I haven’t reviewed a mecha based anime in awhile. STRAIN hits the spot. Cool unique mechas, cute girl pilots and intense space combat. Kind of like Gundam mixed with Eureka 7. The animation quality is pretty good. The episodes are well written. The mecha designs are very different. They look like a cross between Zentradi battle mechs and LFO’s from Eureka 7.
The story revolves around Sara Werec. Her brother Ralph Werec was an ace STRAIN pilot. When he left to go to war when Sara was very young, Sara vowed to follow him. She trained for years and also became an ace pilot. Near the end of her training her planet was attacked by the Deague. They destroyed the training facility and killed many of Sara’s classmates and friends.
It was later revealed that her brother Ralph betrayed humanity and was responsible for the destruction. During the battle Sara lost her Mimic which bonds her to her mech. She then has to try to take revenge on her brother as a lower ranked military officer because of her failure to protect her squad.
The space battles are well done and exciting. Sara character is well written and grows up throughout the series; her supporting cast of characters also compliment the story well. I definitely recommend this series.