Clockwork Planet Anime Review: A Flawed but Intriguing Clockpunk Adventure

Clockwork Planet

“A Flawed but Intriguing Clockpunk Adventure”

Sometimes, you pick up an anime on GP because you're bored; there's nothing else to do, and when you watch the first episode or so, certain premises click with you, and you decide to go further. The goal of going further is that you feel fulfilled and hope to God that you don't feel unfulfilled. Who's got four-plus hours to waste on a show when you could be doing better things with your life? Obviously, I did, and not only did I have four plus hours to waste, but I also had more than that because, at the time of writing, I watched Clockwork Planet twice, and now I'm reading the manga. It must mean that it’s good, right? Well…

I’ll answer that question. But first, let me provide you with a bit of background information on this production because you might want to buy that light novel or that manga, or you just might want to watch this anime, and it would be unbecoming of me if I did not dump information on you before diving into this article.

Clockwork Planet is an original light novel by Tsubaki Himana and Yuu Kamiya, illustrated by Shino. The light novel falls under the action, clockpunk, and fantasy genres. Published by Kodansha Kodansha has published four volumes since April 2, 2013, under their Kodansha Ranobe Bunko imprint. It originally ran for four volumes until December 29, 2015, and is currently on hiatus. For my English-speaking readers, the light novel is available in North America via Seven Seas Entertainment in print or digital format via J-Novel Club.

Its manga counterpart varies slightly. Kuro illustrates it with character designs based on Shino’s previous work. Like anime and light novels, it caters to the eager needs of the average shōnen reader by featuring the genres mentioned above. Kodansha published the series in its Monthly Shōnen Sirius Magazine from September 26, 2013, to August 25, 2018, for ten volumes, and Kodansha USA has made it available for North America and licensed by Kodansha Comics with Online Distribution by K MANGA.

The anime comes to life under the direction of Tsuyoshi Nagasawa, known for his work on other animated hits such as “Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!” and “Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs.” He is flanked on this mission by series composer Kenji Sugihara, who has a cool name and has handled composition duties on Shiki and Oreca Battle.

Shuichi Shimamura adds flair to the cast of characters with distinctive designs that captivate the audience's imagination. He has a solid pedigree, even if the anime isn’t stellar. The Madhouse animated Chaos;HEAd comes to mind. Xebec brought the artistic ensemble into motion, featuring the genres of fantasy sci-fi and a PG-13 rating for teens 13 or older.

The rating doesn’t do it justice, though, as the series has some coarse language, its share of ecchi, which I will lovingly term shota, and probably every sexual innuendo in the book.

The premise of Clockwork Planet is simple; it's your typical Shounen anime, in which humanity has failed in its stewardship of Earth, and the usual result is some apocalyptic world. In this case, however, the world is destroyed. After a catastrophic failure leads to Earth's collapse, it is reborn through the genius of an engineer known only as "Y." I’m not sure if Tsubaki Himana and Yuu Kamiya were going for the intelligent design or “watchmaker” theory, but that’s what we get here. A new world was built using clocks, cogs, and gears, and humanity was reborn.

We meet Naoto Miura, a social outcast and high school otaku, a thousand years after humans first settled in the New World. Naoto is highly obsessed with all things mechanical, especially automata, making him very much the Dexter of this world sans the laboratory. I blame this on Yoshino Nanjō, whose voice acting reminds me of Christine Cavanaugh.

His obsession with automata comes full circle when, through a stroke of luck, one falls from the sky almost into his lap. Unbeknownst, the automata in question was flight-bound on its way to a certain Marie Bell Breguet of the acclaimed Breguet family, a first-class member of the "Meister Guild," an organization tasked with maintaining much of the world's gear infrastructure.

The coffin, as it were, contains one of Y’s finest creations, Unit 1 of the Initial Y-series RyuZU, which has been in a state of disrepair for the last 206 years. So through the power of horny and the ability of his god-tier hearing, Naoto repairs and revives RyuZU.

Upon awakening, she immediately slams humanity for their lack of knowledge. Still, she praises Naoto for doing in three hours what no one else had done in several centuries. I'm not sure how much of her praise he heard, but it's love at first sight for him, and Naoto is immediately smitten. I’m sure finger-sucking helps as well.

