Anime: Viper`s Creed

‎There's really very little to say about Viper's Creed. An action show at heart, it follows a team of "blademen" - transforming motorcycle pilots - whose job it is to protect one of the last surviving cities on Earth from the leftover robots of an apocalytpic war. Comparisons to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex are apt, but politically Viper's Creed is almost opposite - where GitS:SAC argued for the need for a near-fascistic military power to protect the public from terrorism, Viper's Creed is quick to point out the ills of a world dominated by large corporations,and the improprieties that can all too easily arise when they are given responsibility for defence - particularly welcome given this is part of Sony's move into animation.

The first half of Viper's Creed introduces us to the characters; unfortunately the creators have gone the easy route of showing us one per episode, rather than attempting any more integrated character development. It's all perfectly well executed, but the tales of a giant with a soft heart, a lone sniper afraid to connect with anyone else, or a tough woman who has to be both soldier and mother are simply too overdone, even clichéd, to capture much interest. And that's the fundamental problem with Viper's Creed - everything it does has been done before. The setting, elegant as it is, is straight out of late-80's cyberpunk, and the moralising about the clash of reality and idealism is laughably simple. The presentation is good - voice acting is consistently high quality, the ending theme is downright excellent, and the animation is unmistakably of the HD era. But while it probably looks better than the seven-year-old GitS:SAC, it's retreading the same ground in terms of robot design and fight choreography.

In the second half, as the main plot kicks into gear, Viper's Creed does begin to show some signs of life. While the conclusion will be unsurprising, the approach taken to get there is remarkably brave, and does pull the viewer into the plot, at least for a while. But by then it's too late; anyone watching this series for the plot will already have given in. Taken as a whole, the plot of Viper's Creed is like all the rest of it: solid, well executed, but never anything more than that. Despite all the pieces being there, this is a series that never quite catches fire.