I increasingly just want to scream into the uncaring void about how Shinkallion is actually really good? The voice cast is excellent; lead character Hayato Hayasugi is voiced by Ayane “Ayaneru” Sakura and her screams of terror in Episode 21 remain one of my favorite things to listen to. She pulls off headstrong exicitable 11-year-old as well as she pulls of dependable cheerful Ochako.
The adults spend like the first 12 episodes running around in a panic screaming they can’t let literal 11 year olds fight in giant robots until they realize the only way to stop them is to commit Harakiri if they don’t. They compromise by deciding to support and fight alongside them while treating them as agents with their own agency and lives, but also soldiers whom they care about. Think Eva if the adults in that series were actually good people.
Hastune Miku is a character. They put her in a giant robot and gave her a sword,. It’s really good actually, if not a little jarring to hear her electronic voice in action.
Like Hero Aca the characters Aren’t Deep, but there’s enough there to be interesting and fun. ‘Simple Bruiser’ boy Tsuranuki is also one of the keys to conflict resolution because he’s a construction worker and is far more mature than the typical of his archtype. ‘Shy Ninja’ Shinobu is also prideful and knows how scary he is and will use it to cow people despite being 10. ‘Exicitable Fanboy’ Oozora Rei is also willing to teach his elders and has a goal beyond and defined by his own desires rather than a reflection of someone else’s (my good tiny boy is gonna be an astronaught. Once he’s drunk enough milk to stop being so Smol).
A main female character exisits and is important and given an early focus episode. She operates in a support role and is treated like an older sister, but also given all due respect when in combat situations. She’s young and female but no one questions her comptency or title as Acting Director and the idea is never even brought up. The only person who ever doubts in her ability to lead is Mihara herself, a trust she recipricotes to the young pilots knowing full well that age is not an indication of determination being closer to the protagonist’s ages than the other support staff (roughly 25 to their 30-50 spread).
They do not half-ass their bits; see Miku above but also that 5 minute sequence where SEELE appears and Hayato turns into Gendo Ikari for a joke about an actual EVA-based Bullet Train (now regretably defunct. Boo.). This scene is set to the original Cruel Angel’s Thesis.