Overman King Gainer

Overman King Gainer is the lesser-known TV anime Yoshiyuki Tomino created and directed between the acclaimed Turn A Gundam and the infamous Reconguista in G. While it's definitely more in line with G-Reco than Turn A and shares a lot of the idiosyncrasies Tomino would be derided for in the former, it's significantly more restrained. You could view this as it being less ambitious, which is true to a certain extent, but the average viewer is likely to find greater enjoyment in King Gainer. If you are a fan of either of the two works I mentioned, Tomino in general, or just a lover of ... the mecha genre then this is definitely worth checking out.

The plot is quite simple, and supposedly based on a series of French novels (of which there are 97!) called "La Compagnie des glaces," or "The Ice Company." It follows Gainer Sanga, a skilled teenage gamer, who is one day dragged out of his high school classroom and arrested on suspicion of collaborating in an Exodus - something he'd never even dream of doing. He escapes with the help of a man named Gain Bijou and follows him for a while, before discovering Gain is an Exodus specialist who's been hired by some of the populace to coordinate one out of the Domepolis (a domed city) Gainer lives in, and before Gainer knows it he's stolen an antique Overman mech, assisted in kidnapping a princess, and been pulled into the Exodus scheme.

This involves a line of enormous City Units that are pulled by smaller tugboat-like vehicles called Silhouette Mammoths. Their destination: their ancestor's homeland of Yapan, where they hope to live away from the control of the Siberian Railway corporation which holds significant power in the Domepolis, it being the only source of new supplies. The main sources of conflict for them are the SR's attempts to stop the Exodus, as people leaving the Domepolis means less tax revenue and sales from the goods they transport (Tomino's not being very subtle here), and the London IMA organization, which owns the Domepolis and seeks to capture Gain for reasons concerning his past.

If some of this terminology is confusing, that's because it only really starts to makes sense in context. What's more complicated than the plot in King Gainer, as in G-Reco, is the setting. There's a small description in the OP but it doesn't tell us any specifics of the Domepolis our story begins in, Wulgusk, and neither do any characters for the most part. Exposition is sparse, and important character and worldbuilding details are given away in casual conversation then rarely repeated. You'll have to pay attention to pick up on all the details, but the setting here also isn't really as important to understanding everything as it is in G-Reco nor is it anywhere near as complex.

Making Gainer an individual who opposes the Exodus initially is a good move, though, because not only does it set up his character arc and allow the audience to learn about the details behind the Exodus, including the type of people who advocate it, it also creates an entertaining dynamic for interactions. King Gainer is filled with colourful personalities and fun interactions from and between all factions involved. Gainer is surprised to find out that both his teacher and the girl he crushes on in his class, Sara, are involved in the Exodus. The kidnapped princess Ana Medaiyu, a self-proclaimed "pitiable hostage," is more enthusiastic about the situation than anyone else. She and the rest of the people on the Exodus are developed surprisingly well both as individuals and as a group with a common identity throughout the show, and this is partially thanks to episodes that revolve around their antics: a supply raid on a lone Siberian Railway train, or a silly relay race to name a couple of examples.

While the point about corporations exerting control over people's lives is hammered in quite heavily, especially early on, the lighthearted tone (best exemplified in the series' catchy opening and claymation eyecatches) overall ensures that fun is prioritized over any kind of dull thematic lectures, and this is a positive - the representatives of the Siberian Railway are more bumbling fools than angry, vengeful capitalists. Even when the Exodus is forced to take in a large group of refugees they don't really have the supplies to accommodate, the unwavering sense of optimism that permeates the series seems to brush over it and insist that everything will be alright.

For TV anime standards the animation is fantastic, allowing for mecha fight choreographies that are just as interesting as the eccentric designs of the Overmen themselves - worthy of special mention is episode 14, handled by studio Bones and featuring simply jawdropping animation by the legendary Yutaka Nakamura. There's plenty of fast movement in scenes, and what's just as impressive as the mechanical animation is the detail put into animating the ice and snow breaking apart when a mech is hurled into the ground of the frozen tundra. You likely wouldn't think there are many opportunities to make use of the Siberian wasteland environment in fights, but this anime proves you wrong as early as the third episode.

Part of this is due to the creative abilities, or Overskills, the Overmen possess. King Gainer's first major opponent is an Overman that can stop time, and yes, this does lead to some scenes that feel heavily inspired by DIO from Stardust Crusaders (slightly unrelated but it's also amusing that there's a character voiced by Takehito Koyasu who more than slightly resembles Phantom Blood Dio). That's just the jumping off point for a range of unique and sometimes ridiculous Overskills. An episode featuring an Overman whose Overskill allows people to hear each other's thoughts produces one of the best episodes of anime I have ever seen. The titular mech has a gun that's also a chainsaw!

