UsoEbbing

Revisions was never quite going to be the show that would set the anime community as whole or even the mecha community, despite how seemingly desperate for good content they seems to be, ablaze. From the very start the fact that this show quickly dumped online months before an official Netflix release, or the long fansubbing experience that gave that much more attention to the also flawed but definitely underrated Juushinki Pandora and ID-0 of the previous two years. This applies even if though the CG of this series is an obvious step up from the awkwardness of the Sanzigen produced ID-0. Revisions for the first time that I've seen in n all CGI mecha show puts as much effort into making sure that movements of the characters and their expressions look expressive and as well as delivering the choreography and spectacle of the mecha action. For once we're largely free of doll like head tilts, jerks, and off manipulations. There's even some fun had wth the storyboarding. Scenes with the antagonistic stuffed animal smart ass Nicolas very bluntly show how well this show can be as if not more expressive than your average anime. The cast as well recaptures a hint of the spice that made Taniguchi's other, best, and almost equally underrated Infinite Ryvius so captivating. Daisuke'sinsane hero fixation is very refreshing twist on your typical robot piloting messiah archetype. The traumatic experience that shaped his life and touched the life of his former friends consumed his personality alienated those around him. Worse anime would have neatly gave him the heroic story that he desperately wanted to be a part of, but instead he winds up being no more capable as a pilot, and measurably more shallow as a person than any of his team mates.IT's a neat idea that isn't quite handled as well as it should have been, but it works. The supporting cast has a real presence that makes a respectable jab at filling on the setting. This show is also about the struggle of the community to survive in situation of creeping destruction and it's mostly represented by the supporting cast. It's a different take from Ryvius, but an appreciated one.The adults in the cast believably have a problem entrusting the safety of everything they love in the hands of a bunch of teenagers. The robot anime genre hasn't been in the best of places for a while now, even with the landmark year of 2018 the community seems just as fractured and hopeless as it's been since the decade first started. That sentiment isn't quite fair to shows like Revisions; it will not save the genre from it's alleged death spiral, but instead it serves to remind us that we're still getting neat takes like this one. Don't dismiss this one too quickly.

PixEFit

A mecha show with a unique concept done almost entirely in CG. What could go wrong? Revisions begins in Shibuya, focusing in on second-year Daisuke Toujima. In the past, he was abducted then saved by a mysterious woman. He was told that it was his destiny that he would protect everyone from some unknown event in the future. Now, in the year 2017, the entire city of Shibuya gets transported 300 years into the future. Giant robots that come from the wasteland beyond the borders of the city start obliterating the shocked populous. The unknown woman then confronts Kaisuke again all these years later with a mech called a “String Puppet,” to go against the “Revisions”. Now, Daisuke and his companions have to find a solution to fight off the revisions while trying to bring the city back to their original time. First and foremost, the most prominent feature of this entire ONA is the CG aspect of the show. It’s not incredible, but also it's done very competently. The CG never went into the uncanny valley at any point. It just seemed like a normal anime. Not as beautiful or elegant as Houseki No Kuni, but it had its own moments shown in its fight scenes. It may sound like it's being downplayed, but it should be stated that this could be a big step in the future of CG anime. It looks good and is well made, if this is ever normalized, then it would truly bring out the best in what the medium of CG has to offer. The main gripe of this show lies within its characters. Every character is awful in most regards. Although most of the complaints come from its main character. Daisuke himself. So his whole deal was that he was told at a young age that he was destined to protect everyone. And Daisuke took it far beyond the logical extreme. It’s taken to the point where one can compare him to a doomsday prepper. He has a copious amount of preserved food in his home. He’s hyper-defensive of his friends and protecting everyone to the point of random bouts of violence. In a good amount of his scenes, he mentions that it's his destiny to protect everyone, and uses that as justification to go do stupid things. During the events of the show, he runs headfirst into dangerous situations often and normally ruins things for everyone. He literally kills people by accident during one of his lack of planning and headstrong idiot nature. He’s also very self-entitled, believing that he is the leader for almost no reason other than that he feels he deserves it. The side characters and villains are more tolerable though. Not because they're better, but because they're just cardboard cutouts. All four of Daisuke’s friends don’t really like him at all, and frequently complain about his actions and headspace. It doesn't even seem like their friends, but the show hits us over the head with the themes of teamwork and friendship. The villains are better written than the main group though. They seem to have more interesting individual motivations behind everything, along with some interesting character design. Almost nothing is accomplished between them, but they had a decent amount of potential. While watching this show, at least during the first couple of episodes, the concept drives everything. It was super interesting to how everyone reacts to an entire city being transported to the future. One would think that there would be chaos in the streets. Like in so many other apocalypse stories before. But instead, the city organizes a provisional government. They keep track of everything, try to help find a way back to their time, and keep the peace. And the most interesting part is that people still listen to them, because otherwise it means certain death by giant robot. Some very smart things are done in regards to this provisional government and feels like the best idea the show had. In conclusion, Revisions relies on mostly its concept and CG animation, which by itself is noteworthy. Although, the characters in the show bring the show to a lower level to the point of annoyance. It has ideas, but mostly wasted or not lived to its full potential here. Not enough to keep me interested. Watch it if you wanna see good CG shows. This is a Netflix show and was released all at once, so look there if you're interested. It’s a 6 out of 10. This has been your spoiler free but not really review on Revisions.

