Tony Stark arrives in Japan stripped of every quality that makes him Tony Stark, the sarcasm is gone, the scheming is gone, the refusal to take anything seriously is gone. What's left is a man in a suit hitting things, which would be fine if the animation had the budget to make that look like anything. The first two episodes promise a story about redemption through invention, then spend the remaining ten proving that concept works better in theory than in a 2010 anime that didn't quite know what it was adapting.
Tony Stark, a physicist, engineer and head of a major arms company, is hit by shrapnel from one of his own weapons. While held captive by terrorists, he builds the Iron Man armor and breaks free, and he swears to use this second chance to improve the world. That goal brings him to Japan, where Lab 23 is building the Arc Station, a power plant that runs without fossil fuels. Stark means to join the project and plans to retire as Iron Man, passing his role to a line of mass-produced Iron Men. During the ceremony for these announcements, combat mecha from a group called Zodiac suddenly attack him. The series is a twelve-episode action drama built around mecha battles.
