VIVIDRED OPERATION

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ActionVividred Operation

REVIEWS

• 

  TheRealKyuubey

  30/100
  From the Creator of Strike Witches, it's Everything I'm Glad Strike Witches isn't.

  Ever since mankind created advanced technology, finally making our everyday lives more convenient, we’ve been plagued by the persistent need for something to power our creations. Our desire to control and stockpile the required resources has driven mankind to some of its greatest and most desperate evils... But in the distant future, the world’s energy issues have finally been solved by the creation of the Manifestation engine, which somehow creates unlimited energy and distributes it across the world. Living near this engine is one happy-go-lucky fourteen year old named Akane, the granddaughter of one of the engine’s original inventors. She lives a peaceful life, going to school, riding her scooter and eating fresh veggies from her garden, when everything goes wrong. The Manifestation engine is attacked by a series of mysterious alien entities named The Alone, and with one final inventio from her grandfather, it’s up to Akane and a few of her classmates to protect the world’s main power source from destruction.

  A1 Pictures hardly needs any introduction at this point, I’ve talked about them numerous times before, and I just can’t stop singing their praises, as they’re easily one of the best performing and most consistent anime production studios out there. Over the last decade and change, they’ve become extremely popular among anime fans for their high quality animation, bright and vibrant color palettes, and sheer mastery over character animation in regards to the way their characters' physical and facial movements are captured. That’s not to say everything they’ve done is perfect, or that they’re universally beloved. Some of their shows have run into the infamous Runny Eggs problem, where animators will break frame rates and character models in order to create fast and kinetic movement on a tight budget... Their constant use of overly pretty, constantly blushing moe blob faces can irritate some people, and the switch between 2d and 3d character animation for certain projects can be jarring... But they do generally have a positive reputation.

  I don’t want to sound mean when I say that there’s nothing particularly special about Vividred Operation from a visual standpoint, as I don’t mean it as an insult. By the standards of A1 pictures, this is certainly a show made by A1 pictures. Everything you would expect from an A1 pictures anime is present within this particular title. The animation is fluid and well produced, with little to no corners cut as far as I could tell. The characters are pretty, their individually color-coded palettes are easy on the eyes, the backgrounds are immersive and highly detailed, and all of the futuristic science fiction technology is neither overdesigned nor underdesigned enough to become distracting. The CGI is well integrated, and while the quality of the writing and story-telling itself is something we’re going to have to talk about later, each episode is paced really well. There’s nothing extra special about this show visually speaking, because it just happens to meet every single expectation that one would logically have about an anime made by A1 Pictures.

  Well, I guess that’s not entirely true, there is one detail about this title that sets it apart from the rest of A1 Pictures’ output, and that’s the involvement of a director named Kazuhiro Takamura, and if you don’t know who that is, well, the high points of his career have all revolved around one single anime franchise that’s been around for almost fifteen years at this point: Strike Witches. Takamura was the original designer of the bottomless waifus with jet engines on their legs that turned into a surprisingly epic and exciting series, and while Vividred is the only other anime he’s ever directed, he also served as character designer for Mahoromatic, Queens Blade and This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, and if you’re not picking up on this thread that I’m laying down yet, here it is: Takamura designs characters who are intended to be seen naked, and he sometimes directs them getting naked. The reason this sets Vividred Operation apart from the rest of A1 Pictures’ output is that they rarely ever feature uncensored nudity in their productions. As a matter of fact, for all I know, it’s the only one.

  Even Gate, a manga that featured a ton of uncensored bare breasts, had all of that scrubbed clean and kept safely off screen when A1 pictures produced the anime adaptation. That makes this a rare treat indeed, where you have a director and character designer who is never shy about providing a level of fanservice that most modern day anime aren’t willing to deliver on, working alongside a production company that’s become famous for having their own high quality and easy on the eyes character designs, who are almost always immaculately animated, so this should be a match made in heaven. On the other hand, Vividred Operation was released as a TV anime first with an uncensored DVD later, which means the only actual nudity comes in scenes where characters are bathing or showering, so there could be steam to remove in the first place. This unfortunately means that there are only a handful of nude scenes, featuring two characters in three separate episodes, so even though the nudity looks awesome, it’s pretty sparse, which is disappointing in my book, especially for a Strike Witches follow-up.

