Anime Review: Needless
Needless
Overview:
Needless is a bit of a parody action anime taking place in the future of 2130. World War 3 has concluded, and the fallout has had a huge effect on Japan (mainly Tokyo). Places that have been rendered contaminated by war are called Dark Spots, and becomes a domain for bandits and outcasts. Some people, as a result of the contamination, get powers and become Needless. The story follows behind Cruz, a normal kid, and Blade, a powerful Needless.
Characters:
Over the course of the episodes, we continually get introduced to new characters. Some are friends that join our journey, and others are powerful enemies we are to face in the future. There is some lacking development in characters, namely the ones that come in later in the series. As far as interesting personalities, I enjoyed Teruyama and Solva. As far as design and personality, these two stuck out while others were somewhat grating or just tiring to see. Cruz shifts between useless and the key to victory far too often, and it make him seem like a weight to the team at times. Blade has moments where he seems like a great fighter, and then he seems like he's never dodged a punch. I found myself laughing just about any time Teruyama is on screen, and "Little Boy!" is one of the phrases you can't help but shouting. Solva is all about giving people the smoke, and her being part of the time is literally just so she can dish it out more, which I love. The other characters fill the generic roles of disposition dumps and jobbers, which sucks as the idea behind the characters are pretty interesting.
Plot:
The plot is pretty straight forward for an action anime, and a parody of one at that. The normal shonen protagonist becomes surrounded by powered individuals that are teaming up to stop an evil group from taking over. The lore and buildup behind the plot is actually pretty interesting, and it builds a good foundation for learning about the other characters. However, it takes far to long to get through the lore, and things are often repeated when we don't need a refresher. I think the idea of parody takes it a bit too far with characters constantly misjudging kill shots and taking long pauses during fights to talk to one other (often about something obvious).
Final Verdict:
Judgement! Execution!
Overall, I think the series would do better with less episodes. There are genuinely funny moments that mock the parody of action anime, and it's fun to see that characters react to those moments. However, there are a lot of repetitive moments that make watching boring. It was getting to the point where I could call a character shouting "He did it!" when he in fact did not do it. It was getting to the point where I just wanted to be done watching the series, but there were enough moments to keep me willfully watching.