Broken Blade

A fairly standard anime mecha series that is well animated and has some nice things going for it.  Sometime in the future humans can control quartz mentally.  From this odd little skill a whole new  technology is formed that they call magic.  Using flexible alloys peppered with quartz they've created mecha robots.  Our hero is genetically incapable of manipulating quartz so he can't use all this cool technology.  They do find out that he's the only that can control the incredibly ancient mecha that they found so he becomes the typically reluctant pacifist hero often seen in anime.  He only fights because he has personal feelings for the royal family and if they lose they will be executed.  Things are further complicated by having a friend on the other side and a team mate he doesn't trust because he's three gallons crazy in a two gallon bucket.  The series itself does a good job in humanizing characters on all side of the conflict and there are various side plots to keep things interesting.

The animation is good and smooth.  The story, while nothing special, moves along well.  If there is any problem it is that there is some unneeded "fan service."  Really we don't need scenes like, "excuse me if I take off my clothes before we eat dinner."  It just dumbs everything down.  Other than that it's a perfectly fine mecha anime.