Aoi Ryuusei SPT Layzner is Ryousuke Takahashis fifth creative work and one that stands out among his other mecha works for feeling a lot more representative of the genre. While Dougram is a much more politically focused show with action that feels more comprised of guerrilla efforts than giant robots punching each other Layzner is something that feels a lot more distinctively like a real robot show making it more derivative compared to his other contributions to the industry up to this point yet refreshing in its execution. Layzner tackles some very interesting concepts within the mecha genre. Taking place in an alternative history where the Cold War continued for decades trust between nations is still very weak among the two main superpowers of the aforementioned war which maintained their political and militant prevalence. Its an era where all it takes is one askew action to set off a war and when an unknown alien force helms the charge of a battle on Mars it was all it took to lead to a mass missile attack on both sides military bases on the red planet. Whats great about this premise is how volatile it can be. Trust between nations is tense after all so when word of a mass attack on a nation occurs each side assumes the other is the cause. In reality its an entirely alien force known as Grados humanoid beings very similar to earthlings who using this knowledge of tension declares this attack to make each side attack each other. 650https://i.ur.com/NzmTpS2.png The keyword is tension as the first 24 episodes is very invested in this theme. Trust issues between different parties the fear of being attacked by a superior alien force the tension of trying to run from them. From the first episode theres a very clear air of bleakness a sense of helplessness in an effort to survive a battle that cant be won. And in its execution its damn good. The main cast comprises mostly of students from a club that were brought to Mars as a peace effort between nations and being thrown into the deep end with civilians that dont have any battle experience puts you in a similar position to them. Youre witnessing and feeling the sense of dread they are as giant robots piloted by aliens attempting to destroy the location that separates them from a planet with no atmosphere. It makes the characters feel boxed in and by extension yourself following them trying to find any possible survivors and a chance to make their way back home. That is with the exception of a wild card with the main character Eiji Asuka. Eiji is the solace in this hopeless situation yet an explosive one that seems to help the civilian crew but given their situation have a hard time trying to trust him. Its a reasonable response as theres no reason for our heroes to figure that theres a coup occurring within an alien army that no earthling is even aware of. Eiji is the bridge that becomes the hope as well as the evidence that the alien adversaries arent all evil. And its an endearing experience watching him try to gain the trust of everyone. 650https://i.ur.com/ta7oOEw.png 650https://i.ur.com/hPCIBNl.png 650https://i.ur.com/JNAHfoE.png The cast of Layzner is really great its not going to be winning awards for being groundbreaking but everyone is personable and have varied believable reactions to whats happening and in general have very likeable personalities. Every character slowly falls into serving a role in the story and it all feels natural. They all receive development that makes you really root for them and become concerned of their wellbeing or in some other cases make you hate them. The further the story goes the more it feels like everything will work out for them. Even when the story does take a significant shift the characters remain who they are and continue to develop remaining true to themselves and not being adjusted to fit the new tone. I will touch upon the second part of this show briefly because I dont wish to spoil much. Layzner is somewhat infamous in circles that are aware of it for having a pretty drastic shift in tone after episode 24. It loses a lot of the drama and nailbiting suspense as it moves in direction that is a lot more action packed and bombastic. Really it almost feels like a completely different show. But I want to clarify that this change isnt weak its just very different to what came before. As far as individual episodes go Id almost say its as good as the first part of the story. The problem more lies in that its a cancelled show. Layzner is one of the most unfortunate examples of a cancelled show as something that was clearly being created with the intention to be 50 episodes and around 35 episodes in got asked by the Sunrise executives to give it an ending. Narratively its not a graceful finish. However when it comes to what it offers within its episodes all the way up to the end Layzner does hold itself intact fairly well albeit with a few hiccups with how it handles some of its secondary and main characters. Bear in mind as I say this that I did not watch the original TV ending and only viewed the ending that came in the OVA a few months after the shows airing. With that out of the way I want to talk more about the positives which include the visuals. Layzner is a gorgeous looking show for its time. As far as TV animation goes for the era Zeta Gundams one of the only shows I can think of that looks as detailed and well animated as Layzner and even then Id say Zetas inferior. And its not just animation the art is very detailed with mecha designs that are more complex than most in the era and mature character designs that are reminiscent of a softer less gruff Fist of the North Star. Its storyboard and layout is very nice too with shot composition that at times can evoke a lot of emotion. There were some visual moments in the show that really stood out to me that I had to pause it or go back and reexperience it. 650https://i.ur.com/otcpQOL.png I also really enjoy the opening theme and animation. Among the fans thats not a unique opinion but it really is great sequence thats well choreographed. I love the change between the first and second openings when Eijis running as it changes from a determined expression with less urgency in his face to a more aggressive expression that makes him seem at wits end running at full speed doing everything his body can handle to complete his mission. It represents well the shift in urgency from the first part to the second. Regarding the soundtrack its also quite strong. The aforementioned opening theme is good of course but the soundtrack itself is varied offering a range from classical influences to pop to Aoki Nozomilike orchestral jazz rock. Its not a large soundtrack but unlike Dougram which fails in having strong themes Layzner actually benefits from this being able to make some tracks represent certain characters. When you hear certain themes youre a lot more likely to get excited or to react in a particular way compared to Dougram which with its tiny soundtrack and double the runtime ends up making its great tracks carry less weight to them. All in all I feel like I could talk more about this show in greater detail but as a written review Id much rather hit the bullet points and give you a taste of what this show offers. Its something that should be seen for yourself especially if youre a mecha fan. It does have its problems and has a very rushed ending but the content that comes before it and even the ending itself in isolation is highly entertaining. This was a show that came so close to being absolutely amazing if it was given the chance to be complete it mightve become one of my favourite mecha shows of all time. And to have that impression planted upon me despite its handicap is something to be worthy of note. 650https://i.ur.com/Dg309Mj.png