(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. I’m back once again with Isis and Chibi Isis.
(Chibi): It’s just Chibi now nii-chan.
(Nitsuj): Right, sorry.
(Isis): Put some respect on my girl’s name.
(Nitsuj): I know. Anyway, we’re here to review the second part of Heavy Objects.
(Isis): You know, during the downtime I did some research on the anime and discovered that this anime got some heat when it first came out.
(Chibi): Really? Why?
(Nitsuj): Yeah there’s nothing too controversial in it.
(Isis): Well keep in mind the anime came out in 2015, before people really started using Twitter to whine about everything. You see a lot of fans were hoping for a new season of Magical Index at the time, but instead got this which made them upset. So a majority of them decided to show their contempt by skipping the anime and not giving it the views it deserved.
(Nitsuj): Well that explains why the anime wasn’t watched all that much.
(Isis): Of course years later, people would find clips of it online, saw how funny it was, and decided to give it a watch.
(Chibi): What did they think of it?
(Isis): It ranged from good to meh. But the one thing everyone could agree on is that it had some good funny moments.
(Nitsuj): Wonder what we’ll think of it?
(Chibi): We’ll let’s continue watching and find out. This is the second half of Heavy Objects.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Nitsuj): For the second half, the opening is “Never Gave Up” by All Off. This was a better song then the first opening. This song was more intense and had more passion put into it then the first one. The animation also does a good job showing off the characters, their personalities, and the relationship one another as well as introduce us to new characters will be seeing down the line.
(Isis): The second ending is “Kawaranai Tsuyosa” by Yuka Iguchi. This song is beautiful. I can close my eyes and feel like I’m going on a trip in a foreign country and enjoying myself. It also perfectly captures the feelings of a young girl in love and mailing a letter to the guy she likes.
Episodes 13-16
(Chibi): The second half starts off with the group going after the remnants of the MDC. The MDC have retreated to an abandoned city called Amazon City where Qwen and Havia are given the mission to infiltrate the city and assassinate the leader of the MDC, Sladder Honeysuckle (we will now take a minute to laugh at this silly name *Chibi clears her throat and begins to laugh along with Nitsuj and Isis*). We also see Froytalia is still mad about what Qwen did to her last episode. While she’s grateful for his help his actions have damaged her reputation. Qwen and Havia make it to Amazon City (Corbin: Which is false advertisement. (Nitsuj): Honestly, it looks like the set from The Last of Us). The soldiers all get told to pick up the pace as the MDC are seeking asylum from the Intelligence Union who are on their way to help them. As if that wasn’t bad, the Capitalist Enterprise which is where the MDC originated from are also coming to fight as well to prevent their government secrets from being leaked to other nations. Basically, if they don’t find Honeysuckle than we are in for a four-way showdown between nations.
Episode 14 turns out to be a rather exciting episode. Due to a collapse in the city streets Qwen and Havia get separated from each other (Isis: Breaking up the band). As if that wasn’t bad. Baby Magnum falls into a trap and becomes damaged so Mili will be forced to eject out of the Object. However, someone drops a net over the hatch and once Mili gets launched she’ll be torn to shreds. Qwen uses his explosives to destroy the net and allow Mili to eject safely but Honeysuckle arrives and tries to shoot her down only to get stopped by Qwen who fakes him out. We find out that just like Qwen, Honeysuckle wants to change the status quo as well and destroy Objects without using another one (Nitsuj: The only difference being is that Qwen and others do it for free). Qwen manages to outsmart Honysuckle (who looks nothing like I originally thought) with a good bomb placement which knocks his gun away and Havia arrives to help capture him. With this victory the boys expect a lot of rewards for their accomplishments but Froytalia puts things in perspective for them and Havia finds out about Qwen touching her breast (scene here: https://youtu.be/OxyuGVA0Tos).
