Anime: Kurogane Communication 3nl66

ART & ANIMATION
Being a show of the "old school" the animation is consistent and is holding up decently, although it is a bit undistinguished. Sceneries are decorative and purposeful, but with little depth. I kept thinking of watercolor paintings.
The dystopian post-apocalyptic setting is somewhat lacking because of this, but for what is revealed storywise, ruins have stood derelict for quite some time.
However, the old subterranean complexes of lost, partially functioning machinery are refreshing highlights.
As for the mech / tech design there is nothing that has not been seen before, and done better for that matter.
Character animation is quite stilted, which is evident in the action sequences which are forgettable and don't amount to much.
Emotionally, the characters are reasonably well animated. The ones that are capable of expressing emotions, that is.

SOUND
The OP and ED are catchy and nice, but clash against the setting of the show.
The happy love theme of the OP is basically what you can expect from any generic show, and basically reflects the main protagonist's carefree nature. But the love theme is malplaced and leaves you wondering who she refers to.
As for the ED, this is even more obvious.
I was happy to see Kenji Kawai as composer for the score and soundtrack, though you do realise that it might not be some of his most inspired work.

STORY
Initially, there are some promising prospects surrounding the direction of the story as the group does their best to maintain their existance in the ruins of civilization.
This soon evolves down a convoluted tangent of utter plot convenience that boggles the mind.
The search for other human survivors is the main quest of the robots, as well as protecting and serving Haruka (which they are surprisingly inept at).
As everything revolves around Haruka, she conveniently wanders off unattended in ruins that should have been scouted and mapped from the get-go, just to stumble across things that will either kill her or move the story forward.
Throughout the series, misguided and ill-considered decisions are the bread and butter of the story progression.
The finale is too short and it feels that it was just wrapped up as quickly as possible, leaving a sour aftertaste.
Basically, the premise of this show is that friendship and love solves everything.

CHARACTERS
More or less all of the characters are stereotypes, in their most annoying form. A lot of the ing cast is atrociously uninspired and irritating.
As far as most of the robot's AI and character goes, they leave you wondering what jackass programmed them in the first place.
This is most evident in the case of Spike, who is a possessive manic-depressive and quite possibly some kind of failed sexaroid.
Character development is rudimentary, at best.
Except for the main characters (Haruka and Kanato) there is no backstory to any character except the hideously obvious Makoto Kusanagi-clone Angela.
Speaking of which; late in the series there is another clone from GitS.

VALUE
This series is rather forgettable, bringing nothing new to the table. Thus the re-watch value is basically non-existent.
Episodes are 15 minutes long, with 4 ½ minutes devoted to recap, OP, ED and trailer.

ENJOYMENT
Well, my review should make this section obvious. I enjoyed it to the point that I enjoyed not enjoying it.
That said, this show is best left unseen.

Kurogane Communication is a light sci-fi adventure which with different handling would make a wonderful piece of fiction. It involves numerous interesting plot elements, such as post-apocalyptic, conspiracy, artificial intelligent, mystery, adventure, and some more. Unfortunately trying to fit all that in 24 episodes of 15 minutes each while going light with the dark and violent aspects could only lead to an average series at best.

So the basic story is about a cheery little girl, the apparent last human left alive on the world, living a normal life with a group of robots programmed to protect and take care of. She is living in an area that once was a big city but now is nothing but ruins and killer robots roam around, still programmed to kill anything organic in sight. This part is an interesting concept of machines outliving their makers and continuing their prime directive even when the initial cause is long gone. As I said, the way the story is told is very light and thus the above is mostly lost in various silly slice of life moments. It also has action in it, as the killer robots are always on the lookout and there is a tsunami approaching that will wipe out everything, yet these are all nothing but zero-personality plot elements to force the characters into moving along instead of staying in one place for long.

The group of robots is practically the most interesting characters for the sole reason they have personality that doesn’t differ too much from humans. Each one has a specific role in the girl’s life and acts as replacement for family, friends or teachers (well that was the reason they were made in the first place). Their occasional chatting, commenting of the reasons the world was destroyed, and the questioning of their reason for being is the most captivating part of the whole show. It is a shame most is lost because of lack of proper duration.

The production values are ok for their era; the animation and artwork are doing their work without being too good in aesthetics. Voice acting is kinda relaxed and the soundtrack is making you think this is a silly slice of life for little kids (which is misleading).

Eventually the plot turns to a sinister conspiracy regarding the future of mankind (or what is left of it) and there is more action and mystery as it goes on. The resolution ends up being fast and almost un-exiting, leaving you with a fairy tail finale that seems rushed and rather disappointing for the built up seen so far. It is an ok watch, not really bad at any specific area, but it could definitely be something far more thrilling if it was longer and darker.

I try to write short and concise reviews.

Animation:
It's old-style animation. Kind of choppy, and the backgrounds are not that detailed, except for the mechanical-looking interior places, which are well done. Regarding character designs, all I can say is that they have lips, unlike most anime characters. Anyway, overall the animation is just average.

