Coppelion Review

I'm not quite sure if there're anyone out there who're still willing to read outdated reviews. But I'm still back from the pit of disappointing anime titles bearing another review that may or may not be in agreeable terms with other anime fans.

 Coppelion aired Fall 2013, a season ago, and despite its excellent animation it failed to hit the mark.
The anime adaptation of the manga series by Tomonori Inoue was done by Studio GoHands in another display of spectacular animation with a laughable plot and a completely generic cast. It's almost a repeat performance of GoHands' K Project but only a little worse.

Coppelion is set on what appears to be a post-apocalypitc Japan - particularly Tokyo - after a nuclear outbreak that contaminated the city (Wikipedia). Mankind has left the capital in order to escape the nuclear radiation but there are some either stubborn or unfortunate enough to get stranded on the contaminated capital. As a solution to this, mankind wasted 20 years to raise genetically engineered humans who are completely immune to the radiation. These genetically engineered humans are called the Coppelion and they are what stands between life and death for those who waited 20 years to be rescued in the old capital.

I thought after a series of low rate titles that I went through as 2013 ended, this year can start with even just one great title. Coppelion was a terrible choice.
The plot is basic enough - save people in nuclear Tokyo using three incredibly generic looking genetically engineered girls with superhuman abilities. Episode 1 was a typical introduction to the story, the characters and basically what they'll be doing for the remaining 12 episodes.

I stopped at episode 6, then simply skimmed through the rest. It was unbearable. I don't even know why I got interested in the first place.
Perhaps it was the fluid animation in the trailer? It may be because GoHands did a fine job in that aspect of the adaptation. But like their previous project, the animation is their best and only selling point.
Usually if the plot can't save the anime, perhaps the technical parts would but no it's still terrible.

Character designs were too generic. The use of those thick outlines felt like a badly used knockoff of Shingeki no Kyojin's design. The choice of voice actors also played a large role to the already badly structured characters. While I did like Haruka Tomatsu's change of voice which greatly contrasts that of her performance with Asuna (SAO) and Morgiana (Magi) it didn't do much justice to the character. One moment their all trying to look cool, then a complete 180 degree turn on the next, it's just really annoying. Kana Hanazawa, always with her perfect angelic voice and despite my addiction to it, felt like it was completely out of place in Coppelion.
I can assure you, midway or at whatever point in the series you'd be asking yourself again and again just what the story's supposed to be.

Bad execution of an already boring and repetitive plot, terrible mixing of emotions and dazzling animation by GoHands was all that I saw in Coppelion. The thought of including a shallow tragic drama near the end of the series was just a desperate attempt to touch their audience all in the wrong spot.

Characters: 6/10
Design: 6/10
Story: 5/10
Music: 7/10
Animation: 8/10