Perhaps like me you have read the declarations online and in print of how GaoGaiGar is one of the best Mecha shows in existence. And perhaps also like me you rented or bought the first half of the show and were left wondering what they were talking about. Granted, the first half of the series has nice animation, good main characters, and a fantastic orchestral score. It's also essentially the same battles over and over again, to the point of monster-of-the-week overload. And then a very pleasant surprise.
This boxed set picks up just before the final battle of the first story arc. And a very nice battle it is, with GaoGaiGar having quite a showdown with Pizza of the four Machine Kings (yeah, so the name sounds ridiculous in English). And just when the last of the Zonders that have been harassing our heroes for so long are finally defeated, a new threat emerges that makes all the previous ones look like a walk in the park.
The 31 Primitives are basically the Zonder Masters, each one with a different strength that corresponds to a different part of the body. Naturally this leads to lots of fights just like the first half of the show, but the big difference here is that Pizza, before he was brainwashed into a Zonder General, was a warrior for the anti-zonder forces that fought an ancient war against them. And when he's reawakened as the man he was before, things go all Harlock (if you've never seen Arcadia of My Youth then think Alex Row from Last Exile or Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). So basically he went from being a rough enemy who was really really fast to the captain of a giant space battleship that transforms! Along for the ride is one of the pint-sized green-haired hero's classmates, who like him also has mysterious anti-zonder powers.
What all of this means for you is that the show takes a major turn for the serious at this point, and comes to greatly resemble anime like Macross and Arcadia of My Youth in tone in parts, as the former Pizza (now calling himself King J-Der) takes on the forces of evil alongside GaoGaiGar.
The best part is undoubtedly the end of the series, where all questions are answered and a massive showdown takes place at Jupiter between all the heroes and every one of the Primitives combined. The explanation that the two kids with powers are the last of an ancient race, and that the one was the hope of his people and the other a weapon created to fight Zonders is the stuff that fanboys live for. Combine that with the death of Gai's father and his reuniting with his mother, and the death of King J-Der and the destruction of his battleship in the last desperate fight with the Zondarians, and you have one of the best Mecha show endings in history.
All that was plenty and I would have been satisfied, but the soft ending of the final episode that shows us a new Zonder type with no purpose but to destroy all life, inhabiting one of the characters we care about most. The final, FINAL battle is the emotional high point of the show, with all of the robot heroes being destroyed and being uploaded into the parts of GaoGaiGar in order to help Gai. The battle between the two giant Mecha, wherein GaiGaiGar is destroyed piece by piece, blow by blow, ends with Gai walking up to the woman he loves as his robot body disintegrates and she begs him to kill her before the Zonder inside destroys the world. And then a miracle happens and we have the perfect ending. For people who have followed the story this far, it's a fitting end to the King of the Braves.
5つ星のうち5.0Great second half,now release the Grand Glorious Gathering Movie!!!
2013年4月29日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済み
Amazonで購入
I loved the second half of this series,to bad that they didn't make an english dubbed track. To bad still loved it better in Japanese anyway,My favorite characters besides Gaogaigar is Volfogg , Big Volfogg,Mic Sounders the 13th and King J-Der. Moving on they really need to release the Grand Glorious Gathering Movie ,on DVD here in America. Cause I want to see the female twin versions of Kyoryu and Enryu. Kouryu and Anryu and Gai Shishioh's adopted sister who's also a fighting cyborg, and later becomes partnered with and potential girlfriend. To King J-Der's pilot Soldato-J, anyway great show release the movie .So I could get some closure on this series already please . Thank You !!!!
It is so terrible the second half was not even English dubbed what more do you need to know? Its so bad i am ashamed to admit i bought it and i don't have it anymore either and i have never gotten rid of anything else.