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Frame Arms Girl (TV).


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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 1:50 am Reply with quote


Frame Arms Girl (TV)

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Themes:

Plot Summary: Ao opens a package that arrives at her doorstep. Inside the package is Gōrai, a Frame Arms Girl: a small robot capable of independent movement. Gōrai is a newly-developed prototype: a Frame Arms Girl equipped with an "Artificial Self," an advanced AI that gives her a personality. Ao is the only one that has activated her. Gōrai begins to gather both battle data and emotions, starting a day-to-day life with Ao, who knows nothing about Frame Arms Girls.
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Episode 1

I know that this is pretty low brow, that most viewers will see it as bad, but I kind of liked this first episode. The theme reminds me of Busou Shinki, which I was also kind of a fan of, and thus found myself digging this. Complaint so far would be the panties, that their skirts are so short that stripped panties can be seen at pretty much all times, and is wholly unnecessary, although I give props to the episode preview dialogue at the end for digging into it. I might complain about the CGI kind of standing out for character models, but after a recent show I am not going to just going to single it out straight away.

I kind of felt like it super focused on the models origin, that it could be taken as part of a joke in honesty, and the huge uptalk of those cutters was funny in how it was being super nerdy. In general I like the MC so far, it being female is an interesting turn from Busou Shinki, and her general lack of interest and behaviour was kind of fun for the episode. And the whole how human bit also felt addressed, and while the plot is kind of silly, that only one woke up, it felt serviceable to just get going. In general, so far I think so far there is this little bit of silliness that could work well to be some fun.

Looking at the Anime Preview Guide, this won’t be on anyones radar, for fanservice alone, but it is going to be on mine.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 5:50 am Reply with quote
Weird to see that I think of this more highly than the critic crew. I liked this first episode a lot more than the whole of Busou Shinki... which I quit in the middle... in one part for one large reason: The shows knows the audience for this type of toy and its not Ao.... and that's part of the joke.

I'd love to point out to the CC that it's not a panty shot if 1) It's not panties and 2) If the toy is designed to be like that. Which brings me to my point of liking this series: If it's a commercial for a real toy line then why are they making fun of the audience for such toys?

Missing pieces, proper tools, a very strict order of assembly, a most definite "got to collect them all" mentality all combined for its VR battle system: "Your OCD makes this all work... but it'll also earn you less than working part time."

Is it satire so subtle that it's missed or is it not there in the first place? Only time and more episodes will tell.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23665
PostPosted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 10:26 am Reply with quote
They're not panties, it's a body suit! I got a chuckle out of that. Yeah, I'll follow this for a while and see where it goes.
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:44 pm Reply with quote
Is it really underwear if they never wear anything over it? I think Gourai has the better argument here.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 12:07 pm Reply with quote
This show gives me a lot of Busou Shinki vibes too.

Out of all the main characters, I think Architect is my favorite one so far.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 12:25 pm Reply with quote
I thought it was funny that they were whining and making fun of their master, which was bad enough and the recordings made it sound even worse.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 12:21 am Reply with quote
Episode 3

The show continues to be fun in my opinion. Like it was funny with the joke in how Base used a substitution. And apart from the sadistic sisters, the knew human character was also funny for being so obsessed, like the mini-robot girls are fine on their own, but the human characters have been the cherry on top.

What is the origin of her getting wet from apparently playing with goats, and was there any particular reason yellow emphasis lines were drawn?
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Kendra Kirai



Joined: 18 Jan 2015
Posts: 187
PostPosted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 5:53 am Reply with quote
It's looking unlikely, but I really do hope they review this show. It's just cute fun, and yeah, Ao is most definitely not the target for this toy (which I personally liked better as Busou Shinki, but to each their own.)

And yeah, it really isn't underwear. If they're actually like toys, those are going to be molded in place and no more removable than their skin.

If you were a pedant, the argument could be thus made that they're technically NAKED, since they don't wear clothing at all...but those aren't panties.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 1:39 am Reply with quote
Episode 4

Totally has worked out to be an underappreciated comedy. I wonder if anyone in particular was directing the episode, because there seemed to be an increase of sight gags by the use of posing the charge station figures along with what was happening in a scene. Ao is complaining about a mess we get a quick shot of one cleaning, or a character brings up sumo and we see one doing that stance. The episode felt like an extra highlight of the comedy, with Ao kind of breaking the fourth wall by saying she and Gourai keep winning, and the room building plot.

At this point I think that Base has kind of become a favourite for her character not giving a damn, like her riding on the Roomba as the cherry to the rest making a mess. The girls glowing in cuteness of trying to look sweet before Ao got angry was also the best bit.
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DeTroyes



Joined: 30 May 2016
Posts: 520
PostPosted: Mon May 01, 2017 3:01 pm Reply with quote
You know, for a stupid product-placement-based show, this is actually turning out to be quite fun. I went into it with low expectations (based on all the reviews I've seen), and it actually turned out to be pleasantly amusing. Its silly and doesn't try to read too much into its concept, and so long as you ignore the fact that its basically trying to get you to buy the model kits, its not bad in a brainless way.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue May 02, 2017 2:00 am Reply with quote
Episode 5

I think that the battle part of this show is probably the worst part, it is just janky with low frame rate that it is not very fun to watch, and it kind of hurt that the majority of the first half of this episode was a battle. Actually looking at why, maybe it is a big part is the fact that one of the studio responsibly for animation production for this show is Studio A-Cat, which has mostly worked with 3d models, this being their first production. So I can maybe see that this is them trying to do something they are good

What was more amusing was with the silly second half with doing an errand as a race. Similarly Busou Shinki had a race episode and I remember it fondly. I do think it was funny that we had team rumba riding a rumba that does not do its intended job after being reprogramed just for Frame Arms Girls purposes, team aerial has a run in with goats of all things, and team Materia stole the drone that delivered Architect. It is fun because the rumba is as silly as the concept, I think focus on calling an animal cute that is not inherently so is funny, and having fun with the Materia sisters as evil is also fun.

