Without going too far into our review, let’s discuss the best element of Sakugan, the dynamic duo that is Gagumber and Memempu. The father and daughter dynamic make Sakugan so enjoyable as they laugh together, make fun of one another, and survive together. Every scene these two share is a great one and they are usually the better moments of Sakugan. Without Gagumber and Memempu, Sakugan would suffer greatly as their dialogue and actions are just perfect.

The adventure element in Sakugan really keeps the story from feeling overly generic and getting repetitive. When Gagumber and his team explore a city or get into some trouble–which usually ends in fighting for their lives–Sakugan felt a bit boring, to be honest. Yet, when the labyrinth comes into play, the adventure element of Sakugan really shines through. Even Sakugan’s mecha fights don’t hold up as well as just watching everyone go through the labyrinth and surviving the dangers and seeing the majesty of the environment, that is where Sakugan shines brightest.

Sakugan has a weird relationship with its mecha theme. The earlier episodes focus strongly on mecha action as the pair fight giant kaiju and monsters. Yet, after that, the mecha moments almost die out. There are some racing-like moments using Gagumber’s robot—as it can switch between a mech and car—but that’s about it. Don’t expect many battles like the first one, Sakugan will disappoint you if you do.

There are a multitude of characters that appear in Sakugan from the tough girl Zackletu to the street punk Yuri but they all feel very stale in comparison to the main two. Most of the characters have complex backstories that make you sympathize with them, but their stories aren’t anything we haven’t seen in other anime. Sakugan fails to really make characters that will be remembered for years after unless a continuation changes their personalities.

The final episode is, as we mentioned, titled "To Be Continued" and really seems to want to push Sakugan into a second season. While there are plenty of mysteries to be found in the labyrinth and with our cast of “heroes”, will the problems we have with the anime be fixed in a second season? Honestly, if season 2 releases anytime soon we want several big fixes. There needs to be more mecha-action as this is where Sakugan really showed its solid animation. We also hope we learn more about Gagumber’s past as a Marker. Lastly, Sakugan needs—and we mean this—to shy away from city segments. Sakugan’s second season could help push the series to higher levels but if it doesn’t make some drastic changes, it will probably be no better or worse than the first season.