Galilei Donna

“Grand Rosso, start engines!”

So, I just finished watching Galilei Donna and I honestly didn’t plan to make a review on this but as I went to add this series to my complete list I noticed the top reviews and it honestly surprised me why this series got so much hate. Since I don’t agree with most of the reviews about this anime I’ll be writing my own with my point of view about Galilei Donna.

Galilei Donna’s about three sisters, Hozuki, Kazuki and Hazuki, these sisters are descendants of Galileo. They end up ultimately getting in trouble and become essentially wanted criminals and are made travelling ... around the world gathering Moon Sketches left by Galileo with the objective of discovering the Galileo’s Tesoro and avoid the people targeting the sisters from actually getting it first.

After watching all the episodes I can say that the plot execution is not perfect, however, it’s not horrid or even mediocre like most of the people around here seem to think, it has its flaws and a few plot holes here and there but it isn’t by all means unwatchable and I’ve watched really really worse things that didn’t get rated as low as I’ve seen around here.

Now that I got this out of the way, let’s get to the characters shall we?

The main characters, the three sisters aren’t by all means you stereotypical sisters, they’re all really different from each other and all of them want different things. Hozuki, being the youngest, is portrayed as a really pure and nice girl. She’s really good at physics and science, developing the Galileo (the big fish mecha) by herself and her objective was the attaining of the Moon sketches and the Galileo Tesoro. The middle one, Kazuki who is shown to be a really emotional girl that seems to deny as much as possible what’s happening, she also had knowledge on some sort of martial art that she used one or two times throughout the series. And finally we have the oldest sister, Hazuki who was studying law before the incident with the sisters; she’s your typical hot-headed girl who says everything that comes to her mind.

Despite its duration, the series is really good at actually making character development of the sisters, Hozuki, for once, starts as a really shy and timid girl but becomes a really solid thinker and strong character towards the end. Kazuki starts off really childish but starts making really mature decisions for the sisters and even cooking for them and eventually accepts the difficult condition that the sisters are in and finally Hazuki who also shows some development throughout the series, she starts as really hot headed girl who I honestly thought to be kind of annoying but she becomes this “shield” to the sisters, trying as hard as she can to protect them from any harm.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but these are the major changes I noticed over the course of this anime regarding to the sisters and I think that one of the objectives of the series was for the psychological growth of the sisters as their journey to find the moon sketches and the Galileo Tesoro occurs. These changes are also really gradual and hardly noticeable from episode to episode.

As far as the art goes, I can say that one of the things that I liked the most about this series was the art, it was honestly superb, the characters were really well drawn, the art was colorful and solid, the mechas also were really fluid with nice animation and the backgrounds were simply beautiful.

The sound was also not bad at all, both the OP and ED are catchy and the BGM is also blend really nicely with the scenes but since the sound if not really my specialty I might be a little biased here, but overall I think it was good.

In sum, Galilei Donna is BY NO MEANS a bad show and with the little time it had it managed to bring a decent story with characters that get new mindsets as the show progresses and that also brings a really nice ending with not much questions unanswered as far as I can tell.

If you’re looking for a quick show with decent plot, interesting and diverse characters, one badass of an antagonist and colorful and gorgeously designed mechas then recommended you to check this one out; it’s also relatively short so it won’t take you much time to actually complete it.

Thanks for reading.

Recently, anime adaptations of western culture have become somewhat of an outlandish trend. Not only are these adaptations capitalized by world-building over historical accuracy, but they are also filled with unremarkable plot twists that occur spontaneously. Instead of quality writing and a substantial narrative, one will find uninspired executions of characterization and pretentious attempts at making grandiose, explosive scenes seem more than they really are. Regrettably, Galilei Donna is an anime that exhibits the very shortcomings of this trend.

In retrospect, Galilei Donna had it all: gorgeous sceneries, splendorous mecha battles, and a bizarre but spectacular synopsis. It had the makings of a great sci-fi tale, ... an epic journey about finding and reconciling with personal insecurities, and an innocent slice of life series. However, because it lacked the patience to blend these elements together harmoniously, Galilei Donna ends up having something of an identity crisis.

Set in the future of metropolitan Italy, Galilei Donna starts by introducing us to the three sisters: Hazuki, Kazuki, and Hozuki. As descendants of Galileo, they are a trio of the Ferrari family, each bearing her own distinct personalities. One day, agents from an enigmatic organization show up to chase after the three sisters, supposedly seeking for a family treasure called the Galileo Tesoro. By the time these agents have encircled the Ferrari family, we find out that the youngest sister Hozuki, a prepubescent girl, just so happens to have a flying goldfish machine to save them from the perpetrators. Before we're given any other information, we learn that she also miraculously constructed the entire machine by herself. And very conveniently so. Thus begins a traditional game of cat and mouse and treasure hunting.

A story composed largely of coincidences is just a sorry excuse for poor writing. For some reason, this is an inference that Galileo Donna doesn't seem to understand. See a missile flying towards you?—No worries, a deus ex machina will nullify the belligerence. Stuck in the past?—No tears, an unexplained chemical storm will drain you back to the future. It is ludicrous how, by being so painstakingly unpredictable, this series has become so very predictable.

