Arpeggio of Blue Steel is a Science Fiction Anime about human AI relations. The AI's in question started out as aggressors known as the Fog which take the form of navy ships, and have blockaded mankind from the seas. This series has a twist that I like in that the AI's begin crafting human forms to better understand the people they face.
The thing I don't like about this series is that even though the main character a human named Gunzou manages to connect with and change several AI's from weapons to people the question of what they are, where they come from and what they should be doing that is asked throughout the series remains unanswered. I really hope that there is a follow up season which answers some of that.
The story of this anime is that one day the Fleet of Fog showed up and began destroying mankind's oceangoing capabilities. They took the form of Warships, but were based on a nanotechnology that nobody on earth has. They have both shields, and ultra advanced weaponry and human weapons cannot really hurt them. At the beginning of the show the humans have managed to "Capture" one fog vessel but cannot even scratch its hull or access its systems. This all changes when Gunzou touches the submarine. Systems suddenly come online, and soon a strange girl appears to him and tells him she is the mental model of his ship, which is the I-401 that he was taken to see recently. The series then skips ahead to a time where I-401 has been running a lone offensive against the Fog. Throughout the show various AI's with mental models go up against I-401, and Gunzou, and when they end up losing they determine that they must learn more about humans to be better weapons. This provides an opportunity for Gunzou to build on this curiosity and make them realize that they are people not just machines and that they have free will. The series uses a mission to smuggle advanced technology capable of taking down fog ships as a plot device to move these encounters forward. In the end Gunzou and I-401 are able to deliver the advanced weaponry prototype to the united states where it can be manufactured. More importantly in the process he has freed several AI's from being bound from the program known as the Admirality code. Some of them even leave the Fog to join his force the Blue Steel.
The series explores some interesting ideas about what it means to be intelligent, and what it means to be human. This is interspersed by some visually stunning Naval battles between Gunzou's forces and the Fog, and some land battles with Mental Models. All In all this series should appeal to both the science fiction action crowd and the people who want a series that makes them think.
This series is available as a stream at www.Crunchyroll.com.
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