AMAIM Warrior at the Borderline

Episode 6

With Amou and Gai once more onboard their mech, it's at last time for AMAIM to introduce the third pilot we see all over the OP...next week. In this episode all we get from our new addition is her sad backstory and a fairly impressive fight where her own AI sidekick takes center stage. So it'll be at least a week until we actually get a read on this new girl's personality – or name, for that matter – as we instead follow Amou and Gashin awkwardly bonding while running an errand.

While it's a bit of a tease to dangle the prospect of a new character in front of us only to hold off for the rest of the episode, I do appreciate the time we spend with our main boys here. Amou still isn't the most compelling of leads, but letting his naivete bounce off Gashin's surly stoicism does a lot to make him feel like an actual character. The scenes they share talking about friendship and duty and The Mission are far from groundbreaking, but they do a solid job building a rapport and some comedic chemistry between the two. Plus small details like Gashin hating vegetables, or the boys fervently showering to get the stale stank of mech piloting off of them are pretty cute.

Sadly the same can't be said for the various and sundry military villains who bring the actual plot and action this episode. On paper, this is an interesting turn – rather than another crew of soldiers hunting down our protagonists, we see the Oceanian officer from episode one trying to scheme his way into promotion by capitalizing on the enemy's bad press, sending in a force to seize territory under the guise of “liberating” the people being oppressed under the present regime. It'd almost be a pointed bit of political commentary if we knew anything about why any of these military powers are actually staking claim to Japan, or what the geopolitical realm outside of Japan was like in any capacity. But those are questions well above AMAIM's paygrade, so all we get right now are two equally remorseless military forces having a firefight in the middle of a populated city, each vying to see how many civilians they can trick the other side into killing. Again, that almost sounds like a cogent metaphor, but this show wouldn't know coherent commentary if a New Yorker comic kicked it in the crotch.

For the record I'm not offended by any of this. There would need to be something more cohesive or pointed to actually achieve offense. As-is AMAIM's stumbling attempt at a political narrative is too flat and cartoonish to consider with anything approaching nuance, but also too neutered to operate as even a heavily skewed partisan screed. If it has any sentiments about nationalism it's failed to communicate them outside of tired and half-hearted cliches. At this point I'd be happier if the show just threw down its hand and started spouting propaganda or conspiracy theories – at least then there'd be something interesting to this overarching story to talk about. But right now all we really have is half-baked setups for robot fights, and not a lot else.

I can at least say I enjoyed this week's robot fight. I have a soft spot for light and speedy mechs, and the Reiki delivers some high (literally) flying action as it single-handedly takes out a whole city of mechs in minutes. This is the first time one of our central war machines has felt genuinely distinct from the remote-controlled bots in terms of movement and arsenal, which really helps it standout during this big ol' curbstomp of a fight. Then there's our heroine's requisite AI, who somehow boasts an even louder personality than Gai, for good and for ill. I genuinely like his knightly boasting in the middle of battle, and found him to be a genuine breath of fresh air. But then he takes a turn for obnoxious when talking to Amou and Gashin, alongside calling his pilot “Princess” in about the most annoying way possible. Here's hoping this mix of new personalities balances out once everyone's acquainted, because otherwise we're in for a looooon couple of cours.

Otherwise this episode doesn't do much to move the needle in either direction as far as AMAIM quality. It's nice that our main characters feel at least a little more at home together, but little else has really changed by the end credits. It's a step up from the generic padding we got last week, but it would sure be nice if the series could find a point and start getting to it sometime soon.

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AMAIM Warrior at the Borderline is currently streaming on Funimation.