Arpeggio of Blue Steel Review – FEFI Revisited

The concept of women having special powers in anime is nothing new, especially in shows involving magic such as Date A Live and EVERY SHOUJO EVER. However, I believe it is quite the novel idea to have women be physical manifestations of warships with enough firepower to destroy all of humanity’s military. No need to reload the page, that sentence was just said…err…written.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel is a military science fiction licensed by Discotek Media. It’s 3D animated, so for those of you who aren’t really into things past the second dimension this anime might not be for you.

But enough exposition, it’s time to set sail for Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova!

The Story

In the year 2039, after most of Earth’s landmass has been lost to rising sea levels, a military force the likes the world has never seen attacks humanity. Possessing extremely advanced weaponry and seemingly coming from thin air, this autonomous military force, which is dubbed the Fleet of Fog, crush all of humanity’s navel forces with ease. After defeating the last of the human resistance, the Fleet of Fog blockaded the seas and the skies, preventing countries from communicating.

We are then introduced to the main character, Chihaya Gunzou, a student at a navel academy raising cadets to face off against the fog. Becoming one of the top students there, Gunzou is introduced into a secret project hidden within the academy: A submarine vessel from the Fleet of Fog, model I-104. Gunzou ends up awakening the I-104, just by touching it. Later in the day, a strange girl by the name of Iona appears and confronts Gunzou at the docks. Turns out, the I-104 and the entire Fleet of Fog had developed what is called as a ‘Mental Model,’ essentially an android representation of each ship. And the best thing is? THEY’RE ALL GIRLS!

Iona informs Gunzou of her orders, to basically protect him and make sure his goals are accomplished. Basically having a servant who is in control of a completely overpower submarine, Iona and Gunzou…along with some of his classmates that are kind of just there set out on a journey against the Fleet of Fog.

In the first episode, we’re introduced to the item that drives the plot of Arpeggio of Blue Steel, the Vibration Warhead. Being a weapon that could allow humanity to be on equal footing to the Fleet of Fog, only America has the resources to mass produce the warhead. The task is given to Gunzou to deliver the warhead from Asia to the United States, evading and battling the Fleet of Fog the entire time.

The Characters

Chihaya Gunzou

The main character of Arpeggio of Blue Steel, he is the captain of the I-104 and leads the fight against the Fleet of Fog.

And he’s not even that good of a character.

I mean, I wanted to like Gunzou a lot. The thing is that he wasn’t developed as much as I would have, which is sad as they had a lot to go off of. During episode one, we get brief flashes of what I assume was Gunzou’s past and we’re introduced to the idea that his father betrayed humanity for the Fleet of Fog. That idea is great and all…but it’s never mentioned for the rest of the series.

He starts out well enough, caring for his crew and being this stoic hero. But we don’t see him go through any change, as he’s still this stoic figure head by the end of the series. Even when Iona was going through character development, he didn’t change, especially around episode 10. They had the perfect chance, but it ended up landing flat for Gunzou.

Also, for some unexplained reason, he alone seems to have some effect on the Fleet of Fog mental models, causing them to change drastically. They never talk about this in depth, whether or not all humans could do it or if it is some special ability that Gunzou alone could use.

All in all, the character had potential, although none of it was used.

Iona

Between Gunzou and Iona, Iona feels much more like the main character then Gunzou…the actual main character of the series.

Iona is the mental model of the I-104, a stray submarine from the Fleet of Fog. She only has one set of orders she remembers: “Become Gunzou’s Ship.” As a ship going against the Fleet of Fog, Iona is forced to fight her once comrades turned enemies.

Now, out of everyone in Arpeggio of Blue Steel, she undergoes the most development as a character. This is especially evident near the end of the series, when she is faced with destroying her own kind and the prospect of a certain someone being put in mortal danger. Iona turns from this emotionless doll into something that seems quite human. I felt her torment when she was put into a kill or be killed situation against her own sisters.

And don’t even get me started on the final battle against Kongou. In my opinion, it is one of the greatest anime fights I’ve seen in a while. It was so full of raw emotion and flashy effects that it was captivating.

There is one thing I have wrong with Iona character, though.

We’re never explained who gives her the orders to serve Gunzou. I mean, I guess one could point to the conclusion that it was Gunzou’s father, but we’re never told. It’s frustrating how they don’t explain these things…

More on that later.

Takao

Here she is, the most popular character of the entire series…and I can understand why.

