Review of Coppelion

IncendiaryLemon · 22 November 2015

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In the not too distant future, a meltdown of a nuclear power plant in Tokyo turns the once great city into a desolate wasteland due to lethal levels of radiation. However, 20 years later, some people are still living within the capital. Enter Coppelion; a unit of the Japanese Self Defence Force consisting of three high school girls: Ibara, Aoi and Taeko whose sole mission is to track down the remaining inhabitants of Tokyo and evacuate them safely. However, there's much more to these three girls than meets the eye... \r\n\r\nCoppelion is an anime adaption of the seinen manga series of the same name by Tomonori Inoue and whilst the show is good in concept, a flawed execution leaves the show feeling almost completely forgettable. \r\n\r\nThe biggest flaw with Coppelion is its characters. Not a single character is given any kind of backstory or development or even any personality or character traits. There is only really a single exception to this and that is Aoi, who is always energetic and can be fun to watch and is easily the best character just because she has at least some personality. The three protagonists, despite being with each other for their entire lives, have very little chemistry together and as such, it can be very dull to watch the scenes where they're talking (of which there are quite a few!). I feel that this show is very unbalanced when it comes to its characters as Ibara, the lead, is always the one to solve whatever issues befall the trio and their friends. There are only a couple of instances I can think of where Ibara isn’t the one to eliminate a threat or get them out of a bad situation. This makes the other two girls look very incompetent by comparison as they quite often have to be saved by Ibara despite them also being Coppelion (the name assigned to the species the girls belong to) and having powers of their own. This issue is amplified when one of the girls, Taeko, gets put out of the picture for the last handful of episodes and is barely seen. The villains are also very underdeveloped and seem to be evil for the sake of being evil, with no real motivation. \r\n\r\nThe story is also quite lacklustre, mostly as a side effect of its characters being so bland. My first issue with the plot is that the story that takes up the bulk of the show’s episodes doesn’t actually start until Episode 5, leaving the previous four episodes feeling like filler. Granted, I can understand needing the first episode to establish the status quo but the other three could be removed with little detriment to the plot. \r\n\r\nThe main story revolves around a pregnant woman living within the irradiated city and the girls trying to successfully evacuate her along with her family and friends. As such, the story is much more personal and relies on the audience caring about the characters to build any kind of tension but none of the characters are developed enough to make you care about them at all, so the story falls apart as there are pretty much no stakes. This part is also overlong and shouldn’t have taken up the majority of the episodes. I thought that the whole show was going to be like the opening, focusing on different survivors of the nuclear incident in the city; it would have been a benefit if it had kept going in that direction, but the story it chooses to focus on is just uninteresting when the characters are as bland as they are. Coppelion attempts to touch on a handful of different subjects such as environmental damage, what it means to be a human, and species conflict. Any one of those themes could have been interesting, however Coppelion chooses to gloss over all of them, only mentioning each one once or twice. Series such as Elfen Lied and Shiki had similar themes and were elevated by exploring them; Coppelion could have also been greatly improved by further exploring the themes it presents. \r\n\r\nHowever, one aspect of the show that I found to be very good is the art and animation. This show is animated by GoHands, the studio behind the Mardock Scramble films, the K series and Seitokai Yakuindomo, and the studio does a pretty good job here. It's nothing outstanding but I feel that it is definitely better than average. What stands out is the background art which is gorgeous and the overgrown wasteland that is Tokyo makes for a fantastically realised setting. One issue I did have is that the characters and the backgrounds are often contrasted with each other, especially as the characters are usually given quite thick outlines, which was a little distracting but nothing major. Coppelion is competently directed by Shingo Suzuki, who previously worked with GoHands on K. \r\n\r\nAnother element that works incredibly well is the English voice cast. Relatively new voice actress Erica Lindbeck voices Ibara (her first leading role) and does a good job despite the character herself being quite dull. Out of the three main girls, Cassandra Lee Morris as Aoi is easily the standout for me. Most well known for her roles as Ritsu in K-On, Taiga in Toradora, and Kyubey in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Cassandra Lee Morris continues to be one of my favourite English voice actresses and brings her usual energy to her performance as Aoi and is one of the reasons why I like her character so much. This anime also features a supporting cast full of familiar voices including Sarah Williams (Sayaka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica), Spike Spencer (Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion), Leigh Cherami (Lucy from Fairy Tale), Richard Epcar (Batou from Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex) and many more, which makes for a fantastic dub. The soundtrack by Miko Endo and is generally okay, not really standing out but complementing the show nicely. The band angela, who have had their music featured in shows such as K, Seitokai Yakuindomo and Knights of Sidonia, contribute both the OP and ED which work well but, once again, are nothing really outstanding. \r\n\r\nThe release by Kaze, whilst generally pretty good, has a few serious banding issues in the darker scenes which makes it look really ugly in some spots and is quite distracting. As far as bonus features go, this release includes a clean OP and ED. \r\n\r\nIn Summary \r\n\r\nCoppelion isn’t necessarily a bad anime, it's just not a particularly great one either. Some good animation, gorgeous background art and a great English voice cast are the only elements that save the show from complete mediocrity. \r\n
Final score: 6 out of 10

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Review of Coppelion

IncendiaryLemon

Captain Karen