Thus far, Glass Fleet has been a less than stellar example of a space opera anime. In my previous review, I stated my low opinion of the series and how I “…wish, fervently and often that the Glass Fleet universe gets sucked into a black hole. Now that I’d watch.” Turns out, someone was listening….

plot summary

The Holy Emperor, Vetti Sforza, now has all the pieces in place to fulfill his secret purpose. All the pieces except for Cleo, who languishes in a dungeon, unbeknown to Vetti.

Cleo was captured and imprisoned after the end of the treacherous battle with Vetti’s fleet, which crippled the glass ship and left Michel a prisoner of Vetti. Michel waits patiently for rescue or death, whichever comes first, and Cleo fights to gain his freedom from his jailers and his shrouded past.

But Cleo’s past catches up to him and he’s forced to face the truth about his birth and his destiny. Will Cleo be able to embrace the past and live up to his family’s name?

review

I’m so used to how bad this series is, I barely noticed it stopped its downward free fall and is now circling the drain rather than going directly down it. The series by no means improved, but there was less blatant badness. Bad dialog and crappy animation still floated around, but to a slightly lesser degree. The gods of anime have granted me a temporary reprieve! Whoohoo!

Character Development

I have zero connection with any of these characters and couldn’t care less if they spontaneously poofed outta existence, which is a very real possibility given the bizarre laws of physics in this series. Yet, in one episode, there’s something approximating human interest. Enough so I, wanted to learn where this particular story would lead. After the episode ended, I decided, I still don’t care about theses characters, but I’m a tiny bit more inclined to learn what the end result of the series will be. Too bad I have to watch the whole thing to see how it’ll end. I did say I’d watch the series get sucked into a black hole.

Even though Cleo is given a brief bit of background, he’s still a shallow character, just like the rest of the cast. On an opposite note, a character appears in this volume, who in less than one episode has more interest and depth than every single previously introduced character combined and squared.

Character Design

Keeping up the consistently bad character designs, Volume Four flaunts its poor fashion sense on the very cover of the DVD! The designs defy anyone with taste to take them seriously. C’mon, I dare you to take these designs seriously, double dare you! Sadly, the cast of this anime, and the studio who penned them, take these horrible designs dead serious. Gimme a break, how can I not laugh at a guy with a clock on his crotch?

Animation

I don’t know if Gonzo fired the guy who made the bulk of the wretched shots in previous volumes, but the animation is the one facet of the anime which has improved a teensy, minuscule, microscopic fraction.

There’s still a handful of shots which left me going, WTF?! The one shot which stands out the most as horrific, is the shot where Hysak is running and shouting “Don’t sell the royal family’s secret dashing ability short!”He looks like the frick’n road runner in that scene.

Cleo and Vetti seem to be morphing into plastic dolls, at least as far as I can tell from the animation. They reflect light where normal people wouldn’t, making them appear to be plastic. Or is this the studios sly way of bishi-fying these characters? Is this how we tell a character is supposed to be sexy, by their shiny plasticine heads?

Music

Note to studio: Just because it sounds like a space opera, doesn’t make it a space opera. Once again I was stupefied by the grandness of the soundtrack for this tiny little anime.

Conclusion

This volume of Glass Fleet was bad, but wasn’t as horrible the previous three volumes. I’m not saying it improved, but it’s become easier to bear. Even if I try to look at this anime from the angle of pure camp, it still overshoots camp and goes straight to bad; Plan 9 From Outer Space bad. However, trying to see this anime in a different light does take the edge off.

Rating

Glass Fleet, Volume Four gets 0.5 outta 4 Hammies!

Retail Info

• Publisher: Funimation
• Release Date:February 12, 2008
• Retail Price: $29.98
• Number of discs:1
• Episodes:15-18
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Rating: TV-PG
• Language: English, Japanese
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

I had to really think about my current transgressions in order to figure out why I was being punished as I watched “Glass Fleet”. I’m still working on what I did which was that bad…

plot summary

In a far off galaxy lies a rich kingdom ruled by an oppressive noble class. The self-proclaimed ruler of this opulent territory is the Holy Emperor, Vetti Lunard Sforza de Roselait. Under his rule, the nobles have enjoyed extreme luxury and excess at the expense of the lower class.

However, a revolution is under way led by the young nobleman, Michel Volban de Cabelle, who leads the People’s Army against Vetti’s rule. Michel and his revolutionaries are too weak to pose any real threat to Vetti, yet for some unknown reason, Vetti desires to capture the nobleman alive.