(Nitsuj): Episode 15 starts with the boys getting raided by the female officers (cheese it! Every man for himself! Scene here: https://youtu.be/bTtoiiGraCc). After this, the two are sent back to Alaska for a mission, destroy the remains of the Water Strider (Isis: You mean to tell me they didn’t do that immediately after the events of episode 3? (Chibi): That was dumb of them). The Information Alliance has been gathering data from the remains and transmitting their findings back to their nation. While Mili takes on Hisako and her Object, Rush, Qwen and Havia will destroy the transmitter and any remains of the Water Strider to prevent anyone from stealing data (scene here: https://youtu.be/sUopCH5KxYQ). When Mili and Hisako finally meet up and fight each other we get our first real Object battle in the anime (yeah, despite being a mecha anime this is honestly the first time they’ve given us a proper Object vs Object battle. All the other times it’s been Qwen and Havia destroying the Objects or the Object going down from one powerful hit from another Object). As the two ladies fight Havia manages to hear their conversation with each other over the radio where they’re both fighting over who gets Qwen (Chibi: Somebody’s popular. Too bad he’s too dense to know it. Scene: https://youtu.be/fg7jX5kb7H0. (Nitsuj): And with this my respect for Havia has gone up). Mili and Hisako both damage each other’s main guns and are forced to return to base and get repairs done ASAP. However, Hisako isn’t returning to base but instead a convoy that was set up for quick repairs which means Hisako will have the edge while Mili is completely defenseless. Qwen and Havia move to sabotage Hisako with Qwen climbing aboard Rush and breaking into the cockpit to hold Hisako at knife point where he discovers the truth about Hisako, she’s a loli (how dare you play with a man’s emotions! Give me back my G cup).
So in episode 16 Qwen is still shocked and upset to see that his G cup idol is really an A cup idol (scene here: https://youtu.be/gWlXd1f5U5c). Still, despite this complete betrayal, Qwen still tries to subdue Hisako only for her to turn the tables on him and hand over control of Rush to an AI. Rush heads out to face Mili where the repairs on Baby Magnum aren’t finished so she’s going into battle with only one main gun functioning (Isis: Geez, it’s like being told to take down a rhino with one shotgun shell). The battle resumes with Hisako playing mind games with Mili by singing (Chibi: Oh hey, the anime turned into Marcross. Scene here: https://youtu.be/QuA8qVRHrK0). Using his quick wits Qwen sends out a message to Havia using their own code language that causes a misunderstanding with the ladies (scene here: https://youtu.be/95py6sDKDl0). The coded message works as Havia sets up a trap that brings Rush’s AI to a deadlock where it’s trying to calculate what to do next but can’t come to an answer as there are too many unknowns (Isis: You fail as an AI). Qwen and Havia may have stopped the AI but Hisako can still fight. She shuts down the AI and prepares to operate the guns herself but Qwen has one final card to play to win the battle. He convinces Hisako into believing that her superiors have activated the self-destruct sequence for Rush because it stopped moving and believe that she’s a traitor since she didn’t finish off Baby Magnum when she had the advantage. Qwen helps Hisako escape and with her ejection, the Legitimate Kingdom takes possession of Rush intact with a fully functional AI (scene here: https://youtu.be/-2DOlD0lHWQ, major win).
Episodes 17-20
(Isis): In episode 17 Qwen and Havia are put on a task force against the Faith Organization who have taken over control of a coal mine (Nitsuj: I’ve heard of stupider things to battle over). They also have a new Object codenamed Wing Balancer which has the advantage against Baby Magnum thanks to the area that they’re fighting in. Qwen is in charge of leading a team to hack into the Faith Organization’s surveillance drones which will allow Havia’s team to come in and sabotage a radar facility which will than allow Mili to come in with an edge over Wing Balancer. Joining Qwen’s team is Charlotte an oversight officer who seems interested in Qwen (Chibi: Where’s the love for Havia? (Isis): He has a fiancée. (Chibi): Oh right) and Nutsley (Nitsuj: I’m doing my best not to laugh) who is also an exchange student like Qwen. I have to admit, I do like how well Havia and Qwen form a connection with their group so quickly (it just proves how easily they’re able to get along with others). Qwen’s team finds a drone and tries to hack it only to get betrayed by Nutsley who kills another soldier and shoots Qwen and Charlotte in the back.