  Yes, you heard me right, this is a Strike Witches follow-up. Same director, same character designer, and a largely similar concept, so it’s going to be pretty hard to continue this review without making comparisons not only to Strike Witches, but occasionally to even older anime that feature young teenagers having to survive while battling the monster of the week. Much like Strike Witches, Vividred Operation is an anime about a team of teenage girls who gain the ability to fly and battle against mysterious black aliens who pose a threat to humanity, and all of this high-stakes action is balanced out by the intended levity of constant light-hearted fanservice antics. So, does it live up to its predecessor? Is it a worthy follow-up to one of the more weirdly enduring anime franchises of modern history? I mean, it was largely made by the same guy, with arguably a better production company, so why has Strike Witches lived on and only gotten better with time, while Vividred Operation only had one outing and has otherwise largely been forgotten?

  Well, I might as well rip the bandaid off right now, Vividred Operation is not as good as Strike Witches, and there are a stunning amount of reasons why not, and the first one I’d like to focus on is in regard to the characters. I’ve stated this before, and I still mean it, Strike Witches lives and dies on its cast of highly likeable and highly distinct characters, all of which are expertly balanced and utilized throughout the story. Vividred, on the other hand, feels a lot more like a super senshi/Magical Girl anime in the construction of its cast. The characters are color coded for merchandising purposes, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, except that each one is based on a simple archetype, and nobody is really interesting or deep beyond their archetypes. You have the cheerful leader, the dominant overachiever, the socially awkward genius, the mature best friend(At least I think that’s what Aoi is supposed to be?) and the morally conflicted enemy who is being set up for a face turn. There are five separate characters, and with God as my witness, I don’t see what actual purpose more than half of them have to the plot. This entire story could have just starred Akane and Rei, and what little bits of the plot this change would have hurt could so easily be repaired with some quick rewrites.

  And yeah, I’m not gonna lie, I like the dynamic between Akane and Rei, it’s probably the one major saving grace of the series. Enemies becoming friends is one of the oldest yet most addictive cliches in the book, it’s a hard thing to get wrong, and they don’t. I liked seeing these diametrically opposed characters overcoming hurdles presented by their clashing personalities to become friends, only for that link to be immediately snatched away when they discover they’ve been each others’ arch nemesis all along. But we didn’t need the other three girls for that. We didn’t need them each getting their own episodes to discover their powers, because there’s nothing special about any of them as individuals that often comes into play in any important fashion. We didn’t need an entire episode dedicated to that bullshit afterschool special episode where one of them pushed the other into modeling, the other used it for her own benefit, they learned their lesson and became better friends, fucking yawn, such useless filler. With just Akane and Rei, this series would be half as long, and it would have a much more streamlined and well-paced overall story, even if they DO have a falling out over a squashed tomato.

  Going a bit deeper into my issues with the characters, there are a few ideas surrounding them that I find questionable, to say the least. Like, why do these girls go to school? None of their teachers or classmates play an important role in the story, and it feels kind of insulting that the magical girls who protect the world’s energy source from alien invaders at a huge risk to their own lives still have to worry about studying and grades. I get that it’s a backdrop for their lives outside of combat, but after each character’s introductory episodes are over, most of their interactions happen away from school. I know school is how we explain them all meeting, but it doesn’t have to be. The Strike Witches girls lived on an army base for a reason. Yes, I know Evangelion featured fourteen year old mecha pilots going to school, but Evangelion did a LOT with this concept, while Vividred only occasionally uses it as a plot convenience. If they really needed a highschool field trip as an excuse to get the girls into skimpy bikinis for a beach episode, well, that was one of the worst beach episodes I’ve ever seen, so no loss there.

  Also, why does Akane’s grandfather turn into a ferret? I don’t get that. What does that add to anything? What challenges does it present? Was having the girls hang out with an old man just a shade too creepy, so he just got turned into a marketable cute mascot? I can’t think of any other reason why this would have been done. Probably the biggest let-down, though, is the Alone, which are barely a shadow of the Neuroi. In Strike Witches, every new Neuroi had some crazy new gimmick that the witches had to figure out a way to deal with introducing new strategies and character developments that ultimately lead to them overcoming the challenge and saving the day. Don’t get me wrong, the design of each Alone is different, but Vividred takes the Power Rangers approach, where they’re all basically killed the same way... The girls do a tee hee yuri-tease with forehead kisses, strip down to their elaborately designed underwear for the transformation sequence that turns them into voluptuous adult-looking weapons, they unleash some vague attack with Naked in the name, lather, rinse, repeat.