Their designs are contrasted by the grunt-type units the rest of the characters use, the Silhouette Machines, which are less explicitly humanoid and more militaristic in design, though not without their quirks. Gain's sniping unit, the Gotchko, has one thin skeletal arm and one muscular beefy arm. Turn A Gundam's the closest reference point I can think of here, and indeed the mechanical designer for this, Yasuda Akira (who would later also design for Code Geass and G-Reco), designed Turn A's characters, so there may be some inspiration from Syd Mead's mecha designs on that production involved here.

As far as the actual art itself, particularly for the characters, it's rather standard; as are the backgrounds except when they're depicting the awe-inspiring City Units - granted there isn't much you can do given the setting. More detail likely would have hampered the animation quality, so it's a fair tradeoff, but the predominantly flat colours and shading are unlikely to impress most, and in this area at least it's the weakest looking anime of those that feature Kenichi Yoshida's always fantastic character designs (it should be noted that there is a slight but noticeable improvement towards the end). While watching I couldn't help but think how gorgeous it would be if it were animated in the same art style as G-Reco.

The soundtrack is just as bold and dramatic as the action it scores demands. I'm especially a fan of the track "in close combat" with its guitar riffs and trumpets.

The meaning of the word Overman is put to the test in the Devil Gu- I mean, Overdevil arc, comprising the last seven episodes and introducing just the kind of potentially-world-ending stakes perfect for capping off the series memorably - the ending is especially good. It also brings some classic Tomino themes with it in case you thought they were strangely absent.

In the end Overman King Gainer falls just short of Tomino's biggest achievements, but this is no fault of the anime itself - it achieves what it sets out to do in providing a thoroughly enjoyable experience with great mecha action and endearing characters.

Overman King Gainer can be called a "Happy Tomino" show, meaning that it falls in the same line as L-Gaim, ZZ Gundam and Xabungle rather than his more depressing works like Victory Gundam, The Ideon and Zeta Gundam.

It's also really good fun. The plot doesn't make a great deal of sense but you are OK with this really because it may as well be a series of exciting mecha fights interspersed with comedy moments. There's an overarching arc about a world-destroying monster robot but really it's quite slight and the focus is instead on the awkward main character growing up and becoming a man by ... virtue of piloting a super robot.

The characters are an esoteric and genuinely funny bunch, ranging from the geeky and inept main character to a Russian ninja, an adorable teacher and a camp train conductor. The mech designs are thoroughly unique organic ones, which won't be to everyone's taste but are certainly interesting - and a weapon which combines a six-shooter and a chainsaw is pretty awesome in my book.

The fights are particularly interesting because of the weirdness of the mechs, since the enemies quickly start thinking outside the box and trying all sorts of surreal attacks. At all times, the show is quite funny and never really slumps into attempts at being really serious.

In terms of music and sound, the opening is quite brilliant, penned by Tomino himself and performed by Fukuyama, who you might also know as the voice of Nekki Basara. The background music is weird and wonderful, but never really nails the fact the show is set in Russia - for all the constant references to everyone being in Siberia, the music and setting seem quite non-specific in terms of nationality (but nevertheless very interesting in a kind of Mad Max meets Terry Gilliam way.)

The biggest flaw of the show is the constant reliance on information overload - you get a lot of FACTS told to you very quickly and that is supposed to pass for plot development. However, if you watch OKG as a fun mech/slice of life show in the vein of GunXSword, Eureka 7 and similar, it works very well.

Non-stop nonsense

It looked pretty cool from a few clips i had seen from it, so i decided to sit down and watch it. But I couldn't even get past the third episode before i almost had a headache from confusion. First of all, the pacing is just ABSURD, it's a full 26 episode season, but things go so fast it's half a season worth of story in the first two episodes, and it just throws new names and concepts at you without explanation. What is a "bachclone" or "exodus" or "five wise men".

Characters don't act like characters. It feels like an alien wrote how the ... characters act, there's almost no consistency. You never grasp what the characters are supposed to be. Characters act illogical, like for example: the princess who seems absurdly delighted about being kidnapped, practically going from zero to stockholm syndrome in the first line of dialogue with the kidnappers. There's absolutely nothing set up to justify her acting like this, the scene of her we see before getting kidnapped, she seems more than happy with her life as a princess.

The art and animation is serviceable, nothing phenomenal, but it does the job.

The soundtrack is the only thing that really stands out above anything else, the OP "King Gainer Over" is very good.

It's really the kind of show that was in too much hurry to get to the robot fighting and sacrificed both story and characters to get there as fast as possible, ultimately wounding itself so bad it became unwatchable.