At the start of episode 18 we see that Qwen and Charlotte are still alive thanks to their heavy-duty backpacks (Nitsuj: Nutsley, didn’t they teach you anything in school? If you don’t see red that means they’re still alive). Realizing that their position will get noticed by the enemy, the two make their way into the coal mines to hide. Meanwhile, things don’t go well on Havia’s part as he loses 2 soldiers from his team and discovers that the Wing Balancer can fly for a short period of time (Chibi: I can’t even begin to calculate the air pressure needed to lift something like that up). Havia and the remaining soldier go to hide out in the coal mines where they run into Qwen and Charlotte and discover that the mine is in fact a diamond mine and isn’t controlled by the Faith Organization but instead an antiwar faction from the Faith Organization who want to do business with their kingdom (Nitsuj: And you’re bringing diamonds to the table? Shoot, I’m all ears). They figure out that the Faith Organization intends to use the Wing Balancer to trick Baby Magnum into destroying the mines and killing the antiwar faction group. Sure enough that’s their plan as the Wing Balancer engages Mili and lures her toward the mines so she can destroy them and make the kingdom look bad. Qwen, Havia, and the others decide to continue the original mission and sabotage the Faith Organization’s radar to give Mili the opening she needs to defeat the Wing Balancer. The group than gets attacked by Nutsley who is piloting an armor suit (wow, different mechs do exist in this world).
Episode 19 starts off with Qwen getting caught by Nutsley who tries to pop his head off. Luckily, he gets saved by one of the antiwar citizens and takes on Nutsley with Charlotte helping him. The two lead Nutsley on a game of hide and seek through the mines where Qwen finally kills Nutsley with the most expensive shrapnel you can find (scene here: https://youtu.be/IrQA67In4Bs, pretty). Once Qwen and Charlotte make their way back to the surface, they arrive just in time to see Mili taking on Wing Balancer. Qwen figures out that Wing Balancer requires delicate IR sensors to control its landings, so Qwen uses an IR laser to disable one of sensors which causes Wing Balancer to land incorrectly and cripple one of its legs. With this opening, Mili finishes off Wing Balancer to eliminate all hostiles in the area. Just when Qwen takes a breath of relief, another Object called Indigo Plasma from their kingdom arrives and destroys the mines. Thankfully, Froytalia managed to warn them ahead of time and got them all to safety before the attack. With this attack from Indigo Plasma the Legitimate Kingdom has now gone into a civil war with radicals.
(Chibi): The operation to take down the Indigo Plasma as well as the radicals has begun in episode 20. The Legitimate Kingdom plans to fight Indigo Plasma on Victoria Island (I’ve heard their secrets are very arousing) where along with Baby Magnum and 2 other Objects, they’ll prevent it from escaping and finish it off along with the radicals. The radicals have actually employed the same tactics as Qwen and Havia and have released infantry units to assist in defeating Baby Magnum and the other Objects (glad to see their work is getting recognized). The radicals have been dispersing gas across the battlefield that triggers an explosion once ignited by Indigo Plasma’s cannon. This causes Baby Magnum and another Object to sustain significant damage and to make matters worse, the Legitimate Kingdom’s third Object was destroyed by 6 other Objects that appeared out of nowhere and regroup with Indigo Plasma (Isis: 7 enemy Objects vs 2 damaged Objects. This is going to be one for the record books).
Episodes 21-24
At the start of episode 21 the Indigo Plasma and the 6 Objects destroy the base of the Legitimate Kingdom and then make their way to an immigrant city. Qwen goes to analyze the landing equipment of the 6 Objects with Havia where he deduces that they’re all inferior Objects that are .5 gen and controlled by AIs. Before Qwen and Havia can head out to do something with this information they get attacked and held at gunpoint by maids (Nii-chan am I watching a fanfic? (Nitsuj): Doubt it, there would have been sex by now). This group of maids is called the Battlefield Cleaning Service, a mercenary group from the Capitalist Enterprise who have been trapped on Victoria Island after the events from episodes 15-16. In order to save himself and Havia, Qwen uses a stash of diamonds he stole from the mines (Nitsuj: Hey he saved them, he has a right to take some) to hire the maids and assist him in taking down the Indigo Plasma (scene here: https://youtu.be/mVTjqVLIMl4). They take off where the maids treat Qwen rather nicely (Isis: He is a paying client) but treat Havia poorly as he gave them nothing (scene here: https://youtu.be/0zPkXCgGYbY. (Nitsuj): Points for turning the tables on them at the end). After this not much happens. We see Granny (the head engineer for Baby Magnum) go to the immigrant city in the hopes of saving her children only it’s too late as the Indigo Plasma is closing in on the city so escape will be impossible. Lucky for her, our heroes are close by as well and they brought the maids (again, is this a fanfic?).
