1x01 Over Tokyo

Trying to get a handle for when this is set. It's an alternate Earth where the Apollo program continued and led to a fully developed moon base and operation, but there's also a big focus on analog technology and 8-bit gaming, and I can't tell if that's because this is set in the 80s or if the kids have a nostalgic cling to old tech. The lead kids are good, and I like how it mixes the Amblin "boys on bikes" fantasy adventure with the large scale military action, even if it can get shockingly grisly at times, with people having limbs sliced off and being gobbled down by monsters. It's effectively nightmarish, but has such sudden veers in tone. I do really like how deeply it explores the racial tensions between the Japanese boys and the American bullies, with both the teens and military coming off as arrogant bruisers while their Japanese targets are more inventive and persistent. I'm sure it'll put off some US views, but they're not exactly undeserved punches. The main issue for me is the animation. I know there's a lot of controversy about cell-shaded CGI use in anime, but while I'm more open to it than others, this is definitely an example that falls into the gripes I agree with, where the characters are to flatly and stiffly modeled, and there's an almost obsessive need to pull out so many frames that it has a herky jerky feel with a complete lack of fluidity. [UPDATE: Just saw this is by the same director who did the trilogy of CG Godzila anime movies, which makes a lot of sense.] While the models of the kaiju are much better, they suffer from a similar skip frame quality that can especially make the skin texture of the Gyaos look weird. That said, the kaiju action is superb, with Gyaos being perfectly nightmarish in both their hunger for flesh and their instantly slicing laser beams, added to that their mad, goggling eyes and lolling tongues, even the small ones are frightening. And big ol Gams himself, friend to all children, is marvelous in his weight and lovably fury, and I love his gleeful squishing and the build to each of his flame bursts, all set to a big rock soundtrack.

It's a wobbly first episode, but I'm on board and eager to see where we go from here.