Hen Zemi Episode 8 Hen Zemi Hen Zemi

alternate retelling of Abnormal Physiology Seminar (OAV)
Abnormal Physiology Seminar (TV)

release date 2011-04-02

Opening Theme:
"Punctuation!" by Kana Hanazawa

Genres: comedy, erotica
Themes: ecchi, perversions, school

release date
2011-04-02 1.
2011-04-09 2.
2011-04-16 3.
2011-04-23 4.
2011-04-30 5.
2011-05-07 6.
2011-05-14 7.
2011-05-21 8.
2011-05-28 9.
2011-06-04 10.
2011-06-11 11.
2011-06-18 12.


If you need a Litmus test to determine your compatibility with Super Robot Wars, try watching the opening sequence. Just sit and watch as the cast about-faces in perfect time with the opening riff, as the characters sidle up to the screen with their mecha blazing in the background, as the villains loom over the entirety of space, larger than life. Don't worry if you laugh while the JAM Project shamelessly shouts lines like "Howl, red-hot soldier!"" and "Hard, strong, hot!," you're probably supposed to. And the real test is at the end anyway. If you can walk away from the preposterous spectacle of that opening without a smile on your face, a curious lightness in your heart and an inexplicable spring in your step, then you probably aren't susceptible to the series' peculiar brand of muscle-headed magic.

And that magic, that childish, unselfconscious revelry in all things big and loud and mechanized, is all that SRW has going for it. There's a reason why the 3D CG used for the mecha is superior by an order of magnitude to the inflexible two-dimensional character animation, and why the often apocalyptic soundtrack is so much better than the shallow content would seem to warrant: unsubtle music and slick-moving mecha are crucial in fetishizing robots and creating spectacular battles, while characters and plots are secondary at best. So, if you aren't susceptible to the predatory lines of a giant spaceship or the heroic design of a super robot, then the appeal of the series will be entirely lost on you. Director Hiroyuki Kakudou knows that: he wastes little effort on the animation of anything that isn't exploding, focusing the budget and his not-inconsiderable skill with imagery on scenes like the Hagwane plowing out of the sea into the sky and a series of swift aerial dogfights.