Episode 22 is a rather exciting episode. With the help of the maids Qwen stages a diversion on the Indigo Plasma damaging one of the dummy Objects and knocking off a piece of their armor. After analyzing the armor with Granny’s assistance, Qwen finds out that the armor is made out of low cost ceramic material (Isis: Combined that with a dumb AI and you are looking at a walking glass cannon). With this information, Qwen has the maids use their drone to hit one of the AI Objects where the faulty AI panics and opens fire on its own support convoy (https://youtu.be/kZaB3JBOtAA, *Chibi and Isis also do a double facepalm* no AI should be that stupid). This blast sets off the volatile gas inducing a thermal shock on the dumb AI Objects and shatters them to pieces. This angers the driver of Indigo Plasma who spots Qwen and is prepared to fire on him until Mili shows up and defeats him as well as the Indigo Plasma to save the immigrant city and end the radical movement within the kingdom. In a shocking twist we find out that the maids aren’t from the Capitalist Enterprise but instead the Intelligent Union. They assisted Qwen in order to erase the remains of their AI technology (Isis: If it’s this faulty you have it) from the Legitimate Kingdom and in the process Qwen’s reputation continues to rise with the female personnel of the Intelligent Union (Nitsuj: Qwen is a lowkey playboy).
(Nitsuj): The final story for the anime starts in episode 23. The Legitimate Kingdom is doing a hostage exchange with the Intelligent Union. The plan is for the kingdom to exchange this guru guy named Klondike (Chibi: I guess the Intelligent Union is interested in the secrets to his bars) for valuable intelligence. During the exchange, the Faith Organization as well as the Capitalist Enterprise will be watching from afar meaning it’s the first time we’ll see all four major nations in one place (a powder keg just waiting to explode. Scene here: https://youtu.be/C8JrmGY4FX8. (Isis): So, out of curiosity. How many times did you have to watch this scene to get all that information? (Nitsuj): 5). Before the exchange Qwen actually makes a gift for Mili which she loves (scene here: https://youtu.be/IFsOjxSjdnk. Like I said, lowkey playboy). At the exchange point we see that Hisako is on standby as well so she reacquaints herself with Mili (scene here: https://youtu.be/CxuuE9B3umI). A few seconds later Baby Magnum gets hacked from an unknown source and our heroes are called in to check it out. They trace the hacker to an abandoned settlement where we see that hacker is Flide. He escaped prison and now not only wants to exact revenge but use the hostage exchange to start a world war (Chibi: I didn’t think your powder keg comment earlier would be taken so literally). Flide uploads a program into Baby Magnum which brainwashes Mili and makes her attack everyone and everything. Her mind is making her see everything as a threat and when everyone tells her to stop she hears the opposite (in other words, she’s going on a rampage). Flide has her fire on his hideout destroying himself and all the evidence of the hacking (Isis: Crafty bastard). Qwen and Havia escape unharmed and rush back to stop Mili where according to Honeysuckle the only way to stop Mili is to kill her along with Baby Magnum.
In the final episode Qwen and Havia’s vehicle gets hit by stray fire leaving them both critically injured. Luckily, they get saved by the maids from the Intelligent Union and treated by their medical staff. Once Qwen and Havia regain consciousness they find out that their superiors have decided to destroy Baby Magnum along with Mili and give the green light for the other nations to destroy them. Qwen comes up with a plan to damage Baby Magnum enough that Mili gets forced to eject while at the same time not destroying it, but he needs Hisako’s help which she’s more than happy to help out (it’s all a part of her big plan). Qwen and Havia lure Baby Magnum into a line of fire for one of Baby Magnum’s spare cannons which fires a shell full of CVD particles. The particles manage to foul up the barrels of Baby Magnum’s cannons and they explode thus forcing Mili to eject and break the brainwashing. Mili gets picked up by Qwen and the group goes on vacation together to end the anime (scenes here: https://youtu.be/hGiPbiEE2WI and https://youtu.be/6LcryA9-Ueg).
