I had put Robotics;Notes on hold for a while, mainly because the first few episodes were kinda boring.

No, really. They bored me, so I never really got to blogging it.

But now I’ve caught up, and well, I’ll blog these episodes, giving quick impressions of them all, just so I don’t spend so much time on this post. Because 18 episodes is a lot to blog.

Let’s get straight to the point: Robotics;Notes isn’t as good as Steins;Gate. In fact, I’m probably gonna give it a 6 or 7 out of ten by the end of this show. But considering how good S;G was, it’s only natural that fans of that show would set their expectations high for R;N.

Now, don’t get me wrong. R;N isn’t a terrible show. In fact, it’s pretty decent in my opinion. But it’s just not as good as S;G.

For one, the characters of Robotics;Notes have a decent amount of likability, so you do kinda care what happens to them as long as you’re not one of those people who either…

A. Hates male protagonists in general

B. Trying too hard to look for the plot, and ignore all of the character development throughout the show, just because it can’t implement it’s character development into it’s plot.

That said, let’s get to the two big things about this show.

The PROS of this show, are the characters.

Kaito is sort of a subpar kind of guy with his indifference, but I’m a little baffled at how everyone thinks he doesn’t give a damn and just wants to play Kill Ballad, when it’s clear that he goes above and beyond to help his friends from behind the scenes. He doesn’t like the attention. But then again, he shows he’s not so stoic come the later half… He and Akiho have Elephant-Mouse Syndrome, an in universe disorder the two of them contracted on a boat incident. His version makes him perceive a second as five minutes. So basically, BULLET TIME.

Akiho? Typical Genki girl and I’ll be blunt: I don’t care for her too much. But I do feel bad for how her sister, Misaki never EVER seems to respond to her at all. All Aki wants to do is build a robot and impress her sis. Why does Misaki have to be such a bitch about it? Anyway, She too has the Elephant-Mouse Syndrome. Hers makes her perceive five minutes as one whole second.

Subaru is HILARIOUS. He’s got that serious glasses guy shtick going on, but he gets embarrassed pretty damn easily, and his masquerade as Mr. Pleides is downright hilarity. It’s not as bad as Frau, but he seems to have a speech impediment when he gets flustered. Under all of that though, is a guy with daddy issues. Daddy won’t let him get involved with robots for some reason. Adds nothing to the plot.

Junna is a moe karate girl who’s got a total fear of robots! She’s definitely a cutie and yes, she’s total Waifu material. But since I don’t do the waifu thing, I won’t claim. Her character development doesn’t add to the plot unfortunately, but eh.

Kona Furugohri, aka, Frau Kojirou, is the best character in the bunch. She’s got this crazy NEET thing going on, plus her character development and story adds to the plot! Double points.

Anyway, now onto the plot points of the show!

• First thing’s first, is the whole Elephant-Mouse Syndrome. HOW DID THAT EVEN HAPPEN? Guess we’ll have to wait until the final episodes to learn the origins of it. All we know is that it was contracted due to a solar flare that seemed to make everyone on the boat faint. Or was it some sort of brain washing deal? I forget.
• Second is the anime in-universe that’s spoken of frequently, GUNVARREL. It’s a standard shonen mecha anime about hopes and dreams and whatnot… but come episode 13-14, you learn that not only the whole damn production staff was murdered, you also find out that the show was supposed to be some brainwashing propoganda, the staff themselves was brainwashed, and Kona’s mom, the director of the anime, murdered them all in self-defense! What the shit!
  • That brings us to the topic of brainwashing. That also seems to be a recurring thing in this show, and is mentioned in the Kimijima reports. But the show’s done pretty poorly in explaining what’s brainwashing the people. Is it the Kagome-Kagome ring tone? Is it the solar flares? Is it this Committee of 300?
• Thirdly, Kimijima’s reports. Sure, without them, we wouldn’t have little Airi/Geji-nee, now would we? But the Kimijima reports read like a total hoax, but they compel you to read more. Hence, why Kaito fell hook, like, and sinker for the trap that is the Kimijima Reports, spreading all across the globe, which could potentially cause a worldwide panic. We’ll get to this, right?
  • Speaking of the Kimijima Reports, it’s talking of massive solar flares to be caused by the Committee of 300. HOW THE HELL DO YOU CAUSE A SOLAR FLARE TO HAPPEN? Isn’t that a Nature related event?!

See, We don’t get to our plot until at least episode 16. In the beginning episodes, the plot starts nonexistant, kinda having that Slice of Life feel. Then we get little bits of plot, but still that Slice of Life stuff. Like, the episodes are standalone with hints of plot here and there. But now that we’re past episode 16, our plot’s coming around full force finally. And It took a character death to finally set it off… *sigh*

Still though, the Slice of Life jazz is centered around the members of the Robotics club making a lifesize version of GUNVARREL just in time for the Robot Expo. Their first model fails, so they get unexpected help from the space group called JAXA.

Remember Mr. Braun’s daughter, Nae? She’s with JAXA.

So, it’s nice we got a returning character from Steins;Gate as a main member of the Robotics;Notes cast.

Even though I’m pointing out faults in this show, the show’s not HORRIBLE. It’s not terrible like Chaos;Head, which takes it’s mystery and completely turns into an asspull, with a half-assed harem deal.  In any case, I guess I had high hopes for R:N. But like I said, I don’t hate the show. And I’m sure by the end, I’ll end up giving it either a 6 or 7 out of 10.