After a fierce space battle with Vetti’s fleet, Michel’s ship is saved from obliteration by a powerful glass space cruiser. Michel wishes to form an alliance with the captain of this mysterious ship, but learns the ship’s captain, Cleo Aiolos Corbeille de Veil, is little better than a Space Pirate. Cleo claims to be descended from the ruling class, which was rumored to have been killed 20 years prior, and is using his ill gotten gains to reclaim his throne.

Cleo and Michel reluctantly join forces to quash Vetti and his tight grip on the galaxy with the help from the amazing glass fleet.

review

Imagine crossing the French Revolution with Flash Gordan. Then imagine adding to the mix the high flung flavor of the 1950’s science fiction serials (John Carter of Mars comes first to mind) and add a dash of quasi-steam punk, the barest touch of yaoi and moe fan service. Can’t imagine it? Then watch Glass Fleet because this anime is the ugly love child of all of the above.

Suspension of belief is paramount to most anime viewing. It’s the added necessity that allows us to believe that what we’re seeing isn’t a dumb concept which would never work in reality. Saying that, I positively could not suspend my belief when watching this anime.

First off, the series takes place in the vacuum of space. Why is there wind, fire, and, well, breathable air, in a vacuum? Why doesn’t anybody need a space suit, of whatever kind, to leave a ship? Why isn’t the ship imploding when struck by a cannonball?

That’s the other thing. Glass Fleet used a mish-mosh of technologies that seemed to be a cross of steampunk and some other random, made-up technology. Steampunk only works when it follows some laws of physics or is convincing in its application. I can believe steam powered planes and cloud cruisers, and even steam laser guns, but no way in hell do I believe that steam and manpower can achieve interstellar travel.

Then there were the horrible caricatures pretending to be characters. The cast of Glass Fleet seemed to be stereotypical caricatures of other well received stereotypes: Cleo was Captain Cool Kid who never ruffles a feather- even in the heat of battle. Michel is the idealistic young nobleman with life lessons to learn- who looks and sounds like a woman. Not to mention the lolita-esque jail bait pilot, the battling maid and a bunch of other forgettable cast members.

Needless to say, there was zero character development and I doubt there’ll be any later, except maybe with whatever back story these stereotypes usually have.

There’s also an undercurrent of yaoi flowing between the three main characters. Yet, this doesn’t even bother me since there’s so much other obligatory fanservice nonsense going on, it won’t get the attention it needs to develop into an annoyance. One scene proved the main characters are being used to appease the ladies: During a heated battle between Vetti and Cleo, the two cross swords with such power, their shirts burn off. I’m not kidding, but I really wish I were.

The story is underdeveloped and not much of a story to begin with: Revolution? Unclaimed throne? Vagabond, good-guy prince? Twisted, hidden quasi-love story? Yawn, next.

Character designs for Glass Fleet were bad, bad, bad. Nothing was good about them and they were painful to watch. The lolitas and maids were misused as a fanservice device and so was the manflesh and hinted at yaoi. The set designs, along with the costumes, was another clash of bad taste; this time with the French Revolution, Prussian uniforms, and lord knows what else. Everything seemed poured on, with little regard as to how it would look together. “Less is more”, was not an axiom the designers took to heart when they slapped the art together.

Gonzo, the studio behind Glass Fleet, needs to slow down and take their time crafting anime. At the pace they’re making anime, the quality is going to suffer the way it does in Glass Fleet. The animation was sub par, stilted and many scenes looked mechanical and robotic. The fight scenes especially looked like there was slacking on the job. One scene in particular looked like someone drew two scenes and looped them together in lieu of drawing the whole thing. Some shots were so bad it seemed as if actual movements weren’t even finished. When a character threw a bottle, for example, instead of gracefully arcing through the air, it shakily ended up in some guy’s hand. The CG was so bad it took the whole anime down ten pegs. Shame on you Gonzo!

All the music was bad, some more than the rest. The score for the series was bigger and grander than the anime actually was and was reminiscent of the original Star Wars trilogy score by John Williams, but not nearly as well conceived. It was a poor choice for Glass Fleet.

The dialog was horrible and utterly predictable. Even in Japanese, the subtitles made me cringe. It was insult to injury to have to work to read the words which caused me pain. The voice acting was passable, but barely so. And why was Michel voiced by a woman? Is it because he’s young and looks like a girl, or is there some other, more disturbing rationale behind the choice?

Glass Fleet was a chore to watch. Nothing about it seemed as if any effort was put into the story, the characters, the designs; nothing. This anime is a lot like stage props; great to look at from far away but shabby and overdone up close. Now I remember my sin against man, I didn’t put money in that parking meter! Thanks Glass Fleet, now I can go verbally abuse kittens for a month without additional penance!

out of a possible gummies.