Final Thoughts
(Nitsuj): So that was Heavy Object. While I wouldn’t call this one of the best mecha animes out there I will say it’s one of the more fun ones to watch.
(Isis): The major appeal of this series has to be the four main characters Qwen, Havia, Mili, and Froylatia. While they don’t go through much character development throughout the anime, they’re well-rounded and well-defined characters who play off each other excellently. The bromance of Qwen and Havia is great with the two making an excellent team that make up for each other weaknesses. The two can be perverted and crack jokes, but when it’s time to get serious they’ll do their jobs right. Qwen is quick-witted and smart. Often coming up with the strategies to take down Objects and having a good moral compass that lets him see the full picture. While he doesn’t deliver the killing blow, he sets up the groundwork perfectly for his team to win. He can be dense, but one could argue that his density is just him being modest. He doesn’t see or think of himself as a hero, but rather a soldier who just did what needed to be done in order to survive. Havia is no slouch either. While he may not be as smart as Qwen, he certainly is smart and is the courageous one of the two. Just like Qwen he has a good moral compass and is loyal to his partner as he trusts Qwen with his life and follows him into danger knowing that as long as he and Qwen stick together they can get through just about anything.
(Chibi): The character of Mili is nice. Her crush on Qwen is adorable and definitely serves as her emotional rock that she’s needed for a very long time now. She may not show it but she cares for everyone in her battalion and will do anything to keep them all alive even if that means taking on the most dangerous creation known to man. Froytalia was easily my favorite character. I love how cool and independent she is, how confident she is as a leader, and how she enjoys torturing Qwen and Havia. However, she also cares for them. She trusts them with these impossible missions knowing that they’ll perform a miracle and give them the opening they need to win. I also like how she has her own hardships she’s working through. She doesn’t stay in the military because she wants to, she does it because it’s the only way she can remain truly free.
(Nitsuj): The stories throughout the anime are good and do carry a good sense of suspense in each one. My favorite being episodes 15-16 as it’s the first time we got to see a proper battle between the Objects. Speaking of Objects, how do they stack up? Well like I said before they’re not very creative, but they are practical and stand out from the average mecha. I actually do like how they went out of their way to justify their design by deconstructing other well-known mechs like Gundams and Zoids. I can’t help but feel that when mechs finally do get designed instead of getting ones like in the Gundam and Zoid series, we’ll instead start off with something simple like Objects and work our way up to humanoid and animal forms. The one major downside with this anime is that it could have used more battles between Objects. While it’s cool seeing all the strategies and tactics Qwen comes up with to defeat Objects I would have liked to see more battles between them to get an idea of just how destructive and powerful these machines can be.
(Chibi): The animation is alright. While nothing special it does look good and the CGI blends in nicely with the 2D animation. The CGI explosions are one of the highlights in the anime as they look great. Michael Bay wishes he could make explosions look this good like a work of art. Aside from the opening and ending themes the music really doesn’t do that much for me in this anime but they make up for it by having comedic banter and situations with Qwen and Havia. Just watching these two is guaranteed to get a good laugh out of you in some way.
Final Score
(Nitsuj): My final score for Heavy Object is 6.5/10. While not big on mecha fights it’s big on laughs and being enjoyable to watch.
(Chibi): I give it a 7/10. It was enjoyable to watch and enjoyed the chemistry between the characters.
(Isis): I’m also giving it a 7/10. Even if you’re not a big fan of mecha, this anime was easy to follow, had good characters to watch, and was funny.
(Nitsuj): So this brings our combined score to 20.5/30 which averages out to 6.8 and going by our rating system makes the final score for the anime a 7/10. If you’re looking for a good mecha anime to enjoy without getting too deep, confusing or looking to get into mecha anime then check this anime out. It’s a good starting point for first time mecha watchers and it’s an enjoyable watch for longtime mecha watchers as well.
(Isis): Sadly, there’s been no word of another season coming out which is a shame as this was in my opinion a good watch.
(Chibi): Definitely check out the light novel if you enjoyed the anime.
(Nitsuj): Thanks for reading and we’ll next on Project Nitsuj.
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