evasource

"Yo watch it, it’s like Eva!" Whoa. I borrowed my friend Ed’s copy of this anime called Argento Soma and rushed home to watch it. As you all know by now if you’ve read my other articles, openings are really really important. Good thing this anime had a pretty badass opening and theme. After watching the first CD of episodes, I snatched the phone and dialed Ed’s number like a mother fucking bat out of hell to discover he was on vacation. FUCK ME.

As you can probably tell, I liked the anime. It basically starts out, well actually a lot like Eva. You have this college student, Takt and his girlfriend Maki arguing about something. I’d like to note now that Maki is pretty damn cute. Maki somehow becomes involved with an eccentric scientist and Takt stumbles into their project. To his surprise, they were expecting him. Takt finds out that the scientist is trying to piece together an alien from different parts that were found worldwide. As always, something horribly original happens and there is a problem with the experiment and the alien awakes and destroys the building. Some very climatic stuff happens and this ushers in the 2nd phase of the anime and the transformation of Takt into Ryu Soma, probably one of the most original looking badasses ever.

The basic layout of the anime follows Eva to the dot; a secret organization uses mechs to destroy aliens that invade the planet. Ever episode is a new alien and a new strategy to kill it. A neat little twist is that the alien that destroyed the building in episode 1 (which is called Frank, Fairy, and Number 1) is controlled by this little girl Hatti who uses it to help the organization fight the other aliens. You’ll either love this anime because it’s like Eva or you’ll hate it because it’s ripping off Eva. The two animes diverge towards the end though. When Eva becomes confusing and psychoanalytical, Argento Soma becomes more badass and involving. There are a few surprises that will make you drop your jaw and others that will piss you off a lot because they make no sense, but overall you’ll enjoy the climax and conclusion.

The art is great, the music is noticeably good, and the characters are dynamic. The only thing stopping this anime from being god is the fact that it’s not a very original idea. Try to watch this anime with an open mind and you’ll discover it’s pretty kickass.