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[rei-reviews]

Rei Reviews- Voltron Legendary Defender Season 1

Voltron: Legendary Defender is a Netflix reboot of the sci-fi mecha anime, Voltron: Defender of the Universe that came out back in the 1980’s. It was produced by Dreamworks and animated by Studio Mi, and its 11 episodes long first season was released in June of 2016.

Now, I bet the fact this show is a reboot is going to activate alarm bells to some people which is very understandable because reboots in general don’t have the best of reputation. Sure, some reboots end up decent and sometimes surpass the original, but most them are unnecessary at best and atrocious at worst. In other words: For every Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood there will be a Powerpuff girls 2016 and an Alice in Wonderland.

But Legendary Defender is different because it has two things most reboots don’t have. A lot of the staff who worked on Voltron, including the director, Joaquim Dos Santos, also worked on the highly beloved and acclaimed Avatar: The Last Airbender. And if was already talking about beloved, the reboot has a large and loving fandom which inspired fanart and the occasional shitposts.

So obviously these two aspects could show that the Voltron reboot was a success. Right? Well, that’s why I’m here to see if this reboot is worth your time! And keep in mind that I have never watched the original series or any of its other iterations. This review will examine how well this show stands on its own.

The Substance

Voltron: Legendary Defender is a Netflix reboot of the sci-fi mecha anime, Voltron: Defender of the Universe that came out back in the 1980’s. It was produced by Dreamworks and animated by Studio Mi, and its 11 episodes long first season was released in June of 2016. Now, I bet the fact this show is a reboot is going to activate alarm bells to some people which is very understandable because reboots in general don’t have the best of reputation. Sure, some reboots end up decent and sometimes surpass the original, but most them are unnecessary at best and atrocious at worst. In other words: For every Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood there will be a Powerpuff girls 2016 and an Alice in Wonderland. But Legendary Defender is different because it has two things most reboots don’t have. A lot of the staff who worked on Voltron, including the director, Joaquim Dos Santos, also worked on the highly beloved and acclaimed Avatar: The Last Airbender. And, speaking of beloved, the reboot has a large and loving fandom which produces tons of fanart and the occasional shitpost. So obviously these two aspects could show that the Voltron reboot was a success. Right? Well, that’s why I’m here to see if this reboot is worth your time! And keep in mind that I have never watched the original series or any of its other iterations. This review will examine how well this show stands on its own. The Substance In the universe of Voltron, reigns an evil alien race of the Galra who are led by their emperor Zarkon. They have spent thousands of years oppressing many civilizations and planets and ruling the universe with an iron fist. However, there exists a powerful weapon named Voltron™, a giant robot that is operated by five pilots named The Paladins. it was said to be strong enough to face and even overcome the Galra empire’s power. But when the Galra attacked and nearly destroyed the planet of Altea, the lions were scattered across many different planets, and hope seemed to be lost. But 10,000 years after Voltron’s disappearance, five humans from Earth named Shiro, Keith, Lance, Pidge and Hunk become the new paladins of Voltron after a chain of events that entangled them in the Millennia-long War. Together with the help of Allura, an Altean Princess who was cryogenically frozen for thousands of years, and her advisor Coran, the Paladins become the last line of defense against the Vicious Galra, as they hope to defeat them through Voltron. The first season of Voltron mainly focuses on setting up the universe and its characters and the events that occur are standard for a genre: there’s an opening episode that’s dedicated to forming the main team and finding Voltron, a first mission to help a decaying planet, and setting up plot threads for the following seasons. The show isn’t very revolutionary in the way its constructs its events but what makes it all very entertaining is how things are executed. For the most part. For starters, Voltron is a show that knows how to handle and balance different tones. It knows how to make a comedic scene effective with its witty scripting and comedic timing and pull off a tense scene with good pacing and well established stakes and even manage to execute scenes that manage to be both of them. And not only are the scenes strong on their own, they also manage to consistently flow from one another without feeling jarring. And it also knows how to keep its audience hooked This is a feat that a lot of western shows and some anime tend to struggle with especially when it comes to tone shifts. Another thing this show manages well in its execution it’s his handling of the core cast because when you look at them on a surface level they mostly fit into standard super sentai archetypes. Shiro is the strong-willed leader Lance is the cocky and confident comic relief, Hunk is the vigilant yet kindhearted giant, Pidge is the snarky brains of the group, Keith is the rebel, Allura is the graceful princess and Coran is the butler and additional comic relief. Apart from Allura, who mostly subverts her