Moreover, it tries very little to explicate the premise beyond its plot elements, and even when attempted, Galilei Donna does it in a fairly half-baked and frivolous manner. In a way, Galilei Donna could be trying to immerse the viewer in another dimension, however, this usually works atrociously. For instance, whenever Galilei Donna introduces details or tries to add depth to its plot, it’s done so very capriciously, and due to there being little purpose to these gimmicks beyond their initial use, they become arbitrary rather than significant contributions—recyclable instead of irreplaceable characters and causes.

Likewise, there’s also a lavish amount of gratuitous scenes. In general, there are lots of events that occur nonsensically. One scene could present some semi-humorless drama with a dark overtone, while the next would present something completely irrelevant or dissonant with the mood. From one frame to another, Galilei Donna would jump from the cute sisters doing cute things, to a sequence of imposing mecha fights. Unfortunately, this not only creates many discrepancies, but also discredits the overall seriousness of the plot.

Following the lackluster plot, a vast majority of the characters are two-dimensional. Their personalities are mostly caricatured; and their backstories often hackneyed. Out of the three sisters, Hazuki acts dramatically; Kazuki acts conservatively but at times speaks derisively; and Hozuki acts impulsively, yet is given the heaviest duties of the three. Most side characters chiefly serve as caricatures or comic reliefs, and though as humorous as they are, their antics get old by the third—fourth—until which time? There is a decent amount of time spent developing Hozuki’s character, but all of that is annulled each time she regresses back due to her insecurities. Sure, the last episodes provide her with some flair, but even marrying Galileo couldn't convert a duckling into a swan.

In comparison, the animation is simply splendid. Altogether, the background frameworks and scenery presentations paint a stellar landscape of the setting, and while perhaps overly extravagant, they provide the audience with a stimulating backdrop.

Additionally, there are a decent amount of mouthwatering mecha sequences in Galilei Donna. Poor concepts and designs (a goldfish mecha, really?) aside, the action frames are usually coherent, fluid, and pleasant for the eye. Mecha and action junkies will unlikely be disappointed. In fact, this should be one of the only sensible reasons one should watch Galilei Donna: for the stellar animation.

Similarly, the music delivers some relaxing and vigorous tones. The background music is silent when no sound is required, and switches back on whenever appropriate. However, the voice acting cast appears to be lacking in some aspects, as there weren't many outstanding voice talents. Not that there needed to be prominent voice actors or actresses voicing the characters, but the lack of tonal variances and fluctuations made some scenes feel unexpectedly dull and underwhelming.

Mindless entertainment—this is essentially what Galilei Donna is. A farcical story accompanied by insipid characters, Galilei Donna is a series meant to be taken at face value. Cheaply written narratives, convenient story resolutions, and lip-smacking visuals: these are what defines Galilei Donna. Be prompted to witness an in-cohesive mix of mecha battles, pseudo-mystery solving, and cute girls doing cute things. However, if any of those doesn't sound appealing, avoid Galilei Donna like the plague.

Put simply, Galilei Donna is an abject failure, a complete trainwreck of a show, and by merely reading this review, you have already wasted too much of your life on it. The show's premise seems full of promise, a complicated post-environmental apocalypse world with megacorporations and sky pirates and the ever-encroaching threat of complete energy collapse. Add to this main characters with pluck, and a story that concerns itself with a major historical figure, and you have something for everyone, be they fan of moe, mecha action, American Treasure-style clue-following, or a projection of what our world might become. All in theory. In reality, you ... have two meaningless protagonists next to Hozuki, who is one of the most dreadful mary sue characters I've seen in a professionally written work, and who doesn't even have the common courtesy to be adorable while doing so. You have mecha that show up rarely, and work so hard to match the bizarre obsession with goldfish that it ruins what little interesting design it had come up with. You have "clues" that literally boil down to an AI telling them where they go next, without even real sight-seeing eyecandy to show for it, before they just stumble over the next piece of the puzzle. Plus, we spend the entire show in either a strange version of Italy that's basically just like Japan with silly outfits, a Japan which is just Japan with a little extra snow, or the middle of a desert. None of it's pieces fit, none of the promise is delivered upon. Even the protagonists themselves have no real character development, with the non-Hozuki protagonists being actively ignored by the plot, to the degree that one receives literally no plot arc, and the other having an arc that consists of staring longly at a picture, being shunned wordlessly, and then throwing away the picture. The primary antagonist's hitman receives more character development and backstory examination than every other character combined, and frankly, I'd much rather have watched a show about him. The only even barely likable character is Cinciho, a sky pirate, whose primary trait that makes him amusing is being voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya.

Simply put, the story and characters are complete crap, the art ranges from below average to passable, and the only high points are a couple of musical pieces and the aforementioned sky pirate. To cap off this abortion masquerading as entertainment, the entire work is based off the creators mistaken belief that Galileo was actually Leonardo Da Vinci. 2/10, and may God preserve us from any additional content within this work.