BlueBlur

Revisions is one of those anime series where you just have to accept the insanity and go along with the ride. It’s the best way to enjoy a series like this and judging from the kind of stuff that’s in this series, probably the intended way. For a science fiction anime, the story is fairly original and not really anything I’ve seen before. I’ve always loved stories about groups of people being stranded somewhere unknown and fighting for their survival, and Revisions takes this concept to an extremely large scale. Instead of just a few people, all of Shibuya is transported into a post-apocalyptic future where dangerous creatures begin killing and kidnapping the residents, leaving only five teenagers with the ability to pilot mechs to stop them (can’t really get any more anime than that). Of course there is a larger narrative going on, but I don’t want to go into spoiler territory, and I would recommend watching it for yourself anyway. The way the story unfolds was done very well as each episode packs in just the right amount of story and character progression while still leaving an interesting mystery that’ll have you wanting more. Pacing is a big issue with a lot of anime, and thankfully, Revisions doesn’t suffer from poor pacing. In fact, the show is paced extremely well, which was something that I was really glad to see. The story is only one part of the product though, as characters and characterization might be even more important. Thankfully, Revisions gets this right as well. The characters will probably be most people’s problem with this series, as I’ve seen other reviews call the protagonist, Daisuke Dojima, loud and annoying. I’m not gonna lie and say that he didn’t annoy me sometimes (very few occasions) but his characterization is far from a negative. I don’t want to spoil anything but his ‘hero complex’ that he has for most of the show is an important theme to the story and is something that is very important to his growth, so it is definitely not a detriment to the story. At least he’s not an annoying wimp or stupidly overpowered and boring like so many other anime protagonists now. The rest of the cast are pretty good as well, fitting their roles quite nicely. Another big sticking point for people will be the animation. This show is a 2-D/CGI hybrid which threw me for a loop when I watched it. Most shows are either one or the other, but I’ve never seen a hybrid like this that relies more on 3-D. The only other anime I can think that does this is Inuyashiki from 2017 but that only uses 3-D for action and for certain scenes. This is far from a bad thing however as the animation looks quite good, especially in the action scenes where the directing really shines through. The animation wasn’t done flawlessly however, as the models are quite simplistic and their movements during most scenes are pretty stiff. It didn’t hurt the series for me in any way, but it is noticeable. Just like the soundtrack, which will immediately catch your attention. Most of the songs are quite good and fit their scenes but the real standouts are the rap songs that play during a few of the scenes. Having really hip sounding rap tunes in this show fits surprisingly well as the show feels very urban, considering it’s in Shibuya. It was a really nice surprise to hear a rap tune in an anime like this and I am very glad they took a little more effort to give a smaller show like this some urban identity. Some sorely needed identity, I might add. Shows like these aren’t very popular with the current anime audiences, which is a damn shame since a series like Revisions has a lot of potential to be big if more people gave it a chance. So, I hope I’ve sold you on watching Revisions, or at least sold you enough to give it a chance. Given that it’s a Netflix anime, it’s pretty easily accessible and it also ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger, so a second season would do a lot to give this show some more reach. If you’re at all interested in this show, I highly advise you to check it out. As long as you roll with the punches, you should find yourself enjoying it.

closetlover

__Revisions__

_Revisions_ is 12 episode sci-fi and mecha anime focused on time-travel set in a post-apocalyptic world. The pitch of the show is interesting, the entire city of Shibuya gets transported to the far future of 2388 and it's up to 5 high-schoolers to save the day. However, as I hope to demonstrate in this review, the writers have failed to build a convincing world or to develop a captivating story from this base.

# The animation

The show is done in full CG as opposed to the traditional means. And while coming out in 2019, it holds up pretty well. They even have good visual effects. Sure, the character movements are stiff and expressions feel forced. Yet, after half an episode of "adjustment", your brains gets used to the style. And most certainly, a world of holograms, futuristic gadgets, and action scenes featuring robots fits right alongside the more jagged and mechanical look produced by the animation.

With the more emotional scenes, it falls a bit short. And production has tried to move away from more dynamic human action for this reason. Characters don't jump from joy and slap each other out of frame. Food and drinks are conveniently tucked away and animals don't make an appearance.

