Forum

Seasons Greetings Y'all.

Anyway, I was thinking of picking up this anime but wanted to get all of your guys opinion on it.
I did a search for it and got some mixed feelings about it. Is it more of a high school drama/love story than an apocalyptic mecha anime? Is it mostly focusing on character development than what is happening with the alien invaders? I like Love Hina and Full Metal Panic so I like love stories and mecha animes. It would be great to get an anime that has both of these generes. But they both need to be done tastefully done.
Any information on this anime would be most appreciated.

THANKS.

Gunparade March is a great-looking series with a wonderful closer (whose ending, incidentally, changes in a minor but rather important way for the last episode). The reason it gets such mixed reviews is that its storytelling lacks focus. It clearly wants to be a slice-of-life drama about teens living during and participating in a war against alien invaders but doesn't do a good job of balancing the war, school comedy/drama, and romantic aspects. Those who watch the war-heavy early episodes, for instance, may be disappointed when the series transits almost completely to a dramatic romance story in later episodes. Many of the supporting characters ring hollow and the contrivance to get the cute little girl in the series, while it does set up a somewhat tragic situation, is rather annoying. The foes the team must fight are generic, as is much of the "school life" material - although the goings-on in a play the students are preparing to present do mirror real-life events in an interesting way. There are also some logical inconsistencies, such as why homeland Japan looks so normal if most of the rest of the world is gone to the ravages of the aliens.

On the upside, the action scenes are reasonably well-staged (if unoriginal) and one episode involving a prominent character who is badly wounded and later dies is exceptionally well-handled, as is the fallout over the incident. Mai, the female lead, is also much more than just the standoffish anime stereotype and thus is interesting to watch. The resolution of the romance at the end of the series is satisfying, although the series leaves nearly everything else unexplained and up in the air.

Personally I didn't like Gunparage March. I found it to be greatly misrepresented. The first few episodes say its a mecha action show then it turns out to be a Romance Comedy. At 12 episodes the only thing that is resolved is the main characters relationship. The war with the aliens and everything else is never resolved. All in all I don't think it's worth it and your much better trying to find the game as it will have a conclusive ending. I wouldn't buy it if I was you.