Shelf Life

Gaoing the Distance

Normally I'm not into giant robots. I'm more of an Evangelion fan who recognizes that Giant Robo, Char's Counter Attack, Macross Plus, and Macross; Do You Remember Love are all really great, but I rarely have the time for other robots. I had it on good information that the first season of GaoGaiGar was skip-able, so I was prepared for disappointment. Thus I was pleasantly surprised at the show's pacing, which ripped along so fast that I wondered if I'd accidentally rented disc two by mistake.

Mamoru was not born by ordinary means, but discovered in the mouth of a robot lion by his adoptive human parents. Most of the story so far follows Mamoru in elementary school as he first encounters GaoGaiGar, a giant robot.

GaoGaiGar is piloted not by Mamoru but by Guy Shishio, a cyborg (a more extreme Six Million Dollar Man-type cyborg) 20-something guy with ridiculously long red hair. I'm ashamed to admit that I was hesitant to watch GaoGaiGar in part because of Guy's over-the-top character design. I was happy to find that he was not the focus of the show at all. And now that I've seen it in context, Guy's design seems perfectly reasonable.

I thought GaoGaiGar might look dated, and it does, just not in the way I expected. It looks aged like how the first season of Pokemon looks if you watch it now. GaoGaiGar uses cel animation and chunky, kid-friendly character designs.

I love the small details of this show; the Professor (who reminds me of Doctor Wily from Mega Man) surrounds himself with crazy inventions. He hovers around on rocket boots, and eats lunch off a cafeteria tray with little robotic arms that shovel food into his mouth for him.

Early on, Mamoru's role in the adventure seems silly. When GaoGaiGar encounters the monster of the week, Mamoru glows, grows fairy wings, and flies in to tell GaoGaiGar not to kill his opponent. As strange as that is, I appreciate that involving an eight-year-old in a plot essentially about adults is a difficult thing. I think of Mamoru as the "Wesley Crusher" character, who is meant to appeal to younger members of the audience, even though it's a bit of a stretch to include him in the plot. If anything, Mamoru fits into this show much more believably than Wesley did in Star Trek: The Next Generation (note: Wesley was my favorite character from 4 th-9th grade).

I thought the villains were fun, in a ridiculous sort of way. The monsters of the week are ordinary people transformed by their negative feelings; for example, a trucker who hates traffic becomes a truck-monster with the help of an evil alien force. It reminded me of early Sailor Moon opponents. One henchmen is an evil ballet-version of Carmen Sandiego, which I found hilarious.[TOP]

I think about Harry Potter every time I watch Soul Eater . I brought it up in my review of Part Two (I reviewed Part 1 here). Both series are about a group of friends attending a creepy magic academy at a time when a very evil character comes back from the dead (or the equivalent) to wreak havoc on the entire world. In the case of Harry Potter, the havoc is evil; in Soul Eater it's madness, but you get the idea.

Remember the seventh book of Harry Potter? Voldemort is on the loose and Harry and friends can't return to Hogwarts, so they live in a tent in the woods, trying to figure out what to do for hundreds of pages of lameness (I'm sure the movie will be better, thanks to the miracle of editing). Fortunately, the final chapters of Soul Eater are much more gratifying. There is some aimless running through the wilderness, but the surprisingly level-headed Soul actually stops Maka to ask where she is running to without a plan.

By the last disc, the Kishin has disrupted normal life so much that classes cannot continue as usual at Death Weapon Meister Academy. Maka, Black Star, Death the Kid, and their respective weapons are caught up in the final battle. Only Maka's "genie killer" move stands a chance of killing the Kishin. Soul Eater trumps Harry Potter for involving the students in a much more believable way in the big final fight. Harry Potter split the action between the teachers and student in an awkward way, but Soul Eater handles the generation gap well. While the kids end up fighting the Kishin in a pocket dimension, all the teachers can do is watch and hope for the best. I can dig it.

Each character gets a nice final scene. I never liked Black Star much, but his penultimate battle with Mifune turns Black Star into a sympathetic character. Death the Kid's final shot at the Kishin could have been more spectacular, but at least there's some clever business involving the stripes in his hair.

The fight between Maka and the Kishin is nicely animated and memorable, with some thoughtful philosophy worked in between the satisfying face punching.

In my previous Soul Eater reviews, I failed to mention that the Soul Eater Late Show is included as an extra with each set. The Late Show segments are short thrown-together bits that include a preview for the next episode along with guest art, photos the staff eating meat, and little comedic mixed-media bits. I never really understood the Soul Eater Late Show, but it is a nice extra.

The set also includes an all-girl commentary on episode 44. I had no idea that Monica Rial sounds like that in real life. I mean, that's her real voice? Rial sounds like an anime character in real life?! Casting her as the realistic-sounding Tsubaki in Soul Eater is going against type!

I almost regret that there isn't more Soul Eater to watch. Almost. This show could stand to be 10 to 15 episodes shorter. I wish fan editors would undertake more re-cut projects, like the version of The Phantom Menace where someone cut out Jar Jar Binks ("The Phantom Edit"). I liked Soul Eater a lot, but a Soul Eater Kai would be even better. (Unless the manga sucks.)[TOP]