At face value, Gatchaman Crowds is a take on the Super Sentai, or Power Rangers, format. A group of super-beings trying to save the world. Those beings are the Gatchaman. Created by a mysterious being named J.J. who every once and a while will knight an ordinary person or alien to take on the role as defender of the Earth. Hajime Ichinose is the newest recruit to the team. The only problem: she's an irresponsible goofball, at least at face value. The truth is that Hajime is simply more aware than every body else on the team. For example, her first mission is to help rid of an alien entity called MESS. The Gatchaman have been hunting these creatures down for years and what does Hajime do? Befriend them. This is her character. Instead of conforming to the status queue she will instead do what she feels will have the best outcome. She isn't the only interesting character. The entire Gatchaman team is very unique with each having their own hidden backstory which I can only hope the next season explains more. That is one of my gripes with the show so far. Nothing seems explained which leaves the continuity between the two seasons confusing at best. Among other problems I have with the second season this is the worst. The first season is fun and upbeat with a simple but ultimately very enjoyable story. The second season, Gatchaman Crowds: Insight, isn't that. It trades off the hero theme with the question of "what makes a perfect society?" This isn't inherently bad and was ultimately engaging but the switch was so fast and awkward that it ultimately left me with a bad taste in my mouth. In the first episode of Insight two new characters are introduced very abruptly and doesn't give the viewer a whole lot of time to get to know them. Besides this misstep the first four episodes are very good. Insight introduces a very interesting villain and a moral opposite to a main character from Season 1. At episode five, however, that interesting villain is caught and stops playing a role in the story, for the most part. In all, Insight was a disappointment but not bad as the second half is very well done.
The visuals and music of Gatchaman Crowds is great. The music mostly has an EDM feel which fits well with the technology-focused story as well as the upbeat character relationships. Some of my favorites are "In The Name of Love", an exciting hero theme that plays during battles; and "Tutu", a relaxing pop-ish song that plays when the characters are just hanging out with each other. All of the other tracks are used very well and are all memorable. The OP's and ED's of the season are all great and earn spots in my music library. The visuals, though good, are jarring at times. When the Gatchaman transform into their super-suits the drawn models are replaced with shiny 3-D ones. I did get used to it after a few episodes but I can say it caught me by surprise. All of the drawn characters and backgrounds are colorful and expressive.
Gatchaman Crowds is definitely a different series. It has fun characters and great animation and music but flops all around the place during the second season. Overall, though, worth the watch and I can't wait until the eventual Season 3.
Gatchaman Crowds is colorful and fun.
0 comments:
Post a Comment