Read my review of Glass Fleet, Volume One before reading my review of Volume Two!
Looks like calling kittens foul names has finally caught up with me; it’s penance time in the form of Glass Fleet, Volume Two!
plot summary
Michel has just joined forces with Cleo, when the ship’s crew receives a hail from an ailing cargo vessel. The glass ship answers the SOS and lends a hand to the wounded crew. While helping the cargo crew aboard the ship, Michel finds someone he thinks may be his brother.
Vetti, the Holy Emperor, meanwhile, begins to woo Rachel, the daughter of the leader of the Cross Star religion. He uses honeyed words and eloquent poetry to try and win her hand. Rachel, though, is having none of Vett’s courtship, and continually rebukes the tyrant.
Vetti’s young royal guard, Ralph, has grown jealous of the attention Vetti lavishes on Rachel. Ralph tries to dissuade Vetti’s interest in the girl, only to learn the true reason behind Vetti’s courtship.
After their encounter with the cargo vessel, Michel and Cleo have returned to the People’s Army to lead them to victory. The road to true victory, however, needs funding and the road to funds leads to the Duchess of Bordeaux, Bebe. As Michel and Cleo rush to the Bordeaux Territory, they discover someone else is already trying to win the Duchess to their cause.
review
Volume Two was actually worse than Volume One; much, much worse. I don’t even know where to begin with how bad this series has been so far.
The inconsistent nature of this wretched series has become rampant in this volume. For whatever reason, space in this anime has atmosphere; however, this changes whenever a massive body-count is required. When that happens; Blammo! Instant Vacuum of Doom!!! One minute, people are chatting away on the hull of a ship, next minute- uh oh, no one can hear you scream in space! You know why? Because it’s a frick’n vacuum!!! But hey, Glass Fleet has this nifty Vacuum On/Off switch.
character designs
Each episode of Glass Fleet finds new ways to insult my good taste. The character designs, far from being cleverly inventive, are degrading into the laughable, stupid and tasteless. I give studios credit for trying something new, but the keyword there is “trying”.
Glass Fleet doesn’t look as if anybody tried to design anything that might be passably tasteful or attractive. All the designs are ugly composites of various cultures mushed together without forethought. The colors are garish and loud, and heap on further visual abuse. Rachel’s dresses are the absolute worse fashion faux pas I’ve ever been witness to. She’s the daughter of the leader of the Star Cross religion? Can’t she afford to execute her current fashion designer and hire a new one?
Character Development
The only redeeming quality in this volume was the addition of Rachel. She thinks Vetti’s full of crap and repeatedly insults him. She sees through his shabby attempts at courtship, and throws them back in his face. It’s as if she’s in on this whole joke of an anime.
The absolutely predictable dynamic between Cleo and Michelle, ooops, Michel, is getting boring. Should I be able to know what happens next in an anime? Do I have awesome psychic powers? Or is Glass Fleet so shallow that even a two year-old could follow it?
The bad dialog, crappy story, sub par animation, horrific character designs, and ear-splitting voice-acting is now being touched off with overt hints of shotacon.
Vetti and his “royal guard” display a weird affection for each other beyond mere camaraderie or brotherly love. There’s a sick twang to the “love” these two share which is wholly inappropriate to any anime. I thought it bad enough with the yaoi-ness between Vetti and Cleo, now to have this man-boy love pop up in the series makes watching Glass Fleet that much more burdensome.
Animation
Wait, did I just imply that the shotacon was the worst this series has to offer? My bad, Glass Fleet’s stunningly bad animation is actually far more disturbing than the shotacon; and that’s saying something. Gonzo should burn any mention of their having worked on Glass Fleet and mind-wipe anyone who knows they worked on it.
It’s positively shameful how bad the animation is. In one scene, it looks as though some animator’s kid was given an opportunity to work on GF with his crayons. Yes, crayons. In another scene, as Vetti’s fighting Michel, his jerky choreography is missing whole actions! One second Vetti is lunging towards Michel, the next he appears in front of Michel with zero movements in between.
Music
John Williams, the composer who scored Star Wars, must be pissed something fierce. I know I would be if someone stole my music, and it sure sounds like Glass Fleet ripped its score from Williams’ podium while he wasn’t looking. The grandiose nature of the score is far too big for the smallness of this anime.
Glass Fleet Volume Two outstrips Volume One in terms of overall crappiness and poor quality. If down is where this thing is headed, it doesn’t have long before it’s dead and buried.
Rating
Glass Fleet, Volume Two gets 0.5 outta 4 Hammie kun heads
Well to say that you hate this anime would be an understatement.
Though I have to disagree on some points, this isn’t the best thing out there, but overall it has its merit. Instead of looking for just flashy fights and a good fashion sense you should be looking more for a deeper story line. Yes this again isn’t the best, but again it has merit, I think it turns you off for the fact that its steeped more in French Revolution than in some Japanese movement.
As for Vetti and Ralph, again French, its a commentary on the excesses of the royal classes of the era before the French Revolution. Besides that I find it far more refreshing than the tit every episode that some anime’s offer up. Theirs is a romance, they never show them in anything but a romantic light, that is something I find very refreshing coming from the perv capitol of the world.
The one thing I will say does turn me off this anime more than any other is the two dimensional characters though. Glasses Boy (Can’t remember his name.) has two modes, quiet and reserved, and looking for his glasses. The Pilot Girl, you know panties and stockings 24/7, she has two modes, loud about someone making her mad, and loud about nothing in particular. The big ‘Russian’ guy, think they wanted Russian, hes just quiet, or helmet and raging. Drunk dude, drunk off his ass, or snarky. All of the characters seem to have the 2 side and none others to them. Only draw back besides the total lack of physics. (The physics thing happens in about 90% of Anime anyway so I could care less at this point, besides it being so fucking on and off.)
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