The Spring 2022 Preview Guide

AMAIM Warrior at the Borderline Part 2

In 2061, Japan is under a state of occupation by multiple states. The world, including Japan, has been consolidated under the rule of four trade blocs. The entire archipelago is now the frontline of conflict. The Japanese people live under a state of constant occupation and oppression, with humanoid war machines called AMAIM patrolling its streets. A young introverted boy named Amō Shiiba has a chance meeting with the autonomous AI Gai, and his acquisition of the AMAIM Kenbu begins a story that will see him attempting to take back Japan. Gashin Tezuka is a reticent and frank 16-year-old member of the Japanese resistance who pilots the AMAIM Ghost to avenge his father.

AMAIM Warrior at the Borderline is part of Sunrise Beyond (formerly Xebec) and toy/hobby company Bandai Spirits' collaborative project and streams on Crunchyroll.

By the time of its unplanned season hiatus, AMAIM had basically become a chore to watch. It wasn't that the show was bad – that honestly would have been preferable. Rather, this Gundam-lite just wasn't anything beyond competent at anything it did, and had no character or personality to speak of. It occasionally gestured toward potentially noxious political rhetoric, but never committed to or executed those ideas with enough energy to be worth analyzing. Which leaves you with a show that was always going through the motions of a typical military mech series with no identity of its own. And to the surprise of nobody, that hasn't changed with its return.

I'll give the show some credit: they did wait almost a whole episode before bringing Amou back from the dead – though they still lose points for plastering him, Gai, and Kenbu all over the new OP. I know there probably wasn't time to produce a fake-out opening without him, but it does lessen the theoretical surprise when he comes riding in to save the day at the end of this episode. Granted Amou's return was about the most predictable thing on the planet for anyone who's watched any TV show ever, so maybe it wouldn't have been worth it. Regardless, his big action scene is a serviceable bit of robot action in an otherwise dull, ad-hoc premiere. When the standout highlight of your season premiere is barely above a C-, it's fair to say you have problems.

There's just not enough personality to these characters to make a slow episode where everyone is sad about Amou's death work, and the larger conflict hasn't changed much in any important ways. Sure, the North American military has gotten stronger robots and is expanding their presence, but they're no different than any of the other military forces our heroes fought in the previous season. The Resistance is on the backfoot now and they don't have their obviously evil war profiteer buddy to ask for help, but they'll doubtlessly find a new source of robot parts and guns soon enough. All that's changed is slightly sillier robot designs for the enemy, and our central teenage heroes look slightly older. Amou has a black overshirt, which probably means he's a brooding anti-hero now or something. But none of that is interesting or engaging when these characters have been dull placeholders through the show's entire run, and show no sign of changing.

AMAIM just isn't a very good show, and considering it only took a break because of looming production crunch, there's little reason to think it would have course-corrected while it was gone. It's just not worth your time unless you're desperate for decently-animated 2D robots, and even then you're probably better off waiting for the new Gundam TV series instead of sitting through the narrative equivalent of watching paint dry.