Mecha-Ude and the Threat of Friction Fires

Many J-List fans will appreciate the need for a third hand. But what if your third hand was a sentient robot alien? Could it help fold the laundry, or would you be at risk of nightly friction fires? J-List sells lotion, so you have no excuse. Be prepared. The premise for Mecha-Ude, or Mechanical Arms (or Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms if you like typing), might sound like a sci-fi sequel to Idle Hands (1999). But the threat of thighs intensifies the forecast of friction fires.

Events kick off when middle schooler Hikaru Amatsuga sees lights in the sky and hears a call for help. Seemingly unfazed by the blaring warning signs of an alien invasion, he stumbles into the thick of percolating events and has an E.T. (1982) moment. Sort of. While Elliot and E.T. of the ’80s had a… cough… touching moment of touching digits, Hikaru fused to the alien appendage. Okay, it fuses to his hoodie. Semantics! It could have been worse — that hand could have fused anywhere. Will Hikaru learn the value of having friends in weird places? Will he enjoy his new friend Aki’s weird places? Or will the robots that come out of her thighs give him pause? This is how a tentacle fetish starts, boys. Ganbatte, Hikaru-kun!

Mecha-Ude Fact File

Besides the need for a smooth, frictionless glide — which only copious amounts of lotion can provide — you need to equip yourself with a few facts going into Mecha-Ude. The creators funded Mecha-Ude’s pilot episode through Kickstarter in October 2016. We’ve had eight years of building anticipation! (We’re not making comparisons to Aki’s thighs here!) Has the input from fans of the manga made an impact on Mecha-Ude? Will the finished work feel right to anime fans?

The producers likely felt indebted to fans, knowing there would be no anime without them. The initial backing from fans is evident in the show’s familiarity. However, was there enough money in the budget left for the animation?

Fun, Familiar Anime

Mecha-Ude isn’t groundbreaking. Not like Dandadan, which grabbed viewers by the bananas and isn’t likely to let go, even when the season ends. But Mecha-Ude’s familiarity is its strength. The series is welcoming and watchable — comfort food for anime fans. Because sometimes, you merely want to watch anime for the sake of watching anime.

Part of the anime’s familiarity comes from Mecha-Ude’s cast of characters.

Who’s Who in Mecha-Ude

We’ve seen these archetypes before, but Mecha-Ude uses them well.

Hikaru Amatsuga (voiced by Toshiyuki Toyonaga). I like the male lead. He’s the hopeless loser. But, while there are too many weak dudes in anime, Hikaru gets over himself relatively quickly. He won’t take others calling him weak lying down (much) because there’s a job to do, and he’s ready to get his hand dirty. I said, “hand.”

Arma is Hikaru’s hoodie hand, and the deep voice of Tomokazu Sugita lends credibility to Arma’s role as Hikaru’s conscience. Arma’s alien servos are the source of our friction fire fears, and he is — hands down — handy to have around. Cough. But I won’t apologize because Mecha-Ude handed over the hand puns in a handy handbag (hopefully, pun karma isn’t a thing). Arma will need Hikaru’s help (and legs) to snatch back his mechanical memories. But let me get a grip because these puns are out of hand.

Aki Murasame (voiced by Yū Shimamura, who voiced Annie Leonhart in Attack on Titan). The female lead reminds me of Haruko from FLCL. We’ll get plenty of close calls with her thighs, but only close calls. You’ll have to rely on fanart friends for your fantasy fulfillment. Aki is the story’s dark horse and an elite operative, similar to Yor from Spy X Family. Her robo-thigh watchdogs are Sinis and Dex, and they’re horribly unsexy.

Apart from Mecha-Ude’s characters, the warm, familiar fuzzies come from Mecha-Ude’s many scenes that evoke feelings of déjà vu.

Samey Isn’t Always Lamey

Didja who? Not copied scenes, but familiar scenes. “Familiar” is a great word. We might say we’re familiar (well acquainted) with anime, but how do you define the essence of anime? Mecha-Ude has a little something of that essence stitched through each episode.

Where My Frames At

My one complaint about Mecha-Ude is the barbed-wire-smooth animation. Rusty barbed wire. The animation jerks — strobe-like — from pose to pose. Could we get a few more frames between those stunning keyframes? Please? This issue is likely an artifact of the crowd-funded budget and a tradeoff for giving fans what they want.

That said, nobody can get me to come down from my “animation is cheating” hill. Good animators know where to cut corners. Otherwise, they’d be stuck. In a cubicle. With severe carpal tunnel syndrome. Animators use their toolbox of techniques to tell this story. And, like any artisan, they need to know where they would waste those efforts.

Maybe the producers of Mecha-Ude made the right choice.

Should You Be Watching?

Mecha-Ude might aim at preteens, but this bread-and-butter entertainment will satisfy casual and hardcore fans. If you can get over the animation and the eternally unfulfilled promise of fanservice from Aki’s thighs, Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms has its hand up and is waving for attention.

Pony Canyon produces Mecha-Ude, and Sae Okamoto directs it. You can follow the show on Twitter (what’s this X business anyway?) and check out the official Mecha-Ude website, which is predominantly in Japanese.

You can watch Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms on Crunchyroll. The series earns a Chibi Megumi rating of four for being merely good to watch.

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Be honest. What would you do with a third hand? Or thigh jaws? Will you ever hear that question again? Of course not. So let us know in the comments or on social media.

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