Hundred

Summary: >

Giant aliens continue to fall from space, with only one kind of weapon capable of destroying them: the "hundred", a powerful kind of armor which only a select few can use. Hayato was selected as a top candidate in testing to attend Little Garden academy. On his first day he falls on the bad side of the school president, but proves himself capable enough to stay. Hayato also has an aptitude never seen before among the Slayers at the academy. Perhaps he'll become the key to keeping humanity safe. If the jealous girls don't do him in first.

Thoughts: >

I don't expect harem shows to be original, but Hundred feels like watching a bunch of anime re-runs all at once, and not necessarily the good ones. I could name many titles this one "borrows" from, with a striking resemblance to Infinite Stratos, although its a somewhat product improved version. The travesty of a plot upgraded to "pretty bad" and bitchy harem girls arguing.. well they still do that, but less. It's an attractive harem show with some action.. want more than that? Don't pick this up.

While Hundred assembles anime stuff done elsewhere before, it doesn't exactly fail at any of it, however little is utilized well and mostly it gets in the way. Hundred does harem stuff well enough (due to the very low bar required for that metric), but even then sometimes feels forced. The girl collection doesn't offer much, being the one dimensional assortment you'd expect. The two front runners in the group (#1 big-boobed twin-tailed rich-girl, #2 over-friendly clingy princes girl) aren't too bad and I think Hundred could have done much better with a love triangle involving these two. Instead it keeps piling in more girls, particularly annoying with the idol who adds absolutely NOTHING to the show. But that's the big fault in Hundred: inserting things which add nothing to the show.

Hayato is a lame protagonist. Or was he awesome? In the 1st episode he's had the highest aptitude ever, and obtains a hundred his first day, then "figures it out" (masters it) within two days including things others cant do. Defeats the top rated student council president in a duel on the 3rd day, and by the 4th is chosen for an elite squad who does field combat on the side of school life. Oh, and he's among like 10 people in the world who have this virus making them even more uber. I'm glad all the girls fall for him too, because otherwise he just wouldn't be awesome enough. But lets talk about his personality. Wait, he doesn't have one. Never mind. Unless saving girls who are amazingly powerful, but then require rescuing for some reason is a personality trait.

To its credit, Hundred never seems exceptionally stupid (harem stuff aside) when it comes to the core elements which are consistent. None of it is explained in detail, like where the aliens come from, or why they act the way they do. Some stuff is made up as it goes when it provides any excuse to kiss, and super powers are explained as "just because". That would be fine with a good plot to supplement the show, but the one presented is very weak. It's not bad enough to conspicuously hate it, but bad enough to wonder what justifies this anime's existence.

It looks nice, the action is okay, and it has harem stuff. Whether that's enough to convince you to watch or avoid is up to you. For me it was a fair way to kill time, but teeters on the line of a waste of time. As a story in progress I'll probably watch more if they make more, but wouldn't break my heart if they didn't.

Screen Caps: >