Before my review I should preface this by saying that this show is not based on anything. Obviously they didn't come up with the idea of giant mechs, but they didn't base the show off of anything in particular. The shows creator (Gray Haddock) said in an interview that the show definitely had some inspiration from other anime/cartoons, but it was not based on any previously existing show.
Now that we have that out of the way, I thought that Gen:lock was an amazing creation from the people at roosterteeth productions. They choose (relatively) inexperienced voice actors and they did an amazing job. If you look at another hit show from roosterteeth, RWBY, then you can see that they really stepped up their game for this series. Everything in the show is crisp and clean, it looks like they put a lot of effort into this and it paid off big time.
Plot
The plot of the show is a very creative take on the mech-fighting genre of animation. Instead of a show like Neon Genesis Evangelion for example, where they use pilots that are in the mechs, Gen:lock transfers their consciousness from their body to the machine, effectively making the mechs into giant humans. this does cause a lot of limitations for their characters though, like leaving their unconscious bodies vulnerable, a time limit on how long they can use the mechs, and most importantly, their is no eject button. they cant just pull a lever and be out of danger. If they get caught by the enemy, they are stuck in the mech until their time limit runs out and they die, or they get rescued. This is something interesting that they do use in the show.
Characters
The characters in this show were less than I was hoping for because of their voice actors, but they still had their own quirks. You had your classic strong man, strong silent female, Joe average-army man and the ,tech savvy one and if you watch the show you immediately know what I'm saying here, and can probably guess who's who. That being said, they all had things that made them "stand out" more or less. Like strong man is from japan and he can only speak Japanese, Strong silent girl used to be in an insurgency in Ukraine, Tech savvy girl really likes bunny's and swearing (its honestly a little weird but in a funny way), and Joe average-army man, well hes pretty average, but everyone else has something different. I do have to say that their was a moment that they really didn't need to be there when they were discussing whether or not one of the characters was male or female. The creator of the show (Gray Haddock) said in an interview that he wanted to be able to talk about gender and stuff without it sounding out of place, but it really was, and nothing became of it and it just made the individual characters (and me) feel awkward and uncomfortably out of sync. That being said I hope that their just leaving some room to grow for the characters in the next season(s)
Overall I think that Gen:lock was a great show. I thoroughly enjoyed every episode. I think that the plot, animation, voice actors, and pacing of the show was excellent and I hope that the characters improve as the show goes on.
