Reviewed by Kenae Category: TV Series
Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Comedy / Science-Fiction
Released: 1998
Studio:JVC, Tatsunoko Productions Publisher:ADVfilms
Why is it that some of the greatest of all anime series are largely ignored? When I originally bought this anime, I was in awe, and soon after tried to ask other people in the anime community about it… sadly it seems that no else had even heard of it. So now that I'm (finally) writing reviews, I'll share with all who read this review its greatness. Generator Gawl, although largely ignored by the anime community is one of the best animes of its time. In this review I'll give a brief synopsis, a description of all the main characters, my personal opinions and a mini-review of the four Generator Gawl DVDs' extras.
"Time, man's cruelest phantom, the agony of a moment past, and though we've succeeded in pending time, we are still unable to bend the laws of fate..." -- Koji Suzuki, Episode 7;Generator Gawl (English Dub)
Synopsis
The year is 2145, the world has become a peaceful place, an utopia of humanity, but how the world came to be like this wasn't peaceful. In the year 2007, the world was torn asunder by a third world war, and in this war over ninety percent of the world's population was destroyed, leaving only 10 percent of life to bring back life from the ashes and start over once again... The remainder of humanity joined together to create one nation, the "Kubere." At the dawn of the third world war, a new weapon emerged, "the Generators" (bio-engineered super humans). Although the first were nothing more than mindless servants, the later versions were much more, Gawl is one of these models. Kubere also used the Generators; in the future they rebuilt the remains of humanity with their help. In truth, the Kubere were the cause of the real cause of the third world war, by use of time manipulation the Kubere achieved world domination, in 2145, three people discover the truth, two scientists, and one research project, Gawl, Koki, and Ryo, this is their story.
After the three's initial discovery of the Kubere's past slaughter of billions of people during the third world war, the three hastily to use the Kubere's own techniques against them, they traveled one hundred thirty eight years into the past, to the year 2007, to erase what had once been before being altered, even if it cost their very lives. But the Kubere found out of their plan, and sent Generators from the future to stop them; Gawl must fight these Generators while Koji and Ryo search for a way to save the world from an apocalypse.
Characters
Gawl - A high level Generator. With the power to transform into an organic machine at will, he is the only defense for Ryo and Koji to stand battle against the Kubere's Generators. Other than fighting he has tremendous athletic abilities, but even so, he must eat and sleep a lot more than normal people to maintain his strength.
Ryo - The creator of Gawl. He blames himself for the tortures Gawl went through when he was doing experiments for the Kubere. He is the "sensitive" one of the three, but if he needs to he can fight as well...
Koji - The unofficial leader of the group. Even though at the first glance he seems quite cold, he cares deeply for Gawl and Ryo. He is the 'brains' of the group and often uses people for his own benefit.
Masami - An ordinary girl who allows the trio to live with her and her mother. She is very aggressive and tends to get into fights with Gawl quite often. She cares deeply for all of her 'tenant's, even if she doesn't know the real reason for their sudden appearance.
Natsume - Adopted daughter to Ryudo Saito, and best friend to Masami. Sensitive, caring, and very quiet, she has many secrets but she loves the three and Masami, and does not want harm to come to any of them.
Ryudo Saito - The antagonist of the series, cold and cunning she is the founder of the Kubere. She is very powerful, but she tries to avoid a direct confrontation with the three boys, or at first she does…
Kanae - Assistant to Ryudo Saito and all 'round badass. He doesn't play much part in the first part of the series, but later his secrets are revealed.
Takuma Nekasa - A researcher under Ryudo Saito, and the person who causes the third world war with the release of his discovery of the include cell, the source of Generator powers. He is targeted by the three in order to stop what is about to come, even if they have to kill him…
Opinions
Generator Gawl is easily one of the best Japanese Animation has to offer (and trust me, I've seen my fair share of anime). Generator Gawl's storyline was unique; its music was good; and not to mention, time travel doesn't get any more complex. The plot was very good, although there were (like most stories) a few things which could've been done better. All-in-all, I still loved it. Character development, although minor for some characters, is noticeable throughout the series.
The music in the series was awesome and I am almost tempted to go buy the OST (too bad I can't find it anywhere . . . that's one of the bad things about unknown animes T-T). I congratulate ADVfilms on an excellent dub. Great voice actors with a slightly improved script go very well together.
I had a few discrepancies with the series as well. ADVfilms may have had an excellent dub, but in altering some of the original dialog they took out and changed entire conversations; so I recommend viewers to watch both. The animation of Generator Gawl is rather 'dated' for its time, most noticeably in the battle sequences. Overall, the good outweighs the bad, so anyone who reads this should give it a chance. TRUST ME. Now since I feel strongly about NOT spoiling endings to the shows I review, I will just say that even though it's not the traditional "happy ending" it is still very good -- lots of plot twists and the great feeling of "closure," what more could you ask for?
Extras Review (3.75/5)
I was surprised and overjoyed by ADVfilm's extras on these four DVDs. The extras on each disc contained: character concepts art, Generator/mecha concept art, clean opening/closing animations, ADVfilm's Generator Gawl trailer, and 4.6 previews per disc. I found the character and Generator concept art quite 'educating' and helpful to those among us who like to cosplay.
The clean opening/closing and trailer were quiet good in their own rights, and can be even considered 'music videos.' And at the beginning of every DVD there are previews (my favorite). There were, on average, 6 previews per disc and all (excluding 3 previews) were music videos, what more could you ask for? The list of different previews includes: Gasaraki, Nadesico, BGC:T2040, Blue Seed, Evangelion, Orphen, Lost universe, Soul Hunter, Sorcerer on the Rocks, Dirty Pair Flash, Dai-Guard, Princess nine, Sin, Farscape, Shadow Raiders, and ADV's 'Anime on DVD' preview. The only problem I had with the previews was that they were only available at the initial loading of the DVD, and not located in the 'extras' section of the DVD.
The lack of other extra features common in most animes now days did lower my review score slightly, but all-in-all, the extras were average.
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