A futuristic setting with invasions and seemingly an Iron Man meets Star Wars meets Real Steel meets Avatar is what Mech Cadets (Season 1) can be likened to by the audiences. In a futuristic world, humans live quite peacefully with a peacekeeping force being trained to bond with a species of defenders called Robos. Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa’s series brings to life the story of Stanford Yu, a young aspiring pilot and his journey from reject, to cadet, to someone who acts in the interest of “all humanity.”
While many of the names would have been thought of over the course of this 240 minutes series, it is its own unique thing. Or atleast, it tries to be with inspiration being drawn from various quarters.
Mech Cadets (Season 1) Recap:
Episode 1: Underdogs
Set in the year 2075, Mech Cadets reveals the history between the protagonists (Robos) and the antagonists (Shargs). Immediately after, audiences get to see Ava and Stanford. Ava saves her friend from falling into a deep ditch. They then head back to Arizona’s Sky Corps Military Base. Stanford is disappointed as all he wants to be is a pilot, but he has to remain content with an engineering internship. Although it will see him work with Ava, he isn’t keen on it. This is because being a Mech Pilot is all he has ever wanted. Until then, he was a janitor along with his mother, Dolly Yu.
The Robos have arrived on Earth after a long time and General Park’s daughter Olivia is fiercely determined to become a pilot. She even puts Stanford from the Robos selection training exercise, after he steals an Exosuit and tries to sneak in. As stealing is a Skycorps violation, Stanford’s membership was revoked.
The Robos selection training exercise sees Olivia Park, Frank Olivetti, and Maya Sanchez finish in the top 3. They earn the right to have the two Robos select and bond with them. Unfortunately for Park, the Robos overlook her and bond with Olivetti and Sanchez.
Meanwhile, Stanford, who is riding away, sees an UFO crash into earth. He goes to investigate and finds a Robo. The Robo takes a liking to him and then gets attacked by a creature. Stanford does a bike stunt to save the Robo, who returns the favor and saves him from a serious fall. The Robo then bonds with Stanford.
Episode 2: Evolution
The creature is revealed to be a Sharg and it returns to battle Stanford’s Robo. Captain Tanaka’s Robo arrives as backup and he sees that Stanford has bonded with Buddy. They head back to base together.
Meanwhile, Olivia works on the bag and Captain Park tells her she missed her shot. In Park’s office, Tanaka confirms that the Robo chose and bonded with Stanford. As bonds can’t be broken, the boy is a Mech Cadet.
At the Cadet Dock, Olivia tries to claim the Robo and attacks Stanford. Frank reminds Olivia of her double-cross during the training exercise and Olivia stops her from punching Stanford. Frank reminds her of the backstab and Olivia stops her punch.
When Stanford has second thoughts, Frank urges him to take his shot, and not think someone better is there. The exact words were to “forget everyone else. You gotta believe in yourself.”
One person that is not excited is Dolly Yu. Stanford leaves her a note the next morning and goes to the Mech Cadet training. Tanaka, who spends the morning motivating Olivia to find her niche elsewhere, leads Maya, Frank, and Stanford during cadet training. He shows them how to work with the Robos and sets them on a race; with the loser getting cleaning duty. Stanford blacks out during the race and Tanaka discovers unidentified objects among the cliffs. He waits there till the containment teams arrive and sends the rest back to base.
General Park is furious at a Robo choosing someone with no training. He introduces Olivia to Hero Force One – a man made Robo. Olivia remembers Tanaka’s words “unexpected twists become the best opportunities” and accepts command of Hero Force One. The episode ends with the Sharg eggs glowing.
Episode 3: Know your Enemy
Everyone learns of Olivia’s human built Robo. Meanwhile, the higher ups notice that the Mars Rover went offline. The cadets, now joined by Hero Force One and Olivia, focus on combat training. They learn that the Robos are mere skeletons with them relying on their humans’ skills. The engineering team equips each Robo with a weapon.
Stanford destroys a mountain when he activates his glove. During another drill, the quartet has to work together to snatch a flag from Tanaka. They don’t and Maya pays the price for her solo win as her Robo suffered damage. During her blackout, she remembers her recruitment.
Back at base, Max instructs Maya to remember to protect her Robo as Robos will even destroy themselves to protect their humans.
Near Mars, the generals discover a Sharg ship. The eggs in the lab glow and one even hatches. It is loose in the lab and consumes Dr. Miller.
Episode 4: For all Humanity
A rat runs from Mrs. Wu, who chases it into Dr. Miller’s lab. She gets a blast of purple liquid in her face. General Park arrives at the lab and voices his assumptions that the eggs are destroyed. On the other side of the wall, Ava accidentally blows a hole through the concrete and emerges in the lab. Chief Max crawls through immediately after.
