Gad Guard

Several hundred years in the future, the resources of the Earth runs out, and the progression of the human race has stagnated. The world is now divided into "Units." A boy named Hajiki Sanada lives with his mother and sister in Unit 74, in a place called "Night Town," in which all electricity is shut down at midnight. The key in this story is an object called the GAD. GADs have the ability to reconstruct materials while reacting to feelings of an organic life. The size and shape of the resulting product seem to be different depending on the kinds of feelings that the life possesses. When Hajiki comes in contact with one by accident, it transforms into a huge robot—a Tekkoudo, or "Iron Giant"—which Hajiki names Lightning. And soon he realizes that he isn't the only one with a Tekkoudo, and must find out how to deal with those others who he feels are the "same" as himself.

(Source: ANN)

Katana Main

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Sanada, Hajiki Main

Suzumura, Kenichi Japanese

Harmony, Aiko Mary Main

Kurata, Masayo Japanese

Shinozuka, Arashi Main

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Kisaragi, Takumi Main

Satou, Yuuko Japanese

Flaubert, Catherine Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Melissa Supporting

Chiba, Chiemi Japanese

Hachisuka, Kogoro Supporting

Ishizuka, Unshou Japanese

Sayuri Supporting

Inohara, Shuri Japanese

Seikai Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Hamano, Takatoshi Producer

Ikeguchi, Kazuhiko Producer, Series Composition, Planning

Nagata, Katsuharu Producer

Hatanaka, Toshio Producer

Reviews

Jun 21, 2025

Aj4090

Recommended

This is my first review on here so it might not sound too well written or coherent. This show has a very 'Nintendo' feel to it. Like the plot by itself isn't too great but the characters are so charming, and the vibes are so energetic I fully believe it can get a lot of people looking for a simple story on board.

Story:
Some other MAL reviewer said they like to judge a story based on how well it's balanced with the characters, like weak characters but strong story and vice versa. This show is a very good example of good characters but weak story. ... There's not really a central overarching plot outside of the rival just trying to take over the city that the anime takes place in. The anime is pretty vague on the actual societal problems that plague 'Night Town', so the most the viewer knows is that it's just a dump. The setting not really being too interesting can tank down a story, and since this whole story is primarily about taking over the setting, it's not too interesting. The show also takes its sweet, SWEET time getting to the actual mystery behind the mechs and not going to lie by the time they actually do reveal it you'll most likely have lost interest by then. Overall, a pretty weak overarching plot with a handful of stellar moments. 5/10.

Characters:
Easily the best part of the shows writing, I truly do love a majority of the characters in this anime from the bottom of my heart. Almost every interaction feels realistic and genuine. So much of the cast just bounce off each other so naturally it's insane, ESPECIALLY in the way the adult characters behave towards the kids. However, I can't mention the characters without mentioning my all-time favorite from this show: Katana. On the surface he can just come across as a very typical rival character, and honestly, he is. But I don't know if it's his design, his English dub voice (which is shared with Kakashi Hatake btw), or just how smooth and overly aggressive every single piece of dialogue that comes from is, but he's great and without a doubt the star of the show in my eyes. Hell, I definitely liked him a lot more than the main character, Hajiki, and this is no slight against him because I loved him a lot too, but he really just doesn't compare to Katana. Every episode that centers around Katana is genuinely a highlight of the whole series, no joke. What's DEFINITELY a lowlight would be two the kid characters: Arashi and Aiko. They both genuinely don't contribute much to the show other than having crushes on the male characters, and normally I wouldn't care as much but when so much of the cast is so good they genuinely stand out with how mediocre their writing is. Despite this, I still love this show's cast to no end and it's definitely the best part of it all to me. That comfy 'community' aspect of this show's cast reminds me of the video Majora's Mask, which might also be a pretty big reason as to why I love them so much.

Music:
I'm not experienced in music and so this section's not going to be long, but this soundtrack is godly. This is coming from someone who doesn't even care for jazz that much, the main genre of this show's OST, but every, and I mean EVERY track is either so catchy or so memorable I can't hate it. There are definitely some standout tracks of the show and trust me when you hear them you'll now them.