The anime moves rather swiftly, sweeping a few bits of information under the rug, such as the fact that part of his ecstasy with RyuZU is that he was already working on building his own automaton in his shed when she came crashing down.

Additionally, in keeping with the Where are the Parents trope, it’s explained in the manga that both parents are deceased. This was helpful as it explained much of his social awkwardness and feelings of abandonment. You're a brilliant viewer and could probably figure that out, but I doubt you want to use all your brain cells to watch this, though you might.

Nevertheless, we get through the usual loser-taking-your-hot-robot girl-to-school tropes, bump into the original owner, Marie Bell Breguet, and her human cyborg Halter, and immediately slam into the wall of politics in future Japan.

Okay, let us get the world-building history out of the way first. You know that a wise master builder has long since vanished, but this Clockwork Planet is constructed entirely of gears and clocks. These gears wear out with time, putting cities at risk. In the manga, quite a bit of science goes along with this. It’s the same in the anime, though, without the extra commentary.

Each city has its own central clock or core tower, and all the gears are interlocked, so if you've ever seen an old watch, you know what happens when the gears go bad. If one of the gears wears out, it’s generally not a problem, as the military and the guild handle various repairs. In cases where the situation has gotten out of hand and neither party can adequately manage the situation, then the politicians and the military step in to initiate a purge. A purge is just like it sounds, and that includes the civilians.

There's nothing like an excellent calamity to pull four protagonists together—and yes, there is a fifth, but we won't talk about her just yet. If they are well written, they can make for a superb story, and maybe, in the case of Jujitsu Kaisen fans, they can cause you to question your life. That is mostly the case here, as each character is highlighted. This is contingent on a few things, though, and in this case, how well they play together.

Split into pairs, we meet the duo of Marie and Halter and Naoto and RyuZU, who I would say are oil and water early on. Marie is a child prodigy, earning multiple college degrees in less than a month. She is feisty and a definite runner-up for Tsundere of 2017. Marie has a violent streak, as seen in episode two when she disarms the soldier she and Halter were riding with on the elevator. It is also seen later when she goes up to bat.

For her age, she is a bit worldly and an icon. Because of her popularity, she has a huge ego, and she was taken aback in the manga when Naoto did not know who she was. The kid is not very observant, as even in the first episode; her picture is plastered on the walls of a bookstore he passes by, but I get it he has it bad for robot girls. Her ego, being her most significant strength, is also her weakness; as young as she is, she is prone to bouts of insecurities and the occasional tantrum. The latter is often lessened by chocolate or candy, courtesy of Halter.

Halter, who refers to her as a “princess,” often acts as her surrogate father. He is her bodyguard, and after the Kyoto grid incident, he fills the role of brother, though Marie teases him by asking seductively if he’d prefer “daddy.” It’s cringe-worthy until you learn that papa-katsu is a big thing in Japan, so those who know probably got a nice laugh out of it.

That aside, Halter plays the role of the noble warrior and has no problem laying down his life for Marie or her friends. He was hired by the Breguet family, one of the five corporate families in the series. In the anime, only two, the Breguet and the Vacheron families are mentioned. This is due mainly to the anime centering its first half on the friction between both corporate houses and how Vacheron wanted Marie, her family, and the meisters closest to her out of the picture. The gravitational anomaly discovered in Kyoto was the perfect opportunity to make that happen.

That is, until an outside duo appeared. Now, no matter how brilliant and tactful Marie and the meisters were, there was no way for them to save this city as the wheels of politics were churning. So, what do you do? You bring in two allstars. The first is the socially awkward, loud, and immature Naoto, and the second is RyuZU, the "One Who Serves," the self-proclaimed "slave" of Naoto.

I was surprised Crunchyroll didn’t edit her name, as once Naoto becomes her master, she is officially RyuZU, “Yourslave.” Sticking with the clockpunk theme, RyuZU models the Regency Era. She sometimes has a high opinion of herself, giving off a closer to God than a mortal worldview. She is quick-witted, though slow-tempered. Though she refers to Naoto as master, she will still operate of her own free will when it serves the greater good, such as when her “imaginary gear.” was needed to prevent the Kyoto purge.

