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Plot Synopsis

Coud Van Giruet, a sky-thief, stumbles upon a cute, dark, lonely girl named Reverie Metherlance and finds out that she is an Eden-raid, a weapon of sorts. (Or so we are led to believe...) Right from the beginning, a fight breaks out from the get go to obtain the power of Reverie Metherlance, otherwise known as the "Shichikouhouju." Coud is then left possession of Reverie, or Ren, and in the ensuing fight, reacts with her and creates an intimate bond that he will carry throughout the rest of this adventure. Treating Ren as if she was human, he alone remains the hero throughout the rest of series and gets help from an unlikely source: the trio (Rowen, Cisqua, and Kuea) from Arc Aile, an organization that protects Eden-raid while really isolating them. Attacks on our protagonists come from the Chaos Choir as well, and the plot twists and thickens. Throughout the series, Coud's strength and willpower are tested again and again as he strives to bring Ren to the Garden of Eden and encounters many obstacles along the way, physical and emotional. A very poignant and passionate series, Erementar Gerad will not disappoint the action/romance fan as Coud's and Ren's struggle to find their purpose in life highlights this anime series.

Story & Characters

Okay so the story seems incredibly original but at its heart it really isn't. Boy meets girl who's a weapon, thinks she's cute, decides based upon his manly morals(it also helps that girl is cute) to protect her, and gets in trouble along the way because girl is not just a weapon...she's an uber weapon, and oh yeah did I mention girl and boy fall in love along the way?!. While that may seem like the greatest runon sentence of your life it's actually the whole basis for EG. The story has its fun and sentimental moments but majority of the time your only souveniers are cliches and "been there seen that" flags.
The characters help to save the story a bit.
Although most of the characters aren't anything choc out of the "brand spankin original" mold: Coud (happy go lucky hero), Ren:(solitary calm weapon girl), Cisqa (obnoxious yet humourous gun loving guardian) the way they interact saves them from being totally stale. As Coud's group journeys around the characters really grow on you and you can relate to them in more ways than one. Each character has something to contribute to the common whole of the story. By the end you really want to shoot some characters *cough cough* EVE *cough, but you honestly can't help loving some characters. The story expands on the characters enough that you get a nice flavor for each of them individually.

Something I enjoyed about EG was that a lot of the minor characters got fleshed out backgrounds. Well there's the sister protects younger sister despite the fact that she's worrying younger sister constantly (Lillia and Rasati). I really liked those two because their relationship was genuinly motivating and fun to watch. There's super angsty guy who treats his raid like she's just a tool despite the fact that she worships the ground he treds on (Wolx). Basically Wolx got stale very fast and you are quite happy when his screen time is up. It's nice that these characters got a chance in the sun, but um...let's just say they aren't all appealing.

If you can see past the big cliche potholes and the antics of some characters you'll enjoy EG more.

Rating

6 (average)

Art

Like anything else the artwork isn't always fabulous. Some of the battle scenes are very nicely animated, while some are just horrendous. All in all the art was standard. Some of the characters have too brightly colored outfits to fit the scene which is irksome but you can get over it. The main characters for the most part get all the love. Their designs are very nice and Coud/Ren especially get some great shots. Rowen and Keau tend to take a back seat once in a while but on the whole are nicely animated throughout the series as well. Towards the end of the series the art starts to dip dramatically. The colors are pretty badly thrown together and everything just seems like it was rushed.

Rating

7 (above average)

Sound

Aside from the opening theme (FOREVER by Savage Genius) and some of the cool fusion chanting the music isn't anything special. I really can't remember majority of it even though I watched this series rather recently. So keep in mind you aren't watching this show for its soundtrack cause it's really nothing to be desired. Kajiura Yuki is wonderful and amazing but even she couldn't save this one.

In terms of voice acting it was really great. I watched the subtitled version so I can't comment on the dub but each and every part was played very nicely. Every voice actor must have really felt their characters because despite a lot of corny lines all the voices have so much feeling that you want to believe in what their saying. Good job seiyuus!!! I'm giving this an 8 for the voice acting. The sountrack can take a 5 for trying.

Rating

8 (good)

Presentation

Like I said this show is pretty darn cliched. It uses the age old elements of main heroine kidnapping, love and friendship, moon tiara action (oh wait...scratch that last one). The humor gets you laughing a little but you really don't get much of it except from Cisqua. Keau tries but her "I'M HUNGRY!" lines get old very fast. I will say this about Eremental Gerad. Every episode is very nicely laid out. There is never too much or too little in an episode and there are practically NO fillers. The show keeps an excellent pace until the very end. You'll find that you watch this series and you can't help but think it was cute. Unfortunately it's not one of those series you'll be watching over and over again (in my personal opinion, mind you). It gets old fairly fast and there's not much to keep you coming back for more. I recommend it for people who love the good old "boy and girl love each other and go the distance to be together" stories but for everyone else just pass it by or pick up the manga because I heard it was way different and better.

Rating

7 (above average)

Final Verdict

6.83 (above average)

Reviewed by Earthguardian, 2y 6wk ago