A.I.C.O. Incarnation

While I agree that the english dub version, let's just say- could be improved, it had a lot good going for it. The story is enough to keep the viewers attention, and there were more than enough plot twists and story details to keep me interested. While I don't think this was a truly fantastic anime, I do think it's worth the watch. Just don't watch it in the english dub.

A.I.C.O. Tells the story of Japan being overrun with "matter", a sort of abstract material that destroys everything in it's path. The story is a bit generic but the pacing make's up for that. The biggest issue I had with this anime was the main character; Tachibana, Aiko. it's not that she lacks depth, it's the way she reacts to every situation. It's like she was made to be shocked at every turn. And it gets tiresome fast. The best aspect of the anime is the artwork. The elegant animations and fast pace of the series is what kept the two dimensional characters in check and made the series watchable. I did like the small details that made the world of A.I.C.O feel more authentic, e.g. the artificial suits that needed to be fed in order to function properly. I wish a little more thought was put into the world building of the series, it felt like I was watching a CW series with good visuals. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but it does make for a good popcorn anime.

Though it wasn't great, A.I.C.O Incarnation definitely was not bad or mediocre. It wasn't great either though. It was OK. Netflix has been pumping out anime like crazy so it would be easy for this title to slip under the radar. The story takes place in the future where Artificially Intelligent Cellular Organisms (AICO) are created to advance humanity's medical knowledge in the hopes that one day they could make human beings immortal. However, an incident occurred that created the "Burst" a mass of cellular organisms that swarmed over Kurobe Gorge, consuming anyone and anything in its path before its advance is halted but not reversed. Aico Tachibana is just a normal school girl until she (quite literally) runs into a recent transfer student named Yuya Kanzaki, who, after a daring escape from several government spies, reveals to her that she was in a car accident that nearly killed. Her father, Yura Tachibana, created a duplicate body and brain for Aico. A complex and and top secret surgery was performed that switched the brains of Aico and the duplicate, placing her brain in the duplicate body and the duplicate in the real body. It was successful, but the surgery made the duplicate brain panic and create malignant matter at an alarming pace. In order to stop the "Matter" that has filled the gorge, Aico, Yuya, and a group of mercenaries have to traverse through the gorge and reach the research facility to perform the same surgery and stop the burst once and for all.

I thought that the story was just the average sci-fi plot that didn't show me anything new, with the secondary characters being blander than a bag of rice. But the animation more than makes up for these problems, and we can all thank Studio Bones for this. Bones has been going above and beyond the call of duty in its titles like "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood", "Mob Psycho 100" and most notably " My Hero Academia", and this show is now different. The action scenes are wonderfully choreographed and with "Matter" seeming bright and alive, making you feel that it has a mind of it's own. Thought some other animation studios would have cut corners and used copious amounts of CGI, Studio Bones goes that extra mile in providing a vibrant setting with wonderful animation. Thought the plot and characters were not great, I kept watching to see those beautifully rendered scenes and backgrounds. If your bored and looking for a binge watch on Netflix, look up this title

I really enjoyed this anime and managed to binge the whole season overnight into the next morning. I've been hearing many complaints about the English dub but luckily I didn't even know that there was a dub so I watched in Japanese with English subtitles.

The cast of characters is diverse and each has their own motive for participating in the deadly mission put before them. Many mysteries unfold throughout the 1st season and the pacing is handled quite well.

All in all one of my favorite Anime series in quite a while. If you like Knights if Sedonia you'll find much to love in A.I.C.O. 12 episodes wrapped up the story line perfect while leaving room to explore much more in (hopefully) future seasons.

This anime explores some moral issues with the possibilities that the future brings us. Clever, creative, and beautiful!