The first five minutes of Moonrise are enough to let you know how streamlined and accessible this series is. This show is anime through and through; longtime otaku can see traces of Fullmetal Alchemist, Nausicaä, and Gurren Lagann if they squint their eyes hard enough. But tonally, it feels more like modern Star Wars than anything else. Mastodonian spaceships float around like the Empire's Starships, epic space battles are fought with a style dripping with Hollywood bravado, and one can hear some John Williams influence blare triumphantly in some of the action scenes. The show's mainstream tendencies are there to cater to more casual and newer fans of the medium, and although this might be a turn-off to veteran anime fans, they mostly worked for me.

This is a Studio Wit-helmed anime made for Netflix, so of course, everybody involved had to go crazy on the animation and art here. Whether this is a triumph of talent or a triumph of the budget is something I do not know and do not care about. What matters is that everything looks good. The usual space stations and lunar environments are all here and look as vast and futuristic as they should (although early on, there's a town donning a more modern look as a nice change of pace). The frames are fluid and burst with a kinetic energy that makes for fight sequences that are always a thrill to watch; a sequence in the tenth episode involving Jacob and a Moon rebel duking it out on top of buildings and city streets was something I found rather impressive.

As for the plot? It's certainly fine for what it is: a three-act sci-fi epic that plays out like popcorn fare. Similar to its Lucasian forefather, Moonrise centers around a galactic rebellion. Here, the rebels are the bad guys: the eponymous Moonrise group who finally rise against Earth after social and class conflict left them feeling long disenfranchised.

Jacob is initially accused of assisting the Moon rebels' destruction of Los Angeles, only for Earth's military to drop the charges and enlist him in the fight against the Moonrise rebellion. Jacob is then forced to fight his childhood friend and surrogate brother Phil, a man thought to have died a violent death right before Jacob's eyes, masquerading here as the Moon rebels' leader Bob Skylum. This family affair doesn't have the same Hamletian depth that the conflict between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader did in The Empire Strikes Back, although the vibes can be felt regardless. Jacob's military duties have him paired with another friend and potential romantic interest, Rhys, and when another girl, Mary, enters the frame, a love triangle forms that gives off some vague Macross vibes.

To witness Moonrise's Star Wars-esque story is to see a story unfold itself through many galactic explosions and fists thrown in the air. The anime is more about the spectacle rather than narrative--more time and detail are given to the space battles than to developing the characters. I'm not complaining. Such stories are necessary from time to time, and to ask for novel-like characters in something that may not require such anyway is a tall order.

That being said, I do have some gripes with Moonrise. The first is that the show feels padded a little bit, especially around the middle. I've heard complaints about how the usual 12-episode cour structure forces some anime to rush through their plot, but Moonrise is an example of something that feels too comfortable stretching things out in its 18-episode duration. A few fights, as well-executed as they are, go on just a teensy bit too long, and certain moments between primary and supporting characters in Moonrise's second half feel very dragged out while adding nothing of substance. The second problem I have is that Moonrise also has to deal with a subplot involving a blue slime entity that threatens to devour everything in its path. The show has some difficulty juggling this plot with the main rebellion plot thread, and although things are resolved and explained by the end, it still makes you feel some awkward narrative disjoints.

Still, my praise for Moonrise is genuine, if a bit lukewarm. It will not set a new benchmark for sci-fi anime, and it's not meant to. With some good ol' fashioned sci-fi action paired with great animation and a damn good dub, Moonrise succeeds in being casual, accessible fare for anime fans new and old and anybody hungry enough for some high-octane popcorn.