Introduction
Futuristic post-war Japan is divided into four military regions, each led by conflicting nations trying to gain complete control over the country. While the Boundary War—fought with the help of humanoid mecha weapons called AMAIM—has long been over, the rivalry between these factions is still ongoing, and, as a result, the Japanese are heavily oppressed.
Amou Shiiba, a 16-year-old orphan boy who is secretly rebuilding an abandoned AMAIM named Kenbu, stumbles upon Gai, an autonomous AI in need of battery power. By choosing to help one another, Amou and Gai find themselves at the center of a disaster, and Amou is labeled a terrorist and cast out of society. Even so, Amou refuses to remain idle in the face of injustice, and he embarks on a long journey rife with struggle and companionship. His aim transitions from leading a peaceful life to liberating the Japanese people.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Audience reviews
13 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
kottadragon
It's like a solid 8.5/10. It fluctuates between a 9 and soft 7s. Really nice visuals, the music choices are good and add to scenes without overshadowing them, the mech action is intense and does a perfect job of drawing in the viewer, and the animation is consistent (for the most part).
The AIs avatars feel a bit on the goofier side and out of place, but that's not really too big a deal. Most of the enemy commanders were shown to be fairly competent and arrogant at worst; most of their slip-ups come from actual outmaneuvering. The villains never devolve into 2d territory either (other than that one deputy governor) and I appreciate they didn't go the easy route of totally treating their enemies like evil incarnate. They're usually corrupt and imperialistic when you get to the goons, but t…
Read at the sourceTactician
Kyoukai Senki, or AMAIM Warrior at the Borderline is another one of those Anime I have stumbled upon just by listening to one of my friends rant about something in the Mecha modeling world ironically. While I wouldn't consider this one of those hidden gems as I did for the likes of World Trigger, I am happy I came across it and I look forward to watching the second season.
As with any Mecha themed show it has what you would expect. BIG robots piloted by humans with the action that is generally coupled with it. As a casual Mecha watcher I can say I enjoyed some of the aspects of this show compared to other shows I have seen before. One aspect that I enjoyed a lot is explained instantly at the very beginning. It's more connected to the activities of a planets civilization and the different…
Read at the sourceDeago
The mecha genre has undergone significant evolution, raising questions about its current relevance. While some detractors dismiss AMAIM Warrior at the Borderline as a cheap Gundam knockoff, a closer examination of modern mecha titles, including Gundam itself, reveals how the genre has transformed to cater to the preferences of a new generation. Traditional tropes and elements have been reimagined and reshaped, aligning with the changing tastes and demands of contemporary anime audiences. This observation is not solely based on personal claims; even Takuya Okamoto, the producer of Witch from Mercury at studio Sunrise, acknowledges that classic Gundam titles no longer resonate with modern viewers. This phenomenon extends beyond mecha alone and can be seen across various subgenres.
Many long…
Read at the sourceyxaraxy
People are weirdly salty about this show, idk why. There's nothing wrong with this anime. It's a solid 7/10. It's entertaining, has decent mech designs, the characters don't act ridiculous, and the plot is coherent and simple. It's not a deep show. It's not an amazing show. But I certainly can't think of anything I didn't like or anything that makes it a bad show. I respect small, contained anime that don't try to be something they are not and don't have a wide-sweeping plot they aren't ready to handle.
Just because it's a mecha show doesn't mean it should be compared to Gundam. The plot here is much "smaller" / more containe, less complex than your average Gundam series. This show is also significantly less dramatic than a Gundam series.
If you just want to watch an entertaining, cohere…
Read at the sourceEmposter
The animation is fine, the voice acting is fine. It looks and feels very Gundam-ish.
Where is all falls apart is the plot and the characters.
The characters are annoying and one-dimensional. Honestly, the best characters are the AIs, but the writer decided to make them glorified virtual secretaries for the teenage pilots, despite it being incredibly clear that the AIs are far more capable than humans.
The main character is a whiny, crying idiot for most of the show. He's in the middle of a war, yet he doesn't actually want to fight or hurt anyone and cries constantly any time they take even minimal losses. Ironically, there is a short period where he gets pretty gloomy, which the show tries to portray as a bad thing, but that's the only time he actual stops being terrible.
Probably the…
Read at the sourceCombustibLemon
Basically, it's like someone described to the writers some core elements from Gundam, using Twitter's character limits, and the text went through Google translate. Oh, and they based it on Gundam SEED.
You know how in Gundam, the MC is usually forced to pilot the main machine and they usually can barely move it at the start (Amuro, and Judau, for example)?
