This show has the potential to be enormously entertaining. It reminded me of Scrapped Princess, Full Metal Alchemist, Gundam Wing, Kyou Kara Maou, Soukyuu no Fafner and a whole crapload of other things, all at once, possibly because of the character designs. It is not, mind you, likely to be as good as any of those, or good at all. There is a distinct possibility that this show will be horrifically stupid. But very entertaining. To wit:

1) It has pretty boys.

2) The pretty boys are all gay for each other, quite literally upon first glance.

Y'all know me. The prettiness and slashibility of the male characters falls fairly low on my list of priorities in picking new shows, and I prefer let a show or manga unfold the relationships at its own pace, before ruminating on what works for me and what doesn't, or which characters might make a good couple that won't happen in canon, looking for corresponding porn, etc. But they are just that pretty, and the show is just that gay. Agate and Beryl get shoujo bubbles when they look at each other in passing; Beryl forms an instant obsession with Agate. Agate and Chalce have, like, telepathic sex when they're flying in their planes and they see each other for the first time; Agate crashes his plane into the water so he can rescue Chalce, whom someone more sensible probably would have given up for dead. And Chrome seems very attached to his brother.

3) I like action-y, political shows with mecha and treatises on human nature, even when they're very shallow.

4) Their mecha are planes. They have big metal feathers, like the ones in Clover. They look like the offspring of a biplane and an eagle, and they're so, so pretty. They are prettier than the boys, which is saying something. I really enjoyed the fight scene because I got to look at the pretty plane, until they shot it full of holes and it crashed in the ocean.

This is maybe the worst episode of anime I've ever seen. It was so horrible that I'm not tempted to watch the next episode, despite the fact that it has Paku Romi as the title character, and despite the fact that said character is kinda cool even aside from Romi's vocal excellence. No one seiyuu could possibly make up for the sheer...inane randomness of this. And Kobasen. Horrid, horrid Kobasen and his ugly stubble. And the dentist with the bullwhip and his car with a built-in spearhead/battering ram/whirling razor blade.

I guess even a talented seiyuu has to put in a lot of time on utter crap on the path to glory.

I think I need to go watch some Air to soothe my artistic sensibilities. Air=teh pretty. Gao.