The first of the new series that I wanted to catch started with Needless. Without even viewing the trailer, and just looking at the art and the storyline, this show already gave me Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann vibes, or those of an epic (and really ridiculous) anime. In other words, an anime to be taken in light mind and heart and not seriously. Screencaps all the way until my impressions, though if you kept up with my Twitter, you would have known what I thought in a nutshell about this first episode.

OP

A trademark of mine is to look for any possible girl I might like in the series. This one instantly caught my attention. More on her later.

Another one, obviously the villain. Her boobs are massive though. Throughout the episode only one seiyuu’s voice fits hers so I am going out on a limb in identifying her as Roukakuji Riru (her name is not mentioned at all in the first episode), voiced by Toyoguchi Megumi. This is based off the listing for Needless at ANN (link was at the top).

 

OP Impressions

The moment I heard the singer’s voice, I knew it was very familiar and searched around in my internal memory before I hit upon it – Granrodeo, who sang the first OP for Blassreiter in 2008. The title for this particular OP is “modern strange cowboy” complete with Granrodeo’s Engrish. It gets weird in rhythm towards the end, so I am not sure if I want to pick this OP up when it gets released. OP animation hardly shows much, and is mild compared to the ED.
 

Episodic Screencaps

And right at the start, big boob badass girl shows us what she is capable of as a Needless – stopping bullets and manipulating gravity at will.

Sister of our extremely fail protagonist, her name is Aruka Schild (according to ANN again). I admit she looks nice…but WTF is with the color scheme? Green hair, green eyes, blue dress…just WTF?

And this robot shows up, and it even has a scene for its type and name. It is called the “Testament”, and I am not sure if it is supposedly good or bad against the Needless, but later on they do mention that the only ones capable of taking this robot down are the Needless. Hmm…

Our pathetic protagonist, Cruz Schild. He actually looks decent only less than 10% of the episode; rest of the time, he looks clueless or in tears.

Dramatic entry filled with light and stuff is dramatic. This here is Adam Blade, our main GAR character that looks a lot like Kamina indeed.

This screenshot requires no caption.

My heart was all a-flutter about the girl…until I heard her voice and realized she is just a loli with boobs. ARGH? More on her seiyuu later. Also, I still like her. Bike-riding chick YEA

And of course, she only has the hots for Blade, riding over anything in the process, including Cruz. Awesome entry is awesome.

She also crashes her bike into the doors of the church they are at and runs back to Blade stepping on Cruz again in the process, right before this kira image.

The welcome is a kick in the face.

And then she can turn back and see Cruz and go “This is mean! Who did this!?” Obviously dear girl, it was you.

Lulz.

Pwnedz.

And finally, the introductions. She is known as Eve Neusch von Stein, or simply, Eve Neusch or Eve.

She also, in this image, looks really good…but the problem is what she says, “but for you, you can call me Eve Neusch von Stein-sama.”

Cause-and-effect relationship demonstrated. The scientist is called Gido.

She also has trouble pronouncing many things, especially English names, and so after Cruz introduces himself, for some reason she decides to just call him a simpler name – Yamada. Owned.

This anime comes complete with correction measures for all your Engrish needs.

More pwnage. Cruz is made to be pwned. Seriously what is not to like about Eve? Girl who cannot pronounce things properly, yet still goes on kicking butt like some know-it-all, has bewbs, is a lol character, and always drinks the same juice. W00ts. Too bad she has the hots for Blade only, who gives her a kick in the face each time anyway.

This man is a Needless and a fail Spiderman wannabe. I never managed to catch his name. Anyway, all moves in this show have names attached to them and must be displayed in Katakana for the benefit fo the audience. This is totally lol.

By the time I realized Eve was only wearing this as her, well, skirt or something, I was hoping she was not wearing pantsu. But yes, she is, under this. But damn, that is one hot outfit as well.

Spiderman wannabe’s actual name is written here. I could care less what it is.

I was all WTF when this happened. I mean, Cruz up till now was just all wimpy and stuff. So did he awaken as a Needless?

Then Cruz pointed at himself and wondered why the hell he was there, and yes, the story moves on without this wimp.

It turns out Eve as a Needless has the power of a Doppelganger (click on the link if you do not know what it means, lazy fags).

And this is Blade’s ability – the gem in the center of his forehead is not for show. He has the ability to remember and execute any opponent’s moves and techniques with that gem.

In Cruz’s eyes, Blade has now been upgraded from Priest-sama to Kami-sama, complete with obligatory kowtows, after Blade saves his sorry ass.

Why do the wimps get all the luck? Yes that is Eve as Aruka.

That is, until she calls him Yamada. Awesome moment.

 

ED

I am sure you know by now from other blogs that the ED animation is full of nothing but these three girls making out and smooching one another. Just, WTF. The song is “Aggressive zone” by the Needless Girls, I know I can hear Eve’s voice in there but not sure who else is in the group. Eve is not in the ED however.

 

Impressions

Seriously, even without watching TTGL beforehand, the whole thing gives me the idea that this is basically a TTGL redux in supernatural power form. Anyway the story can be watched without giving a damn to any plot, because all you need to see is the action and all you need to hear is the Engrish. Oh, and the move names and stuff. Eve Neusch von Stein is also so damn likeable despite her character type.

Those who watched TTGL, would you be able to compare Simon to Cruz and Kamina to Blade? This is really how I see it. Much epic action too.
 

Seiyuu-wise, you would be stunned as well. Koyasu Takehito the veteran, who used to do only serious roles from what I remember, seems to now always dabble in character roles involving humor and comedy, with the latest being Adam Blade. I knew I heard Eve’s voice somewhere before, but well, I had not heard enough of Kitamura Eri’s other works to know it was her for sure until I saw the listing. The other role I know of her is as Uchida (irritating as well) from Minami-ke series, and she was recently Alleyne in Queen’s Blade.

The surprising one was Cruz. Somehow I failed to connect the voice as a female’s, though I should have expected it. Endou Aya stars as Cruz in this one, coming straight out of her work in Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo, which just ended. Toyoguchi Megumi was mentioned earlier, and other notable names include Itou Kentarou (Abarai Renji in Bleach), Katou Emiri (Blair in Soul Eater), Makino Yui (Kawai Honoka in Sorakake, making it the second straight series she and Endou work together in), Chihara Minori (Minami Chiaki in Minami-ke), and Gotou Saori (Keiko in Minami-ke…wait, this is a Minami-ke production?).
 

As for the show itself, it has certainly given me more than enough reason to continue catching it as a light-hearted and epic watch, for no other reason than its silliness, Eve, and Riru. Seriously, why bother to be serious at all with this show? Who needs subbed versions when the action is all you need?

It seems very likely indeed that I will finish this.

Related posts:

1. Summer 09 Anime Watchlist