To celebrate the end of my exams, my first post in quite some time: some thoughts on the first episode of Viper’s Creed.

I’ve never been a big fan of mecha and it doesn’t seem like Viper’s Creed will be much of a positive influence. From what I could pick up from the prologue, Viper’s Creed plays out in the middle of the 21st century, after pollution, economic collapse and the ensuing Total War transformed the earth into a light version of Kevin Costner’s Waterworld. The rising sea level claimed 35% of the world’s landmass, cities are isolated, billions have died and unmanned mecha, remnants of the war, have somehow gone berserk. In an effort to rebuild society, Fort Daiva City was constructed as an international safe haven, under the protection of the PMC Arqon Global Security. (Daiva is supposedly a take on Diversity.)

Arqon operates a squad of transforming mecha charged with preventing any automated mecha from reaching the citadel’s walls. The entire first episode has this Viper Squadron chasing one such unit around the road network surrounding the city. Exactly why these roads are there and why they are in such pristine condition compared to the burned out sky scrapers is just one of the many plot holes this series is raddled with. As for the Viper unit, they are composed of your standard array of military stereotypes, with each pilot backed up by an operator, all trying their hardest to out-stereotype the competition.

Animation-wise, most of the episode consisted of acceptable CGI while the regular animation was rather lackluster. Voice acting was passable but uninspired.

All in all, the first episode of Viper’s Creed wallowed in mediocrity with a typical military drama storyline, stereotypical characters and average animation. What little hope I found in the scene where the enemy mecha plays dead was crushed further down the line when the Quiet One self-destructs to finish it off. (He’s all right folks!)

If you’re into this genre or wondering what a Future Cop LAPD anime could look like, give this a shot. If not, you’re not missing out on much.