I was first drawn to trying this anime because the animation style reminded me of Gundam Seed (another of my top 11).
Summary: We’re introduced to the mythology of the present timeline. There’s a lot going on. It also isn’t part of a mythic past or creation myth. When the story of the Golden Tribe happens, humans have space travel and so do the other species involved. Everyone gets a tribe name: humans are the Iron Tribe, insect-like sentients are the Bronze Tribe, the Silver Tribe is humanoid but they have a specific color scheme that includes pale hair and eyes, and the Heroic Tribe is hard to describe. They are humanoid in shape but they are kind of scary…
The crew of the space-ship, Argonaut, are looking for their hero foretold to help them win back Earth. In this episode they find him on a ruined planet that looks like a wasteland and is falling apart.
The Twelve Labors (another reference to Greek myth) is the agreement that Age, foretold hero and raised by the Golden Tribe, and humanity have together. He’ll help them take back Earth and stop the other Tribes from eradicating humanity in exchange for them restoring his home planet.
The good: Age is a gem of a character. He is hilarious and pure-hearted. My favorite quote after he’s taken one of his friend’s arms for food, “Thank you for being so delicious!” He also thinks of the ship as his “mom.” It makes me emotional just thinking about it. Also the ending song, “Azurite” performed by Tae Urakabe, gives me chills.
The less good: There is a lot of world-building thrown at us right from the start. We get the history of the Tribes, then we get pieces of humanity’s timeline and the current political situation, then we get a little of what is expected of Age. Besides a battle with the Bronze Tribe.
From the Deck of the Matcha Latte 