Ranked #2147

Gate Keepers

Truth be told, for the first times I’ve watched it I wasn’t able to fully appreciate it. I’m glad I decided to re-watch Gate Keepers once again, because it’s definitely worth it.

The plot of Gate Keepers can be compared to old school anime, probably because the story is set in the 1960s. The only difference is that Gate Keepers has the feel of contemporary anime – it’s set in the 60s, but it doesn’t really seem like it is. It’s really exciting and fun to watch. Some historical references were actually incorporated into the story, such as the moon landing, the world expo and maybe even hippies.

Another aspect I like about it is the comedy. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it was so funny, but that’s probably because most of the comedy came from Reiko and Bancho – the 2 characters I USED to hate. All of the characters are actually very likable. My other favorites are Megane and Fei, because they’re both so adorable. I still like Kaoru and Shun though (Shun’s hot!)

As expected of Gonzo, the animation is really impressive. I love the character design except for Reiko’s because she seems different compared to the other characters. They all have beautifully drawn eyes though – I especially like how the eyes look when they use their gate powers. The CG wasn’t as sophisticated and smooth as I want it to be, but it wasn’t that bad. There were repeated scenes and usually I’d say that’s a sign of laziness, but it’s minimal.

Some of my favorite seiyuus are actually in Gate Keepers. One of them is Takahiro Sakurai. I always seem to like his characters (especially Cloud Strife from Advent Children!). The other is Tomokazu Seki. I just think he’s a really talented VA. Other seiyuus I want to note are Chinami Nishimura (Fei) and Etsuko Kozakura (Megane). They really made Fei and Megane really cute and adorable. I just love it when Fei goes “Ayaya!”.

The music was great as well. Like the story, the music reminds me of old school anime as well (specially the mecha ones) except they’re more updated. I really love how the opening theme was made – it really describes the plot so well. Sometimes you can catch the characters quoting some of the lyrics. The ending theme wasn’t bad either. Yumi Matsuzawa did a great job in performing both songs.

Just to finish this review, I’m going to reaffirm my first point by saying Gate Keepers is definitely a must watch. I’m going to try the OVA and see if it’s as good as the series. read more

This review covers both seasons.

Gate Keepers (GK) is one of the few GONZO works that don’t suck all the way because they held back on stuffing everything with lifeless 3D models. Too bad they realized later on how this would probably make something good out of their work and thus evetually threw in lots of that.

One should never try to watch GK for the story or the plot, since this is GONZO we are talking about. It is to the most part an aimless adventure of kids with superpowers having fun and making fun of everything, while occasionally they need to save the world just for lulz. Although the story has some really interesting concepts around the origin of the villains (they are not really aliens from another dimension trying to take over the world) as well as the backlash of using the special powers too much (they eventually kill you) all that are completely underplayed for aimless comedy in the first season and for overflowed drama in the sequel.

I do admit the humor level is good for its type, slapstick and erotic without ever overdoing it, and the characters are easily becoming likable for their simplistic yet bold personalities. As far as enjoyment goes, it is a good comedy. Yet, it could have been far more if it was actually making use of its setting as well as developing its characters and not just killing most out-of-screen and replacing them with far less interesting ones. Hell, we are not even told why did they marry and have kids with different people that what the first season was hinting all along. We are not even told what is to be done with all these alien crystals they gather for so many decades.

The production values are otherwise good, besides the 3D effects; trademark of GONZO. Characters and backgrounds are well drawn and colorful, with famous voice actors doing a great job. Still, they feel generic to the most part. There is no theme to make them stand out from so many other shows. Although the setting is the 60’s and they throw in some historical events to make it all appear historically correct, it still remains typical looking with stock character appearances and personalities. Same for the soundtrack, it has some really strong and interesting music pieces, none of which are eventually memorable.

And then the sequel comes and WHAM 180 degrees turn around to a dark and depressing setting, mostly mysterious than easy going. I can’t say it is more interesting this way because it lasted too little and various revelations and developments were constantly happening rushed or out of screen. The new cast was also just pale imo version of the original and hardly as memorable. Damn GONZO, how hard would it be to use a few less funds for horrible CGI and use that to find a better scriptwriter?

Gate Keepers is a good time killer but hardly masterpiece material. It has a lot of untapped potential, reflecting perfectly its production company. It could be worse but it could be not-GONZO as well. read more