The Rolling Girls Debut Episode Opinions

The Rolling Girls is set in a post-apocalyptic future of sorts, and it starts with the best introduction to an anime I've seen in a while. To summarize the opening summary of events: Stuff happened and now Japan is split into their old prefectures again, which develop into individual nations.This promotes a sense of individuality and freedom of expression , and the new nations grow to be exclusive. They begin to war with each other, like a future Sengoku Jidai. Instead of large-scale wars like those during that era, future Japan's split nations fight with Super-powered vigilantes.

Honestly, I'm far more interested in seeing the anime about those years of change rather than the aftermath, which is where the actual story picks up.

Enter the main character: A normal girl who is just old enough to join the military/police/civil servants of this world, a ragtag group of people who help their defending super-hero through civil duties. She joins out of admiration for Matcha Green, the hero of her prefecture's nation. She is supposed to stay in town to help with the running of the city, but she is drawn to the battlefield to be closer to her hero. Upon the insistence of the protagonist being normal throughout the episode, I began to think of many protagonists from many mech anime who are introduced with the same insistence.Through one superficial watch of the first episode I have crafted a baseless theory about the entire show: This is a mech anime, just without the mechs.
Directed by the virtually unknown Kotomi Deai, this anime has a unique style. The animation flows very well, the girls are drawn cute, the backgrounds and effects are full of vibrant colors, and each character seems alive with a unique disposition.

Both Matcha Green, and the invading nation's super hero are seen wearing similar-looking stones, each conspicuously saying that it's their "good luck charm". If this is the key to their powers, I could realistically see the protagonist obtaining her own heart crystal at some point, giving her super-powers. This would conform to my idea of this anime being a mech anime in disguise, the heart crystal being parallel to the mech.
The online description of the anime seems to reveal that Matcha Green eventually sends the protagonist with other girls to travel Japan to mediate battles between rivaling clans. The way I see it, the anime could go one of two ways from here. Either the protagonist and the girls she travels with each obtains their own heart crystal somehow, to stop battles and fight on their own as a sort of Japan-traveling Sentai, or the girls just enter into normal, fun hijinks on their travels that eventually leads them to save the world. The latter scenario seems much more plausible because all the promotions for the anime are intent on suggesting that the main characters are entirely normal girls. I will be extremely let down if my trust is betrayed with a super-powered protagonist, or if the show falls into mech anime conventions.

In any case, I have high hopes for this series. The music is charming, the animation's interesting, and the plot seems fun. It's lighthearted and fast-paced, and I'm happy to be watching it. Mech anime or not, I'm excited for episode 2.

It's a dummy.