Imagine the moment when you or a friend has just finished watching a dark and humorless book or show. It can be hard to move on to a similar piece of entertainment without finding a way to mentally detach from the previous one. Many people would suggest finding something lighthearted or starting something that is easy to digest. This is how I began watching Active Raid a show that in different circumstances I would consider not finishing. Active Raid is a 12 episode show that follows a police task force named Unit 8. The unit is commonly seen and referred to by various government branches and members as a black sheep group due to the heavy amount of collateral damage that follows the teams deployment. The unit is filled with oddball individuals that pilot exoskeleton mech suits called Will Wear. The unit has many common character tropes from top to bottom. A rookie looking to make a name for herself by agreeing to report on the unit to a higher up two field agents that annoy each other to no end but inwardly respect one another a well endowed female member who has a strange obsession or fetish depending on how you interpret it and the female commander who looks like a teenager. These characters along with the rest of the unit provide the heart of the show. They use any chance they get to throw a party or go drinking they consistently become exasperated with the bureaucracy of their job and help with a wide range of crisis. I can say firmly that my enjoyment comes solely from the characters and the situations they are put into. Whether its a poker tournament a cross dressing idol concert or a tribute show to the old mecha fandom of the 70s and 80s. Active Raid is at its best when it allows the unit to work within the realm of the absurd giving the characters a chance to comment on some of the ridiculous nature of the job. However the show has many faults against the aforementioned praise. Mainly that the police angle and villain add nothing of substance to the show. The police officer label that the show focuses on in its opening credits and during action scenes is for flash only. Unit 8 does very little police work if at all. Episodes 1 to 8 were the exact same format of a show with two halves. First background of a unit member and then in the second half the unit is dispatched to resolve a conflict in progress because another prefecture or branch is asking for help. Active Raid attempts to have an overarching connection between the crimes from episode to episode but the characters themselves do not put any of the pieces together until the climatic finale has been pressed upon them. This puts the show in an awkward position of minimizing Unit 8s police work and using off day scenes to drive the story forward. Ironically these scenes are far more interesting than any brief desk work that the individual members do. Creating a riff in the viewing experience for the audience as some may realize such as myself that the main draw of the show a police anime with mechs is uncreative and dull. The villain Mythos is incoherently used to make a larger point that rigidness and the protocol of a government may put a country in harms way. But the show in a clumsy manner reveals information along with a motive for Mythos in the last three episodes of the show. While the shows earlier episodes poked fun at this theme the lack of weight put toward the topic makes the whole finale taste like cold pizza. Provisional at best but the audience would have preferred something warmer something with a bit more depth than a teenage boy Mythos creating an online terror organization with other teenage boysBird Dog just to get revenge. While whole heartedly recommending Active Raid feels cruel watching it with the caveat that the show does have a serviceable slice of life element to it seems fair. So if you do end up watching this show go in with low expectations. Its a by the book experience that has decent chemistry between its characters but falls under its own stupidity once you put some thought into the universe it presents. Things of Interest The OPhttps://www..com/watch?v=aTbEWUgsUY really grew on me. Especially when they introduced the 2nd half title card animations. The homage to Super Sentai using mech suits in the unit was a nice touch. The detail put into a software app Liko and then Benu was also a great gesture. Showing the impact of the show in the ending credits with the two replacing one another was cute. The fights scenes were well animated. The studio did a great job the the mech design and giving them simple abilities that were easy to distinguish in the action. This is only the first season and the second season is announced for Summer 2016