Robotics;Notes Review

Robotics;Notes is the 3rd visual novel of 5pb.'s science fiction series. It also serves as an indirect sequel to both Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate, which follows an Augmented Science adventure.

The anime adaptation was produced by Production I.G. with 22 episodes starting from October 2012 to March 2013.
It follows the story of the members of the Robotics club as they struggled to finish a functional full sized robot that was left unfinished by the previous generation of the Robotics club. At the start of the series, we were introduced to Kai Yashio and Akiho Senomiya - the two main lead of the series - and their typical struggles with keeping their club alive with active members. But as the series progresses, the Robotics club gets caught up in a dark and sinister plot that could result t the extinction of mankind.
Sounds good vs. bad typical plot? No not really.

Robotics;Notes' story is a lot more lighter than its predecessors, although it is just as smart and interesting.

This time the futuristic setting is set closely to reality that it'd be easy to think the events from the anime is not exactly far off from happening, unlike Chaos;Head's delusional science and Steins;Gate's theoretical science plots.

Robotics;Notes explores a world that is not exactly there but it is always around us, this world that is delved upon in the story is the world of Augmented Reality.

The pacing of the story was superb. Character introductions weren't done individually because as the main plot goes, each newly introduced characters go along with the flow so there's never really a dull moment. Although because of that, some characters weren't given much depth upon introduction later in the series making their build-up not so remarkable.

It is also in this anime in the 3 SciFi adventures of 5pb. that introduced an overall set of rational characters, in contrast to the harcocre shut-in otaku in Chaos;Head and the mad scientists in Steins;Gate, in Robotics;Notes we were given normal students who share a common passion (maybe even fear) in Robots and their capabilities. But still having said that, there is always room for that one weird character that everyone ends up loving even upon introduction.

 The main downside of the story is the weak antagonist. No, not really weak, but in terms of motivation and intentions, aside from (his/her) plot to end the world, the antagonist is pretty unconvincing. More especially because his appearance was not until very late in the series.

The romance contained in the plot were not widespread, but it was definitely heartfelt.

In Robotics;Notes entirety, it is a great mix of action, scifi, romance and comedy oriented plot. You could be sure to be entertained and and get caught up in the plot the moment the monologue of the first episode begins.

In the technical parts of the anime, when I hear that White Fox (the studio which animated Steins;Gate) wasn't going to produce Robotics;Notes I was disappointed. But Production I.G. didn't let itself get behind White Fox as its adaptation of Robotics;Notes was close to parring with Steins;Gate - that is, of course, in comparison.

The continuity nod in the series was also slightly implicit. Still we are introduced to a returning character from Steins;Gate as well as Frau's internet buddies.

The mix of normal animation, 3D animation and almost 80's style animation was impressive in Production I.G.'s part. And lastly, for the musical content, well like I said, all those scenes paired with the perfect bgm makes for a close to heavenly anime.

Characters: 9/10
Story: 10/10
Music: 9/10
Design: 10/10

Overall: 10/10