Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula

The Good: - Great art style. - The cell shading is some of the best I've seen in a tv series. - A wide variety of mecha designs kept the series interesting. - Battles between cell-shaded mechas = awesome. The Bad: - Plot progression is very slow. It was a struggle to watch more than 2 episodes in one sitting. - Most of the series was devoted to presenting background stories of various mecha pilots/translators. Unfortunately, the lives of the these pilots and translators were boring. The fact that these flashbacks were presented DURING the mecha battles made things even worse. Conclusion: This would have been a great series had it been condensed to fewer episodes. They went through great lengths to familiarize the viewers with the pilots of every single mecha; but there was just too many characters. As a result, I found it hard to sympathize with any of them (with the exception of the Japanese and Chinese crew). Cut the flashbacks in half and add more mecha airtime and this series would've been ten times more entertaining.

In the future, after the "Equatorial Winter", 12 idol heads of 12 Gods called out for humans to make them body and armor with which to fight. Each country that had retrieved an idol answered their call and the UN set up the "Wise World War" for them to fight in. This story follows one boy who is "called" to become tha pilot of a mech a.k.a. Gigantic of Japan which holds a idol head of one of the Gods. So far, the story has the right amount of combat, drama, and plot to satisfy any mech fan. A definate watch for picky anime watchers.