Sep 28, 2012
The King of Braves. The Oath sworn through Courage. To many fans of Mecha anime, it is considered one of the greats, a proud milestone in the three decade evolution of giant robots stomping evil into paste.
But how is it really? I'll do my best to step past my love of it, at least here if not in rating. Let's see how fair I can be.
The story of GaoGarGar is good, well above average. While it does start as monster of the week fare, the second half of the show is almost universally applauded, and rightfully so. The backstories of several characters are interesting AND
...
important while the overall narrative is solid. GaoGarGar suffers from from few direct plotholes, though some amazingly hard-to-swallow coincidences crop up.
The art is fair: The human characters are styled in a more kid-show way than Anime 'average' if you compare and other than some odd outfits, no one stands out. The robots and enemies, though, are lovingly detailed for their time and GaoGaiGar is one of the few combining Super Robots to have a perfect transformation. No parts need to mysteriously appear to form our hero! Acceptable, but hardly impressive animation, a penchant for stock footage and some painfully primative CGI round out the look of the program.
The show may only be passable to the eye, but it is candy for the ears. From the ear-worm level 'Yuusha-oh, Tanjou!' opening, to the shock chord that opens each episode, to that inspiring combination music, GaoGaiGar offers solidly enjoyable and well placed music. Not all of the songs are winners, but many of them are. Lather on a generally solid voice cast, including one of the premeir hot-blooded screamers of all of Anime as our hero, and this show clearly ranks in as Very Good here.
Characterization is good, but ju~st barely. Everyone is an easily identified archtype and while they are GOOD at being that, none of them are shinning examples of whatever kind of character they are, nor do they reinvent the wheel. The only thing pushing this score up are the subtle touches: While our hero does not change, AT ALL, during the series, he IS more dynamic than most hot-blooded heroes right off the bat. Out of battle, Guy is calm, very friendly, and professional, rather than never being off like, say, Kamina or Domon from other, similar, anime. Our kid sidekick Mamoru undergoes some inconsistant but clear character growth, as do supporting characters Kaido and Soldato J.
Sadly, the last category is purely subjective. In fairness, upfront, I will say this: If you like super robot anime, you are very likely to like GaoGaiGar. If not, there is just not enough here to change your mind. As for me? I ADORE this show. It is my favorite mecha Anime and the Gutsy Galaxy Guard are the sort of lunatics I'd want defending my planet! Seeing all the new gadgets pop up and meeting more robots is enough to get me through the slow start of the show and I never tire of watching GaoGaiGar brutalize his opponents into high-veolocity shrapnel. Objectively, there are other mecha anime that are just, flat out, measurably BETTER than GaoGaiGar in nearly every way. So far, there are none I have enjoyed as much.
Overall, I had to give this show an 8. It deserves a 'Very Good' in my opinion and it does deserve it's place of respect. After Evangelion, the King of Braves gave his genre a much-needed return to screaming, courage, and over-the-topness that lead to Gurren Lagann, who is the unquestioned (as of this writeing) king of modern mecha shows. Kamina, Simon and the gang are everything GaoGaiGar was, done tighter, cleaner, bigger, better, and louder... but admiting that in no way diminishes the fact that from 1997 to 2007, giant robot awesomness was a golden squeaky hammer rather than a massive silver drill.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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