Qualidea Code – 02

QC scales things back quite a bit in the combat department, as after last week’s big battle with the Unknown, all that’s left for our three heads and subheads is to patrol the areas Hime destroyed as they undergo repairs. Right off the bat, you see what the show is trying to do: get three different pairs (each one with a malcontent) who don’t really like each other to start getting along, for the good of their civilization.

The patrol job was just as boring to watch as it must’ve been to patrol, though the “positive” sides of the pairs—Hime, Canaria, and Asuha (sorta)—do their part. Ichiya, Hotaru, and Kasumi, the “negative” sides of the pairs, mostly just snipe and make the engineering students doing the repairs wonder if they’re always so dysfunctional.

After that, it’s apparently time to put our group in swimsuits for the sake of fanservice, only halfway through the second episode. Not only that, only Hotaru ends up sporting a halfway-practical suit for deep-sea swimming. The others wear pretty bikinis more suited for the beach—including Cana, who can’t swim and doesn’t go in the water. I’m also pretty sure Asuha had sandals when she went in the water, but quickly lost them.

Odd choice of apparel aside, it’s Kasumi, who also can’t go underwater for various reasons, who ends up completing their mission: to find and take out a submarine Unknown that was spotted last night by a couple of kids who went out to kiss (they view these memories with the help of Yaegaki Aoi, who Kasumi seems interested in and vice versa).

Asuha ultimately ends up serving as bait for the Unknown, which Kasumi takes out from the surface with his rifle, impressing Ichiya in the process. And yes, Ichiya is otherwise just as haughty and obnoxious as the first episode, and Canaria doesn’t call him on it enough for my taste.

All’s well that ends well…but I can’t shake the feeling I’ve been here before. The brother-sister pair who have trouble with their feelings; the arrogant fiery upstart and his more passive, charming partner; the serious chick who melts before her tiny, cute partner; even the two adult COs: the more wild, slightly pervy guy and the more straight-laced, mom-like lady.

While this show is considerably less over-the-top than Hundred (and more gender-balanced), it’s also not offering all that much in the way of originality, which means it’s more of a show I’d watch if nothing else is going on.

The one thing I liked about last week that sets it apart is that seagull disappearing in the sky, indicating some kind of barrier. We see the gulls again, and then it’s confirmed that there is indeed a barrier, and the adults are worried the Unknown may be starting to breach it from under the sea.

While this does some damage to my theory about the whole world the kids live in being a simulation (enabling superpowers and such), I’m interested in anything that will hike up the peril for these kids. Things are just a little too easy and a little to comfortable right now.

Qualidea Code – 01 (First Impressions)

After the earth is attacked by an unknown enemy force, the children wake up from cold sleep, and grow up to become soldiers in the ongoing fight. Three cities in Japan fight from the ground, sea, and air to keep the Unknown at bay, often clashing with themselves in the process, due to the fierce competition borne of rankings.

Like Hundred, QC portrays a futuristic world in which a battle is ongoing with a foe but not to the point of desperation. Gleaming new cities tower over the ruins of older ones, and the humans seem to have enough military power to keep those new cities safe.

Unlike Hundred, not everyone is in love with the MC Ichiya. Indeed, few are, as he’s an arrogant little shit whose catchphrase “I’m all we need” wears thin fast. His speech about wanting to protect his world doesn’t jibe with his refusal to work with anyone…except Canaria, the girl he was with when the world ended.

He and Cana aren’t a romantic item, just close companions. While he’ll barely interact with anyone else and forces himself to be nice to the adults who saved them all, Cana is the one person he doesn’t mind having around all the time…if she can keep up with him.

The two also happen to be in the top 10 in the rankings and head and subhead of Tokyo region. While he’s only ranked fourth, Ichiya clearly considers himself the best; those below him are scum and those above him are idiots; only he strikes the perfect balance.

That being said, the other two pairs of city heads and subheads at least have distinct personalities. There’s the young, naive, but kind and honorable Hime, ranked first, and her loyal and trusty lieutenant Hotaru. Then there’s the lazy, disinterested redhead, second-ranked Chigusa Asuha and her brother Kazumi, who’s down at #207.

Ichiya seems like a kind of a dick so far, not the most likable protagonist, considering everyone else presumably went through similar horrors in the past and still managed not to come out as dicks. The most obvious example is Canaria, who was right there with him that day.

Cana calmed him then, and she calms and fortifies everyone still with her “world”, a songstress ability. Another difference form Hundred: the singing is actually animated. Ichiya helps her out by using his power of flight to put her in the best position for the song to be most effective.

The Unknown are little more than pink CGI blobs of various sizes, like the ones we’ve seen in countless other shows. That aside, the multi-pronged battle involving ground troops, naval vessels, and broomstick air wings, had a nice rhythm and flow to it.

Indeed, even much of what would be the more boring bits of this episode are elevated by music from Iwasaki Taku, with theme songs by both ClariS and GARNiDELiA.

There’s also the fact the show all but acknowledges the battle with the Unknown is a cakewalk, and so to avoid the three units and individuals from making it all about who earns the most points, Hime decides to end it with an overpowered attack that ends up destroying a section of a crucial bridge, thus nullifying whatever windfall of points she would have gotten from destroying the last of the Unknown.

This all seems pretty straightforward: post-apoc magic power school with clashing personalities at the top and an arrogant MC with a loyal and affable friend. That is, until one of the seagulls flying up in the sky suddenly vanishes in a pink spark, as if passing through some kind of barrier.

That caught my attention in an otherwise competent but uninspiring start to QC: what happened to these young refugees of a ruined world when they went into cold sleep? Is this futuristic new world, and their fantastical supernatural powers, all an elaborate simulation? We shall see.