Layzner will finally come Westward on Blu-ray this December, and fans of Armored Core VI will want to pick this up.
As I have previously covered, the mecha anime of Ryosuke Takahashi has had a massive influence on the Armored Core series over the years.
This isn’t some kind of fan conjecture either, as FromSoftware have openly acknowledged the influence of Takahashi’s works on Armored Core on multiple occasions.
In more recent years, Blue Comet SPT Layzner has had a specific influence, not only on Armored Core 4 and Armored Core For Answer but also the recently released Armored Core VI.
Things like the quick boosting and spherical energy shields, not to mention the overt potency of the mecha themselves all made obvious references to Layzner. Not to mention the story elements of augmented humans and rogue AI being tied back to those mecha anime as well.
Even the much loved Rusty is in many ways a reference to the main character of Eiji, trying to end the conflict on behalf of the Rubiconians. Steel Haze is also a blue colored and highly mobile Armored Core that gets a “mid-season” upgrade. So yeah, there are very obvious nods to Layzner in Armored Core VI.
This particular Blu-ray release of Layzner is also of the remastered Japanese version from a while back. I had hoped someone would pick it up, and it seems that Discotek have managed to snag this one.
One other nice thing to mention is that Crunchyroll is releasing this Blu-ray of Layzner on December 26. That happens to the same day as Kunio Okawara’s birthday, with Okawara being responsible for the mecha design in Layzner and many other Takahashi mecha anime.
Anyway, you can pick up this Blu-ray set of Layzner via Crunchyroll’s online store for an insanely reasonable $52.46, which is a mere fraction of the cost of the Japanese Blu-ray boxset. It will also come with the entire TV series and the OVAs, which finish the story, as the TV series was cut short on its original run.
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