Forum - View topicREVIEW: Overman King Gainer DVD Complete Collection
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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Surprised it's taken this long to review this relic, but it's better late than never, eh? I was sorta curious about this show for a while, but finding out that it has Tomino's name attached to it, as well as the lack of a decent plot or a good ending, makes me wonder about its quality. Still, it doesn't sound like another Gundangst rehash, so I guess that's a POSITIVE thing.
EDIT: If nothing else, the OP is hilariously awesome and catchy. |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4788 |
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I can't say that I agree with the main heft of this review, since that so-ridiculous-it's-awesome OP is pretty much the sole reason I wanted to sit down and watch the show in the first place.
 I've only made it through an episode or two thus far, and I'm not looking for any sort of masterpiece of storytelling and character development to suddenly spring out of it; so long as it has a ton of giant robots beating the crap out of each other, and I get to watch that OP twenty-six times, I figure I'm set.
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bahamut623
 Posts: 1463 |
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I guess this is the type of series typical review logic just doesn't apply to, not unlike Gao Gai Gar. Sure, it's mostly a bunch of robot fights, but it's extremely great at doing it. If you want a series that's just for fun...then this is loads of fun. And yea, the animation is really good throughout the whole series. I also really like the setting. Very few anime are set entirely in a snowy setting, so that was nice. The ending isn't entirely inconclusive, either. spoiler[The main goal isn't achieved, but they do the defeat the enemy, and from there it's only logical that the next step would be their arrival at Yapan]. Like the review said, it's heaven for mecha fans. That should be enough to tell you if you'll enjoy the series or not. Not a masterpiece by any means, but a personal favorite of mine (along with that opener!!). Heck, I just might pop in the DVD right now.
There have sadly been very very few Overman King Gainer toys. A gashopon set, one or two PVC statues, and the absolute best of them all, the Revoltech action figure of King Gainer, and in a few months, this, which never appeared in the show, but has me drooling nonetheless. There's also a manga, which is still ongoing. From what little I've seen, it seems to follow the anime closely. Maybe it'll deviate at some point. I wouldn't mind it coming to the US, but that seems unlikely.
Yes, you will have a great time.
How could these 5 words be strung together and not pique your interest? |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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So it's kind of a wet dream for mecha whores? Hmm...well, can you guess what I am, in that case?
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8499 Location: Penguinopolis |
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I've been meaning to see this some time, since I'm interested in what results from Yoshiyuki Tomino's good moods, other than Turn A Gundam (which was great) and those terrible Zeta Gundam movies. Er, maybe now I'll just rent it or something.
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abruli
 Posts: 19 |
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If it weren't for the ridiculously gorgeous character designs. backgrounds and a rather interesting setting, I would have given up on this series after few episodes, but instead I sat through the whole show. Sadly those are the only things that make this show worth a watch in the end.. Oh and the machine gun powered rail sled. Oh and the cow-milk dance. I guess Tomino's silly name-antics is worth a giggle or two.
I do agree with the reviewer on the lack of real plot. I did however find the mecha action a bit dull and generally badly done without any real feeling of dread or danger one would assume scenes of war to have. They were just shooting at each other for fun and enjoyment, yeah. Surely the reviewer wasn't just trolling with the lambastation of the opening theme? Seriously. The opening theme is much like Gaogaigar's opening theme. It's so bad it's awesome. It's catchy. It makes no sense. It makes for an awesome drunk-song too. Musicality and lyrical-mastery can go fudge themselves, because King Gainer's got a Full Metal Overcoat (or is a Full Metal God ... or has a Fully Mental Cod ... Choose the one you like) |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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Imagine if EVERY mech anime had the robots doing the monkey dance. Evas, Arm Slaves, Aquarion, RahXephon, Escaflowne...it'd be hilarious no matter what robot was doing it.
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bahamut623
Posts: 1463 |
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I would love to see a music video of various mecha from throughout the years all doing that dance. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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I could be reading too much into it, and call me crazy, but just from watching the OP, the aesthetics and designs are like a mix of the late '80s, early '90s, and that experimental period when companies tried to dupe us into believing these were American-made cartoons (think Toei's Puss N' Boots movie).
Do I come off as insane, or am I close? |
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Captain Crotchspike
 Posts: 355 Location: Phoenix, AZ |
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Ha ha, wow, it sounds like you went into this hoping for Gundam or Eva and got upset when it...wasn't Gundam or Eva.
