Anime Fix

Name: Kurogane no Linebarrels or Linebarrels of Iron
Genre: Roomance, Drama, Mecha
Length: 24 Episodes
Rating: 9.5/10
Director: Masamitsu Hidaka

This story is about a boy who who used to be bullied in his childhood but as he grew older he dreams of becoming a hero and being the “Hero of Justice” named Kouichi Hayase. This all changes in the year 2019 when Kouichi is getting curry bread and something falls out of the sky and hits and incidently ‘kills’ him. It is revealed that it is a mecha suit aka ‘Machina’ named Linebarrel. A mysterious amnesiac girl pops out of the cockpit of the machina and feeling sorry and taking the blame for killing this girl, named Emi Kizaki, asks Linebarrel to save the boy. Linebarrel then implants Kouichi with its nano bots saving his life. But Kouichi doesnt know yet that he has just become the factor of the most powerful machina known to man. Upon learning this he finally has become his Hero of Justice. He soon learns that a war is going on between 2 organizations known as Juda and Katou-Kikan. He decides to join Juda in hopes that he can save the world from Katou’s evil intentions. He also has to deal with the fact that he has Emi Kizaki who is beautiful following him around everywhere. How will Kouichi save the world and express his growing feelings towards Emi Kizaki?

Characters:
There are many characters in this series wether that be minor or major they all play a special part. There are 2 main organizations known as Juda and Katou-Kikan.
Juda

From left to right: Emi Kizaki, Captain Igarashi, Satoru Yamashita, Reiji Moritsugu, Kunio Ishigami, Yui Ogawa, Shizuna and Izuna Endo, and Kouichi Hayase. (picture from Wikipedia)

Kouichi Hayase is the main character in this series and is 14 years old. Prior to the story in his childhood he was bullied constantly and now dreams of being a hero of justice. His dreams come true when Linebarrel incidently kills him but saves him after implanting him with his nano bots making the factor of Linebarrel. This also makes Kouichi his ‘Hero of Justice’. As a result of becoming Linebarrels factor he becomes more connected to it then any other person. He also becomes more agressive as he learns he has superhuman strength. Upon learning this he starts to lead the people who used to bully him and telling them that picking on people smaller then them isnt right. When Kouichi pilots Linebarrel its armour is white. When Kouichi goes into Mode-B the armour turns black and puts absolutely no stress on his body. It is given right off the bat that Kouichi likes Emi Kizaki because the way he acts towards her.

Emi Kizaki is the main female character in this series. She is a mysterious amnisiac girl who poped out of Linebarrels cockpit and helped in saving Kouichi’s life. She cant remember anything about her past. It is later revealed that she is also a factor of Linebarrel and when she pilots it the usual white armour turns black. Also when Emi pilots Linebarrel it goes into Mode-B making Linebarrel able to teleport.

Linebarrel is the most conflicted mecha suit aka ‘Machina’. Its history is unkown but was made and created by Emi’s dad. It is an original machina that came from another planet therefore making it one of the most powerful on earth. It has 2 katanas, one on each arm, and a special weapon on its tail that can either act as a sword or as a gun. Because this weapon was in its prototype stages it can only fire 5 shots at a time in gun mode but has unlimited power in sword mode. The reason that this is the most conflicted machina is because since its an original it has unknown powers and potential.

Reiji Moritsugu is leader of the machina group that Kouichi is in. He is always seen with a straight smile and feel no kind of pain. He pilots the machina Vardant, that when piloted by Reiji seems to be just as powerful as Linebarrel.
Vardant is a special kind of machina as it is the only machina with plate like things on its back that act as wongs or shield as they cannot be penetrated by laser guns. It has 2 katanas just like Linebarrel.

Satoru Yamashita is a very conflicted anime character to talk about gender wise. In the beginning its shown it acts like a boy and dresses like one to but this show has made me come to believe that this character is female. As seen in one episode she is wearing a bikini which gives Kouichi a nosebleed. This character as shown to have some special bond with Reiji as she all talks about and wanting to be just like him. She pilots a machina known as Hind-Kind.
Hind-Kind is a yellow machina that has 2 base weapons. Those weapons would be that both its fist can shoot as fast as guns and can extend to very long distances. These fist are stong enough to destroy an arma in s single hit.

