Argevollen’s Fog Episode

When someone asks me for a bad anime, I probably won’t point to Argevollen. It’s not a good anime either, so I’m not sure where precisely it occupies in that continuum between remarkably bad anime and maybe even above average anime. Mediocre? Maybe just average?

Argevollen does provides entertainment with a target audience in mind, and it’s not quite the same core Japanese otaku demographic. Well, I mean, it is, but I think a lot of people enjoy a semi-mature story about this science fictional setting, steeped in the routine fares of war with Battletech-like robots. Speaking of real robots, this is probably the itch it scratches personally. [The show also prominently feature traditional tanks, so take that as you may.]

There is a recent episode where the merry band of protagonists resupply, repair and relax at a countryside village just behind the front lines. Think of a rural Japanese town with 5-story buildings and a shopping street, with the full conveniences of modern Japan. The antagonist faction makes a surprise advance on their village, and the troops hastily evacuates the village while repairing their precious prototype robot, making a last-second retreat across the single bridge connecting the village and the path away from the battle lines. In the first half of the episode, the protagonists visited and enjoyed a hot spring in town; in the second half, the battle in town took advantage of seasonal fog to make the retreat less deadly. It’s hard to explain how these two halves are connected by words alone, so here’s some fog.

It’s times likes this that when an otaku is being pandered to, I don’t really mind. Yeah, unfortunately this is partly because the show is not good, so you have to enjoy what you get, but given how Argevollen is distinctly not a fanservice vehicle of the stereotypical sense, the few scenes of female (and male?) nudity really stand out. What’s more, this sort of humor is baked into the show, not unlike how a rum cake has flavors of rum. How to acquire a taste for such humor is the least of Argevollen’s concerns, should anyone be concerned on how well received these kinds of late-night TV anime would be. I mean, I don’t even know why I appreciate dry, subtle but remarkably silly things like this. Perhaps this is just yet another example of how one can approach a show as it is and enjoy it, despite its lack of redeeming or remarkable qualities.