Review Anime-Danball Senki

Danball Senki (Anime)

Danball Senki (ダンボール戦機 Danbōru Senki, lit. "Cardboard Chronicles") is a 2011 Japanese anime television series produced by Level-5 under the direction of Naohito Takahashi. Based on the Danball Senki Playstation Portable RPG, the anime series was broadcasted in Japan on the TV Tokyo Network starting March 2, 2011.

Plot

The year 2050, Ban Yamano is an average middle schooler who loves LBXs, but couldn't have one due to his mother's banning after the death of his father 5 years ago. One day when he was returning home, he comes across a Rina Ishimori who hands him a metal briefcase saying it is the key to both "hope and despair" for all humanity. He returns home to discover the contents in the briefcase, an LBX model named "AX-00" never seen in the sales catalogs. Then he get ambushed by a mysterious LBX legion, leaving Ban no choice but to fight back using the AX-00. Ban manages to fend them off, but finds himself caught later in future battles for the sake of recapturing the AX-00.

Together with his classmates, Ami Kawamura and Kazuya Aoshima; they fight off the enemies later confirmed as the Innovator. Led by Yoshimitsu Kaidou, this mysterious organization whose agendas for global domination involves the hidden key item inside the LBX model. Soon, Ban will come across many friends and rivals from his LBX battles to accompany him in the fight against the organization. Teaming up with Hanzou Gouda, Daiki Sendou, and the mysterious transfer student, Jin Kaidou; they join the anti-terrorist organization called the Seekers, led by Takuya Uzaki, younger brother of the CEO of the world's top LBX maker. As the fight against the Innovators continues, Ban would discover the true nature of the LBXs, including the reason for his father's disappearance.

(source : danball-senki.wikia.com)

Thoughts after watching the anime

As you can see, this anime is about little robots, called ‘LBX’. If you watched gundam, then you could say that LBX is the smaller version of it. It uses  a certain diorama called ‘d-cube’ it’s skin is made of super strong cardboard, and that’s where the name ‘danbooru senki’ came from. I must admit, the first time I watched it, I’m pretty confused about the story line, but now that I’ve watched it until episode 44, I really think it’s a great anime! Even though it’s meant to be a children anime, the story also contains political issues, death(s), and also the value of life, so don’t expect this to be an anime SOLELY for children, since it definitely is not. I recommended this anime especially for those who also watch Level-5 series!

Thoughts on the story

Personally, I think that the first episode of this series is a bit confusing. Why? Well… at the start of the story, Ban is fighting and the next is Ban telling us the start of his story. The first part of the flashback is pretty normal,  and pretty cute, but then there’s a pretty weird scene after this. Suddenly, a young woman approach you, handing you a suitcase, and said that she knows who you are, while also saying that the suitcase she’s handing to you contains the key to bringing the world to either hope or despair. Wouldn’t that be a weird thing to hand to a 13 year old boy? Plus, after that, Ban then get attacked by a mysterious masked people.  The plot gets even weirder at this point, that I’m sure if you watched it out of curiosity, you’ll find this anime boring, but don’t stop watching yet! Because the story starts now!

                All those strange mystery will be explained throughout the story, the plots get thickens, of course, but that’s where the fun part is! You could watch the story unfold itself without getting bored. Another thing that I like about this series is the character development. Ban, who once was a beginner at LBX, met all sorts of people who later become his friends, and later grew stronger. He overcome all sorts of trouble and move on to protects this world, along with his friends. And Kazu, who used to be scared of fighting the organization, Innovator, have grew to be a reliable person and thus help Ban. The same thing happen to Jin. Jin was the former member of Innovator, but then later became best friend and rival to Ban.

                Just like every series has it’s own charm, everyone has weaknesses too, but I’ll talk about it later, please look forward to it~