Eva’s First Impression
Oh my gosh, I’m crying from laughing so hard because I AM SO CONFUSED! I legit don’t know what to think of this premiere!
It starts off pretty hysterical because these Androids realize they are broke, and they need to make quick money, so what better way of doing that than entering music competition (Climb Stage) to reach the top of Babel with no prior preparation? I knew it couldn’t possibly end well, and sure enough, it was an absolute disaster– because everyone was doing their own thing, some dancing, or each of them singing two entirely different and bizarre songs, completely out of sync! The whiplash was real and hilariously so!
After failing the move onto the next stage, they meet this kid Esora who fainted because of a heatstroke. He is grieving the loss of his adoptive father, so he decides to vent a bit with the Androids because he felt like his dad never wanted him in his life until Cobalt smacked the cube to get a video to start playing. They decide to help the kid out try and connect with some memories he couldn’t recall.
Flash-forward the whole trip around to various parks, they finally find the place is partially submerged now, and Esora remembers the day he and his dad went there and starts humming a melody from that time. Then suddenly– out of nowhere, because they recognized the melody, they all suddenly started singing— and not gonna lie, I simultaneously cringed and burst out laughing because I just can’t— IT WAS SO CHEESY!!! After that since concluded they now understand how HOW TO SING, so they go back to Babel to enter the contest again, and this time they actually put on a decent performance and pass. Alright then.
But truth to be told, when they immediately returned to try again for the second time and pass with flying colors, the show kind of lost me there. I did kind of hope we’d see them struggle a bit more, at least for an episode or two before actually pulling themselves together. It kind of just “clicked” for them, and BAM, once again with no further preparation, they were perfectly in sync with each other– though I suppose you could say it was “excusable” because Androids learn quickly. Nonetheless, I just feel like it was a bit of a missed opportunity given that this story is revolving around Androids trying to win a music competition as opposed to Humans. Though perhaps it should be noted that, in the beginning, it was pointed out that usually it’s Humans who enter the competition, and they were “lucky” that they were not verified for being Human (though there was a Android at the application desk soooo, take that as you will). Anyhow should the rules say Androids are not permitted to compete, it would be interesting to see if that will come back to bite them.
And just when I thought I was done with the show, comes along the post-credit where they find a drunkard outside of a factory. Cobalt is being the chipper guy he is goes on how they did a great deed sure jinxed himself there, because the next thing we know, they all witnessed the murder of the drunkard after the robot that had come to retrieve him, shoved him into the molten pit.
Yes you read that right. We suddenly have a murder case on our hands. It actually took me a hot second to process what just happened, because I wasn’t sure if I was seeing it wrong at first, and then all the sudden, this dark turn had me thinking, “Wait– WHAT?! Is this for real?!?!”
So, this sudden MURDER to happen at the very end has me scratching my head as to, how exactly is this series is supposed to unfold… It’s like… I’m half wondering (because I’m that confused right now), if the whole Babel competition is actually going to be more of a side mission while we have this much more serious plot happening outside of it, or maybe the other way around. These guys just entered the competition in hopes to win the prize money so pay for their electricity bills. Without it, they can’t charge themselves and they are good as dead. However— we have a number questions that popped up today: As both the opening scene of what appears to be little Esora and the four Androids watching fireworks on the beach, and the nostalgic melody suggested, the five of them all have history together, and yet for some reason none of them seem of have any recollection of it. We can only assume that whatever “error” we saw when Cobalt woke up from his slumber, may have contributed to their loss of memories/data. Or, perhaps it wasn’t actually them, but perhaps their predecessor models/versions. Well that would certainly make things more complicated now wouldn’t it?
This also leads to the question about their living circumstances. It appears either never had to worry about the bills up until now because it was taken care of by someone else (ie: their creator), or perhaps they were expected to understand they needed to pay for their bills once on their own. It’s weird because, we know they’ve been active for at least a year now, and yet Chrom pointed out that they don’t have any operation requests set up, so they don’t know what kind of labour they can do in order to earn an income. So this seems to suggest there are still a lot of things that have been left incomplete, and needs to be ironed out properly. That said, our biggest clue to this at the moment is the way Cobalt’s parameters going crazy whenever the word or subject of family is brought up. And the fact all four them recognized the tune suggests that Esora’s (adoptive) father may have known he was dying, and created these Androids to be Esora’s new family.
Apart from the plot, in terms of characters I have to say that I felt like Neon’s personality appealed to me the most. I think I just like his more chill vibe, and enjoyed the way he interacted with Esora by asking questions about how Humans coped with the heat and stuff. It was just a simple conversation, but I thought they had a very wholesome dynamic.
Then we have Cobalt, who is very much the stereotypical golden retriever personality (which isn’t really my preference to begin with, but hey, there’s usually always at least one guy like this in these series), especially with his one-track mind and obsession with anything family related. However it does feel rather apparent that he was specifically designed for Esora, who has just lost the only family he ever had. Meanwhile, Kei and Chrom were kind of sidelined in a way compared to Cobalt and Neon, since both had more presence due to being engaged in more conversations. For that reason, I can’t really say I have much of a opinion on either of them at the moment.
And finally last but not least, in regards for the performances, I will say, the CG was decent enough, but… their heads and eyes… Surely I wasn’t the only one who thought the eyes they are gonna steal your soul or something. It’s kinda freaky looking, hahahaha…
With that said, I don’t know if I’ll pick this one up. They were all over the place today, somewhat messy and chaotic in a way, and yet somehow it still managed to entertain me to the point I couldn’t help but laugh at the outrageous developments. But this robot-murder curve-ball definitely threw me for a loop and gave me enough of a reason to see how they plan to follow-up on it in the second episode. I am curious to see what direction they plan to take this story.
Possibility of Blogging: Low
Possibility of Watching: Moderate
