Neo Ranga

The Shimabara sisters, Ushio, Minami, and Yuuhi suddenly find themselves in control of a god, called Ranga, from the Kingdom of Barou, a tiny island near Japan. Ranga has awakened from his long sleep and makes his way across the ocean and begins walking through Japan towards the Shimabara sisters. Japan's military begins attacking this giant god, but Ranga makes it to the Shimabara sister's house and remains under their control. Japan decides to let Ranga stay as it isn't really seen as an enemy, but because of it's size it does cause problems.

Neo Ranga ranges from average to fantastic depending on where you are in the story. The show does have mecha elements to it, but it didn't always feel like one with the way the sisters utilize him for everyday things. There is some narraration from one of the characters a couple times during each episode, which I found a little distracting at first, hwever, I quickly became accustomed to it and felt that it gave the show a certain peacefulness and a calming atmosphere.

In the beginning, the show focuses on the sisters getting familiar with Ranga and it's integration into Japan. For example, the youngest of the three sisters, Yuuhi, would ride Ranga to school and it would focus on the problems that it caused. The fact that Ranga can be controlled by all three sisters is played up well as they each use it for peronal reasons and to make things right as they see fit.

The real meat of the story revolves around a group called the Kyoshinkai. They use robots called Kyoshin to fight Ranga and try to sway the public opinion against Ranga. Ranga doesn't fight a Kyoshin every episode, there is some sporadic action, but it's scattered across the show. The fights themselves are well animated, as is a majority of the show.

The show does have some pacing problems. There are times where the story will make considerable progress only to get halted by several filler episodes. This also means the mood can go from very serious to comical and even a little silly at times. However, I must admit that I enjoyed many of the filler episodes. Examples include Ushio being asked out on a date, Ranga in variety shows on television, and stopping a corrupt politician.

Out of the three sisters, Ushio gets the most attention, but the other two also get more than enough developement. A ways into the show, I found myself well acquainted with the sisters and their personalities. Several characters from the Kingdom of Barou are introduced early on and live in the girl's home. They didn't seem to have a reason for being there at first, but as the story progressed their roles became more apparent and they really grew on me to the point where I really liked them being around.

The last several episodes bring the series to an action packed ending. The last arc that finishes off the show is very interesting material, has awesome mecha action and are arguably the best set of episodes the series has to offer. I wouldn't say the ending is rushed, but it does move at an incredible pace compared to the rest of the series.

I found myself really hooked on the show at times, even during some of the episodes where the story wasn't in full swing. It's not something that drew me in right away, but the further I got the more I found myself enjoying the characters and the show. Neo Ranga is a mixture of different ideas and genres, and as a whole I would have to say it is a wothwhile series.

Score:

Written by Marc Frost on Mar 21, 2014