Chrome Shelled Regios: Mid-Series Report

Chrome Shelled Regios, the post-apocalyptic supernatural military series is a little more than halfway over. After 14 episodes, I think a fair assessment of the series can be made.

In the beginning, some interesting concepts were introduced. I like the idea of closed off moving cities as a means to escape the monsters that await in the toxic world. The school setting may be cliche but is usually more relatable than other settings (even if the school does consist of supernatural weapon wielding teenagers). The inner city battles are cool and serve as a good medium for human vs human battles.

As the series progressed, we found out a little bit more about the portagonist, Layfon. While we are for the most part fully aware of his past, there are still several mysteries that need to be answered.

Now I have never read the light novel series, but I think it would've been a better idea for the animation studio to have waited a bit longer before adapting it into an anime. As with most light novels adapted into anime, the series will most likely end ubruptly leaving several questions unanswered.

This makes matters worse when multiple problems are presented at once. Not only are we dealing with Layfon's inner struggle and reluctance to use a katana, but now we have to care about Sharnid's past. Right now, the focus is all over the place, something that is not being pulled off very well. At this point, I don't see any way for all the problems to be dealt with in only 10 episodes.

Not only that but the pacing seems off as well. While the action has been acceptable, it hasn't even come close to reaching the scale displayed in the opening. It seems the main team isn't even fully assembled yet (unless the studio was just pulling things out of their ass with the opening).

Despite all my complaints, I am very interested in the direction this series will take. While I am not enjoying the series as much as I had hoped (the promo really made it look on par with a Shonen Jump title), I am still intrigued by the plot. I'll let you all know what I think once the anime ends.