The Robot Research Club is in dire straits - there are only two members and the future of the club is in jeopardy. Despite this, the club's leader, Akiho, is intent on building a life-sized robot based on her favorite anime, GUNVARREL. As if lack of numbers wasn't enough of an issue, the budget Akiho's been trying to get from the school to build her pet project is a little excessive, shall we say. But when the school principal offers to fund the project - with certain conditions - Akiho grabs the lifeline the club's been given... Taking place in the same universe as Steins;Gate (with an offset from Okabe's timeline of 1.048596, if you keep track of that sort of thing), Robotics;Notes seems to be concerned with far more mundane things than multiple timelines and SERN's world-controlling efforts. Instead, we get the heartwarming story of a girl and her robot, which is currently a pile of parts in an abandoned airport hangar, but that will soon become something far more useful. Half the fun of this episode was watching the technology. It's set in 2020, and a lot of what you see (PhoneDroid Pads?) is one or two steps beyond what we're familiar with - videocalling, AR apps that put alternative outfits on your friends - while more current applications are also common. There's a lot of fun to be had from just watching the show's attempt at futureology. Away from that, there's still a decent story here, too - one that comes across more as high scholl slice of life at the moment, but that has potential to be genuinely interesting. Akiho is a hoot, with her exuberant attitude to anything; Kai is almost the opposite, there's very little that really enthuses him and he's far more grounded in reality. Buy they make a good pair, and the fringe characters that we've been introduced to so far are an entertaining bunch. THE GOOD: Has a view on the near-future that I find fascinating, and is taking very much the light approach to its story. THE BAD: For the second time today, I'm struggling to come up with something. Don't know that the world needs anther high-school-based show, but then given the people behind this who knows if it'll stay that way. Another one that I'd bet stays on the 'keepers' list, then, and that I'm looking forward to the next instalment of. Roll on the next episode. Robotics;Notes is streamed by FUNimation (North America only).
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