REVIEW: ‘Tank Chair’ Episode 1

Tank Chair is a new, unique anime that sets itself apart from many others this season by including elements and a concept not often seen in the medium. Tank Chair Episode 1 captures the audience with its production quality, but not much beyond that, as the story is still in its early stages.

Tank Chair is set in a dark, gritty urban wasteland cyberpunk world where crime is rampant, and criminals run the streets freely. As a result, several gangs dominate the city, and several hitmen make a living dispatching them. One of these hitmen is the prolific assassin Nagi Taira (Koki Uchiyama).

Unfortunately, after a rescue mission gone wrong, he has been left in a borderline vegetative state where he is unresponsive to most stimuli. The only way Nagi can move at all is when he senses genuine killing intent, which spikes his adrenaline and jump-starts brain activity, though for a limited time.

Tank Chair Episode 1 establishes an unusual character not often seen in manga.

Tank Chair Episode 1 begins with Nagi’s sister, Shizuka Taira (Minori Fujidera), accepting a new job for him to take down a violent robbery gang of apes led by a murderous gorilla named Goro Arashiyama. Shizuka goes to visit Nagi at his hospital, where it’s revealed that she takes on the most dangerous jobs for Nagi as a form of rehabilitation for him while he is confined to his wheelchair.

The opening moments set up an interesting concept: a wheelchair hitman with an odd medical condition, which is incredibly rare in anime and manga, as there aren’t many wheelchair protagonists. While the concept is unrealistic in many ways, it’s still unique enough to set it apart from its counterparts.

Nagi makes his way to the gang’s hideout where a fight quickly breaks out. During combat, Nagi wears fully kitted, skeletal-themed metallic armor with gloves that have large blades attached. His wheelchair is fully armored with giant wheels, yet he remains incredibly mobile and agile when controlling it because of his superior upper-body strength. The fight showcases his strength, speed, and brutality, as well as his wheelchair’s capabilities, like spiked wheels, which he uses to run up walls.

The fight sequences in Tank Chair Episode 1 set a high bar for the series.

He kills the entire gang in gory fashion and moves on. The fight showcases excellent composition and striking visuals. While Tank Chair is entirely a 3D CG anime from Polygon Pictures, it still sports excellent motion fluidity unlike many of its counterparts. The colors are vibrant, and while some of Nagi’s superhuman movements and the artistic choice to make blood pink in the anime make fights a bit goofy, they are captivating regardless.

After he dispatches the goons, a flashback begins, explaining how Nagi was left in a comatose state during a rescue mission after Shizuka was kidnapped, which is why she is set on finding him dangerous jobs, hoping it will somehow cure him.

The flashback ends, and Nagi is confronted by his main target, the gorilla boss Goro, and another fight breaks out. Halfway through the fight, Nagi retreats to pull out his trump card: the Tank Chair Mark VII, a tank-like weaponized vehicle that operates like his wheelchair. Despite being another goofy element of his arsenal, it’s incredibly intricate and has a really cool metal design. He uses the vehicle to run Goro over, ending the fight quickly.

While the story itself is barely getting started, this opening episode shows a lot of promise.

The episode ends on a somewhat solemn note as the siblings walk back from the mission and talk. Nagi asks Shizuka not to worry about him and to take school seriously. However, before they can finish the conversation, he returns to his comatose state, forcing Shizuka to wheel him back alone.

Despite its interesting narrative concept, Tank Chair Episode 1 doesn’t do much to engage viewers with its story. This is mainly because there isn’t much going on so far, and many aspects such as the world’s details, the siblings’ background and origins, and how and why Shizuka was kidnapped are unexplained so far. Hopefully, this will change as the series progresses.

Regardless, Tank Chair Episode 1 is an entertaining enough episode, with striking visuals, solid 3D animation, and great character designs. While the narrative hasn’t offered much so far, that may change with the introduction of new characters in the coming episodes.

 Tank Chair Episode 1 is streaming now on Prime Video.