Takao was a battleship for the Fleet of Fog, and was sent to destroy Iona earlier in the series. She was defeated quite badly, but wasn’t killed. Instead, her weapons were locked for 24 hours, and she was left alive. After being defeated, instead of returning to the Fleet of Fog, she actually fell in love with Gunzou. She wanted him to be her captain, to make her stronger.

This affection is not only absolutely hilarious at times, but defines her entire character.

The duration of the whole show, after the initial fight with her, most of Takao’s loyalty and actions are based on her love with Gunzou. And I’m not talking about the tongue in cheek Clannad love. I’m referring to the kind of love a teenage girl would have towards Justin Bieber, which is complete obsession. There are some cute moments, where Takao gets flustered in front of Gunzou, or funny moments when she has fantasies of him becoming her captain.

The thing is, the love thing was kind of rushed in my opinion.

During the fight with Takao, she absolutely loathed Gunzou and Iona, wanting nothing more then to blow them out of the water. The episode after she was defeated, we see her gushing over Gunzou like he was a pop idol. I would have given it a couple episodes, simply because of how polar opposite emotions hate and love are.

The Strengths

For being a show that is 3D animated, Arpeggio of Blue Steel looks really good for a majority of the series. All of the character designs are great and memorable, and some of the visuals during battle are awe-inspiring and just…well, pretty! All of this goes double for all of the energy effects with the Super Graviton Cannons and Klein Fields, which are spectacular.

The series really surprised me with it’s action as well. I was impressed at the start, with these giants ships firing giant lasers to create giant explosions, but I thought it was going to get old after a while. Arpeggio of Blue Steel keeps everything fresh with new strategies and higher stakes added to each battle, as well as mixing hand to hand combat, which REALLY threw me for a loop (especially for a naval combat anime.)

And finally, for the characters that got any level of development (Gunzou is NOT included into this), I felt they were really well done. These characters included Iona, Kongou, Haruna, and Takao. I loved each of their characters, and felt they each went through enough of a struggle for you to really feel for them.

But about the characters that weren’t actually developed…

The Weaknesses

I really enjoyed Arpeggio of Blue Steel, don’t get me wrong. There was a lot wrong with this series. And I mean a LOT.

First of all, every character that I didn’t mention earlier aren’t developed well, if at all. Kirishima, Maya, Gunzou, the crew members from the I-104, everyone. On the subject of the crew members of the I-104, we don’t even learn how they got on the ship! Seriously, Iona and Gunzou left the naval academy by themselves, and they just seemed to materialize onboard the I-104. If they mentioned that Gunzou had gone back to get them, or if they got on the submarine in the first place, I wouldn’t get having this gripe!

And this brings me to my other point, the biggest and most frustrating flaw of Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova.

They never explain ANYTHING.

I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for them to explain the origin of the Fleet of Fog, or why Iona follows Gunzou’s orders in the first place, Gunzou’s backstory, why Gunzou has such a staggering effect on Mental Models. None of this is explained, which I feel like are core plot points to the series. I feel like if they were to make time for these little tidbits of information, as opposed to adding scene of Hyuga plotting to steal Iona or teddy bears eating carrots, then I could be more merciful with this.

I could also be more merciful with this if it was intentionally like this to make way for a season 2…but that option is out the window because the series had an end.

The Final Thoughts and Rating

Arpeggio of Blue Steel, on the surface, is a pretty good anime. It acts as a distraction, and has some really good fight scenes with pretty special effects. If you were to go deeper down, you start to notice some really significant flaws.

And these flaws, with the disregard for important details AND main characters, really hurt the series as far as what I can rate it. I enjoyed watching this anime, as I do with most other anime, but I just can’t bring myself to ignore these flaws. It’d be like if I were to write “Harry Potter,” but leave out all of the details of what happened before the events of the book. You know, the stuff that makes Harry Potter matter in the first place?

Adding up the pros and the cons, I can safely, and unfortunately, award Arpeggio of Blue Steel a 6/10, and a “Pretty Average” rating.

The downsides hurt this show WAY too much to really propel it into excellence, in my opinion. But don’t let the rating dissuade you! If you want a distracting and flashy anime with really good fight scenes, then this is your anime! But if you’re looking for something deeper, then I would pass, personally.

Leave a like, and tell me what you think about Arpeggio of Blue Steel in the comments below! Trust me, I like responding to comments. But until next time, this has been the Anime Analyst. Zachary, out