Anime review: Valvrave the Liberator season 2

Or part 2 of season 1, however the japanese rate their series as it comes with mid-season breaks of usually 2 x 12 episodes with a half year space in between them.

Now, as I said with the first part, I don't actually get it why this series is so hyped.  Okay, so every mecha series is in essence the same, a mental unstable kid gets the power to control a huge uberrobot and smithes whomever is the enemy of the series.  That's the genres staple, so you have to look past that stereotyping (school love intrest, warrior babe, jock turns brawler hothead etc etc) and look at the series.

I really digged the twist from the first episodes, in that the mecha, the Valvrave, is actually vampiric in nature, and literally 'connects' with his controller.  But for me it went downhill after that as they uncovered more of them during series one (the brawler, the defender, the shooty mech... you know the drill).

The second season is darker in essence thoguh, and even stirred a controversy about rape at one point and how lightly it was handled, but overal I thought the series hanging a bit together by loose treads.  I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I had a bit of an unfulfilled feeling.  The series follows a bit (and is often compared to) like Gundam SEED (which on the contrary to many gundam fans I really liked) but in a far more scifi setting.  Cities are space 'town' ships instead and that sort of details.

What I did like though was the 'look' of the general mecha, usually a an upperbody strapped to a lower part spaceship, looking as a love child between a space shuttle and Optimus Prime.  It's an odd description, I know, but it is something you just can imagine more 'plausible' in the far future of happening then the purely uber agile humanoid mechas of the Valvrave's... who are 'born' instead of build.

Overal, it IS an enjoyable series for mecha genre fans, but I don't think it is that super high quality mega series it is sometimes portrayed for.

But never the less, the 24 episodes don't feel like a waste of time, so have a look at them, it's a good entertainment.

Of course, to end the review, there has to be the traditional fanart fanservice... ;-)

Ciao ciao