Amaim Warrior at the Borderline


Amaim Warrior at the Borderline is an original Japanese anime television series animated by Sunrise Beyond. A photonovel series titled Kyōkai Senki: Frost Flower has been serialized in Hobby Japan's Monthly Hobby Japan magazine since July 2021. The series aired from October 2021 to June 2022.

Plot

In the mid-20th century, as a result of the economic crisis and a collapsing birthrate, Japan was on the verge of becoming a failed state. In response, foreign nations sent forces to intervene. However, foreign intervention quickly became a foreign occupation, and the competing foreign nations started the destructive Boundary War, fought with autonomous drone mecha called AMAIMs.
By the year 2061, the Boundary War has ended but Japan has been divided into four occupied zones where native Japanese are treated like second-class citizens. In the wake of the resulting social upheaval and unrest, a young boy named Amō Shiiba stumbles across an abandoned AMAIM called Kenbu and a rogue autonomous AI named Gai. With Kenbu and Gai, Amō has the opportunity to change the course of history for both himself and the entire nation of Japan.

Characters

Main characters

;Amō Shiiba
;Gashin Tezuka
;Shion Shishibe
;I-LeS Gai
;I-LeS Kei
;I-LeS Nayuta

Yatagarasu

;Gōken Kumai
;Risa Kōzaki
;Eiji Umasaki
;Misuzu Maki
;Takeru Muramatsu
;Kiryu Udou

Arahabaki

;Anna Takayanagi
;Takeru Konno

Confederation of Oceania

;Jeffrey Wilson
;Kate Byrne
;Simon Tate
;Oliver Martin

North America Coalition

;Brad Watt
;Raymond Hardy
;Charley Orley
;Roger Young
;Sofia Louis
;Joe Spears
;Tony Blanc
;Elliot Knox
;Roy Walker
;Gregory Cartland
;Mike Weaver

Asia Free Trade Entente

;Ho Guan
;Sun Chong
;Liu Fu
;Xin Haoran
;Zhao Kweihua
;Nadeck Elam
;Luang Thanarat

Federation of Great Eurasia

;Alexei Zelenoy
;Dahlia Lvov
;Boris Gretkov

A.R.E.S

;Collin Dialo

Brenson Corp

;German Gobert

Others

;Takuto Ōnishi
;Tsubasa Mishima
;Ken Tanasaka
;Gen Sakuma
;Yoriko Sakuma
;Tokuji Iwata
;Yūsei Suenaga

Media

Photonovel

A photonovel series titled Kyōkai Senki: Frost Flower began serialization in Hobby Japan's Monthly Hobby Japan magazine since July 21, 2021.

Anime

Sunrise Beyond and Bandai Spirits revealed the project on March 16, 2021. The series was directed by Nobuyoshi Habara and written by Noboru Kimura. Character designs were provided by Kenichi Ohnuki, while Rasmus Faber composed the music. It aired from October 5 to December 28, 2021, on TV Tokyo, MBS and BS11. Blank Paper performed the series' opening theme song "enemy". Funimation licensed the series outside of Asia. Just right after the first part ended, a second part was announced, and it aired from April 12 to June 28, 2022.
On April 11, 2022, Crunchyroll announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered on April 25.

Original net animation

An original net animation spinoff series titled Amaim Warrior at the Borderline: UltraSteel Ogre-Gear is also produced by Sunrise Beyond and will premiere in Bandai Spirits' YouTube Channel on April 10, 2023. Masami Obari will direct the series alongside returning staff from the previous anime handling the writing, music and mecha designs.
The opening theme is "Yobukoeganaruhougakue" by Organic Call. The ending theme is "I'll Be There" by Linkl Planet.

Reception

Anime News Network felt the main protagonist was generally unoriginal and uninspired. They were also critical of the story, calling its political aspects poorly-executed. In their review, Anime Feminist felt that the anime contains content of nationalism and anti-immigration ideas. They felt the introduction part of the anime's first episode can be summarized as "we let foreigners in and they outbred us, and now the True Japanese People are being subjugated by the foreign powers they heralded".

Bilibili removal

Chinese streaming website Bilibili removed the series from its service due to the portrayal of Asian foreign powers as human traffickers in the fifth episode, "Determination".