The four decide to get rid of the eggs. Park and Dolly take them to the incinerator. At that time, the escaped Sharg attacks the Mech Cadets. Olivia and Maya run into Stanford’s room, but Frank remains outside and takes the animal on himself. Stanford, Maya, and Olivia race out to help him with Frank landing a huge blow and passing out. He then remembers his recruitment, which goes ahead despite his leg issue. When Frank regains consciousness, so does the Sharg. Maya kills it.
Meanwhile, the eggs in the incinerator hatch with Park and Wu trying their best to contain the hatchlings within the flame. Ava goes to the Cadet dorms and informs Olivia and Stanford about the situation below. Stanford decides to defy orders and lifts the lockdown. General Park and Mrs. Wu escape, but the three Shargs get loose. While Ava kills one and Stanford kills the other, one escapes.
General Park has a session with Mech Cadet Stanford. He dismisses claims of his life being saved and speaks about the motto “For all humanity.” The general expels Stanford from Sky Corps Academy.
Williams replaces Stanford in the Mech Cadet system. Frank and Olivia agree to go on a date.
Episode 5: Ghosts
A distraught Stanford leaves and heads home, where he receives a call from Ava. He learns she has been temporarily promoted to Chief Engineer while Max is indisposed after the Sharg attack in the previous episode. Stanford tries to be happy for Ava, but she realises it is not real. Dolly Wu gives her son a talking to for treating Ava in that fashion.
The Sky Corps Academy tries to get Buddy to bond with another pilot with a Link Mod. Ava refuses but Park tries to override her. She then speaks about Buddy being different from the rest of the Robos to buy some time. She also tells the men that the device may not work. Clark then offers Ava a spot on the Hero Force One crew. She seems to decide it is best for her and tailors the device to allow Buddy to forget Stanford. Williams renames Buddy as Bro-dawg.
The Link Mod does not work and Buddy rejects Williams. Clark furiously asks Ava what happened, and she reminds them of her words that it may not work.
Maya and Tanaka go outside on a mission. They spotted a Sharg growing as it consumes the mud and races to the GDR. The Sharg destroys Tanaka, and he instructs her to save the GDR rather than him. Maya realises it was just her and Big Red to save the GDR tower. That motivates her to rise and destroy the Sharg. Tanaka assists her with the decisive blow.
Buddy goes to Stanford and picks him for a flight. Meanwhile, General Park orders Clark to commence the next phase of Hero Force. Ava used her card and discovers the new Hero Force units, but Olivia spots her.
Episode 6: Veritas
Olivia asks Ava why she is going there and opts to let her go. Stanford goes to meet General Park and apologizes for his actions. Park informs him that he was only in due to the exceptional circumstances and would be on probation.
Olivia and Frank decide to help Stanford; Olivia joins them as well. Tanaka comes to the dorms to finds out why his cadets are not around and learns that they worked as a team. He is impressed and then sends them on Robo patrol duty.
Chief Max arrives just as Clark tries to bully Ava and snatch the Link Mod. The group has marshmallows on patrol and remembers anecdotes from their past and why they became Mech Pilots.
At the base, Ava and Max discover a hole and used Stanford to gain access to the HF1 bay. They discover Veritas and the power core. This is odd as Robos killed in action saw their power cores destroyed.
When Stanford and Ava confront Olivia, she asks her father for the truth. He admits to having killed Veritas. Max investigates and learns that the Shargs have used a Trojan horse and left eggs undetected. Tanaka theorises that the eggs would be all over the planet now.
Episode 7: All for one
The Shargs launch an offensive with invasions coming from all over. Tanaka fast tracks the cadets to battle and takes off on his own assignment. Stanford motivates Olivia, Frank, and Maya before they head into battle.
Shargs are attacking every one of the GDR control units. In his attempts to stop them, Tanaka takes a serious hit. General Park orders the cadets to return to the base. Olivia raises the humanity motto and decides to stay out. Park agrees to let the quartet remain there and sends a med-evac for Tanaka. Using one of Tanaka’s lessons, the quartet quickly takes down the Sharg with a decoy attack from below. More Shargs emerge from the fallen one and go for the GDR tower. Adam Williams swoops in with an HF model and provides temporary respite, before getting ejected. The tower falls and the Sharg ship moves closer to the Earth.
Back at the base, General Park defends his killing of Robo Mechs to Tanaka. He informs the group that they are at war. Tanaka tries to take his Robo (Tombo) to intercept the incoming Sharg, but it is broken. While General Park instructs the pilots to stay grounded till their Robos power up, Olivia takes HF1 and heads into space.
