot was good enough to let me enjoy
the ending. The ending was good in my opinion and can be easily enjoyed

Character Development: Was almost non-existent. The only characters you will
remember at the end will be: Age and the princess. Those are the only two character
who should have been important to begin with so that is fine with me.

Enjoyment: Although some may disagree with me, I thought this anime was memorable,
although it's originality is debatable it found a way to make a story from it. A story that
was actually worth watching. Unlike the other reviews on here I personally recommend
this for those who do not require a mature theme and just want to watch an all around
solid anime.

Warning : I'm not a native english speaker. And I'm biased, of course. [EDIT: Objectivity isn't possible, so I'm biased like anyone is, but I try to justify my point of view. Some like reading Shakespeare, and some think it's boring, yet both are right in their own ways. Please rate this review according to its arguments. Please don't say "this anime is good so your review is bad" like I've been told.][br][br]A highly overrated anime[br]When I saw the first episode, I thought it was interesting, with good animation and promising story.But like many other anime, the more in watched, the more my rating decreased. Actually, I began to think it was a lame series as soon as episode 2. Before detailing my judgement, I have to admit I skipped a few scenes. I mainly watched until the end to be sure I didn't miss anything important before criticizing, but there are few episodes that made me spend more than 15 minutes in front of my screen.[br]Animation / graphics[br]If you like big fights of spaceships and mechas, with visual effects a bit like those of a media player, have a look at this anime. But apart this CG animation, there isn't much. After the first episodes, they avoided, as much as possible, to show humans moving. They often repeated pictures, and in some fighting episodes, I sometimes feeled like they were trying to gain as much time as possible without drawing nothing new.In some episodes, several minutes of the animation were coming straight from the previous epiodes. Nothing special with the drawings of characters, it's not very refined. No detailed backgrounds most of the time (space or scpaceship rooms, and very few landscapes).[br]Sound / music[br]I usually don't think sound is very important in an anime, but here I found it quite annoying, because I often feeled that the speech wasn't synchronized with the lips. It sometimes happens also once or twice in other animes, but here it was frequent enough to be really disturbing. Apart from that, nothing marked me. Ah, yes, you might think that the voices are very stereotypical. The OP/ED are a bit above par.[br]Story[br]In a few words : a boy that was living alone on a planet boards on a spaceship leaded by a human princess. Together, with the help of the superpowers of this boy named 'Age', they will stop the war between the different races of the galaxy and bring happiness to the whole universe.At the beginning, the story is quite confusing but has much potential. There are a few interesting themes, like this "insect tribe", but in the end they're usually unexploited. And many parts just don't make sense. A good example that doesn't spoil anything: in the second episode, Age speaks like anyone else, but when he is asked if he understand the 12 laws, he answers that he doensn't know what is twelve nor the concept of number. How could he understand everything that was said but not know what a number is? Story flows sometimes very slowly as some episodes are mainly long figthing scenes.[br]Characters[br]Characters are very stereotypical. The young cheerful and thoughtless boy and the kind leading princess are the main characters. They don't evolve much, and there's just one episode that shows their relationship. The rest of the time, you just hear Hime-sama repeating "Age" with tears in her eyes.Side characters aren't more interesting. The "silver tribe" people is supposed to lack feelings, but actually they don't behave differently from humans. The only character that really evolves in the series is the squad leader that loved the princess. There are very few dialogs toward the end of the series, people often talk to themselves, so you can't expect complex and changing relationships.[br]Value / enjoyment[br]If you have read what precedes, you can guess that I don't think this anime is worth much. I had fun watching the first episode, I still had hope while watching the 4 or 5 next ones, and then I wondered if I should stop. When I saw how praised this anime was, I went on but began skipping scenes.If I push apart the first episodes, I can't even find reasons why people liked this. Maybe for the "mecha-like" fights. I guess not for the spaceships fights that were just ugly, with lines figuring laser beams and sprites sliding this.To sum up my judgement: looked promising at the beginning, but nothing interesting next.