As Naoto fills the center of this anime, he is often at odds with Marie. I initially assumed that a romance might blossom between Marie and Naoto, but as he stated in the manga, there is no sagging with Automata, so his mind was made up. Over time, though, the foursome develops a mutual respect for each other, even becoming global terrorists in the end.

The Kyoto grid arc set the tone for the anime; unfortunately, the storytelling lags a bit afterward. This is not to say episode five was poorly done; it acts as the perfect segway into the later episodes as we meet supporting cast members, AnchoR, Initial Y Series Unit 4, "She Who Annihilates," and Vermouth. Vermouth was an automaton tasked with finding AnchoR but was suddenly defeated, giving us one of the most fabulous pre-death scenes I’ve seen in an anime.

Following this, we delve into the remaining arcs, which clarify the story's antagonist and the politics involved. There is a strong focus on human suffering and greed, along with the usual anime tropes. I am not interested in delving into it further because it is optional or unique; it is just the same old stuff you have seen before.

I should have said more, but I just pushed through that paragraph because that is how the rest of the anime goes. We see glimpses of a good story and character development, with AnchoR now serving as a surrogate daughter to Naoto and Marie. Vermouth, who survived his encounter with AnchoR, has become a sexbot, feeling the need for edginess and fan service. If you make it to episode 9, all your dreams will come true!

Making it to episode nine will not undo what this anime is slowly becoming: a train wreck. With the world slowly coming down around us due to a coup d'etat slowly shifting to anger against the unknown, the viewer can only take solace in a few things as the show continues. The first is music, which, while not intrusive, does an excellent job supporting the narrative.

Two excellent themes flank the OSTs. The opening theme, "Clockwork Planet," is sung by fripSide, while the ending theme, "Anti Clockwise" (Anchikurokkuwaizu), is sung by After The Rain. While “Anti Clockwise” has a loyal following, I found “Clockwise Planet” my favorite. The music gave off a “Just Communication” vibe for some reason. The accompanying opening animation probably helped as well.

The animation in “Clockwork Planet” is excellent, with occasional glimpses of the budget constraints. These insights into the production process can be fascinating for anime enthusiasts. The CGI, while not perfect, blends well with the overall anime. Credit where credit is due; the character designs were well handled. Shuichi Shimamura does an excellent job keeping the designs close to Shino's original work.

At the start of Episode 10 ("Progressor"), I noticed that the anime started to lose some of its luster. The loss of quality was bolstered by the naughty barbs of Satsumi Matsuda, who voiced Vermouth after he became a female sexbot. Her banter was only good for one episode, as there are children in the room, and this is a PG-13 show.

As the series progresses or nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that there were high points, such as the animation and voice acting—which, to be honest, weren't always up to pace. Saori Ōnishi's portrayal of Marie stood out. At times, she felt her voice conveyed a sense of disinterest in the show, or I may be being too critical, but it hinged on her co-starring with Halter's character, and she seemed comfortable when they were together.

The narration by Kenichirō Matsuda and Ai Kakuma's (RyuZU) performance are a significant part of the series. Their chemistry and acting skills enhance the viewing experience. Ultimately, the impact of their performance on the audience's perception of the series cannot be overstated.

You may wonder if I find this anime enjoyable. For the reasons mentioned above, it did have its hiccups, but I don't believe it's a total wash. You would do better first to read the light novel or the manga, as they add more meat to the story and make the anime a more enjoyable experience.

However, I read the manga afterward. If I had read it first and then seen the anime, my opinion would have shifted slightly. In all honesty, an extra episode may have helped. I would have immediately taken issue with the pacing due to the abrupt nature of the story. As Naoto is an essential character, it would have been better to flesh him out and make him more relatable. Of the main characters, he was my least favorite.

Initially, I found the first five episodes very well-paced and animated, minus a few shortcomings. However, the latter story gets convoluted, and no amount of fan service or robotic strippers can slow the descent.

As far as I know, Clockwork Planet is one of the few and perhaps only clockpunk anime on the market. Despite that, it does share the automaton theme with anime like Beatless, Chobits, and Plastic Memories, so there's familiar territory. With some reservations, I recommend Clockwork Planet, but let me know if you agree and if you will continue to the end.