Anime Talk Weekly - Captain Earth

Anime series that revolve around "mechs" have always been a staple of Japanese animation. This is very noticeable when you hear names like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Escaflowne, Zone of the Enders and other series that touch the topic of mechs and their pilots in a sub-genre that is as old as anime itself. Today we are going to talk a little about a recent anime series that brings the mech topic back to the fans, sort of working as a homage to all those great mech styled series in the past. That series is called Captain Earth.

Captain Earth started on April 5, and will have 25 episodes. This series is a science fiction / mecha story about a young high school student called Daichi Manatsu who suddenly find himself working for an organization called "The Globe" by piloting a giant robot or "Earth Engine Imparter" as they are called in the series. Daichi gets chosen to pilot this powerful robot because of his skills on a video game and because he is able to "call" a rare laser handgun that uses pure "orgone" energy (energy that is essential for powering the robots), this gun is called Livlaster Tanegashima. After a while, Daichi gets the name "Captain Earth" as he defends the planet from threats coming from outer space and becomes leader of a squad called "The Midsummer Knights".


Up until now the villains in this series are called the "Kill-T-Gang" who are composed by a species of aliens that come from the planet Uranus (no pun intended). They go all around the galaxy absorbing the libido of different civilizations (Space Vampires) on different planets until they basically extinguish them. On Captain Earth, the Kill-T-Gang set their sights on planet Earth because they see humans as food and will try to bring humanity down with their great assortment of powers like been able to absorb all the libido from a person by just standing near until the person is dead, the ability to control giant mechs, the use of some mysterious beams of light that can cause several different effects on their enemies and the use of a core called "Ego Block" which basically makes them immortal as long as they have it with them. Up until now the whole story goes around on how the Kill-T-Gang attempts to use their libido weaponry to dominate humanity and be able to feast on them. As this series is all about libido, expect a lot of "curious" shots and angles, coming from the villains and also from the good guys as Daichi finds himself in a lot of "risque" situations.

Expect our hero to go through a lot of moments like these.

Wrapping it up

Captain Earth is a good anime series for all of those mech anime fans. It carries elements that give a feeling that is sort of a mix between Gundam Wing, Candidate for Goddess and Neon Genesis Evangelion all in one. The series itself carries different kind of moods from the heat of battle, life itself, some comedy and even some moments that can seem rather suggestive (if you know what I mean). It also still manages to somehow be a little more lighthearted and colorful than other similar series we had seen in the past (kind of like Eureka 7). In summary, Captain Earth is an interesting series to watch and even though it hasn't picked up that much popularity, it is still a promising  anime series that gives us a little bit of everything.

Sources:

Anime News Network