Robotics;Notes: Part 1 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Robotics;Notes: Part 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Danger;WillRobinson.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 14, 2014

Groucho Marx once famously quipped, “I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member.” That sentiment might be shared by Kaito Yashio, a slightly withdrawn teenager who is most at home playing his videogames. Unfortunately for Kaito, Japanese school culture is built around club activities, and he is one of only two members in his school’s Robot Research Club, and the other member, a really enthusiastic teenage girl named Akiho Senomiya, is intent on making the club a shining example of collaboration and productivity. Robotics;Notes is the third entry in a somewhat tangentially linked franchise that includes the previous entries Chaos;Head: The Complete Series and Steins;Gate (which received a bifurcated release on Blu-ray, including Steins;Gate: Part 2). There’s no overly clear through line linking these three disparate entities, other than a reliance on technology and (in two cases, anyway) a hero somewhat addicted to videogames. All three do have elements of conspiracy theory lurking just beneath a seemingly calm surface. In some ways, Robotics;Notes is the most instantly accessible of these three semicolon obsessed anime, for while it has some of the bizarre alternate realities (specifically with regard to time shifting) of Steins;Gate and the amorphous connection between supposed reality and the virtual world of Chaos;Head, it deals with these issues in at least a relatively more straightforward way. In other ways, though, Robotics;Notes is just as dense (in a good way) and convoluted as either of its two predecessors, though it also has a lightness of spirit that the first two entries generally do not.

Much as with Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate, there are two levels of the story, a kind of everyday, almost shōnen-esque portrayal of (frankly) nerds in a high school club, and then, as certain plot strands start to be developed, a whole secondary world of subterfuge, conspiracy and (worst case scenario) the end of the world. The series, much like its two predecessors, starts out relatively “normally”, with Akiho simply trying to lure Kaito into helping build a gigantic robot which is based on a long running television show. Even the show is cloaked in mystery, however, as the final episode never aired for some enigmatic reason. Meanwhile, Akiho has to submit a budget to the school for almost moribund club, and she decides to request an outlandish amount, which, in a rather unlikely turn of events, the imperious Vice Principal grants, on the condition that the club must win an upcoming robotics tournament with their entry, and that if they don’t, the club will be immediately disbanded.

The “surface level” story of Robotics;Notes deals with the efforts to both build the giant robot and, on a lesser scale, the reanimation of a smaller robot that Kaito and Akiho utilize in some early tournament plays. This brings the pair into contact with a variety of odd, and sometimes endearing, characters. Akiho’s incessant optimism and perkiness contrasts extremely well with Kaito’s introspection and desire to almost disappear into his videogames. There are also halting efforts to bring others into the Robot Research Club fold as the series progresses. This aspect of the story provides a fair amount of sweetness and humor, though it’s paper thin and relatively predictable.

The more compelling aspect of Robotics;Notes is actually introduced very subtly early in the series (in the first episode, in fact), though it takes several episodes to finally blossom into full flower. Kaito plays with a tablet like device that has an app called Iru-O, which he’s busy updating as the series starts. Iru-O has a voice recognition feature which Kaito is trying out, and he uses the app to magically append cat ears and a tail to Akiho when he views her through the tablet’s camera interface. Something decidedly more interesting than mere parlor tricks crops up a few episodes later, when a mysterious voice emanates from the tablet and suddenly Kaito is whisked into a shadowy world of fairly scary predictions about the fate of the world.

Playing through both of these levels are some fairly odd other elements, which may in fact remind fans of the weirder aspects of both Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate. Kaito slowly becomes aware that both he and Akiho suffer from mirror images of the same ailment. Akiho can fast forward through time, while Kaito can make time slow down. These twin (though oppositional) syndromes are actually part of a larger story that begins to be detailed as the series wends toward its halfway mark.

As with both Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate, there’s a lot to digest in Robotics;Notes’ opening gambits. The characters are instantly likeable and accessible, but some of the more arcane plot points remain fairly opaque, at least in the first half of the series. This might not have the pure, unadulterated majesty of Steins;Gate, but it’s a worthy follow up so far that certainly has enough tantalizing mysteries being hinted at to pique most viewers’ interest. Whether or not they’re answered successfully will be told by the series’ second half.

Robotics;Notes: Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Robotics;Notes is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Funimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This series doesn't have the weird "distressed" look that was prominently featured in Steins;Gate, but it's head and shoulders above the kind of rote aesthetic that at least partially hobbled Chaos;Head. Colors here are often brilliantly bold and well saturated, with blues being especially impressive (take a look at the little robot in screenshot 3 for a nice example), and line detail remains strong throughout all the episodes in this set. There are some really gorgeous backgrounds and environments throughout the series, with some beautifully burnished oranges and greens. The animators have also paid special attention to dappling effects with regard to light, all of which pops really well in this high definition presentation (see the first two screenshots).

Robotics;Notes: Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Robotics;Notes features the original Japanese language track delivered via Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and an English dub delivered via Dolby TrueHD 5.1. The 5.1 track offers significantly better ambience, despite the fact that this really isn't a "knock 'em, sock 'em" action spectacular. In fact, it's in some of the quieter sequences which simply find Kaito and Akiho outside, where the 5.1 track outperforms the narrower 2.0 rendering. There are some "noisier" exceptions, however, as in one episode where Akiho is trying to track down parts for the robot and walks into a room where extremely loud music is playing. The 5.1 mix simply leaves the 2.0 mix in the dust in sequences like this. Dialogue on both of these tracks is very cleanly presented. Fidelity is similarly excellent, and neither track offers any issues of concern.

Robotics;Notes: Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Episode 6 Commentary features Leah Clark and Monica Rial.


• Science Adventure Series Interview Part 1 (1080p; 18:47) features a group interview with Joel McDonald, J. Michael Tatum and John Burgmeier. These three discuss some of the connective tissues linking Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate and this anime.


• Episode 10 Commentary features Lindsay Seidel and Jarrod Greene.


• Textless Opening Song "Junjo Supekutora" (1080p; 1:32)


• Textless Closing Song "Umikaze no Brave" (1080p; 1:32)


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 1:37)

This Limited Edition box set comes with a cardboard "place keeper" (for the yet to be released second volume), which houses a handful of collector cards. This begs the question of where the cards are to be kept once the second volume is inserted in the slipcase.

Robotics;Notes: Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Robotics;Notes doesn't quite rise to the giddy heights of Steins;Gate, it's markedly more focused and intriguing than the sometimes squishy Chaos;Head. Though this set only gets the viewer through the first 11 episodes, there is both excellent character development and some really interesting plot points along the way. Like both of its predecessors, however, there is a certain almost formulaic surface story going on which only slowly begins to crack and reveal the what seems to be the real point of the series. While this first release doesn't have a huge amount in the way of on disc supplements, the superior video and audio help to make Robotics;Notes Highly recommended.