Here the dude just finds an abandoned, state-of-the-art automated facility that is still fully operational, drawing power, within walking distance from the city yet no one knows it exists. Inside is an advanced military weapon, one-of-a-kind mech based on a completely different technology from what is wildly used (most mechs are remote piloted, this one has a cockpit) Yet this child can build it almost completely all on his own. Then, c…
Read at the sourcemechachungus
So in essence a wannabe Code Geass, but given its a sci-fi war story.. it's so watered down and bland it'd make oatmeal sound exotic.
The static art is ok, mechanical designs seem rather nice, but when you see the animation.. most of the time, it could be done on PowerPoint. Music in the show is ok, despite being the technical highlight of things I can rate about, it's rather meh.
Plotwise, it's poorly written and frankly seems to stem from the mind of a socially conservative who just discovered a how-to-write-an-ad. After a whole series, I'm still not sure why Japan was invaded.. no mention of compelling motivations is ever explored and still not sure how Japan in this show managed to burn so many of its international relations that no one would step in on an invasion.
Characters the…
Read at the sourcelamaraptor
Is mecha making a comeback in 2022? Well no not really, not if this is all they have to offer. It was a fine show but it felt really bland and sterile. Not like the genre redefining series of the 2000's that sought to make mecha a vehicle for deep philosophical conversation, and a far cry from the heroic space battles of the 80's. It's a very grounded show that felt more like a political drama at times, dealing with the multiple countries that now control territories in Japan. The mechas were sort of background dressing, a consequence of the show taking place slightly in the future.
I didn't find the protagonist particularly interesting, his little pity-party journey of self discovery where he goes and tries to mourn the death of one of his fellow soldiers with her family felt a little fo…
Read at the sourceGen_Lma00
Its...ok, it does not try to re-invent the wheel or anything, its a very enyobale show with some nice character interactions and some mecha designs, that are probably the high point of the anime overall.
The setting is very interesting altough not new, but leaves to some good interactions between each different military and serves to make the world feel lived it. On the counter, this setting makes a lot of the conflict about japanese pride and at times it feels almost like propaganda.
Amo as a main characters works, not the most interesting mecha MC ever (that title goes to Amuro or Lelouch) but he is not an empty shell to put yourself into, he has convictions and even guilt. Gashin is probably the best character out of the three main ones, with an internal conflict full of self-doubt bu…
Read at the sourceCaptain110
Kyoukai Senki was very enjoyable for me. I found that it wasn't the Gundam series that I love. Sunrise did a great job taking this anime in a different direction. The fact is getting a season 2 which is solid. It was very boring starting episodes but it did pick up as went on. The final episode was well done left a lot of questions about what's coming in season 2. Kyoukai Senki mechs had total different looking like Gundam rip offs the AI were funny each one was unique. Kyoukai Senki is solid anime something you can watch in day. Slow beginning but the solid ending for the first cour.
Read at the sourcei-like-this
Sir Killalot’s Japan.
I was surprised at how hyped I felt by the end of the first episode of AMAIM. It establishes it's world and military problems well, Amou and Gai, a super AI meeting and helping each other even under the reality of becoming terrorists was well set up and animation seemed to be pretty good.
The real problem with AMAIM is it’s pacing. After around the 5th episode the story hops from mecha, military action to a strange mesh between a slice of life and boy scouts genre… thing. It doesn’t really work.
Amou is a pretty okay lead protagonist. He’s shy and indecisive, but he’s not an insufferable idiot like most teen protagonists caught the centre of a military war anime. He’s not Shuu from that piece of shit Guilty Crown is what I’m saying. Amou feels like a typical teenag…
Read at the sourceSpirit_Chaser
Kyoukai Senki is so painfully bland I had to drag myself to finish it. The constant "Amou saves the day" and slice of life like episodes dragged it down too much. The plot progresses so slowly, and though I tried to be patient and give it a chance, it just wasn't done well at all. It was exciting to see a mecha series that would focus on 2D animation and completely ditch CGI, but it did an awful job in doing that. Lots of times the animation is Scarlet Nexus tier bad in that it uses still frame fights with flashy lights and cheap effects to make it look like animation. You can tell some episodes threw the animation completely out the window while only a few were consistent.
Amou is in that pile of boring protagonists. He hardly felt memorable and his character barely progressed anywhere.…
Read at the sourceKANLen09
To the folks over at Sunrise:
We know, we know. The Gundam franchise that started way back in 1979, that was a massive success of a franchise that tied in all the anime, movies, Gunpla merchandise, video games, heck even the long-lasting relationship and sponsorship with Bandai, that spawned THE generation of what the mecha genre should be defined as. Years later, with the many iterations of Mobile Suit Gundam, and with the recent purchase and closure of defunct studio Xebec to turn that around as yet another subsidiary studio of yours by the name of Sunrise Beyond, the Gundam franchise continued from there with the inherently bad Gundam Build series that only serves as fodder for more of your advertisement for Bandai Gunpla merch.
The problem right now is, with Kyoukai Senki a.k.a AMAIM:…
Read at the source