Shizuna Endo is a twin with Izuna Endo. Shizuna comes off as very energetic and enthusiastic while he bother is quiet and is usually telling is sister to stop doing something. She along with her brother pilot the only non-combat machina called Decieve.
Decieve is the only non-combat machina. It has only one attack called nervecrack. This happens when Decieve launches its tentacle at enemy arma and then procides to enject the enemy with nerve-cracking signals.

Miu Kujō is very kind and tends to act sort of cute. She was the first in the Juda force to befriend Kouichi as she seem interested in when he says his name announcing he is the new “Hero of Justice”, she also seems to get inspired in his desire to be the “Hero of Justice”. It is given pretty quickly after Kouichi joins Juda that Miu has developed deep feelings for Kouichi which is completely oblivous to. She pilots the machina known as Painkiller.
Painkiller is a close combat machina. It has 2 knifes for throwing and 2 laser beams on its arms which is uses for long range attack.

Kunio Ishigami is what I would call a jokester and gets Kouichi into so much trouble. He is the Chief of the Juda Incorporation. He is the one that recruits Kouichi and later takes deep interest in Kouichi. He does not pilot any machina.

Yui Ogawa is Ishigami’s assistant and is usually hitting him or busting him for getting Kouichi into so much trouble.

Rachel Calvin is a Juda personal from America. She is very young and is amazingly brilliant as she works on the machina trying to figure out there secret.

My thoughts:
This anime is a personal favourite. It had me sucked in in the first episode. This anime seems to be a difficult to explain romance as its a 4 way love triangle wether that be reciprocated or not it tends to bring about funny situations as some are clueless and others get caught at the wrong time. The story itself i find proves a strong point as Kouichi tries so hard to be a ‘Hero of Justice” and is eventually successful. I like how Kouichi likes to do what he thinks is rite and not let others decide for him. I find it funny how Kouichi tries to impress Emi to. I would have loved to see more of this anime and i am hoping that a second season will eventually be realeased.
I find the character build in this anime more towards the female as they seem to have more traits that are shown. Also it appears they all have a thing for the main hero that was once a nobody almost instantly becomes a somebody. I also could classiffy this anime as a harem but i find the romance not to be like that and a little bit mroe serious as others hide there feeliing and others jsut anounce it to the world and show there affections in front of everyone.
If theres anythign wrong about this anime it would be that they need to extend the little more. Of course the series is great but very little background is given on Emi and a little hinter is given to us about her and Kouichi at the end of the series. Because of this hinter it has come to my belief that we might be looking at another season within the next year.

Sound:
There are 5 themes songs, 1 opening 2 endings and 2 inserts. The opening is Kitei no Tsurugi be ALI-PROJECT. I did much enjoy listening to the opening theme.
The first ending them is Ame ga Furu by by Maaya Sakamoto. I personally loved this ending and have it on my Ipod. The words to be honest mean so much. If you dont know wats being said then i think you should go to google and look up the lyrics.
The second ending theme is also by Maaya Sakamoto and is called Remedy. This is also an enjoyable ending theme to listen to.
The insert songs are Kokoro no Mama ni and PROUD by Lisa Komine. These are good insert songs but i enjoy the ending themes much more.
The sound in the voices sound fine to me and couldn’t have been much better I guess.

Visual:
I find the work and art put into designing Linebarrel to be amazing. The look of Linebarrel is awesome and would kill to see a real mecha suit look like that. The characters art seem to be more simple and sort of rushed but seems to me more time was put into Emi and Kouichi as they are the main characters . I still find the art in this anime to very good and better then most, thought a lot of the machina look alike.

Replay value:
I would watch this anime a 100 times over and memorize each line its so good. The story is strong the romance is sweet and the drama never ends. What more could you ask for in an anime like this? nuff said its a must in the rewatch people.