Visuals:
The lighting is genuinely some of the best in not just any 2000s anime but in a lot of anime in general. I'm not going to lie, I'm a heavy fan of more muted, subdued colors in anime, especially in 2000s anime. It's one of the main reasons why FMA 03 is one of my favorite anime of all time. The lighting is easily the third best part of the show, and I genuinely don't think any sane human being with an eye for lighting wouldn't recognize it. I also adore the character designs, every single one of them, from how 1930s 'Tom and Jerry'-esque gangster Katana looks, to the cool more 2000s urban look of Hajiki. That being said though, when the show is saving on budget, you can tell. Especially since it's a 2000s anime and ESPECIALLY since all of the kid characters have very simplified designs, and my belief when it comes to anime is that if the character designs are going to be simple it should usually have stellar animation to back it up (Mob Psycho 100 or for a more 2000s example, FMA 03), but this anime doesn't really have what I would call 'stellar animation'. Despite that though, the fight scenes are genuinely still entertaining, primarily due to the high-speed movement of the mechas.

Overall:
If you're coming into this show expecting writing on par with some of the greats of mecha anime, or even just 2000s anime, it's not here. However, if you just want a simple fun show with a very charming cast, pretty great visuals, and an amazingly catchy soundtrack, then hopefully this review convinces at least someone out there on the internet to watch this. Overall, a solid 8/10 for me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 25, 2011

ggultra2764

Recommended

I've seen a good number of people online call Gad Guard a mediocre title for one reason or another, which led me to rent the series via Netflix to see if there was any validity with those claims. While the series is far from being a masterpiece, I did see some meaningful elements to the series which at least made it watchable. The series ran on an ongoing theme of overcoming personal doubts and taking responsibility for ones own actions. This theme was conveyed through the Techodes that the central characters formed from GADs as the series comes to reveal the personal problems plaguing the ... characters and how these problems led their Techodes to manifest. The series does enough to flesh out these major characters to give one enough sense of their backgrounds, what they desire from their Techode and how they gradually come to develop as they meet one another and frequently clash over their differing beliefs with what responsibilities they should fulfill with their Techodes. Depending on the character, the series portrays a variety of differing moods from the seemingly mundane coming from Hajiki's deliveries to action-packed from Takumi's heroic vigilantism to dramatic with what we learn of the pasts of the characters.

However, the show's shoddy plot development is what bogs the series down quite a bit. There are a number of glaring plot holes connected to elements of the series such as the origins of the GADs and some background concerning supporting characters encountered in the series is hardly explored, particularly Katana's connection with Sayuri and Catherine's connection to the GADs. In addition, the show often gets in the annoying habit of having some of its events occur too conveniently just to advance its plot, whether it be one character being saved in the nick of time or dealing with a seemingly impossible situation.

In terms of presentation, don't expect much out of the visuals. While the series does feature good-looking and diverse scenery shots from the dark and vast landscapes of Night Town to scenes in the countryside, character and mecha designs look rough in their details and the latter designs also looking fairly simple with said details. Also, animation shortcuts are apparent rather frequently during action scenes. In terms of the soundtrack, Gad Guard is notable for its upbeat jazz beats used for the show's OP sequence and some of the insert musical tracks of the series, which fit rather well with the varying moods that the series portrays with its characters.

While far from a perfect title, don't let the reviews from other sites deter you from giving Gad Guard a try. While the show's plot is subpar in quality, its characterization coming from the developments of the central characters and their desires with the Techodes do enough to make up for the show's shortcomings with plot delivery.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Aug 28, 2011

OniWarrior

Mixed Feelings

This is only my second review so bare with me on this. I watched this anime a long time ago but, had never finished it until now and I'd like to share the pros & con's.

Story: First of all, Gad Guard had a good concept story that pulled you in at first, About a boy that worked Day to Day to help support his family that his father had abandoned trying to be a better man, until stumbling upon A plot twist that ultimately completely moot as the later episodes seem to skip a lot of important information and got rather confusing and feels like ... it was rushed making the story kind of hard to fallow, for example Character's relationships developing without how it came to be, or how this character gained this.

I can still recommend this anime though it feel's sloppy toward the end it still has a good message. The character's have rich/fun personality's.


Art: The art design of this anime was kind of cheap, to many commonly used greys the colors kind of ran together at some parts but it wasn't horrible and wasn't totally bland.

Sound: Music is mostly comprised of jazz music and some techno
but is still pleasing to the ears. not bad, not great.

Characters: The characters were fun to watch but a lot of character development was left out but you can kind of see where the characters were headed before hand.


Overall: All-in-all this is a good fall-back anime when you've got nothing better to watch, its a fun ride to pass the time and Its not totally horrible but kind of cliche, I enjoyed it enough to a certain point though it lost it's plot somewhere along the line and lost most of its potential. I give this a 5/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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