Gatchaman Crowds

Hajime Ichinose's ordinary life is in for a change when a transcendent being named J.J Robinson hands her a small book called NOTE—a device which transforms her into one of the Gatchaman, the legendary protectors of Tachikawa City. Stressing that the existence of their group must remain a secret, fellow Gatchaman Sugane Tachibana takes Hajime to their base of operations, where Paiman, the panda-like alien leader of the Gatchaman, reveals their purpose: to eliminate aliens that pose a danger to humanity. These existential threats, called MESS, are becoming increasingly dangerous, destroying everything they touch. Now it's up to the Gatchaman and their new recruit to stop them before the world is engulfed in chaos.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

The North American release of the Gatchaman Crowds anime series does not contain the director's cut of episode 12, which remains exclusive to Japan.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Other:	Kagaku Ninja-tai Gatchaman
Alternative version:	Gatchaman Crowds: Embrace
Sequel:	Gatchaman Crowds Insight: Inbound

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Ichinose, Hajime

Main

Uchida, Maaya
Japanese

Ninomiya, Rui

Main

Murase, Ayumu
Japanese

Miya, Utsutsu

Main

Koiwai, Kotori
Japanese

Katze, Berg

Main

Miyano, Mamoru
Japanese

O. D.

Main

Hosomi, Daisuke
Japanese

Hibiki, Joe

Main

Namikawa, Daisuke
Japanese

Tachibana, Sugane

Main

Oosaka, Ryouta
Japanese

Paiman

Main

Hirano, Aya
Japanese

Robinson, J. J.

Supporting

Mori, Katsuji
Japanese

Sousai X

Supporting

Tange, Sakura
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Nakatani, Toshio

Producer

Nakamura, Kenji

Director, Storyboard

Nagasaki, Yukio

Sound Director

Yoshimura, Ai

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

"Crowds" by WHITE ASH

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Ending Theme

"INNOCENT NOTE" by Hajime Ichinose (CV: Maaya Uchida)

Reviews

Feb 27, 2022

OneFaintingRobin

Recommended

Like a lot of shows I've watched recently, I've tried to watch this before. The first attempt is a boring story, years ago I got a few episodes in, got distracted by something else, and never finished it. The second time, I got half an episode in and turned it off because I found the show's protagonist, Hajime, incredibly irritating and grating. Little did I know, the next time I tried to watch it, it would just click with me.

As a tokusatsu fan, there's obviously a lot that attracted me to 'Gatchaman Crowds'; an anime version of a genre I love anyway was always going ... to be up my alley. From that perspective, it's fantastic; the suit designs are phenomenal, the action is great and the 3DCG animation for the transformed Gatchaman managed to feel well-integrated and had a good weight to it, the animation feels unique and charming, the soundtrack is top-notch. Oh, and I've been singing the OP for the entire week-and-a-bit I've been watching.
Yet I can't help but brush past all of these, because what really surprised me was how intricate and how effective this show is as a story.

'Gatchaman Crowds' is an incredibly thematically dense story, an exploration of so many fascinating ideas that often get brushed over. It's a carefully crafted story about community and teamwork and heroism, and a story about how these can, when done carefully, almost be the same thing. It starts slow, simple, and lets itself build up over time, every step adding a bit to the puzzle, revealing a little more about the characters, with nothing feeling wasted or like filler. So, when it all comes together, it creates a conclusion that puts its thesis forward incredibly effectively, giving both those themes and the characters living them the right balance to work just how it needs to. In the end, what we get is a story about how, when we all work together, use our strengths in service of the things that are bigger than us as individuals, we can overcome anything.

And, at the centre of it, is a character who deserves an apology. Because Hajime Ichinose, our protagonist, the character I thought was loud and obnoxious and irritating and grating... is all of those things, yes, but as I got into this show, I realised that she might be one of my favourite protagonists in anime. A character who seems, on the surface, to be nothing more than an airhead who takes nothing seriously and rarely knows what's going on, who we realise, as we get to know her, is the most emotionally intelligent person in the cast, a smart and thoughtful hero who gets to the absolute core of what makes this show special. A character who is not, in fact, naive and oblivious, but someone who sees the issues at hand, who sees the trouble in the world, and looks at all the bad stuff, and chooses, actively, to see the best in every situation. It's her that is the heart of this show, as her mindset spreads to all around her, and brings us to that story's conclusion.