# The setting

The setting is unique amongst anime, which is a rare title to claim. As I mentioned in the introduction, the story centers around a city as a whole getting transported whole into the far future one fateful midday. Where, the city inhabitants find themselves without contact to emergency services and facing a vast desert. What's more, an alien-looking robots approach and wreak havoc. The anime is surprisingly realistic in the first few episodes as the people seek to establish a provisional government and the two faction of the future establish contact: Revisions and the AHRV. What follows is a power struggle in the face of uncertainty.

The anime presents a believable and puzzling choice as the interests of the city don't completely align with either and scared inhabitants sometimes make quick and uninformed decisions. Still, despite the initial setup and some moral quandaries later on, by the end, the audience isn't left with much more. That is to say, they don't develop the world itself. We only ever meet 1 person from the AHRV and 3 from the Revision. That's it. The in-world explanation is that the resources of both sides have been stretched far. Yet that is hard to believe from the gigantic towers and armies some later present. Furthermore, taking a look at the absolute lack of wildlife, the empty deserts, and the lack of variety in terms of enemies and settings, it's obvious that either the budget was constrained or the production didn't care to build up a complete world.

Coming back on topic, while the government building aspect is presented, it is not really explored. We only ever see changes from the perspective of the constant circle of leadership. There is talk about food and electricity rationing, yet we don't see any community projects or impromptu contraptions. Even as months pass by, the city gets a few extra graffiti (only as it's important to the plot) and everything becomes a bit more brown. When there is civil unrest in the beginning, we are mostly just shown disembodied voices coming from outside. We see some shelters and temporary accommodations here and there, but they fail to present a state of a city living in emergency for multiple months.

# The characters

The main plot follows a group of five teenagers whom have been childhood friends with each other. There isn't much substance to any of them. The central figure that emerges, whom you could call the main character, is Daisuke. He acts like a 5 year old, there is no other way of putting it. His thoughts being bloated by his ego oftentimes results in bad or outright destructive behavior from the very onset. Later on, he starts flipping back and forth between "I'm the greatest men ever to live and it is my destiny" to "I'm a useless scam" in what can only be described as a failed attempt at character development. While ultimately he solves his issue, we are left with an empty husk of a character since that issue was the only thing to his character.

The rest of the cast aren't anything interesting either. The friend-group's mutual friendship is decorated by practically none except some unexplored crushes. When character development does happen, it is superficial and feels directionless. The villains have some spice added to them, they aren't plain anime evil and have some genuine motivations. Some are driven by fear, others by self-preservation. The representatives from the Revision are stylized especially well, with each having some creative attribute to them.

# The plot

The time-travel aspect is one of the more interesting in the show. That sort of thing to me is always a bonus to see. However, they fail at it. For any media to be successful in utilizing time-travel, it must properly explain its function sooner or later, or at least give the viewers enough to figure it out. Coherence is key to time-travel stories. For a good while the anime hand-waves it away, saying that time is a like a swirling string (swirling where exactly?). But when it comes to the later episodes where its put to full effect, it falls short. A certain scene in the past which provides a constant underpinning to the plot is incoherent. The cast's memories change or they don't. We can't exactly tell, because the writers are never explicit about what actually happens. We are presented with a singular timeline, but at the same time we talk about alternatives. And the icing on top is that the space "outside of time-space" has air.

Otherwise plot is well paced. Revelations are followed by time given to the audience and the characters to process them. And otherwise, the plot twists are sensible and are tied in well with the rest of the plot.

# Fanservice

I'll keep it quick, it's too much and it's too bad. What's even worse than fanservice is which is misplaced and particularly distracting. The use of CG alone is somewhat detrimental to the emotional value of important scenes. But they make it worse by shoving the rigid ass of one of the female characters in the viewer's face. I've watched shows which lean on the side of ecchi, I know how to deal with fanservice, and even say when it's done in a tasteful manner. But _Revisions_ completely fails to jump that bar.

# Conclusion

I hoped this anime would be something to recommend, I really did. There are unique and engaging ideas that fill the beginning of the anime. Yet those that had hoped for more are left thoroughly disappointed by the end. There is a great deal of potential and, if properly executed, _Revisions_ would've been a classic CG anime by now. But that potential isn't taken very far. What you will be left at the ending is questions rather than a sober reflection. What's worse is that they intentionally set up for a second season. And they've done so in a manner which isn't really unified with the rest of the events that unfolded.

The sentiments expressed in this review might feel excessive, but that is only because I am partially angered at the wasted concept. So from a scale of 1-10, with 1 being unwatchable garbage, and 10 being timeless masterpiece for all, I have to leave the following score. If you feel like you can stomach some bad writing and a cliffhanger at the end of it all, I say go for it. Otherwise, don't.