AniWorthBlue Comet SPT Layzner
Introduction
The story takes place in an alternate reality based in the year 1996, where humanity is advanced enough to develop long-range space travel, as well as bases on both the Moon and Mars. However, the Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union have not ended; rather, they've escalated as both sides build military facilities in space, and the shadow of nuclear conflict looms over humanity, both on and off Earth.
Meanwhile, on the Red Planet, an exchange program created by the United Nations to promote peace and understanding is about to begin; the "Cosmic Culture Club," consisting of 16 boys and girls, as well as their instructor Elizabeth, arrives at the UN Mars base. Among the passengers is Anna a 14-year-old girl who serves as the narrator for the story.
Suddenly, four unidentified humanoid robots classified as Super Powered Tracers are detected, engaged in fierce combat with each other. The UN base is caught in the crossfire and quickly destroyed, killing all but six members of the "Cosmic Culture Club"—Elizabeth, Arthur, Roan, David, Simone and Anna, and leaving them stranded on an inhospitable planet that has suddenly become a battlefield. As the battle ends, the lone SPT standing lands next to the terrified group and opens up revealing a pilot, who simply announces to them, "Earth is at stake."
Audience ratings
MyAnimeList / Tenrai : 7/10 · 2081
| 1/10 | 28 |
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| 2/10 | 15 |
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| 3/10 | 42 |
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| 4/10 | 97 |
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| 5/10 | 153 |
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| 6/10 | 324 |
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| 7/10 | 567 |
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| 8/10 | 454 |
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| 9/10 | 250 |
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| 10/10 | 151 |
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Audience reviews
6 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Mulahey
Layzner looks great. Its nicely animated and has great designs. While not as iconic as Votoms, its on that side certainly one of Takahashis best works.
It also opens (and opens its somewhat separated second half) with great ideas. Soviet/US tension in space is taken advantage of by a third force of alien invaders; a group of civilians relies on a defector to get home from Mars. Its a great set up.
Unfortunately, this is about where the praise ends. Layzner has pretty flat characters who lack sufficient depth to carry the show on charm alone.
Ultimately, the first two thirds of the show delivers little except some character introductions and generic background on the alien invaders and technology; almost nothing else from it is relevant in part two. After the first few episodes, we spend…
Read at the sourcePatfine
Review written in English and French / Critique disponible en anglais et en français
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What can be said about Layzner?
First of all, it’s the fourth major work of my favorite mecha anime director: Ryousuke Takahashi. Being a big fan of Votoms and especially Dougram, I had high expectations for Layzner. And indeed, I was happy to find Takahashi’s signature style.
The series is divided into two distinct parts: episodes 1 to 24 and episodes 26 to 38 (the 25th is a summary). Without spoiling what they consist of, they are nevertheless radically different in tone.
For the first part, we have a very dark story. The extended Cold War setting works really well and adds to the constant hostility that prevails. The atmosphere is meant to be tense with a constant threat, an emergency situat…
Read at the sourceSCLFI
SPT Layzner occupies its own position within the overarching (if not overbearing) market of 1980s mecha with a political and military focus. Within the decade, director Ryosuke Takahashi’s other works prior to Layzner included VOTOMS, with its focus on a deeply rotten and outright malignantly corrupt military bureaucracy, while Dougram adopted a more domestic sociological perspective, examining the way common people were affected by the colonisation of space. As the most popular franchise within the mecha genre, Gundam would have been the most direct market competitor, with its own thematic and narrative elements broadly comparable to both of these shows, but there is one specific area in which Layzner retains a distinct identity from either Takahashi’s other works, or Gundam, and that is…
Read at the sourcespacenewtype
Being a big fan of the Space Opera genre of storytelling, I had long been interested in seeing this show after reading about it on a list of underrated mecha anime.
Long story short; I was absolutely blown away by this show. From its mature, deliberate narrative pacing that takes the time for characters to breathe and undergo more subtle and believable character evolution, to the quality and consistency of the animation. This was really pretty stellar most of the time.
Every show has ups and downs, but Layzner seems to my eye to maintain keyframe level details throughout even subtle moments in the show, to say nothing of the stellar action scenes.
While it cannot be denied that the high quality (strongest in the first 24 episodes) dips in the last handful of episodes as the show was ap…
Read at the sourceAtelier_Weiss
Aoi Ryuusei SPT Layzner is Ryousuke Takahashi's fifth creative work and one that stands out among his other mecha works for feeling a lot more representative of the genre. While Dougram is a much more politically focused show with action that feels more comprised of guerrilla efforts than giant robots punching each other, Layzner is something that feels a lot more distinctively like a real robot show making it more derivative compared to his other contributions to the industry up to this point yet refreshing in its execution.
Layzner tackles some very interesting concepts within the mecha genre. Taking place in an alternative history where the Cold War continued for decades trust between nations is still very weak among the two main superpowers of the aforementioned war which maintained t…
Read at the sourceCecihoney
So yeah, this had no review up to now ( october 2020) and I think it deserves one to tell people if this anime is for them or not - yes it is not for everyone.
Story: 6
Well I like the fact that in a way the aliens are quite similar to humans, which is relevant to the plot, but it is kinda simple and the series try to cover it in mystery for way too long. Also certain events feel a bit forced to happen or simply doesn't make much sense, specially after the 3 year jump which happens at one point.
Yet the same jump makes other aspects better - more world building and some interesting plot twists.
Also whenever they do those jumps forward they do so in the middle of climax letting us guess how that event or battle ended. While not horrible since you make up more or less what happened it kind…
Read at the source