First Impressions: Senkou no Night Raid

Boasting high production values and a cool 1930's style, Senkou no Night Raid had the potential to be one if the season's best releases. Unfortunately, a confusing story and uninteresting characters caused me to lose interest immediately. The first episode takes place in 1931 in post World War I China, where Japanese military operatives with supernatural abilities are trying to rescue a Japanese leader from a kidnapping. From what I've seen, one of the operatives has the ability to repel bullets, another having the ability to read minds. While this may make them sound interesting, the characters are bland and largely uninteresting. Each character is so unimpactful, that it makes it impossible to give a damn about them and the story. it also doesn't help that the plot is also confusing, as I didn't even know the names of the characters or even details regarding the organization by the end of the episode. While it may have stellar production values and a sense of style reminiscent of Baccano, Senkou no Night Raid is just plain boring. If you can get over uninteresting characters and have the patience of a saint, then Senkou no Night Raid may be worthy of your time depending on how the story turns out later on. Unfortunately, I don't have that patience.