Aired in early 2005,
Jinki:Extend is a
Humongous Mecha series, based on the manga series
Jinki and its sequel
Jinki: Extend. At first glance, it appears to take itself seriously: A potential pilot (Tsuzaki Aoba) with no previous knowledge of the program is brought in and has to be trained in order to defend earth against the so-called Ancient Jinki. Apparently, a typical save-the-world type mecha series. However...
Jinki:Extend's opening animation is a direct
Homage to the opening for the first
Mobile Suit Gundam series (0079), and there are certain Gundam-style visual cues in the mecha battles. The series also included various homages, either in the form of characters, or visual cues to several other mecha series:
Neon Genesis Evangelion, Martian Successor Nadesico , even
Kannazuki no Miko.
Due to this, it is difficult to say much about the series beyond the fact that its humor lies in its complete lack of originality.
Jinki:Extend might not be the "Every Mecha Show Ever" series, but it certainly hits the major ones.
A
Visual Novel re-imagining of the series titled
Jinki:Extend Re:Vision was released on 2010. It is an eroge, however, so that's pretty much all that can be said about it on this wiki.
This show provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Per the premise
- Anachronic Order: The anime version alternates between two main story arcs set in 1998 and 2002, and also has occasional flashbacks / flashforwards to events happing elsewhen.
- Axe Crazy: Kalis Norman, Psycho for Hire par excellence.
- Dark Action Girl: Shiva
- Evil Matriarch: Shizuka, Aoba's mom, certainly won't win any awards for Mother of the Year.
- Expressive Hair (more specifically, Rui's hairclips, which look like crab pincers, can pince)
- Fanservice: Surprisingly nowhere near as much as one might expect from a series about young girls piloting giant robots. The anime averages in at about one fanservice moment per episode.
- Faux Affably Evil: Shiva can put up a good facade of being kind and friendly, but it's just that. A facade.
- Gadgeteer Genius (Aoba, borderline)
- Godiva Hair (Shiva)
- Groin Attack (In the manga, one of the female characters gets wounded over there when a large, mecha-sized blade penetrates her mecha's cockpit. She survives thanks to a rescue by her teammate.)
- Improbably High I.Q.: Elny, who according to side materials has an IQ of 300.
- Lady of War: Shiva is a villainous version.
- Little Miss Snarker: Rui.
- Loves the Sound of Screaming: Kalis in the manga. He rants about how annoyed he is that one of the girls won't scream for him while he rapes her.
- Otaku (Aoba, a plastic model otaku)
- Psycho for Hire: Kalis Norman is a rapist for hire.
- Rapunzel Hair (Acao. It causes her problems.)
- Shrinking Violet: Satsuki
- Sinister Scythe: Used by Kalis to strip the clothes from his victims.
- Slasher Smile: Sported by Kalis, constantly, and various other villains on occasion.
- Spell My Name with an "S": Kalis Norman? Karis Norman? Karis Nolman? Kalis Nolman?
- Team Shot: (a direct homage to the final shot in the Gundam op, at that)
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Kalis again.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Kalis Norman, Walking Shirtless Scene, Psycho for Hire, and all around bad guy.