I think that I might kind of reference what I said on School Girl Strikers, that the battles can kind of have little impact, but that I kind of praised it that it had a sense of fun when it did not take itself seriously, although it was not able to kind of commit to that. Frame Arms Girl actually feels like it has decided to really embrace the fun silly side with some strong personalities that just keeps the silliness fun. The ED also have similarities in embracing the less attractive chibi versions. And on top of the show is generally aware of itself, in that our human character can do things like go on about her girl power she has in cooking and overreact to the flaw in her plan. And a kind of snappy preview that leaves an impression like some other good shows tend to do.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 4:17 am Reply with quote
Episode 8

I was not going to really comment on the episode, not that the show is doing poorly, but not a lot to comment on, but then I saw some comments somewhere on differences of the OP, which I kind of skipped this week, so I watched it. Wow, do I regret doing that, the OP is largely the same, but a bunch of the more clumsy CG in the OP has been replaced with actually some really nice looking I think CG hybrid that has a higher frame rate, focus on detail like individual movement, and looks good. The bit with the Materia sisters looks especially good, where their weapons look fantastic. Because of that I suddenly realised, I did not hate the battle that otherwise started the episode, I complained earlier about it being the weakest part of this show, but then I suddenly realised it actually looked good this time. I was so kind of against the battles that I did not realise that they fixed the problems they had before, just like the OP there was higher rate of cg frames giving a smooth appearance of movement, and models were not so blocky like we saw movement of their hair moving. There was even a part where Gourai gets right in the face of the opponent and we see her pupils change to adjust to suddenly being up close.

I don't know if it was just this episode, but in general the cg and 2d animation was less striking than it had before, they actually blended well together. it feels like on the animation side they really stepped up their game at pulling it all together, which if on the odd chance they applied this to all of it on the BD release, it would actually fix a lot of it.

Was just also reading a comment that described that the thing this series goes off is anti-jokes, situations where you should know what the joke is, and then plays off by kind of doing the opposite. Like the Materia sisters doing a stand-up act where they seemed to think they were doing normal jokes, and Jinrai ending up as the only one laughing in finding it hilarious. They were in Japanese way and were a bit hard to kind of get them, but I am pretty sure they were anti-jokes at the detriment of the sisters, like where they seem to set up a joke but the punchline was one of them annoyed at being ordered around rather than an actual punchline, which works because they are needlessly sadistic. It was funny because they thought it was funny, but also because Jinrai also thought it was funny despite the fact she is clearly not perceptive to see it as funny the way the audience should. This sense of humour might be why it is kind of unpopular, most won't get what the appeal is, but those of us that watch all of these similar shows of mecha-musume and the like see that it has a good sense of humour of itself. And yet it also does a few of these kind of more earnest stories that really worked for another CG based show that was quite successful, but I don't want to keep throwing its name around.

I am interested if anyone else is still watching this show and what they think. This one for me has kind of stayed right in this sort of strike zone of something I can quite enjoy while being otherwise unpopular.
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DeTroyes



Joined: 30 May 2016
Posts: 520
PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 12:01 pm Reply with quote
DuskyPredator wrote:
I am interested if anyone else is still watching this show and what they think. This one for me has kind of stayed right in this sort of strike zone of something I can quite enjoy while being otherwise unpopular.


I'm enjoying it, although I haven't caught up with the last few episodes. Like I said above, so long as you ignore the fact its basically trying to sell the model kits (which is easy to do in the US, because I doubt they're easily available here), its worth the occasional watch. I certainly enjoyed it more than some of the other shows I've tried lately.

The CG has been the weakest part of the series, but honestly, since I still watch ancient anime from the 60s and 70s, sub-par animation doesn't bother me as much. Its always been the story and characters that spark my interest, and Frame Arms Girl has been decent enough in that department. It understands its not a "high concept" series and its pretty cool with that, choosing instead to take its concept and just have some fun with it. And sometimes that's all you really want, something to watch that doesn't take itself too seriously.
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TymersRealm



Joined: 05 Jan 2017
Posts: 93
PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 1:05 pm Reply with quote
Frame Arms Girl has been one of the shows this season I've been following this season.

As I commented on another forum:
Quote:
Yea, it's Busou Shinki, the next generation. The lead human girl is growing on me and the majority of the FA Girls have been introduced. I still like the Manga version a bit more, but the Anime series is a solid watch each week.

And it still holds true. Ao is growing on me, even after the back-side ep. Though that one was nice spoiler[just having Gourai & Ao out by themselves], I also like spoiler[Gourai's kai gear. It is a decent visual upgrade.]
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 12:40 am Reply with quote
Episode 9

Laughing Oh my god, this was one of the funniest persona catching a cold episodes where people try and help them, which I can remember. For comparison it completely outdoes what Hinako Note did in its previous episode. It fully played up that these little robot girls not fully understanding how humans work and thus what it is like to have a cold, with hilarious misguided events that fit perfectly with the personalities of the characters. A bunch of gems I did not expect like bringing entire live chickens (silkies) to lay eggs, Baselard's ridiculously expensive haul, the Materia sisters bringing a leek for "that" reason which they try to do, as well as other torturous items of a cactus and live snakes, Gourai having a moment of being nice before overdoing it, and Architect trying to upload a program. This show is so underrated.

And from how the first half was all about them being not human, the second half is a dream sequence of the opposite, which was worth quite a bit of fun. And the Materia sisters keep on stealing the show.
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