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REVIEW: Buddy Complex Episodes 1-7 Streaming


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:16 am Reply with quote
I think it's watchable overall but nothing earth shattering. I do get some SEED vibes from this including one episode with spoiler[Hina and Aoba on an abandoned island after an incident (similar to Cagali and Athrun)]

I think this is split into 2 cour too so....I wonder if the finale will end on a big cliffhanger.
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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5521
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:37 am Reply with quote
Stark700 wrote:
I think it's watchable overall but nothing earth shattering. I do get some SEED vibes from this including one episode with spoiler[Hina and Aoba on an abandoned island after an incident (similar to Cagali and Athrun)]

I think this is split into 2 cour too so....I wonder if the finale will end on a big cliffhanger.


We can only hope. It's listed as 12 episodes right now and there's no way they can come up with a good ending by then. I expect a S2 in Fall or Winter. Though, by Winter I'm sure most people wont even care anymore.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18138
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:41 am Reply with quote
I am in 100% agreement with Carl on this one. It's a series that I just barely hung onto after episode 2 because I wanted to see how Aoba and Hina came together from being enemies, and it's continued to provide just enough to keep me barely hanging on. The captain of the Swan is a total delight, especially with a recent revelation that spoiler[he's never lost a ship in combat]. I love how exact and carefully calculated his decisions always are despite the infuriatingly lackadaisical attitude he always projects.

And yeah, it's impossible for any seasoned anime fan to watch this one and not recognize at least some of the blatant Gundam rip-offs present.
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2260
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:43 am Reply with quote
B- is about right maybe C+ for me. To be honest I can't wait for this season to end and I wont be watching the second half if there is one. It started out ok-ish and I was willing to give it a chance, but I've gotten more irritated as the show has progressed. It wouldn't be bad if the show was "dumb fun", but I'm finding very little fun in it and Aoba the MC is particularly annoying to me.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15434
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:59 am Reply with quote
This is a fitting review, the series is remarkably unremarkable, and I do giggle at all of the BL like references. And before reading I don't think I realised, that yeah I actually do like a number of the characters, very few of the main lot are annoying except for Dio being so angsty. And they set themselves up right with the whole Aoba and Hina thing.

Does not get me as interested in other recent mecha like Majestic prince or perhaps Valvrave, but has not done anything so horribly wrong that I would drop it regardless of my curiosity.
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:13 pm Reply with quote
I can agree with the rating, for entirely different reasons, though. This series is so full of bad clichés that it's almost good again...and then there's the whole coupling system of course which just screams "we want to make this show appealing to female viewers with...certain interests!" and hey, it works for me! Wink

So for me the Aoba/Hina love story(?), relationship(?), i don't even know what to call it since it feels so utterly..forced is the least interesting thing about this series. Aoba/Dio coupling buddies for the win! And the Captain is awesome, of course. Laughing
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:17 pm Reply with quote
Totally should have made it BL anime, at least it would have some claim to fame instead of this "yeah won't remember it in 6 month".

Plus it's called "buddy complex" c'mon how is that not the most BL title ever?!
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RestLessone



Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Posts: 1426
Location: New York
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:29 pm Reply with quote
I've been pretty bored with this series. Granted, I haven't watched 7 yet, but it's been so cliche and formulaic. The whole point of the show was some strong friendship, yet the main "buddies" barely speak to one another. (Plus I find myself wanting to smack Aoba half the time.) I'm planning on doing mini-marathons rather than weekly viewings.

The most fun I have is with the coupling scenes, particularly the choices in English (proposing, accepting, etc.) that make me smirk like an idiot. I'm not watching for any BL references, as I really do enjoy watching deep friendships develop, but it sounds so silly. Imagining English VAs potentially dubbing it is even better.

I really want this to be more than it is. Maybe it'll improve. Hopefully, considering I've pledged to stick with it.
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darkchibi07



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 5459
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:30 pm Reply with quote
Merida wrote:
I can agree with the rating, for entirely different reasons, though. This series is so full of bad clichés that it's almost good again...and then there's the whole coupling system of course which just screams "we want to make this show appealing to female viewers with...certain interests!" and hey, it works for me! Wink



Something bugs me about that. Was this the staff's original intention when making this anime or was it unintentional? Because if this was an attempt to get peeps to play the Buddy Complex mobile game, well 1.) you scared off some of the male otaku into playing it, and 2.) the mobile game is not exactly a fujoshi fest since there are way more playable female pilots than what the anime showed.

It just seems this Buddy Complex IP, most notably the game itself, Sunrise is trying sell is giving off really mixed messages.
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Yttrbio
Subscriber



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:57 pm Reply with quote
I'm sure its intentional. Sunrise trying to give something to everyone (and getting its messages mixed in the process) is perfectly consistent with their M.O.
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giseki



Joined: 19 Nov 2010
Posts: 54
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:59 pm Reply with quote
in regards to time travel crazies...nobody mentions the jewellery thing bit. you know... hina gives aoba a thing... aoba keeps thing so he can return it to hina... returns it to hina though she had no knowledge of it....

I suspect that hina goes back in time and gives aoba said thing and repeat infinite.


WHERE DID THING COME FROM!?!?
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ShinnFlowen



Joined: 07 Feb 2012
Posts: 141
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:20 pm Reply with quote
I wish others would see how this show does not only take Gundam Seed as the only source of reference, as Super Robot nudges appear.

*Traitorous doctor (with the exact same voice actor Takehito Koyasu)

Super Robo Wars OG Shu Shirakawa
Buddy Complex Wilhelm Hahn


Naturally talented/clueless/normal person becoming hero with similar hair/color

SRW OG Ryusei Date
Buddy Complex Watase Aoba

Cold rival who is an ace pilot of a wealth family. Happens to lose an important family member (blonde hair). He also has deep affection for a young girl....

Buddy Complex Dio
SRW OG Rai


Two units that are capable of some connection enhancing effect

BC Specific colored wings + Connection/T2 Rise
SWR OG Green wings appear + Twin Bird Strike mode


Time Travel

BC Watase/Hina
SRW .... it is a mess (souls, time jumping machines, etc)[/b][/b][/b][/b]

I look forward to see how this ends.
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tuxedocat



Joined: 14 Dec 2009
Posts: 2183
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:19 pm Reply with quote
Somehow or another, I totally didn't know that this show happened.

Despite the less than stellar feedback on this show, I guess I'll check it out. I usually enjoy mecha, though I'm not expecting much...
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:50 pm Reply with quote
giseki wrote:
WHERE DID THING COME FROM!?!?


This is very common in time travel stories. Doctor Who used it a few times, like in the episode Blink where the info The Doctor needed to escape a perilous situation was given to him by someone who had gotten it from him who had gotten it from that person, and so on. Meaning the information was never created in the first place; it must have always existed in some sort of an infinite loop.

Best not to think too much about time travel story mechanics.
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Kaioshin_Sama



Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 1215
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:27 pm Reply with quote
The captain in this show really reminds me of Captain Gotoh from Patlabor in terms of mannerisms and how he manages his teams. He has that laid back nonchalant almost aloof attitude but really he's planning everything out in his head and has his ducks in a row before anybody even seems to. It's really nice to have a male ships captain again in a Sunrise mecha series cause it seems like lately it's been female pretty much all the time.

I mean there was Grodek in Gundam AGE, but he lasted all of one season and then we got his former first officer who was a woman and then Captain Moe for the last arc who was practically useless without someone constantly guiding her.
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