Sound:
Music...Personally I liked the ED a lot, and I think that some of the BGMs helped move the story along, especially the "suspense theme" that came on more towards the end of the series. But most were cliched and could have come out of any anime. Sound is 5.

Story:
Story is Kurogane Communication's strongest suit. It has a very lazy pacing, much like "slice of life"-genre shows. But, at the same time, the speed of the plot seems to accelerate with each episode. The plot grips you, and you'll be eager to see how Haruka and friends survive, or what they discover in the next episode. The plot is not episodic (except the first four or so) and moves along in a smoothly-drawn arc.

Character:
Character is above average but not great because the main character and some of the ing cast are anime stereotypes. Haruka is a common stereotype. The energetic, bright girl who just can't help but /ganbaru/ and be kind to everyone. Angela is another: The warrior woman who seems tough but really has a self esteem problem, and finally breaks down and gets saved by either a man or an innocent girl.

Outside of that, though, characters are engaging. Reeves is excellent as the only gay robot in anime, and Cleric has a world-weary kind of wisdom and an awkward presentation. It's the interplay between these two that is interesting.

Value is 5...I tried watching it again once and got bored pretty fast.

Overall I liked the series, for its gripping plot and a few interesting characters. There is also a unique artistic aspect to it that's hard to explain...maybe a sense of the power of quiet. Anyway, Kurogane is worth a watch.

A world where you're the only one left. Cities destroyed, forests and nature taking over, and you're all alone. Still, your company consists of intelligent robots, caring for you and protecting you from harm - since that is their ultimate purpose. At least that's what Haruka goes through on a daily basis with her artificial friends; but something just isn't right, as not only are painful memories awakening, but her instinctual desire to see other humans plagues this more-than-metal cast.

Great series! I'm curious why the score is so low at the moment I post this review; but that's probably because there are very few votes. Anyways, this is a typical science fiction, give or take a few elements of drama and a couple ecchi moments. However, what makes this series different is the limited ensemble, as their are 13 consistent characters, with only one developed minor character (as the rest are violent, mindless machines). Also, a feeling of solitude eminates of the series, as the lack of people walking around or a common crowd does not exist.

The most unique characters are Hino and Angela, with common roles taken a different way from their immediate appearance. However, everyone else doesn't seem to be too much different from characters in other Sci-fi animes (especially since I grew to hate Spike more and more throughout the story.) I appreciated the character development, avoiding typical "I don't think I can!" situations on many occasions, and taking a more realistic perspective on the feelings of loneliness. Sometimes, though there wasn't enough drama or significance put into some scenes, and a feeling of incompleteness wells up in these broken chapters of the story.

Powerful story. And a great ending!

I felt kind of irritated with the boring beginning, having the "introduction" episodes that people don't care to see. Around episode 9 or 10 the story begins to seriously initiate, so surviving the former episodes is critical in enjoying this anime.
Great, happy ending. It's absolutely happy, but that may seem obvious by the overall attitude of the series. Kurogane Communication's ending actually is one of three of the happiest endings I ever saw, so any watcher can kick back and enjoy the drama without fear of misery towards the end.

Impressive music for a 90's flick. Animation: boring, but acceptable.

I must seriously be a geek - I love the opening theme! I even asked on AnimeReactor for an ed2k link, and looked to see if I could scrape it up off of some distant ftp that no one has ever heard of (it is called My Best Friend performed by Yui Horie, written by Sora.) The ending isn't quite as good, but the music altogether can be appreciated.
This also goes for the background music, although it isn't anything really special. Sometimes it can give a chilling effect, or a sci-fi effect, but it lacks the power of many bgms (such as Someday's Dreamers).

The colors are very light and lack the density that I would expect out of a series like this one, but it is somewhat forgivable since this series is several years old already. The characters don't look to new, especially Angela, who looks like a more cyberized version of Motoko from Ghost in the Shell. The actual smoothness of movement is acceptable, although sometimes it has a recycled frames feel to it. Nothing extremely special from a perspective of action, but relatively satisfactory in general.

Another great series; short, but good!

This could be finished in roughly 5 hours, with small episodes. Someone with enough will and desire to watch the whole series through could make it in one day, so it could be considered an "easy-watching" type. In of rewatch, it would be great to cover an afternoon with a friend watching, or just to do something while you're bored on a weekend.

Last of all, the comedy isn't all that bad - it isn't the overall appeal, but I found myself chuckling with some of the wisecracks. Also, there is a significant amount of nudity later into the series, so I question this series being d to children, but more to teenagers or young adults looking for drama.

Another great sci-fi flick - if you have the time and the interest, this should be promising.

Not too bad anime about the last human being on earth and her robot friends.

The focus is on the friendship and interaction between the robots and the human. Definitely not for the action lover.

Kurogane is not very elaborate and the episodes are very short, running only for 15 minutes. But it is entertaining nonetheless.

The drawing style looks a bit dated, 80s style but is acceptable. The music is for background only and ok.

Overall very average but still has its own touch and it was fun to watch.