  But my main problem with this anime is the presentation of the fanservice. Before I go any further, I should explain exactly what my perspective on fanservice is. Much like with most elements of media, there really is no ‘good or bad’ fanservice, there’s the stuff you like, and the stuff you don’t. However, what’s a lot less subjective is whether or not that fanservice is presented in a sexual or non-sexual context, and in my opinion, this is not dictated by the presence or absence of female presenting nipples. Just for a quick example, remember in Goblin Slayer, how you had to see a young woman get raped by a monster, and you saw tis happen from multiple angles, but her hair was strategically covering her boobs? Now imagine that same character in a shower scene, no steam, hair pulled back, nipples visible. Which scene feels more creepy and exploitative? I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the shower scene.

  With most fanservice-heavy shows, they let you know what audience they’re aiming for right off the bat. Even if they don’t offer up any nudity right away, they still find various ways of telling you “Hey, guess what, this is intended for mature audiences.” True, you can sometimes find light fanservice and even occasional nudity in TV-14 anime, but it’s usually relatively tame in comparison. The problem with Vividred Operation is that it is very clearly an M rated anime in terms of content, but outside of the few nude scenes, it seems to go out of its way to disguise itself as something borderline family friendly. Not only is the story highly reminiscent of Power Rangers type material, but the writing is barely more complex than that, and a lot of the logic in the story would only make sense to the youngest possible audiences. The character writing, both in regard to their individual arcs and their dynamics with each other, rely heavily on melodrama, AKA making emotional mountains out of molehills, and while this can be done well in some shows, the kind of conflicts raised in this anime are usually both simple and stupid enough that only the youngest viewers could possibly get invested in them.

  For most of the run of the series, the only visual kind of fanservice you get are constant close-ups of the girls’ asses(and more), and despite the fact that they’re wearing shorts, you can still see the outlines of their butts(and more) in such a graphic level of detail that they make the make the wedgie spacesuits from Heroic Age look comfortable in comparison. Not only are these shots excessive, but this is literally how you’re introduced to the main character, with her ass sticking out in explicit detail as she rides her flying scooter. Aside from this, you have the transformation sequences, which I’ve already described in great detail, but the worst example of all is one particular scene that I’ve joked about in past reviews. Akane invites her friends out to her garden, and for a snack, she gives them each a cucumber, adds a dollop of mayonnaise on the tip, and they bite it off. Good fucking grief. They even hold them like penises.

  Comedian Groucho Marx once said “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” Comedian George Carlin would later add, “Well sometimes, it’s a big brown dick.” I guess I could understand making the argument that I’m seeing something that’s not there, but personally, I refuse to believe this wasn’t the intention. It’s especially damning that as an extension to the metaphor, there’s a scene later in the series where two characters get covered in sprayed goblets of mayo that are drawn in a very conspicuous manner. You can not look me in the eye and tell me that the imagery of young teenagers simulating fellatio on phallic vegetables with white substances on the tip only to be covered in that same substance later on isn’t far more sexually exploitative than the exposed human body could ever be. I’m sorry, but there’s an obvious fucking problem there. This is a series that insidiously feigns innocence to sell ecchi to a younger audience, from the excessively detailed ass outlines to the heavily suggestive magical girl transformations, and I could honestly live with that if it wasn’t trying so hard to sneak it all under the radar. It’s honestly uncomfortable to watch, and overall, I think it’s a good thing that it’s been forgotten by time.

  Vividred Operation is currently out of print from Aniplex. You can stream it on Crunchyroll, but if you want to see the uncensored version, you’ll have to either pony up over $150 for the DVD on Ebay, or turn to piracy.

  Say what you want about Strike Witches. It’s trashy in some ways, but it wears that trash on its sleeve. It lets you know right off the bat what it’s about, who it’s for, and what you’re getting into by watching it. Vividred Operation is downright insidious. It's so cloying, and manipulative. It’s fair to say that the majority of its bigger issues are below the surface, but aside from the exceptional production values and occasionally pretty okay story beats, that surface has plenty of its own issues. It’s lame on the outside, and morally repulsive on the inside, with a beauty that is barely even skin deep. At no point in the series does it feel like it knows whether it wants to be silly, sexy or serious, and as a result, it winds up routinely failing at all three, which ironically only serves to damage its actual purpose, repackaging mature content for younger audiences. It’s too suggestive for kids, too tame and boring for older audiences, and I really don’t see anybody I’d recommend it to inbetween.

  I give Vividred Operation a 3/10.

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