When I first started watching Needless, I did it because of an urge for me to watched it. Before going in, I thought it would be a mix of good and bad, but I was so wrong. Needless has become one of my favorite anime I watched within the past year, because there are many things that this anime gets right, and the watching experience has been very exciting.

Needless takes place in the the year 2130, years after World War III. The Black Spot has appeared in Japan, and people living in these spots have gained superpowers and are called “Needless”. Their superpowers are called “Fragments”. There is a corporation called Simeon which makes medicine related products and is responsible for killing Needless. There’s also machines called Testaments which seek to destroy those who oppose Simeon’s values. This anime has lots of Christian symbolism, but it’s probably just used for aesthetic reasons just like Neon Genesis Evangelion. The main characters’ main goal is to defeat Simeon for killing Needless.

One main character in this anime is Cruz Schild, who is a very young boy with green hair whose big sister died. He lacks combat skills and is the last survivor of a rebellion group. He is supremely analytical and can find a solution to any problem or mystery.

Another important character is named Adam Blade, a tall, muscular guy who wears cool sunglasses. What’s great about Adam Blade is that he is the polar opposite of a bland main male character. He masquerades as a priest and is shown to be very funny and awesome! His personality works so well in an action-comedy anime. He is very OP and can copy abilities, but he has to observe them first. Plus, there are some abilities that he can’t fully learn, and he isn’t too OP. He also has a weakness for little girls, which is mainly used for comedic effect. One design detail of him is a small jewel on his forehead called a Byakugo. He can put it on another Needless’s forehead to learn their Fragment.

Another important character is named Eve Neuschwanstein, a cute girl with dark blue hair. She tags along with Adam Blade. Her fragment is called Doppelganger, which allows her to manipulate matter of herself. She can also use her ability to heal others. One of her flaws is that she can’t remember names. For example, she calls Cruz “Yamada”.

Disc is an important supporting character. She looks like a little girl, but is over 100 years old and is a cyborg. She is extremely knowledgeable and has helped the team on numerous occasions. Throughout the anime, other characters join Adam Blade’s side, including Teruyama, Professor Gido, Seto, and Solva.

The Adam Project, as explained by Disc to the main characters, was a project that attempts to recreate The Second, a man that came after the end of World War III to help people within the Black Spot. The Second has all the Fragments, and they’re all spread to people who encountered him. Adam Blade is an attempted clone of The Second.

The main villains of this anime are Simeon’s Four Great Ones and Adam Arclight, the leader of Simeon. One of the most brutal scenes was when Adam Arclight kills off some Needless. He appears to be more powerful than Adam Blade. The Four Great Ones also appear to be super powerful; about the same level as Adam Blade. There’s also the Simeon Girls Squadron, whose names are Mio, Setsuna, and Kuchinasi. Whenever Blade sees Mio, he reacts very positively, because she’s just so cute and childish!

Episode 16 is where things get serious, and much new information get revealed from that point onwards. This is where I get into spoiler territory, so scroll down until you reach the red END SPOILERS text.

SPOILER ALERT

Cruz finds out that his sister (Aruka) is not only alive, but she’s one of Simeon’s Four Great Ones and hates him. He dies in the next episode. Attempts have been made by Eve and Disc to revive him, and he revived by Episode 19.

As it turns out, it wasn’t Simeon who is responsible for killing off Needless. Adam Arclight (the leader of Simeon) is responsible, and the upper management of Simeon views him as a pest. Arclight’s goal is to kill off Needless to obtain their Fragments to gain power and to defeat Adam Blade.

In fact, Arclight had a very rough past. He was considered to be a failure of the Adam Project and was dumped into the Black Spot. He managed to get out of the spot and infiltrate the laboratory. Since he’s seeking power, he finds The Second’s remains and fuses with it, creating a huge explosion. Simeon then rebirthed Adam Arclight.

As for Eve, she was actually created in a lab as part of the Eve project. Gido was also involved in the project.

The last few episodes were crazy. Saten becomes the new leader of Simeon after killing Arclight. Saten wanted world domination. Some members of Simeon fight against Saten, because they don’t recognize him as their new leader. Riru sacrifices herself to revive Arclight again, and he now is more perfect. Arclight then kills off Saten and steals all of his abilities.

In the last episode, Arclight becomes God-like. He declares that everyone who has Fragments will die, including the ones he worked for, because he thinks that fragments cause problems in society. The battle seems to be very one-sided, until Arclight started to weaken. He is about to explode, and that explosion would destroy all of Japan if not stopped.

As it turns out, Cruz is a Needless without a Fragment. His ability: Observational and reasoning skills. Cruz comes up with a plan for Blade to reach Arclight to defeat him, and it involves the Simeon Girls Squadron’s help. A catapult is formed, and Blade was able to reach Arclight and defeat him for good. Peace is restored.

After going to the Needless wiki, I found out that the anime ending differs from the manga, and the manga is even crazier. At the time the anime was adapted, the manga was still ongoing.

END SPOILERS

I think the art and animation of Needless are fine, but I do love the metal soundtrack. In fact, it’s probably one of the most enjoyable anime soundtracks I’ve listened to. This anime is classified as an ecchi anime, so it makes sense that it has lots of pantyshots that range from subtle to in-your-face. Unlike most anime, the fanservice doesn’t seem to be very bothersome to me. Episode 6 is probably the most fanservice laden episode of the series, but I had fun watching it! The thing I dislike most about this anime is the first ending sequence, but the first opening song is awesome. The second opening and ending songs were good.

I found the action scenes of Needless to be gripping. The characters are cool, and their designs are great. I also really liked the funny moments, and overreactions are common. The positive aspects of this anime are so strong, that the negative aspects can’t ruin this anime. But for some people, these negative aspects might ruin the anime.

Needless to say, Needless is an anime that far surpassed my expectations. It has a well written story, has awesome characters, had a ton of great moments, is highly enjoyable, and is a memorable watching experience. Needless is now my second favorite ecchi anime, and it is one of the most enjoyable anime I watched within the past 12 months (excluding rewatches).

Final Grade: AA

Alternate Recommendation: For another anime that has fanservice, but actually has a very well written story, I recommend Punch Line. This anime is a prime example on why you should not judge an anime by its first few episodes. At first, it seems like a shallow anime that has nothing going for it, but in later episodes, the story gets much more serious, and the action scenes get more intense.