Ranked #7974

Yuusha Exkaiser

Ah, the series that started the whole Yuusha craziness (in Asia anyway). Yuusha Exkaiser is the 1st installment of the 8 Yuusha (Brave) series that have been released.

For those who don't know about the Yuusha series, here's some brief information on it. GaoGaiGar, being arguably the most well known out of them all, Yuusha series all involve giant transformable mechas (robots) that basically fight evil and save the world. Although they all have "Yuusha" in the title, they are not connected to each other story wise. Here are all the series listed chronologically.

1. Yuusha Exkaiser (1990)
2. Taiyou no Yuusha Fighbird (1991)
3. Densetsu no Yuusha Da Garn (1992)
4. Yuusha Tokkyuu Might Gaine (1993)
5. Yuusha Keisatsu J-Decker (1994)
6. Ougon Yuusha Goldran (1995)
7. Yuusha Shirei Dagwon (1996)
8. Yuusha Ou GaoGaiGar (1997)

You could say that I basically grew up watching the Yuusha series! I decided to write a review on Exkaiser first as although it's not a popular one, it is the one that started it all.


STORY

This series is aimed towards children. The episodes are not related to one another for the most part. Generally, you would see some bad guys do something, but then the good guys (Exkaiser and the gang) come in, have a nice fight against the enemies and the episode ends (good guys win of course). I will not get into the specifics of the story as I don't want to spoil anything here. Basically, you could skip a couple episodes here and there and you really wouldn't be lost until you get to the later part of the series when the storyline really starts to count. If you try to have a marathon of some sorts, you might get kind of tired of it as it does kind of get repetitive.


ART

This is an old school anime. The transformation/combination scenes are still quite impressive, but don't expect GaoGaiGar here! When you look at the character designs, there's definitely that 80's~90's feel to them. The characters designs remind me of Hayao Miyazaki’s characters. The animation’s nothing too extraordinary, but it really isn’t too bad if you think about when it came out and how many episodes there are. Now, the highlight of the series: the mechas! Many of them transform from vehicles (car, jet, train, etc.) to robots (should remind you of Transformers) and they combine to form bigger and more powerful robots. I’ve always loved combination sequences... The animation and art quality is much better in those scenes as they are reused. The mechas are quite nicely designed and although I would be baised in saying this, but I like them better than Transformers.


SOUND

Well, the audio quality wise, it isn’t very good, considering it is an old anime. Voice acting is well done as they are done nicely to fit into the show smoothly (kind of cheesy as the intended audience is children, but it’s not too bad). The soundtrack’s quite nice and they kind of have that nostalgic feel to them. Unfortunately, the OP and ED songs stay the same all the way through the series, but it really wasn’t a huge factor for me. Basically, the music tracks are quite good and they fit the "good vs. evil" theme of the series.


CHARACTERS

The main characters of the show are a boy called, Kouta and a transformable car called, Exkaiser, who actually is a space police (don’t worry this is revealed in the beginning of episode 1). Kouta is a typical boy with good nature and Exkaiser has that perfect trait as a hero – a dedicated and an unshaken will to fight evil and protect others. I’ve felt that Kouta could’ve had a little more distinct personality rather than being a typical boy. There are other transformable mechas, some good, and some bad. From what I remember, no personalities were extreme or really unique, which was a little downer for me.


ENJOYMENT & FINAL THOUGHTS

This is one of the series that you should watch without huge expectations. It was worth watching for me, because it is the first Yuusha series. I’ve actually watched many of the later Yuusha series before watching Exkaiser. People who have little or no experience with older anime might find it a little difficult to keep watching, which is understandable. Still, if you're fan of the Yuusha (Brave) series (or just a mecha fan in general), this series is certainly worth taking a look at. read more