Questions are left unanswered, many scenes seemed totally redundant and spoils the whole mood of the show, some things were there for the sake of just being there and many many cliché moments up to the end of the entire series itself.
When it all started, R;N had a promising and carefree storyline, narrating the story of a group of students creating a giant robot to join major robot exhibitions and to realise one's dream of building it. There were internal conflicts, problems and such as the construction of the robot began. Disappointments and renewed dreams came forth and the team is once again headed to create another giant robot after their first ended in a failure. Up to that point, everything was still fine, coupled with added mysteries like the monopole and the Kimijima Reports about the Committee of 300 planning to destroy the Earth by making robots going out of control. There was also the mysterious playing of the Kagome-Kagome song, the Iru-O concept in itself and the AI Airi program / Sister Centipede. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Until the point where SUMERAGI actually made an appearance and starting firing its own missiles and destroying everything.
My first reaction to that was : "That escalated quickly..." And in a bad way too.
It basically felt that it was almost 2 different series that were being aired right before the turning point came. Everything was ok up to that point, why the sudden change?!
What came more awkward after that, was all the "let's all work together and create a giant robot to save the world" where students, the Principal of the school, JAXA engineers all gathered mysteriously at their hangar and started to help build the final giant robot. There wasn't actually much student interaction between the main cast and the school as well so seeing that happen was really too dramatic / cliché in a way. Which shows the point where things are made to be there just to fill in any possible loopholes. Making it seemed all awkward and out of nowhere. There was then this romance aspect of the series by itself. Sure, it was hinted here and there, perhaps with Frau and Kai being the most obvious but I was quite sure that if there was, it would most likely be between Kai and Akiho. Not only did the production team didn't give much screentime or build up of the duo's romantic relationship, we were slammed with a extremely awkward, rushed, and out of nowhere confession by Kai and followed by a kiss before the final battle. Were they trying to add in a serene atmosphere before the final climax began? Or were they trying to forcefully fit in a romance element in the series while fully knowing that it was insignificant and there was absolutely no need for the whole romance thing at all. Furthermore, even at the last episode itself, the whole romance chemistry between the two seemed to be forgotten and their seemed more like mere friends even after their confessions. If it was going to end like that then what is the significance of squeezing in a romance element right near the end of the whole series?
Abnormalies were plentiful through the course of the series too. One of the more significant ones is the appearance of the monopoles. Scientifically, monopoles cannot exist and even if they did, where they mysteriously drop from the sky, little answers were given for its origin. It all feels like a filler for the gap where crazy-powered motors can be created for giant robots. It seemed like the problem surfaced when in a practical fact, there wasn't a powerful motor that was strong enough to move a giant robot with more freedom and the answer to that was to create / introduce something to tackle the problem and the monopole was the key. There was this mysterious character of Tennouji Nae that bears resemblance to the Steins;Gate series and ultimately, what exactly was her purpose there? It doesn't seem like she was a normal JAXA employee that just helps people to realise their dream of building a giant robot, since she was practically kicking ass on armed forces near the end of the series and then, nothing was explained about her existence as well even till the end. And how did building a giant robot to display at the Expo become saving the world which in Kai's mind, was to have Akiho reunite with her sister once again. Conflicting ideals it would seem, since there was the threat of a black hole missile being fired, and then what Kai actually seemed to be doing was to get Akiho back together with her sister once again. Miscommunication? Or just pure plot confusion? Didn't quite actually get what the story was heading to in the end, it was filled with so much uncertainty!
Whatever happened to the Kagome-Kagome song as well? What happened to the robot going out of control? Whatever happened to Mizuka's death and link to the black hole missile thing? What happened to the Sister Centipede that was sent by Misa in the end? What exactly has Gunvarrel got to do with the whole series? What exactly happened to Frau's mother and the brainwashing phenomenon? Questions, questions and more questions...
So many plot changes and unanswered questions... Seriously? Would the game be better? I'm not so sure about that but this really lowers my expectation for the game itself as a whole too. Looking at how the genre of Robotics;Notes and Steins;Gate were so different, I'd been trying to see Robotics;Notes in a different light, but such confusion cannot be unseen. True enough that Robotics;Notes was a successor to its previous masterpiece, expectations would be generally higher but ultimately, it was a series that was a total let down.
Guess that the few plus points of the series would be how mysterious and haunting the Kimijima Reports were and the few emotional scenes like Frau's attempted suicide and Mizuka's death that really resounds the sour atmosphere. It really was good... "was".
Overall, this has been a series with lots of ups and downs, and a headed down slide near the end. Disappointing series as a whole, seems like the Guilty Crown effect has occurred once again...
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