Seriously though, I'm not sure I'd even compare this to GaoGaiGar - that's a show that robot fans will enjoy, but more than likely, only robot fans will enjoy. While King Gainer is a show rife with superb mecha battles, I also fell in love with this show because of its characters. Gainer's flustered interactions with the older, more composed Gain were entertaining, I thought - Gain learns something from Gainer's spur-of-the-moment creativity, and Gainer learns something from Gain's experience with combat and, well, people. All the others, from the bumbling trio with the Siberian Railway to Sara and the rest of the Exodus are, ultimately, just trying to fight to make end's meet rather than save the world or whatever, and the levity the show carries itself with a great expression of that. Yeah, the usual cycle of angst and pain would be expected from a robot show like this, but the fact that Gainer becomes a better person just by living with and interacting with others through their common troubles makes it all the more interesting in comparison to those shows. To note, on the subject of Gainer's dub voice, I feel that Darrel Guilbeau sounds like what an introverted video game nerd who's a bit full of himself who ends up piloting a kickass fancy robot would sound like. I figured out long ago that my tastes apparently don't match up with those of ANN's reviewers at all (short of maybe in columns like Buried Treasure or X-Button), and wow, this sure reaffirms that in a big way. |
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bahamut623
Posts: 1463 |
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Hmmm...Maybe a little insane? But also kinda close? lol. It certainly does have that Saturday morning cartoon vibe. And it is a little bit reminiscent of Macross/Robotech(with the a humongous group of people on a voyage living on a ship...or in this case...ships), or maybe even Orguss(this is a better comparison). Overall it feels closer to the pre-EVA era, so yea it is like 80's/early 90's mecha, except for the character designs, of course, by Kenichi Yoshida. |
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FaytLein
 Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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Wow, I kinda can't believe that this show is being dumped on like it is. Sure, this is "happy" Tomino, so his already somewhat dicey directing style doesn't have the usual huge body count like his other shows, but its still a fairly well made show, but if you NEED to have in depth characterizations of ALL characters...well Tomino isn't for you.
But, he can spin a pretty good tale if you let yoursef get into the story and not go into full nitpick mode. Personally, my favorite character is Asuham Boone, who unlike some of the more serious villains ever made, his sole OBSESSION in the series is that Gain jilted his baby sister, who MUST marry her to save face. Just seeing him get into huge barefisted brawls and ever increasingly weird robot battles for his sisters honor always made me chuckle. And yes, King Gainer Over! is perhaps the BEST song ever. Do the Monkey!!! |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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Tomino seems to be a guy you either love or hate, likely because the level of quality of productions he's involved in seems to vary wildly. Unlike Gundam, this looks like a lighthearted show with a lot of playfulness to it, though. At least it doesn't sound like it has a huge helping of angst like Gundam.
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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"It's a poor fit with the otherwise high serious nature of the series that further diminishes the halo effect of what is left to genuinely like. "
Huh? Did you get a defective DVD that removed all the comedy bits? A high serious nature? Its got a ninja that screams "Blazing Car", a guy who cries because people think his a wuss, and a main character who is transparently in love with a girl from his class. The three main villans who appear the most are the evil version of George Jetson right down to their obsession with being named Vice President. It seems to me that the reviewer was so used to Tomino's none comedic series especially the ones he did while under depression that he didn't know Tomino did comedy. I mean theirs a scene where one of the villains uses a Overskill that makes images than uses it to appear with goldilocks hair. While King Gainer isn't as good as Turn A Gundam its still a wonderful example of what happens when Tomino defeats the demons that haunted him, and shows a zest for life, and making anime. |
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rekishi
Posts: 78 |
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hmmm... i'm thinking about getting this... if nothing else... i need some more senseless mecha violence to compensate for the senseless cuteness in Sasami that i got recently...
one thing...i've noticed the one at R.A.C.S is one of those "anime legends" box sets... now the last one of those i got was blue submarine number 6... and the damn thing is on double sided DVDs... which irritate to no end, since you have to take them out, flip them over, put them back in again and sit through the unskippable logo spam all over again just for one more episode... plus they render my 5 disc dvd player's main draw card utterly useless... (i'm currently looking around for the non "anime legends but we're so cheep we used both sides of the dvd to save on the cost of plastic" editions of BSN6) so the question for those who already have it is this series on single sided DVDs or are they cheep arsed double sided...? p.s. the monkey dance in the OKG's OP is f$%king sensational... |
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