Table of Contents
Coppelion
ăłăăăȘăȘăł(Coppelion) is a manga series, with an anime adaptation, about a group of genetically engineered girls who are sent into Tokyo a few years after a nuclear accident occurred that caused all of it to be uninhabitable. What is their purpose there? Supposedly to evacuate the last few survivors but, really, itâs an action series.
Reviews
Anime
The anime is how I discovered Coppelion and, honestly, I liked it a lot. That said, Coppelion is quite flawedâŠso letâs get into it.
The way Coppelion presents itself is a bit of an issue. The initial impression it gives to viewers is that the series is focused on rescuing survivors from irradiated TokyoâŠbut, instead, itâs an action series first. The rescues are secondary to the action. Everything else in the anime actually mostly fits together as far as I remember.
This presentation problem is a result of how it was adapted from the mangaâŠthat is, strangely. Coppelion compresses events and leaves some valuable information outâŠlike what Coppelion means or why they have pale skin. Further, the more ridiculous elements of Coppelion are less surprising in the manga than in the anime. I think this is because the anime prioritized the atmosphere, which is why the action later on just seems to come out of nowhere. Though it is oddly faithful to the manga.
The anti-nuclear messaging is not as frustrating here as in the manga, though it has the potential to spread some myths. Like, the nuclear waste stuff they talked about is something I found particularly suspect.
Now for my disconnected notes. The sound effects apparently suck, though I donât remember specifics. I liked the Main character, Ibara, because she looks generic on the surface, but has a few quirks that make her stand out. I didnât write down what those were thoughâŠbut I suspect it has to do with her backstory, which reflects into her present-day character. She is honestly the heart of the series.
The aesthetics of the anime are kinda quirky. The image is tinted certain colors and, at first, I thought this was based on how radioactive the given area wasâŠlike The Matrix. So a very radioactive area would be tinted green and if itâs not radioactive at all, it would be tinted very blue. But it seems this wasnât the case and it was semi-random, sometimes based on the surrounding environment.
Also, the radiation aesthetic is played with a lot in the series. The opening features static because, yâknow, radiation.
To end if off, Coppelion has a trait that I like a lot in my stories: it knows when to be serious and when to be comedic. In factâŠI think Coppelion is closest to my actual writing style in terms of this kind of balance.
Manga
My notes note that the manga is an improvement over the anime, though I donât remember the specifics because I didnât write them down. Besides the aforementioned problem of presenting itself as a series about rescuing people, the manga also goes hard into that anti-nuclear messaging, which is puzzling because itâs clear the author did a lot of research into the subject. Now, Iâm not gonna say Iâm an expert, but I will say that I was present when my middle school was visited by an engineer from a nuclear power plant, so letâs just say I find a lot of whatâs written here suspect.
However, and this is more important, there is an actual theme in here that is very nice, besides the anti-nuclear messaging. That theme is generational divide, which Iâll talk about in detail a bit later.
Characters & Worldbuilding
Speculah & Analysis
Theme: Generational Divide/Parent Child
The central theme of Coppelion, despite nuclear-stuff, is the generational divide between parents and children. Thereâs a heavy emphasis on the fact the Coppelion are the children being forced to carry the burden of their parents (humans)âŠin this case, itâs the fact Coppelion are genetically engineered to be resistant to radiationâŠso theyâre being chucked into an irradiated wasteland to do work.
The older generation, in turn, regrets the damage theyâve done to the environment and the newer generationâŠbut, there isnât much they can do.
Though, interestingly, the older generation does redeem itself in the end.
Thereâs also an adjacent theme, inheritance, which is the question of what and how much is inherited from the previous generation.A)
Trivilinks
- AniList - Manga
- Anime
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- I havenât looked at it extensively.