Getter Robo Arc

Backstory…
Getter Robo is one of the OGs of all Mecha. Originally debuting in early 70’s in its own Manga by Ken Iwaksai and Go Nagai(Magzinger Z) It was the first combing and transforming Mecha piloted by humans. Its one of the most recognisable Mecha in Japan and was featured for many years in the Super Robot Wars Video game series. There have been several anime versions, most notable in the 70’s Getter Robo and Getter Robo G. G was one of earliest animes ever to be translated and packaged across the globe. In North America is became part of Jim Terry’s, 80’s Force five block ... where audiences knew it as Star Avengers, spawning a Mattel toy line as well. Diaclone, Robotech, the Transformers were all inspired by Getter and in recent times Gurren Lagen story takes heavily and is inspired from Getter. Many anime character types and other troupes started in Getter. There have been additional Getter animes such as the 90’s Go Getter Robo and Getter Armageddon(Shin Getter), a few one off’s and reimages but the manga is the keeper of the franchises continuity. Unfortunately, Ken, who was still writing the manga died in 2005, Getter Robo Arc concludes his final manga work in anime form.

I waited til the series concluded before writing this review because I was skeptical at first and also knew that CGI was involved in the series. It didn’t look good after the first few eps but after episode 4 or so things started to kick into high gear. It’s a hard series to just jump into because of the history but this series was made to conclude Getter. It would be just as hard jumping into the final Season of Attack on Titan or Death Note if you didn’t watch the previous seasons. So, I would recommend at least reading some manga first.

The Story - 10
The premise for Arc is the same as previous Getter Robo. Three different pilots with their own distinct personalities who pilot three different units, Getter Arc, Getter Kirik and Getter Khan. Each unit can take the lead when combining to form a new Robot with its own unique abilities, weapons and techniques. This version was invoked by Buddhist thought in naming the mecha. The three pilots are Takuma Nagare(Arc), son of Ryome Nagare the original pilot of Getter 1, Kamui Sho, the half human/half dinosaur empire(original series antagonist faction) hybrid and Baku Yamagishi (a Buddhist) the brother of one of Shin Getters pilots. The Mecha is powered by Getter Rays the most powerful energy in the universe and obtaining this energy was always the primary objective of the enemies in the series(think spiral energy from GL). As the series has evolved the mecha itself has it’s own mystic, for it seems to have its own consciousness, the shows alludes that this new generation of pilots are the children of Getter and were chosen by it. They are led by Jin Hayato, the original pilot of Getter 2, his character is the founder of the loner bad-ass anime character trope. He takes the place of, Professor Satome who has now passed on, the creator of Getter and the Getter energy that is stored at the Satome Laboratory. This new series follows the pilots and additional cast of characters in the universe at they battle the Andromeda Stelleration. A race of beings from the future who have come back to destroy the Earth and Getter. This story wise was pretty deep, simply because there is so much back story and source material to pull from. There were so many cameos and historic plot points that they weaved through the series that just made all the manga click, great fan service to close out Kennys legacy. Overall was very intriguing and kept me wanting to know more. Adding in lighting as the first few frames to some episodes were very nostalgic. Story was def a 9.5 for me but you gotta watch past episode 4 or so.

Characters & Mecha - 8
Some of the newer characters where a bit boneheaded and obtuse but when the light shone on the older characters (previous pilots and supporting cast) it showed tremendous growth and a sense of completion to their arcs. Kamui for example is one of the most frustrating characters to understand(he flip flops), where as Jin really holds down the series as the most consistent character, and seeing him through the series you can see how he has evolved from the loner to the leader. It was very satisfying watching this as a fan. There is so many different types of Mecha shown in the series and the anime reveals the story behind Getter Emperor the most powerful Mecha EVER. The emperor reveal and backstory is what I’ve been waiting for and it didn’t disappoint. Watching the D2s flying around( fleet version of Getter G) and the earth defence mecha reminded me of Robotech mecha. Seeing Shin Getter and enemy mecha showed just how much mecha anime like this have evolved. Its about the quantity over quality now which is good and bad depending on how you consume your anime. 8 on characters but primarily for the older ones, and I don’t want to spoil the ones they do bring back so not going into depth here.

The Animation - 8
The animation other than the CGI is based of Iwaksai 70’s Manga art style and would be difficult to enjoy if you are from a newer generation of Anime consumer. That being said it wasn’t that bad (although at some times it can be cringe) to look at. If you don’t like it, you should also throw away your Nintendo Switch because this series, like the Switch does not use the latest technology to deliver as compared to its contemporaries but heavily dependent on original art style, which was great at times. While I’m always skeptical about CGI in anime, tech has grown in the past few years and integrated much better. CGI was primarily used to tackle the Mecha scenes (not all) and at first look like a hot mess. But when we get to about episode 5, it looks waaay better, slick and seamless. By that point the D2’s looked so nice, so good in action with GCI, it’s the best CGI mecha I’ve seen in a SERIES. It got better as the series went on so I had to give kudos to the animators, they captured some good CGI mecha here.

MUSIC - 9
The themes were done by the legendary JAM project and also weaved through the series were the old themes and scene music. Heats was the theme from Shin and was a huge song theme song in the late 90s, look it up on Youtube. Again a lot of nostalgia.

Overall -9
If you’re a fan a must watch. If your new, read some source material you will be greatly surprised with the watch. Was really satisfying.

This is painful cause I can see the love and passion the team has for getter but this anime sucks and I wish it was a motion comic instead, the only people which can enjoy it are getter fans, this is going to be painful.
anyway I think I know why this anime exists and why it adapts the last entry of the franchise its because bandai wants to sell getter arc toys and you can feel the rush to finish this anime, people say it looks this bad cause of budget which I disagree with its because of the lack of time, animation errors like ... 6 fingers ryoma or the American flag being placed the wrong way are because of a lack of time, also the sound design sucks and if you have watch yugioh 5DS you would notice how it lifts sound files from it and it did take me from the experience a lot, I hate how the colors are used they are too primary which is a bad contrast to ken ishikawa style shading, it looks like cheap plastic and it looks even worse to the ultra dark cgi of the robots and for some reason they use realistic shading on those making them look out of place, speaking of the cgi it feels pointless and just their to ruin cool shots from the manga cause it was a good idea to make the most human/animal-like getter cgi and look as stiff as possible they don't even stay consistent with the use of cgi cause some robots are 2d drawings.
last thing personally I think adapting arc was a mistake cause by doing that it only make getter fans like us happy, it isn't like the last cannon getter material was recent it has been nearly 20 years! not everyone remembers the story that well/read it recently making the casual watcher confused and lost especially with something as vague as getter robo, but hey we got what we got and It isnt like the whole thing is trash I like the voice acting, most of the new scenes and Ideas are great and I like for the most part the new ending better I hope getter gets another chance cause its a great franchise that influenced anime a lot more than it is given credit for and I hope it is given the crybaby treatment(by that I mean a modern spin with the sprit of the original, I mean that is what gurren lagann is) sometime soon cause I think getter needs to get the respect it deserves.

This is a Nightmare for Getter Fans
Original story from Go Nagai and Opening song and Ending song is the best part of this series. But Art of Getter Arc every ep. is pathetic like a burning work. The plot that should end in the manga But the staff put in the end credit that made the story more confusing than before. This is the most disappointing and worst series in the Getter franchise in terms of art and story. Even 3D works don't look as beautiful as they should be. Many points are quite strange in 3D models. Some scenes where 3D models are supposed ... to look good don't look good. Only the key scenes work well with the visuals and 3D models. But the part that really needs to be seen is the soundtrack for both op and ed. which is the best part of the series