Review #40: King of Braves Gaogaigar

Final Score – 9/10

In the near future (2005 in the anime, but it was made in 97), the world has been visited by alien life. The first lifeform, dubbed EI-01, crashed down into Tokyo, disappearing underground after absorbing machines all over the area. Two years later, the first sign of alien machines returns in the form of a giant horse headed robot named EI-02. After absorbing trashed electronics, as well as a boat that had several kids aboard, it went on a rampage across Tokyo. Thankfully, when EI-01 first crashed to Earth, the Japanese government created a special force tasked with fighting the alien threat called the Gutsy Geoid Guard, or GGG (Three G).

When the new alien (called Zonders) appears, GGG deploys the cyborg Guy Shishioh, along with the strange alien lion robot called Galeon. Fusing with Galeon, guy becomes a robot warrior galled Gaigar. To fight EI-02, Gaigar fuses with the three Gao Machines (StealthGao, LinerGao, and DrillGao) to become Gaogaigar, humanities last hope. With the help of a boy named Mamoru (and his mysterious alien powers), Guy defeats EI-02 and purifies its core back to a human. As time goes on, more and more Zonders appear, created by the Four Machine Kings. Gaogaigar and GGG gain more and more allies, new robots built by GGG and other nations, as well as face more formidable challenges as their enemies learn and adapt. The stakes get higher and higher, with all of Tokyo at stake, then the world. Even the Zonders are soon replaced by an even more formidable set of foes.

Gaogaigar is part of a longer running “Braves” series. The original TV series isn’t even the end, as an OVA and shorter TV sequel were eventually made as well, though it stands very well on its own. As the description gives an idea of, the series is jam packed with robots, support characters, enemies, and more. The action is non-stop, and very few episodes feel like filler, which is an amazing accomplishment given the long running the series has. The music gives it all an epic feel, the visuals hold little back, on the environments, characters, or robots.

In fact, there are only a few little nitpicks I can give to justify another anime not getting that hallowed 10. First, with the sequels, I think it runs a little long, especially if you count it as a part of the Brave series as a whole, though there’s not a great reason to. Second, there are almost too many characters. The series is built for a toy line, so it’s not a surprise that it’s full of transforming robots, both good and bad. It does, however, leave many robots to one shot appearances, put in for a toy cameo before all but forgotten. Third, and lastly, the series was dubbed for the first half of the series only. While I realize the reasons why, and while I also have nothing against the original subtitled audio, watching the first season dubbed without knowing the switch made for a slightly jarring experience.

ALL that said, I still can’t really say anything but high recommendations for Gaogaigar. It’s certainly best recommended for those that enjoy over the top robot action (not quite Gurenn Lagann level over the top, but pretty close), though the character development is also well done, and the production values are second to none, as I said. It’s a little late to close out robot month with this review (especially since I watched Mouse between), but the King of Braves truly is too big to be contained. Get it, watch it slowly, and get soaked into the grandeur.

• Published – 97 (JP) 06 (US)
• Languages – Eng/JP (first season), JP (second season)
• Episodes – 49

 

Review #39: Mouse

Final Score – 4/10

For centuries, the Muon family has kept a secret from the world, the secret of Mouse. Mouse is the name for a great thief that has been passed along the family line, from one male to the next. Mouse has stolen treasures from all over the world, both rare and valuable, often objects thought impossible to steal. The current Mouse is a young man named Sorata, working during the day as a college art teacher in Japan. Assisting his duties as Mouse are three women also teaching at the same college, Kazuki (gym teacher), Mei (math teacher), and Yayoi (biology teacher), each of which acts tough on him at school but treat him as their masters at home.

Mouse lacks a strong plot other than having Mouse stealing objects, though time’s taken to touch on the back story of the girls, as well as take time for Sorata’s students (especially Machiko, who has a crush on him) and introduce foils in the police and another more secret organization. Since the episodes are shorter than normal anime episodes, it leaves little room to develop any of those well over the twelve episodes the series runs, leaving the anime to feel like it has too many characters added. It certainly doesn’t help that none of the characters seem to have a great depth to them, instead feeling one sided and trope.

Instead of character development or detailed heist plots, the main focus of Mouse instead seems to be cheesecake. Though it’s hardly the first anime to have pantyshots or overdeveloped breasts, the fact still stands that Mouse revels in skimpy outfits, bouncing cleavages, and overly needy women. The series is soft core in what it shows, stopping at breasts and leaving off crotch shots or outright sex, but all of the main women want Sorata, and other than Machiko, all of them are more than willing to strip at the drop of a hat. Even though Sorata seems to be greatly reluctant in the face of it all, it still gets tiresome right from the start.

Stepping back and looking at Mouse from a mindless, fun loving, male hormone perspective, it’s not complete trash. Though the concept has been done plenty before, there are a few unique additives to the formula, and Sorata himself seems to have the most likeability in the anime (which is good for a main character). Even from a simple perspective though, Mouse lacks a lot. The fighting in the series is all but non-existent, making the opposition trying to stop Mouse fangless and boring. The heists often make little sense, in execution if not reason for stealing. Even the girls themselves are shallow, one dimensional and uninteresting. While a man that likes breasts could find them interesting enough visually, that’s about all they have going for them.

While it seems easy to find complete still, and for cheap as well, I can hardly recommend Mouse as a purchase. I can only guess the target audience being young teen males that like bouncing breasts, or perhaps someone seriously into stories about noble thieves. For everyone else, all you’ll be walking into is dumb, simple anime without any real point.

• Languages – English/Japanese
• Episodes – 12
• Released – 03 (JP) 04 (US)