Betterman - Awakening (Vol. 1)
The first five episodes of this 1999 TV series play like a cross betweenEvangelionandGenerator Gawl, but without the metaphysical overtones of the former or the rambunctious high spirits of the latter. In 2006 nerdy Keita Aono discovers he and his childhood friend Hinoki have the natural abilities to pilot Akamatsu Industries' giant "neuronoid" robots. Their foe is a mysterious monster (incongruously named Algernon), whom they battle in a subterranean amusement park and their high school basement. Despite the aid of the oracular Sakura, the mecha meet with only limited success. Keita and Hinoki have to be saved by the rainbow-haired title character, a.k.a. "Lamia," who transforms into an 18-foot monster that shatters foes with sonic waves. The story takes some improbable turns--such as when an army of robots appears on a previously empty airplane--that theLain-style editing tricks can't disguise. Rated 13 Up: Violence.--Charles Solomon