Probably the least popular of the brief Chou Sei Shin series, Chou Kantai Sazer-X had big shoes to fill after the big budget JustiRiser series. The series enjoyed a crossover movie in the middle of the series that tied all the CSS series together. Much like its predecessors, Sazer-X was a series that had big mecha as well as passionate youths yelling out Souchaku becoming heavily armored heroes. Toho's work on the action in the fights and beautiful mecha sequences are undeniably good. So why wasn't it popular?
Maybe because the show was funny and focused more on the everyday characters rather than being a mere action show? In the same vein as Hibiki, Sazer-X had a lot more normal stuff going on. The protagonist had something to prove to his grandfather (a subplot that I really enjoyed). The three main space pirates actually had personalities and weren't just 2 dimensional villains. Despite being an epic battle of time and space, the first few episodes focused more on the comedy, which may have turned some people off to the show.
With only 38 episodes slated, Sazer-X probably has one of the most tightest stories among the CSS. It doesn't suffer from that ten episode gauntlet of filler episodes that the other two series had. And the pace quickly picks up. The protagonist shows clear growth and maturity from the first few episodes. The good guys learn to trust each other, more allies and villains are introduced, revealing secret relationships and other aspects that set up for touching stories in the later episodes.
I also really liked the mecha combining aspect. Each of the ships had a Core-Caliber vehicle, which turned into a pretty awesome mobile robot for reconnaissance and fast attacking. Then when combined with the ship, it becomes a Ryuuseishin, a more armored, more powerful robot.
Core-Braver's description from the Toho websiteSo Sazer-X is clearly a kids show, but then again, so was Gransazer and JustiRisers. If you like the everyday aspects of the characters, have a tolerance for the comedy, and enjoy space battles with giant mecha, you will probably like this series. The opening song kicks ass and it really does have a continuous story that I think is rewarding in the end. Because this show was also the last Chou Sei Shin series, and they had to do something special for it. (Note that the time slot was filled by Fairy Musketeers Akazukin, another T-N show that I recommend)
CommentsLabels: Anime, Fairy Musketeers Akazukin, Sazer-X
