Heroic Age

Turinu · Wed Apr 04, 2007 12:36 pm

This anime just released a day or two ago I believe. So, has anyone seen it? It seems pretty good so far, the same artist who tackled Fafnir, SEED/SEED D and S-cry-ed is also doing this anime.

Seems to have a nice original storyline so far (from what I can tell) and has some heavy Greek references; some of the main characters in the first episode are named after certain Greek figures, and the ship is also known as the Argonaut.

The first episode was enough to keep my interest; how about yours?

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I didn't see any other topics about this anime, so if there already was one feel free to lock/delete.

Phantomexe87 · Wed Apr 04, 2007 12:40 pm

Can't say I approve of the artist who did Seed, with all the characters looking alike... but I'll check it out all the same.

Turinu · Wed Apr 04, 2007 12:54 pm

Unlike the other animes done by this artist, I feel that this one doesn't have that.... "Oh look, that person looks like Lacus!" or "d00d, that person looks almost like Athrun!" look to them. I think this time around there are a decent amount of unique characters; however I'm not saying those look-a-likes don't exist. D:

Cardi Doorl · Wed Apr 04, 2007 12:58 pm

The fact that Hisashi Hirai did the art is enough to make me uneasy about this one. I've chanted for that man's death before, you know

I hated his work in SEED, s-CRY-ed, and Infinite Ryvius.

It's not the fact that he often makes characters all look the same, though. I think the character designs are ugly in themselves, and his way of making everything look laminated only worsens it.

Anyway, character/art design aside, what's there to know about this new anime? Considering how I am I won't see it until long after it's completed its run in Japan (if I ever see it at all), but still...

Turinu · Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:12 pm

Here's the summary of it.

Answering the call of the â€œTribes of the Goldâ€, all the sentient races launch into space. The human race is the last to launch, and are thus known as the â€œTribes of the Ironâ€. Much time has passed since then, and humanity is threatened with extinction at the hands of the more dominant â€œTribes of the Silverâ€. In order to save her people, Queen Deianeira sets out on a journey to a galaxy far away, following the prophecies of the Tribes of the Gold handed down by the royal family. Then, she meets a boy named Age. Their encounter will change the fate of the universeâ€¦

It's also explained at the beginning of the first episode. Though they call Deianeira a Princess instead of a Queen (Or so goes the subbers translation).

Also, the summary doesn't seem to mention the Bronze Tribe, which makes its appearance in the first episode.

From the AnimeSuki Forum as well:

Anyway, the 12 Labors of Heroic Age as listed in the main page. It's Engrish, so I didn't need to bother with crappy tls.

01. Treat your contractor as your King.
02. To serve the King and never become one.
03. Recover the homeland Earth to the hands of humans who are called "Tribe of Iron."
04. Fight against all survivors of "Tribe of Hero," and defeat every one of them.
05. Secure the Mother Planet of "Tribe of Bronze" to the hands of humans.
06. Secure the Mother Planet of "Tribe of Silver" to the hands of humans.
07. Obtain the powers of "Tribes of Gold" to foresee the future.
08. Obtain the knowledge of "Tribes of Gold" to generate Stars.
09. To make humans who are called "Tribe of Iron" the master of the universe.
10. To protect the bonding party until these labors are fulfilled.
11. To not escape or to die until these labors are fulfilled.
12. When these labors are fulfilled, humans also known as "Tribe of Iron" will make one contactor's wish come true so long as such wish do not break the 11th agreement.

And here are some screenshots of the first episode; hope that's allowed.

http://img391.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... e01bs5.jpg

More summaries of the show from the AnimeSuki forum topic.

In the past, the universe was led by the "Tribe of Gold". You can think of them as the Xel'Naga. They look like hooded golden monks. But they soon left for another universe (the episode shows them as being "outside" the universe proper), and the Silver Tribe became dominant. The Silver Tribe rules over the Bronze Tribe. Incidentally the Silver Tribe are emotionless bishounen. Figures.

Now there's another force called the Hero Tribe. Only five entities in this tribe are still alive, but each are really powerful. They received punishment from the Golds for waging interstellar war, and four of them are under the submission of the Silver Tribe currently. I foresee one-on-one battles between Age and these guys.

