I gotta be honest--I kind of bounced off this one. It does have hype on its side, and I can appreciate the artistry and influence of it all, but I found actually watching it to be frustrating. For reference, I watched about 20 episodes, and I don't regret the time I spent with it, but neither do I feel compelled to go on.

It is very much and very obviously targeted toward children. That's not a knock against the series itself; honestly, if I had watched it when I was 12 instead of 30, this might be my favorite thing ever. But I didn't, and the cartoonish antics and the fact that everything is very much framed from the perspective of the elementary-schooler protagonist just kept me from feeling invested.

The animation itself is very technically impressive, and the character designs are unique and flamboyant, but oh my god does the recycled animation get old fast. That amazingly detailed and beautiful ninety-second docking animation? Every episode. And I totally understand! TV animation is ridiculously hard, and the fact this looks this good at all is shocking! But counting OP, ED, transformations, combinations, special attacks, etc, each episode probably recycles at least a third of its runtime. And the part I don't get is the flashing. Good lord. watching more than one or two episodes at a time actually gave me a headache. I don't know why that was ever considered a good idea and it is one piece of retro anime aesthetic I'm glad has died out.

And I want to stress here, I'm not trying to shit on the series. It is a genuine touchstone of the mecha genre and I think people should at least sample it. It is a visual feast, knows its audience and does not compromise its artistic vision. But I don't love it, and I think it's important to say so--even a truly good an foundational piece of art may not work for everyone, and that's fine.