Mech Cadets

Don't know whats up with the negative reviews but this is a fun show! Short too with only 10 episodes. The pacing, music, story, animation is all on point without any unnecessary drama.

The writers have done a great job developing each of the characters, be it the main leads or support team. The robots are just too adorable.

It works well for kids and adults alike so you can even enjoy it as a family. Those who enjoy transformers and similar movies will probably enjoy it more.

I haven't read the comics or anything but I found this to be a fun and enjoyable watch. Definitely hope for a second season.

Beginning is classic and quite ok premise, 3-4 first parts are really interesting. Character development is good and with fine progress.

Then starts problems, typical like screenwriters got lazy and starts copying all the classic. Internal strugle between one good and one bad / openly idiotic team.

There is zero military anywhere only some alien robots are only one to help defend. Military base but totally empty except first intro part.

Additionally when is problem no one report it, no one coming to help, no one care and all is careless.

Typical general who without any control is doing what ever he want, what was actually forbidden by some "mysterious never shown" superiors.

Animation is ok just as is mentioned in many cases very low FPS.

Teenagers running everything so it's obviously targeted to very young audience.

Not fully wasted time, just even monsters as animation had better structure and military feel than this.

Typical lazy hot mess netflix show. Lot of invested money and very low downspiraling quality on the end.

So from 8/10 at begining it moves to bare 4/10...

What a great show. I loved the story. The show is targeted towards kids and there are so many great messages for a younger audience: following your dreams, finding acceptance, working together. But I also found some of the parent-child relationship incredibly heartfelt. And the ending!!! A real tear-jerker. I did not see that coming.

I also loved the animation. It's a bit sanitized and clean but again, I imagine that it's for kids (the blood is blue). But it was a really cool mix of 2D and 3D animation. Not as elegant as something like Spider-Verse but it's great to see that style in a TV series.

I love a great mecha genre story and this doesn't dissappoint.

But otherwise a disappointingly juvenilise and derivative waste of a strong voice cast. This is essentially a mash up of Gundam, Evangelion and Pacific Rim by way of a 1980s Saturday morning kid's cartoon, with bizarrely stunted proportions, eerily incompetent animation, and low frame-rates that seem to be all keyframes and no tweening.

There's no real plot, characterisation, or drama here, just an absolutely basic presentation of Deus Ex Astra mechs who choose teen pilots (for no reason, since they don't need pilots) versus giant space bugs, with a plucky underdog wish fulfilment motif.

For those easily confused, stereotypes may be recognisable and even satisfying but that doesn't mean they're well conceived, original, or developed. And dialogue composed of little more than straight exposition of ultimately selfish and egotistical desires is not growth.

That's all you get, and it's fine for what it is, but Netflix should have been clearer in the marketing and synopsis. The 10-star review-bombing at the moment of release to get the initial numbers up was embarrassingly obvious.

"Mech Cadets" is not the generic kids show it may resemble at first glance. Theirs is a world ravaged by loss at the claws of the Shargs and the show refuses to shy away from presenting those elements, instead using them to strengthen each characters story and provide meaningful motivations for those characters' actions. Mech Cadets also does well at integrating an animation style that doesn't feel childish and, despite some choppiness in frame rate , possesses laudable detail (especially in regard to its mechs and Kaiju) and vibrant special effects. Vaguities such as the absence of a more dominant and numerous military defense do plague the narrative, but are likely to be overlooked in favor of the raw emotional force of the voice actors' character portrayals and the story itself. Its world-building lends hope for further exploration as there are numerous questions, especially regarding the mysterious Robos and the menace they face, pleading for answers.

In Short: "Mech Cadets" is surprisingly emotional, suitable for any audience, contains detailed animation with high quality effects, open world-building, and most (perhaps even all) plot weaknesses are easy to dismiss in favor of the shows powerful storytelling.