Kakumeiki Valvrave is apparently your usual Sunrise mecha show. It talks about wonderful armors that can and are used to fight oppression. And, obviously, the pilots of the Valvrave are not usual humans either. Their opponents neither. In short, it pretty much is about non-human fighting against each others in mecha. And the hero is named Haruto.
That could be useful to know.
Now that I went through the two seasons that composed the show, I am not sure if I can tell you whether or not I liked it.
Some parts were beyond awesome, some others, well, not so much.
Actually, there is nothing special at all in the plot, that makes an anime ride on characters alone and that is not always the best thing.
To be fair, I have nothing against a good old good guys vs. bad guys show. It brings back some good memories. It is simple enough to follow and Valvrave manages to add some supernatural stuff which is somehow refreshing.
I am sad it did not emphasize this more. A vampire mecha show had potential to become so fabulous it could outshine anything.
But it did not.
I am not even sure why. The second season did focus pretty much only on what the pilots were and how they were created and why. Maybe a bit too much, sometimes, it is better to keep some things mysterious. That and it also took a lot of screen time that could have been used for something else. If possible something else than mecha fights because they were not the greatest.
The characters, well, I am not sure of what I should say. When I first saw Haruto I had a reaction of dislike almost instantaneously. It is not to say that he is not interesting because strictly speaking he is and he actually has character development.
He just embodies pretty much all I dislike about shounen heroes in general and worse, basically he is not charismatic at all. He has doubts all the time, he acts for petty reasons, he whines, he has some moments of intense courage then goes back to being a coward, he decides to do something then backs off and the list goes on.
But he is interesting because he is very human. Except a human like him does not make a very good hero, and, while I admit his value as a man and as an example, I disliked him anyway.
I disliked Shoko maybe even more though so I guess they are well suited for each others. She did have more charisma than Haruto did though and her intelligence is to be admired.
Obviously Valvrave did not have only characters I disliked. I liked pretty much everyone else except those two. Cain was my favorite (obviously) and L-Elf came a close second.
In the end, I am not too sure about Valvrave. Or no, what I am sure about is that it has been a big disappointment. I loved the first episode you know? Unfortunately I did not like the rest as much. Not recommending.
