A pretty flaccid reimagining of an obscure manga, Barom One has some of the lowest production values I've ever seen in an anime on top of some pretty barebones character writing. Set in the distant year of 2014, The show follows two high school boys. One is sharp and level-headed and the other is a little dim-witted but well meaning, and one day they gain the ability to fuse and become the superhero Barom One. Fighting a variety of monsters and possessed humans alike, they aim to protect their loved ones and the world from total catastrophe. Sounds cool, yeah? Well in execution it'spretty lackluster and it sadly falls short of being a so-bad-it's-good anime you can enjoy ironically. The animation starts out bad and it only gets worse as the series progresses. On top of that, the art direction has that crusty early-2000's look to it, meaning low saturation and a homogenized approach to character design, which is especially disappointing considering the original manga was illustrated by the author of Golgo 13, Takao Saito, and had a memorable look to it in comparison. The redesign of the titular Barom One is similarly pretty whatever, it looks alright but you can tell it's derivative of something like Go Nagai's Devilman, which wasn't something I would say about the original look. The attempt to update the setting is similarly half-hearted, the only difference between 2014 and 2003 is that cell phones have holograms, it's really lame.

The two boys, while distinct at first, slowly lose their defining characteristics and become generic action heroes and are totally uninteresting to watch. The side characters aren't much better, the three heroines the show seems weirdly keen on advertising barely do much and the love interest is hardly even a character.

Pointing out all the production mistakes and baffling background details is the highlight of the show, there's one episode early on where the animators left in a black frame that lasts for three seconds, the entrance to a zoo has a logo written in lower-case comic sans with ugly rainbow coloration, the fights at the end of every episode showcase some of the worst animation in the show, there are seven eyecatches per episode and some happen less than two minutes apart from one another, etc, but these funny moments don't justify watching all 13 episodes.

My verdict is to wait until someone compiles all the funny bits on Youtube, don't subject yourself to this.