As you may know, based on not only my profile, but how ecstatic I was over the Devil May Cry anime, that I'm a pretty huge gamer. This next title is taken from such game. Originally called Ryuusei no Rockman, it can be recognized as either Shooting Star Rockman, or its English title: Mega Man Star Force. Timeline wise, it's set in a parallel universe succeding the original Mega Man, the series before it being known as Rockman.EXE (I'll cover this later.)
Mega Man Star Force is set in the year 220x, and focuses on the life of Geo Stelar (Subaru Hoshikawa is the Japanese name), a kid who lost his father in an accident upon a space station. Originally, his father, Kelvin Stelar (Daigo Hoshikawa) was sent up there in hopes of establishing a "Brother Band" (read my other blog when I cover the games) with extraterrestrial life in space, later revealed to be Planet FM. However, he came under attack, supposedly Planet FM's doing, and the space station, along with Kelvin, were deemed lost. Three years since then, after associate and friend of the family broke the news to him, Geo and his mother Hope (Akane Hoshikawa) are still in grieving, with Geo distancing himself from others. During one of his visits to Vista Point, a mysterious EM wave beams down on Geo, who later introduced himself as Omega-Xis (known as Mega in the games, with his Japanese title being Warrock), who is an FM-ian renegade (though the truth is revealed later) who escaped with a key that holds the planet Earth's fate. Other FM-ians soon apprear, each wanting to take the Andromeda Key for their FM King, who wants to use the deadly Andromeda to rid this planet much like he did Planet AM.
After a chance encounter with Mega, Geo reluctantly chooses to fight viruses attacking his home by EM Wave Changing into Mega Man, or Rockman. Through his adventures, he encounters various friends, like the gutsy Sonia Strumm (Misora Hibiki) who can also EM Wave Change into Harp Note (Lyra Note in the anime). As well, he faces enemies that embodies his friends, as when Bud is invaded by Taurus (Ox) to become Taurus Fire (Ox Fire). Though the series has 3 games, only 2 had anime derived from it: Ryuusei no Rockman ( based from the game of the same title) and Ryuusei no Rockman Tribe (based from Ryuusei no Rockman 2). It didn't gain much attention here in the US, only being compiled into a 2-hour showing on Cartoon Network's Toonami block ONCE, though up to Episode 25 were shown on the site Toonami Jetstream in English. Still, the series, much like most anime out there, are dominantly of Japanese dubbing. Viewers that are familiar with the preceding Rockman.EXE series may cringe at the plot, but also notice some similarities, as in the EM Wave change process, which is taken from the predecessor's Cross Fusion trait.
Granted I don't hate the anime, it could be better. However, the viewers declared it as awful, often citing it as bad, if not worse, than Rockman.EXE, known as Mega Man NT Warrior in the states. I, however, give it credit and give it a 6 of 10. Still loosely tied to that of the games, I still had a general gist of the connection between the two. hovever, it is note worthy to mention that the episodes here, which goes for a 30 minute period, is actually 2 Japanese episodes combined, along with a few minute recap in each one. That said, this state saw only 13 episodes. Check in next time when I cover the predecessor series, and keep checking Life of Seiko Wolf for the game review of Ryuusei no Rockman.
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