MegaDaffy Reviews #5: Matchless Raijin-Oh!

Matchless Raijin-Oh!

In which MegaDaffy reviews a new series that one of his friends has worked on. Read on to see if he liked it!

The funniest “mecha” show I have ever seen from the makers of the “Gundam” franchise!
(note: MegaDaffy will be reviewing the Anime Midstream dub when he starts talking about the voicework)

O.k. Fellow RTGomer Productions fans, gather around the…computer because it’s storytime! Once upon a time, MegaDaffy joined in a live chat for the ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com podcast “Nerd To The Third Power” and became pals with their beautiful co-host, TheCat. 4-5 months later, He finds out that Cat has worked on an anime for an up-and-coming company, AnimeMidstream, known as “Matchless Raijin-Oh!” Seeing as MegaDaffy liked Cat’s articles and the podcast she is on, He decided to buy the first two DVDs…and not surprisingly, he loved them! …And thus begins our review today!

What? What is it about? Well, If you give me a minute I’ll tell you! (*Geez, impatient much? XD*) The whole premise is that the guardian of earth, who is a mysterious being of light, leaves three mecha animals (a regular mech, A bird mech and a lion mech) that can form together to make “Absolute Invincible Matchless Raijin-Oh”, a giant mech robot…to a class of 5th graders. I am not kidding; A class of 5th graders has been tasked with protecting earth from the evil alien monsters that the Jakku empire (or in laymans terms, the bad guys) create to cause havoc. It should also be noted that these enemy monsters are created from seeds that feed off what people find annoying (like tests, smog and drunks. Yes you read that right. XD !)
There are many characters in the series but in the interest of time, reader interest…and the fact that my short-term memory stinks (LOL), I’ll only cover the main characters. Jin is one of the pilots of the regular mech and also the head pilot when all 3 combine. He’s a great pilot that sometimes also comes up with some great ideas when in battle. Unfortunately, he’s not a very good student as he has failed every class test he has taken. This is largely because he doesn’t like to study (but then again who does?). The next character, Maria, is a girl who is the head of the command center where they help the Raijin-oh pilots defeat the evil monster. She is also a better student than Jin is and teases him about this fact a lot. However, in this reviewer’s opinion, I think she is also a very nice person too and this is evidenced in most of the episodes. Kouji and Asuka are Jin’s Classmates and the pilots of the other two mechs…and that’s all I know about them unfortunately. They look like nice characters though. The other characters that appear frequently for a few minutes an episode are Jin’s teacher, the school principal and the school goat. Why does a school have a goat? That’s a good question.

Got all of that info? Good, now what do I think of all of this?

Well to quote ThatGuyWithTheGlasses contributor JewWario, “I like it!” I think the stories are very well written and funny too. I also think that AnimeMidstream did an excellent job translating the scripts so that the American audience can understand the humor while also retaining the full episode (unlike Cardcaptors did ><). I find the writing to be funny because what other “Mecha” anime has a sakè monster, a pilot running away from battle or quotes like “Can’t you fly over there with your stupid robot and kill it?” Another funny scene is Jin not wanting to fight a monster near a shrine because he hid his failing tests underneath it (ROFL).
The animation is very good for this series as well! The animation of each episode ran very smoothly and was very well drawn too! However seeing as it was originally made in the 90’s, it will look different from today’s anime because it uses the same cel animation style that shows like “Bubblegum Crisis” (the original one) used. This is not a bad thing but more of a heads up to anyone new to the series.

Finally we get to the voicework, I must say that “HOLY CRAP! THECAT IS AN EXCELLENT VOICE ACTOR!!!” (*Wait a minute, where are you going? I see you moving your cursor over the back button. Get back here. I’m not finished with what I was saying. … There you go.*) Anyways, TheCat also has a voice role in this series as “Maria” and she does an excellent job voicing her! I also think that all of the other voices are excellently done as well! Each actor sounds like they fit the characters’ personality traits and emotions. Jin’s voice sounds like the excitable young boy that he is, The smart kid’s voice sounds perfect for a character like that and heck, even the bit parts sound great too! I think that aspect is what makes any anime better and the voice over director really hit the nail on the head with this one. EXCELLENT JOB ALL AROUND! (oh and did I mention that TeamFourStar member Takahata101 has guest role in the dub too?)

So with all of that in mind, would I recommend this anime to everyone that reads this review? HECK. YES. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST SERIES I HAVE WATCHED SINCE FULL METAL PANIC!!! IT IS THAT AWESOME!!! WHY AREN’T YOU WATCHING IT NOW?! Seriously…pick up the DVDs at rightstuf.com or Amazon.com after you finish this, you will not regret it. This is a fun series that I think everyone will enjoy!

This series gets the MegaDaffy Seal Of Approval!

Let’s recap!

Pros:
-Funny writing
-Great job translating the script for English audiences while retaining most of the episode
-EXCELLENT VOICE ACTING!
-Very good animation

Cons:
-…
-…
-…
– I got nothing.

That’s all for now! Until next time! –MegaDaffy =D

(*Special thanks to Wikipedia for helping to refresh my memory on some of the details I discussed here*)