



Much like Black God, I didn’t have the slightest clue about what Chrome Shelled Regios was going to be about, only that it was a fighting anime. I kind of like it that way, walk in with a blank slate, ready to be impressed. After watching the first two episodes I’ve realized that I have seen this all before, weapons that form out of nothing, the quiet purple haired loli, the shy hero who can only kick ass when things are really bad, and that blonde sniper who is in every anime that always gets the ladies; its like they are not even trying anymore!



However, I am a simple man to please. Things don’t have to be ‘new’ and ‘innovative’ in order to please me, just entertaining. What really got me interested about this series is that it reminded me of Final Fantasy 8, with SeeD, Garden, and all that fun stuff. Read my first impression of this anime after the jump.







Like most anime, the story after the first two episodes isn’t really apparent as of yet. Basically, there are schools within giant moving cities, where students learn how to fight using magically-appearing weapons. The main character, Layfon, recently joined one of these schools and is forced to join a squadron of warriors.



From what I’ve seen so far, the purpose of these schools is to have giant “capture the flag” games with other cities. In order to train students for this “game”, squads hold practice capture the flag matches with other squads. And then there are the giant insects, which play some kind of role within this anime.



Artwork overall is average, which isn’t really too bad because the fight scenes are nicely animated. And really, when you have nicely animated fight scenes, nothing else really matters. Music is also pretty swell, chugging out jungle beats whenever the action gets heavy.



It’s hard to say if this anime is going to be good, but for me it was entertaining. I really like the world this series exists in, tournaments, magic, schools of teenaged insect killers—who can ask for more? The story so far is not yet there, though Regios is based off a series of light novels, so there has to be a story in there somewhere.



What this season needs is some mindless action, and Chrome Shelled Regios happily took that spot. What would make this anime go from good to great is to break the shell of the expected and do something different. Give it a shot if you are like me and love those action shows, especially so if there is a chance that a tournament might be involved. God I love tournaments.



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reviewed by God Len