Episode 8: The Einstein-Rosen Bridge
Olivia goes offline and disobeys her commander’s direct order to head to space. She makes it through the atmosphere and into space. On ground, Ava goes to fix GDR with Stanford to protect the engineers. Frank and Maya take care of the campus. Frank blames himself for his misses that saw Tombo and HF1 in danger. Maya tells him to not do so.
Olivia comes back online and connects her video feed. She is near the Sharg ship in space. General Park orders her to head back, when the footage reveals that it is not a Sharg ship, but a huge Sharg. Park orders the HF mechs into space, but the bots eject the pilots. Left with no option, Maya and Frank are sent to space. This leaves Stanford and Buddy as the last available Cadet-Robo combo in Arizona. Stanford only has to remain to ensure the GDR can be fixed. Once done, Park permits Buddy to head to space for the battle. Buddy allows the group to get back through the barrier.
On the ground, Tanaka brawls with Park, who explains the point of the HF program. Tanaka responds by quitting. In the sky, the Sharg destroys the GDR point and rains eggs down on the Earth.
Episode 9: Dark Matter
As the GDR alignment motor is busted, Tanaka decides to return one last time. For the cadets. They fix the GDR. At one point, Stanford, who fell off, remembers the past in a flashback; Buddy saves him. The Mech Cadet quartet are overwhelmed by the volume of Shargs, with Olivia in the verge of collapse due to low battery. Tanaka shows up just in time to save her trainee and provide her the backup power General Park has sent. Stanford manages to repair the GDR and the quartet re-enters the atmosphere.
On the ground, a rogue Sharg is headed for a control station for which General Park had sent Clark with the HF. However, the Sharg plays a trick with it doubling back to the campus. Williams shows up once more in the HF2 and does his best against the Sharg before going back to square one.
Stanford is elected to take out the Queen Sharg, per what Buddy informs him, and the pilots toss an explosive at the beast.
Episode 10: Family
The Sharg does explode but a black hole is created through which it does not go through. Stanford then urges the group to try again, with Buddy being able to control the hole and keep it open long enough for the Sharg to go through. They realize that the Sharg is strong enough to stop the pull, and Tanaka says he would push it through and sacrifice himself. When the cadets express concern, he calls it an order.
Buddy controls gravity after the explosive implodes, but Tomko does not have enough power. Frank and Maya have to save Tanaka, and Olivia pushes the Sharg, HF1, and herself through the black hole. Audiences then witness Olivia’s flashback scene of her on a skateboard.
On the ground, the cadets receive a hero’s welcome and they put out a tribute to Olivia. Frank and Maya finally kiss, but are stopped abruptly on account of Adam. Tanaka goes to General Park’s office and apologizes.
Mech Cadets (Season 1) Ending Explained
What promise does Tanaka make?
Tanaka stands at a grave and makes a promise to find Olivia. It is the grave of Charlie, i.e. Olivia’s mother and Tanaka’s sister.
How does Stanford react to being called a hero?
When Stanford’s mother calls him, Ava, Frank, and Maya heroes, he simply says that heroes don’t leave people behind.
What gift did Ava give to Stanford?
Ava gifts Stanford a repaired motorcycle. It is like the one that had gotten destroyed in the first episode.
What decision does Ava make?
Ava decides to not return to Sky Corps. She does this as she understands General Park’s actions, but would not be able to take such a decision herself. She does not know what to do next except for putting it aside as a problem for tomorrow.
Who is the fifth Robo in the next mission?
Tanaka, Stanford, Maya, and Frank get ready on their mission to find Olivia. At that time, a fifth Robo joins them. It is not Adam Williams. It is an HF model that had General Park within it.
Mech Cadets (Season 1) Review:
As mentioned in the introduction, Mech Cadets will remind audiences of numerous series. Things that come to mind are of course aplenty. However, it is the themes that make this a good watch. There is a good story arc for the likes of Olivia and General Park, who go from being despicable beings to the characters that will make audiences salute and tip their caps to. The evolution of four beings to one is what drives Mech Cadets forward. Motivational dialogues do play a key role in this series, but there isn’t really anything memorable to take away.
What works in this is the really speedy run time and bite sized episodes that really give the watcher a feel that they are making good progress on the series. The lack of a heavy backstory, bar the few monochrome flashbacks works well as the audience remains in the present. Given that there is no double cross on the ground shows that the series was largely aimed at the children who would really love to see the good guy winning without any major plot twists. Good for the target audience, but not really something for the adults. Unless, of course, they can buy into the concept of having someone thrown into the deep end to test their skills. The animation remains grounded and doesn’t really pop, but I really wish the desert scenes with the Robos didn’t resemble the Boonta Eve Classic circuit.
Watch it just for a fun experience. There’s nothing that will really stick with you as drift away to another series. Maybe one thing may remain with you… for all humanity (in Olivia’s voice).
