Clockwork Planet

Episode 5

I'll give Clockwork Planet this: I've never seen someone use the burning stump of their severed arm to light a cigarette before. Little moments of confident absurdity like this make me think that somewhere buried beneath the stiff storytelling and flat animation is a much more interesting series. Unfortunately, this show's reach continues to exceed its grasp, as Clockwork Planet remains as comfortably mediocre as ever.

My hope was that after the show's first story arc ended with such an anti-climax, the search for aNCHOR would provide a fresh start, an opportunity for the series to inject some much needed weight and momentum to its proceedings. Unfortunately, the show is as muddy as it's ever been, trying unsuccessfully to blend political intrigue, sci-fi action, and bawdy comedy in a way that just never really gels. One minute the show is trying to command suspense and mystery with an Elfen Lied-esque killer robot, and the very next scene turns into a beach episode, complete with plenty of fanservice. At one point, Marie even cries out “We're not here for a rom-com!”, but instead of serving as a funny meta joke, it just highlighted how unnecessary these indulgent asides really are. This especially hurts because the episode ends on such a forced cliffhanger, when we really could have gotten the team to confronting aNCHOR in about half the time, if only the show could focus.

This episode also had me noticing the series' shortcomings in art direction and animation more than usual. Characters were consistently off model, with poor Halter getting the worst of it – I swear, his head is a different size in proportion to his face in almost every scene. aNCHOR gets underserved by the poor production values too. Her CG-enhanced costumed is both too busy-looking and also strangely muted in its colors, and the scenes where she attacks the men trying to subdue her are too stiff and poorly shot to be effectively menacing or threatening. Her out-of-costume design is fine, at least keeping with the automaton's gothic lolita aesthetic, but other than that, it's hard to say whether or not she will be an interesting character yet.

In the end, this is a transition episode, wrapping up the threads of the purge arc and setting up whatever is going to happen next with aNCHOR and the crew. The lack of a ticking-clock type of doomsday scenario can definitely be felt, as things slowed down a bit too much here, but with any luck, aNCHOR will prove a more effective antagonist than the anonymous government goons from before, even if it's inevitable for her to join up with her sister and Naoto. Things haven't really improved much for Clockwork Planet, but they haven't gotten demonstrably terrible either. Chalk this up as another middling episode for a series that seems very comfortable settling for the participation trophy.

Rating: C-

Clockwork Planet is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.