The last one, then... is buried in the body of Age, the only human to have been raised by the Gold Tribe.

Fearing for its existence, the human race (Tribe of Iron) searches for their Kwisatz Haderach, I mean Messiah, who of course is Age. They're led by this blonde princess who appears to be wearing nothing more than body paint. Score. Did I mention that the humans all have psychic powers, mechs, and lasers? They can fix machines with their willpower and crap.

The princess has telepathy and the knight (son of the ship's captain) can teleport. I foresee a love triangle developing here...

In a nutshell, that's the background of the series.

Ryujin · Wed Apr 04, 2007 11:13 pm

Reading this brought Kipling's "Cold Iron" to mind:

"Gold is for the mistress -- silver for the maid --

Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade."

"Good!" said the Baron, sitting in his hall,

"But Iron -- Cold Iron -- is master of them all."

Nagato21 · Wed Apr 04, 2007 11:44 pm

I just checked out a trailer on Youtube. The animation is pretty cool, the main character seems to be mix of Goku and Dark Sncheider and the Mechas, ships and monsters/aliens are nifty. I have no doubt it will become a huge hit in the coming days.

razgriz · Sat Apr 07, 2007 3:54 am

hmm interesting, not gundam but i could get into it. the animation is incredible thats for sure.

Bremics · Sat Apr 07, 2007 4:23 am

Am I the only one who saw the Zeon emblem?

wraith1701 · Thu Apr 19, 2007 12:34 pm

I just finished watching episodes one thru three. Episode one was kinda 'meh' , up until we see Age transform into the Nodus bio-mech thing and obliterate the Bronze tribe swarm. That scene took it from 'meh' to "ok, now I'm interested!"

The mechs are pretty cool, but not terribly unique. They kind of remind me of the Arbelesque(sp?) from Full Metal Panic. The teleportation trick is pretty cool, though.
I think that I'll follow this one.

*****************************

Hey, I just realized that the title of the series is a play on words!
When I first saw "Heroic Age", I thought that the title was referring to a period of time marked by acts of heroism. It only now dawned on me that the Protagonist of the show is a character named Age, who is heroic. Anyway...

Nagato21 · Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:36 pm

wraith1701 wrote: *****************************
Hey, I just realized that the title of the series is a play on words!
When I first saw "Heroic Age", I thought that the title was referring to a period of time marked by acts of heroism. It only now dawned on me that the Protagonist of the show is a character named Age, who is heroic. Anyway...

I bet its one of the four remaining Heroe Tribe.
(you get a glimpse of them at the end of ep 3)

wraith1701 · Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:05 pm

Nagato21 wrote:
wraith1701 wrote: *****************************
Hey, I just realized that the title of the series is a play on words!
When I first saw "Heroic Age", I thought that the title was referring to a period of time marked by acts of heroism. It only now dawned on me that the Protagonist of the show is a character named Age, who is heroic. Anyway...
I bet its one of the four remaining Heroe Tribe.
(you get a glimpse of them at the end of ep 3)

Yep. Age's Nodus is one of the remaining Heroic Tribe (I think that there were 5, though).

At the prologue to ep. 3, the narrator tells how the Hero Tribe, which was the most powerful, led a huge, devastating war. All of the Hero Tribe were killed except for five, and as punishment, the Golden Tribe converted them into Nodus units and assigned them to each protect one of the other, weaker tribes. The weakest tribe- Humanity- got the most powerful Nodus (I can't remember it's name), which is carried by Age.

I have a question, though. We know that the guy that led the attack on the human ship towards the end of the episode was one of the Silver Tribe, and that he held one of the 5 Nodus. And I guess the 3 beings that he reported to after fighting against Age were also Nodus holders. What I'm wondering is, are those other 3 also members of the Silver Tribe? And if so, did the Golden Tribe give 4 Nodus to the Silver Tribe and one to the Iron Tribe (Humanity)? Or were the 3 beings representatives of the other 3 tribes (which seems unlikely, since the Bronze Tribe are a race of insects... or are they?)