'Gatchaman Crowds' is absolutely one of the best shows I've watched in a while, absolutely a show that deserves to be considered as one of the superhero genre classics. As of writing this, I've still got the sequel to watch, and I can't wait to see where these characters, and especially this special protagonist, will take me next.

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Feb 15, 2024

Hakushama

Mixed Feelings

Watched this 10 years ago and still remember it very clearly, was one of the first few anime I watched and it was very enjoyable at the time, though I remember being a bit bothered by the fact that most male characters were either homosexual or looked so, was a minor problem to me back then. Well, as time went by and I got well informed on the new world order plot under the disguise of progressivism and the plan to destroy the nuclear family, every time I remembered about this anime I started realizing that there might be more to it than just entertainment... ...

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Apr 16, 2022

TheNoWhereKing

Not Recommended

I will never again watch an anime just because I see it on top ten lists.

This was absolute garbage.

I can kind of understand why so many may have liked this when it first aired, it has a knack for trying to con the audience into believing that it’s deep and is also trying to say something.

But it really isn’t. It’s exposition heavy in parts in such an unnatural way that it made me cringe, at just how bad the conversation between the characters giving the exposition was. To be fair though, all the dialogue in this anime is a mess. Nobody ever actually ... says anything, when the ‘deep’ moments with Hajime are happening she never actually says anything, she giggles her way through some vague cutesy talk and then says ‘Your fine the way you are’ like that’s meant to be some kind of nirvana inducing revelation. Or ‘it’s scary to make decisions’ OMG how could that bit of wisdom have possibly escaped me all my life? How did I never realise that?

It’s a joke. I can’t believe there’s anyone out there who could take this seriously…

I barely remember any of the characters and I finished watching this today. Yet they have already faded into obscurity if they left any kind of impression at all. Which to be honest I doubt they did. From what I do remember they were all single trait personality types. As in they have one thing that defines their personality and all their worldly struggles are tied to that one thing. But it doesn’t actually matter because the show doesn’t bother with them anyway. It pretends too, but if you try to tell me exactly what any of the other characters learned from the whole experience and you actually told me something definitive I would tell you that your self projecting because it definitely didn’t happen.

I had some hope for the villain, Katze at least appeared interesting at the start. Until he also just kept going through the same motions and repeating the exact same things using different words and phrasing. The way he was played up as being super powerful, and, the way it’s never actually shown just HOW Hajime seals him inside herself just proves that the writers had no idea what they were doing and no plan as to how to finish the story. If you want to be different but you have no idea how to actually do it, it’s best not to try in my opinion, or you end up with this kind of vague and lazy ending to an even lazier story.

I won’t point out all the abandoned plot points because there’s too many and I barely remember them, I’m sure we all remember the big one though. The MESS. At some point Hajimes cube just… disappears and it’s never mentioned again. Yet half the characters in this are obviously not the type that would just let something like that go. I mean up until a few days, or weeks (because who knows how much time is actually passing here?) they were fighting those cubes but now that they’ve stopped abducting people, well it doesn’t matter. They just happen to be an obviously dangerous alien life form that is still present on earth… but well we’re running out of episodes so better forget about that.

I just cannot understand why animes like this become popular at all? How does Hajime as an MC hold up in any way? Is it because of the Pixie Girl trend? It just blows my mind…

I know there’s a second season but I’m sorry, I don’t plan to waste another 6 hours of my life watching this, I’m sure it’s just going to be the first season with a few new characters anyway.

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Poll: Gatchaman Crowds Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) VioLink - Jul 12, 2013	299 replies	by BigBoyAdvance »» Mar 7, 4:53 AM
Poll: Gatchaman Crowds Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Jul 26, 2013	122 replies	by CartoonVelocirap »» Dec 14, 2023 7:36 PM
Poll: Gatchaman Crowds Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) VioLink - Sep 27, 2013	213 replies	by epidemia78 »» Jan 19, 2023 4:49 AM
Poll: Gatchaman Crowds Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 20, 2013	93 replies	by epidemia78 »» Jan 19, 2023 2:31 AM
Poll: Gatchaman Crowds Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) VioLink - Sep 13, 2013	103 replies	by epidemia78 »» Jan 18, 2023 1:21 PM

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Miya, Utsutsu

Katze, Berg

O. D.

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