An Anime enthusiast tend to judge the book by it cover. Reasons why a lot of interesting anime tend to fail to get international attention despite the numerous outlets available. Or people tend to shy away on watching series that aimed at kids, because its for kids and it will never surmounts to anything but simple-minded plots and over flowing man-juice testosterone. But not all assumptions are correct. Ginga e Kickoff is a wonderful series details the philosophies of football and sports in general. Then we have Tanken Drilland, which has no relation to Giainax or drilling. But yet, it does have it charms that transcends even to adult viewing audience.

SD Characters aside, they are not child like

Contrary to popular assumption. Takken Driland may have the tell-tell sings of a kid’s anime. For one, it was done by the folks at Toeiiiiiiiiiiii Animations, which also has a branch in my country, that I should say celebrated its Toeeeeeiinty fifth year in the business. No word if the local studio has anything to do with this. No art of it was seen in the exhibition was present. This is a new IP for them, that was taken from a mobile game of sorts. The story is very simple, almost as it was simply a backdrop to make the franchise. It’s mainly about Hunters. Not Togashi hunters, that’s way too cool for this one. But mainly something along the lines of Hunters finding treasures and beating bad guys. Not to mention, having to have quest to rid of evil pint sized birds from seating from the faries. The story, unlike other series that is made by Toei didn’t suffer from manliness or testosterone fuelled tendencies like One Piece, Toriko or Saint Seiya. The story started fairly calm and approachable. No shouting and ridiculous over-the-top combat in the first episode. It was very odd that I am enjoying a show like this. the characters are very approachable and grounded. None to powerful and non to over dramatic. They do have semblance of story within them like the princess’ guard and Pollon, which we already seen in episode two. Although they do act one-dimensional, but I have my hopes that everything will fall in to right pieces and see if will develop for them. I know they will pull kids stuff in this show, but it ain’t so bad at all.

Wow. Their Character Design is making it hard for me to guess their age

One thing you would notice about this show, is that the characters are all drawn in SD. But not mainly drawn for the sake of cutesy comedy, since the comedy isn’t very explosive as to other series. That aside, it does made me go in the false belief that I am watching a bunch of teenagers going about their adventures. Which makes this series very approachable for me. Pollon, the guy above is perhaps around 16 and Wallace be 17 or 18. The princess judging be around 14-15 of sorts. I don’t know, I maybe off there, but even so, it makes it more watchable for a person who like to see teenage boys every time.  The character design is all right in aspects of the series. It does paint a fantasies that you would expect would have.

It would be great if there wouldn’t be a plot armour

This might come to me as a wishful thinking, but I would see great impact if at one point one of the main characters die, but die in the most unexpected ways. As it is now, if they carry the same atmosphere and tone of the show, there’s a sure chance that you would like the characters. Plus since this is an adventure, character development will trigger in each quest they take. The audience would definitely have an attachment to the characters in one way or another. What I am saying maybe impossible. But if the show knows what it is doing, this would be a great twist. Perhaps help more in solidifying the memory it has for a kid that will be watching this series. I would bet that us adults or teenagers today have a kid’s show or two that has a lasting impact in our childhood. That would be a great memory to have for a series. Toei being what it is, being mostly stuff that most kids in multiple generation have memories on, should be able to pull this off without a problem. The question lies if the series do have those moments. Let’s just wait and see.

Overall. My first impression on this series is entirely positive. Its simple plot and likeable characters is unexpected for a kid show, it made me want to watch it more. I personally don’t think that people should stick to their preferred genres. Like how this woman managed to find her calling (Link NSFW).

Verdict: Pass

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