Girls Frontline: A Disappointing Anime Adaptation

Girls Frontline

AI and technology are genuinely at the forefront of many conversations these days. It’s no surprise, as they are growing and developing at an astounding rate, doing many things most people deem machines incapable of. With this rapid progression, people are starting to wonder if these inorganic existences would challenge humanity’s authority at some point, as seen in many works of fiction. Would this lead to an all-out war, or are we just fearing the worst? Who knows? Only time will tell!

“Girls' Frontline," also known as “Dolls' Frontline," is a 12-episode TV anime series that aired from January 8th to March 26th in Winter 2022. Studio Asahi Production brought this series to life under the production of Warner Bros.—Japan and Ai Addiction and a license from Funimation.

The central staff behind it included Kouchiyama Takashi and Imao Keigo as producers, Ueda Shigeru as director, and Waki Kentarou as episode director, on storyboard and editing. It features action, drama, and sci-fi genres, along with a military theme for its 24-minute episodes. It was rated PG-13, making it suitable for teenagers 13 years of age or older.

MICA Team and Sunborn Network Technology created the mobile strategy role-playing game Girls' Frontline, which serves as the inspiration for the anime. While the original Chinese version of the game launched in May 2016, the Japanese version didn’t launch until August 2018. However, this particular anime takes its name from the Japanese release.

A 24-episode ONA series titled “Shaonu Qianxian: Renxing Xiao Juchang” (“Shao Nu Qian Xian," “Dollfro: Iyashi-hen,” or “Dollfro: Kyouran-hen”) aired from the 28th of July until the 30th of December, 2019. Done by Studio Big Firebird Culture, it boasted the genres of comedy and sci-fi alongside the themes of anthropomorphic and military. Each episode was only 3 minutes long and received its own sequel, "Shaonu Qianxian: Renxing Xiao Juchang 2," also known as “Girls' Frontline 2.” This ONA series ran for 12 episodes, each only 5 minutes long, from the 7th of October until the 16th of December, 2020.

The story is set in the aftermath of World War III in a fictional world, one where the world’s human population was nearly decimated and most of the land area was uninhabitable. Around this time, various private military contractors began using combat androids in an attempt to maintain peace in the already unstable countries.

These androids are known as "T-Dolls" and are far superior to ordinary human fighters regarding physical capabilities. However, these Dolls remained incapable of formulating complex plans and would always require a flesh-and-blood human commander to give them orders. At least this was the case until an industry-leading T-Doll manufacturer named “Sangvis Ferri” attempted something they shouldn’t have: installing a specialized T-Doll to act as the company's sole commander! This move resulted in the immediate deaths of everyone at said facility, laying the foundation for yet another disaster. Having seized control of Sangvis factories, a rogue AI declared war on the remnants of humanity while people were still trying to crawl out of the jaws of war.

Faced with this new extremely hostile robot invasion, the only organization that stands a chance in the battles to come is Griffin & Kryuger, a paramilitary group deemed strong enough to withstand said confrontations and halt the AI’s destructive advances upon an already chaotic world.

Tasked with investigating the events related to the Sangvis Ferri incident, an elite task force named "Team Anti-Rain" takes center stage and begins a search for highly confidential information in an abandoned warehouse. Unfortunately, they end up ambushed here and temporarily disband to safeguard their pivotal findings, consequently making each doll go into hiding.

In a different situation, Griffin hires the sluggish but exceptionally talented Gentiane as a rookie commander. Still, she receives a far too crucial first mission: finding Team Anti-Rain and retrieving the classified data as soon as possible. This pits Gentiane against Sangvis Ferri in a race toward their divergent objectives.

If you are a fan of the game, I’m sorry that this anime did not do it justice. Most game adaptations end badly, and Girls Frontline is no exception, where it only seems to make new people not want to play the game.

From the start, the creators simply throw the viewers into a frying pan without providing any knowledge of the lore. Perhaps they were betting on most viewers being people who played the game or knew the game’s lore in-depth, leaving everyone else confused and feeling like somebody threw cold water on them.

