Review of Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms
Mecha-Ude is the most underrated anime of Fall 2024, hands down. In fact, it’s one of the most underrated shows of the entire year and it angers me so much because this show is amazing. The long crowdfunding journey for the show to even get made makes it all that much more special as well. Sawano and Yamamoto on the OST, classic studio trigger vibes, awesome characters and great sci-fi action? This had all the ingredients of an instant classic and for me it lived up to that. Mecha-Ude is one of the few legitimate passion projects we have in modern anime. This actuallystarted way back in 2018 as an OVA and crowdfunding for it to be made into a full blown anime went on for years, finally coming to fruition this season as a proper 12 episode show. The lack of big backers and a traditional production process gives Mecha-ude a unique feel compared to most other anime. It’s a little rough around the edges at times, but that gives it a charm other anime don’t have. The character designs and art have a certain freshness to them and are endearing. The animation at times feels low budget and you can tell it’s a smaller team, but it has some amazing moments where the sakuga is up there with the best of them.
Story wise, Mecha-Ude has quite a few twists. I definitely wouldn’t call it generic or your run of the mill seasonal. You can tell a lot of time went into crafting a story that’s engaging and impactful. There were multiple times throughout the series where I had my jaw on the floor from how crazy a twist was, a big reveal, a death, etc., I have to tip my hat to whoever was in the writing room because they cooked. There’s a lot of similarities with transformers as well so if you’re into that, you’ll enjoy this. Hikaru and Aki as leads worked very well. I’m a big sucker for the haters to “lovers”(both literally and figuratively as in a platonic love) trope and think it was executed well here. Aki is a bad ass lead who can hold her own and often saves Hikaru’s ass from some tough situations. We get to see our MC master his abilities and be able to stand in his own by the end which was really cool. I quite like the storytelling technique of an outsider getting suddenly thrust into a big war or secret society, learning the ins and outs and then becoming a big part of that group/movement. The mecha-arms themselves were also really cool. Lot of interesting lore, abilities and directions that were explored not just here, but potentially in future multimedia projects if they choose to.
I’m gonna be honest, one of the biggest reasons I love this show so much is the Sawano OST. Sawano is my fave composer of all time and probably my overall fave artist as well currently. So anything he touches is gold to me. SennaRin , a frequent collaborator of Sawano’s and another of my faves, worked on the OP as well so this was like a match made in heaven for me soundtrack wise. As usual, Sawano’s OST really took this to new heights making the big fight scenes so hype. I will definitely be listening to this OST consistently.
People ask for underrated or hidden gems all the time and this is one of them. I feel like this’ll be a show that as more people watch in coming years will be more appreciated ala kiznaiver. Great story, characters, soundtrack, action and made with pure love. A long journey, but one well worth it.
Mecha-Ude gets 10 arms out of 10.