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GENERATOR GAWL
(DVD Volumes 1-3)
Reviewed By: Grendel
(who plans on singing both themes karaoke at Otakon this year)
As my first completed review on this site, I thought it would be cool to review one of the newest anime titles to hit American shores, Generator Gawl. It is the latest series from Tatsunoko Pro, the studio first made famous by Speed Racer and Tekkaman and later produced much of the animation for Gainax's Neon Genesis Evangelion. In short however, the series is nothing like the studio has produced before.
Story/Plotline: 5/5
The four volume OAV takes place in the fall of 2007, and centers around three time-traveling students: Ryo, Koji, and Gawl. In the first volume the organizations Auge and Kubere are mentioned for the first time (in the Japanese version at least) but not much else. Also, the sadistic Professor Ryuko and her asisstant Kanae are introduced as the series antagonists. Overall, the viewers are kept in the dark about what's going on early on, but that just makes them want to keep watching more. The ongoing tension between Gawl and Masami, the trio's nosy landlord, begins to build in the first disk, while later on changing to something a little more romantic like (wink, wink, nudge nudge). Masami's best friend Natsume is introduced as well, and her quiet demeanor does well to play peacekeeper and matchmaker between Gawl and Masami. There are so many spoilers I could go through here but I want everyone who watches the show to be as surprised as I was in watching it.
Animation: 5/5
Come on! These guys helped animate Eva! But that fact aside, the animation is simply great on the DVDs. The characters move fluidly and are animated perfectly. Gawl bites his fist with the intensity of an angry Italian (^_^), Masami blows her lid (literally) with plumes of pink smoke, and the battles between Gawl and the generators from the future beat out an episode of Dragonball Z any day. The production values and high-quality animation probably come from the series being an OAV and being so short (about twelve eps I think). It rivals even the top Bandai shows lke Cowboy Bebop now that I think about it.
Presentation: 5/5
I think I'm going to do this part a little differently than everyone else and address the picture quality of the discs being reviewed and other DVD related stuff. The transfer is excellent overall, and this with there already being a great-looking VHS version out. The digital transfer is as colorful as an anime should be, the bright daylight scenes coming out crystal clear and the dark, industrial generator battles don't even look like they have much or any artifacing at all. Then why four stars you ask? The DVDs certainly has a pretty average selection of extras on it. There are character designs and generator designs, but they only feature five selections each and the galleries often overlap. The discs would score lower here if it weren't for the inclusion of the clean open and end animations. This is something more of ADV's DVDs should have (*cough EVA! *cough GASARAKI!).
Localization: 2.5/5
This is the only area where the show falls flat. Yes, the dub voice cast is one of the best I've heard (certainly beating out the monotone Gundam Wing dub cast) and the Japanese cast is top notch as well. The problem here however, comes in the English script. In all of the three DVDs the dub and sub scripts match ONLY TWO OR THREE TIMES! In other words, the translator at ADV felt the need to change around nearly all the lines in the show. Now granted, usually this is done to make the English dialogue fit in with the American dialect and to match the dub actors with the characters' lips, but they butcher it pretty well. Plot points are changed, characters become almost one-dimensional, and it doesn't fit well with the animation. At one point Gawl asks Koji how much time he has left, and Koji smiles and reply. In the Japanese version Gawl mutters, "I'll protect all of you. I will." It's kind of obvious which makes more sense. If it wasn't for the great English cast led by Vic Migonia (I think I butchered his name there :) the localization would have received a zero. I'll admit the humor in the English version was funny, but it was totally out of place in a show as Japanese as this (i.e. Gawl's aparrent fondness for Sizzler.) It's sad but the dub already sounds dated as a result.
Overall: 4/5
Gawl is on its way to becoming one of my favorite anime series', and I would have loved to give it a perfect five. However, AD Vision's need to drastically change the script for the dub ruins that version for me. Fans of the show should only collect the bilingual DVDs since there's no VHS sub out (nor will there be, I think). Maybe I should cut ADV a little slack for deciding to localize the show at all, since I don't think it's a commodity that had everybody running for it. However, Gawl is a classic in a making that should be best seen in the original Japanese. Come to think of it, The Slayers was pretty obscure too in the beginning� :). Now if only Cartoon Network would broadcast it.