Let’s say you’re already familiar with the original; unfortunately, you’ll find that the vibe you loved is gone without any proper reason. The show’s tone and characters’ feelings go against the desperation prevalent throughout the source material, which plays a crucial role in showcasing their situation. You just see many colorful and funky anime girls running around with guns amidst the snow, devoid of any proper reasoning or a threatening environment. The impending threats, urgency, and seriousness of the game are what gave the series so much life, yet they are nonexistent here.

The show refuses to explain anything and does not give you any reason to like its characters. It certainly would’ve been better if they had just made the entire first episode an exposition dump!

Then there is the issue with the pacing; it feels like you were forcibly strapped to a rollercoaster without having any time to get used to it or familiarize yourself with your surroundings before pushing a big red button to send you off at breakneck speed. You may pray for it to stabilize, but nope!

Even if you came into this show knowing the lore, it remains terribly boring, dull, and uninspired for the entire first half. The series ends before you get to the really good parts after a second half that completely goes off the rails but still manages to be predictable. If you place emphasis on the story, this is not the show for you, and it’s a chore to even sit through all 12 episodes.

Coming to the character department, you are faced with another major disappointment. While it is evident that most of the cast are Androids, the source material showcases how each of them has their own unique personalities and behavior styles. Their little quirks constitute a significant part of why they are likable and endearing, keeping the audience rooting for them.

Unfortunately, all of that is sidelined in the anime, so you don’t care for any of them. Instead of those traits, we get highly exaggerated archetypes for the Anti-Rain team. For example, M16 is supposed to be intelligent and experienced, but she always comes off as carefree and reckless. These kinds of characters have been overused to oblivion, and there’s nothing refreshing about them here. What’s worse is that even the human characters feel robotic with just one defining trait. This also applies to the MC, whose whole existence is purely arrogant and irritating to watch.

Since this series is based on an action game, it’s normal to expect great battle scenes to distract you from the bad story and characters. We don’t get that either, thanks to the terrible art style! All the main character designs are exceedingly basic and lacking, topped off with everyone’s face looking like a potato.

While the animation is honestly decent, there isn’t enough, even in moments that need it. Picture an intense gunfight between unique battle androids. You’ll probably envision many cool moves, strategies born of experience, characters bravely covering each other, and maybe even suppression fire. But nope, Girls Frontline would rather have its cast run at their enemies while shooting each other.

Moving on, wouldn’t such androids have some defenses and not go down from a single shot like human soldiers? For some reason, the Androids here don’t, on top of having horrible accuracy. The creators went further to show all these events in one or two frames; overall, the fights are sloppy and sad to watch. If there’s any redeeming part of this department, it’s the visuals in the opening theme, where we are treated with well-defined borders and depth.

The aforementioned opening theme is the only good thing in the sound and music department. As such, "BAD CANDY" by YukaDD (;´∀`) manages to be the sole redeeming quality of this show, but it is certainly not enough to recommend it to anyone. The only good part is in the opening.

The ending theme, "HORIZON," by Team Shachi, is just there and has nothing memorable. All the OSTs sound cheap, passionless, and even annoying sometimes, making certain moments worse. The sound effects, including the gunfire and explosions, sound like they were taken from some free website; some don’t sound like guns! The voice acting is also lacking, which is weird because they got the same VAs from the game. Perhaps this soulless, wet mess of a show also let them down.

Overall, Girls Frontline is a bad show, and I would not recommend it to anyone. There’s no enjoyment to be had here, and the only thing that shines is the opening, which you can watch on YouTube if you want.

If you have played the game or are familiar with the lore and want to watch out of curiosity, I suggest watching up to three episodes and judging for yourself. It's best to turn away the second you feel “meh” or disappointed because it will save you a lot of valuable time. The “Girls” or “Dolls” aren’t eye candy, and this show offers little fanservice, so there’s nothing here.