trope with her more dominant attitude, none of the characters completely defy their archetypes. And sometimes that’s fine, not every character has to bring anything completely new to the table in terms of personality, and in this show’s case, the archetypes are very well handled. The great execution of these archetypes stems from two major factors: The first factor is the well written script. The dialogue between the characters sounds very authentic and is filled with strong one-liners and wit. Unlike other shows, the usage of one liners and slang doesn’t feel forced or like it was written by some cynical forty-something who’s trying to be “hip with the kids”. It really helps audience connect to the paladins because they speak in a very relatable way. The second factor is the chemistry between the main cast. Each character the show manages to bounce of off each other and much like the dialogue, their chemistry feels authentic. There are so much potential and different interactions that this show provides the viewer whether its Keith a scene with Keith and Lance, Shiro and Allura or even Hunk and Corran, the interactions are always fun to watch and make the characters very likable. These two factors are what made me care quite a bit about the main characters. It’s what made me invested in all the conflicts and developments they face during the show whether its individual or affects the entire group. And this is great because, a lot of shows try to make the audience care about their characters by flooding them with conflicts and backstories and not even succeeding with the two factors I mentions. It’s a very basic rule of storytelling that is unfortunately very neglected, but in Voltron’s case it manages to achieve it. However, I can’t say that the characterization of the villains is as strong as the protagonists.  The Galra empire do make for a good obstacle for team Voltron to overcome, but as of season one, they’re no more than just good obstacles. King Zarkon and his underlings feel menacing but they’re not fleshed out enough to interesting to watch. I only cared about them because the protagonists cared about them but the that’s only the bare minimum of what a villain should be. Another gripe I have with Voltron is the pacing of its pilot episode. Even though the pilot is an hour long, the pacing felt a little too fast because the show tried to cram in as much worldbuilding and set up as it could. That isn’t to say the pilot is bad but it could’ve slowed down a bit by giving the story and the audience some breathing room. The strengths of the show outweigh the negatives and the show makes for great popcorn material. But even then, the fast-paced pilot, and underdeveloped villains is what holds back the show from being truly great. The Presentation The animation of Voltron is top notch, though this fact isn’t surprising considering the fact Studio Mir also worked on The Legend of Korra. The rebooted designs of each paladin are well distinguished and really manage to modernize the character designs from the eighties while keeping their charm. In addition, the settings in which the character’s travel whether it be the different planets or the spaceship interiors are also well handled and have a lot of polish. But the animation truly shines is in the fight scenes, which are very crucial for an action show like Voltron. The hand to hand combat scenes are well directed and the fluid animation helps to make the fights effective and the same could be said for the CG mecha battles. I would even go as far as to say that the way the CG is rendered and utilized in Voltron surpasses over 90% of anime that use CG. It never looks too jarring or stilted for the eye and unfortunately that tends to be a rarity in 2D animated shows. While the background music in the show didn’t really stand out in my eyes, I am very fond of the show’s intro. Although the intro is shamelessly formulaic, introducing the characters one by one while featuring good fight scenes, the music manages to build up some excellent hype and the way the characters are introduced makes them look beyond badass. And then there’s the great voice acting. Every character’s casting is top notch because of how well they suit them and the way the actors deliver their lines really helps the characters to shine. The biggest stand out in my opinion would have to be Jeremy Shada as Lance because his snarky demeanor and great comedic timing really helped to flesh out the character. Final Verdict Although I’ve already mentioned that I haven’t seen any shows in the Voltron franchise, I can confidently say that the first season of Legendary Defender is a good remake and i'll definitely check out its second season. It didn’t blow me away with any extreme subversions of its genre but I still appreciate the amount of effort that went into making this series. The people who worked on this series loved Voltron and the mecha genre and it shows with the show’s quality. Even if there are major weaknesses in the characterization of the villians that could be mended. If you’re a fan of mecha anime I think Legendary Defender would be a show to your taste. There aren’t a lot of standout mecha shows that came out this decade so it could definitely fill the void. I also recommend this show to people who are looking for a good popcorn material show with great action and likable characters. And if you guys are planning to watch Voltron, then watching this show with a younger sibling or something alike would be a good choice! I binged this show with my younger sister and we both had a lot of fun with it. Reccomendation Level 3/5