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-- Gatchaman OAV (http://www.gatchamania.net/board.php?boardid=8)
--- My thoughts on Gatchaman 1994 (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=3697)
Posted by TheSolarSailor on 14-05-2011 at 14:42:
My thoughts on Gatchaman 1994
This was a mixed bag for me, but it was responsible for reminding me of my favorite show when I was a kid. I discovered the true Gatchaman thanks to this release, having only known of Battle of the Planets beforehand. Having seen the original series since that time, I have to say that this remake, while innovative in it's new design, was a disappointment overall. It barely touched upon the plots that made the original series so compelling. It over-feminized villainous Berg Katse and removed any wonder about what was going on with him. The CGI Leader X was atrocious looking, reeking of "look what we can do" computer animation as opposed to trying to think of something truly impressive and memorable. The song, "Let's Fly", was horribly annoying.
Despite all of these gripes, I still kind of enjoy the remake. Gatchaman looks better than ever, the new world settings are impressive, I loved the new Turtle King (upgraded to Dragon King) fleet, and the ark plot line was a different twist. Too bad the story became nonsensical at the very end. Seeing that this was released in a set of three 45 minute videos, I think there was room to lengthen the series and flesh out the plot. It was too rushed, not allowing for character development and relying too much on what we already knew about the cast from the previous series. I recommend watching the subtitled version, for the American voice actors are not at all good, the voice for Berg Katse being the worst. Also, the story suffers in the translation, while making "better" sense subtitled. Like I said, a mixed bag overall.
What did all of you think about the 1994 remake of Gatchaman? Overall, I am glad to have it.
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Posted by lborgia88 on 14-05-2011 at 15:30:
I don't own it, though I've watched it online.
I agree, it's got some good visuals and premises, but I have a big problem with how it presents Joe -both how he looks and how he acts- and the other Ninjas (though to a lesser extent), and I can never quite get past that enough to really enjoy the whole OAV.
Posted by Vodka on 14-05-2011 at 16:04:
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I agree D:
OVA they all look to..manly and their eyes scary
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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 14-05-2011 at 16:18:
OAV Ken and Joe have very little facial expression. The result is rather intimidating.
And there's nothing to work with for feeling anything about the characters. I agree that the makers seem to rely on fans' memories of the series. Which only emphasizes the deficits.
(Let's not get into Nambu's wardrobe.)
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Posted by Transmute Jun on 14-05-2011 at 17:10:
I actually thought that the OAVs looked great. I know a lot of people complain abut Ken's looks, but he looks very much like my DH, so I guess I'm biased to like that style of facial/body features on a man. 
Jun's 'bouncing breasts introduction' was a bit much, but not enough to dissuade me from the entire series.
But my main problem was the lack of character development. I just felt like everyone was so wooden, and the characters I knew and loved were completely absent. I liken the OAVs to a 'LOTR treatment' for Gatchaman: beautiful, but utterly lacking in any character or plot depth.
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Posted by Becky Rock on 14-05-2011 at 17:38:
I found the OAV when I was in Germany in 2002 and since it was my first time seeing anything about BotP/Gatch in years, I was thrilled.
I loved it at first because I was starved: the more I watched it, the more I started to pick it apart. I hated the clothes - was it too much trouble to give Joe a shirt? They tried to cram the plots of all 3 versions into it. They shouldn't have changed the team's appearance so drastically.
I liked the birdstyles, except for the added chin of the helmets, but Ken and Joe were skinny as rails. I also liked the theme song, although I think I might be the only one.
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Posted by clouddancer on 14-05-2011 at 19:50:
I enjoyed the updated uniforms the team had in the OAV's and I think I am one of the few who liked Ken's looks. I also did not like how they portrayed Joe. Like many have said there was very little emotion given to any of the characters.
But then in the short time the writers had they could not go too much into the "emotional" aspect of the characters, although an hour and a half movie does managed to allow us to connect to its characters more than we did in this.
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Posted by TheSolarSailor on 15-05-2011 at 02:02:
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It's interesting that you bring this up, clouddancer. Gatchaman The Movie was merely a re-edit of certain episodes of the series, and it managed to delve into characterizations pretty well thanks to the inclusion of the Red Imulse/Ken's father plot. We also cared about Joe's death because the characters emoted and made us care. Since they were able to maintain characterization pretty well in a re-edit, I just don't understand why this new version was so bereft in that category. Essentially, they had more time than the movie did, with 45 minutes times three!
Personally, I really like the characters new designs, even the chin straps! I thought it worked really well as an update that still captured the feel of the original pretty well. I liked the new GodPhoenix as well. As for Galactor, their mechs were cool, but the uniforms and such were overdone or not as impressive. Galactor soldiers looked better in the original, and the often goofy looking commanders were more creative than what we got here. Berg Katse was terribly overdone in his design, I thought. It was just too much. Too many layers, too many accessories, too many contures, just too much of everything. Sometimes less is more.
The team in street clothes I was fine with. Ken was young and adventurous looking just like the original, only with a 90s slant. They did go too far with Joe, though. yes, he is a bad boy and all, but did he really have to look like a street thug in his civies? Ryu was an interesting new take, I thought. Jun and her bouncy boobs annoyed me greatly. I hate it when they do that to women, as it reeks of trying to hard to force their sexiness on the audience. Instead of wasting time on Jun's boobs, how about some character development??????
And Becky, that is great if you like the "Let's Fly" song. Nothing wrong with that at all. I am sure there are things I like that everyone else hates. We like what we like, right? But in all honesty, I would like to have heard something that was a bit more familiar in terms of theme song.
Question...why did they use a song with English lyrics to start with??
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Posted by Transmute Jun on 15-05-2011 at 02:43:
They did make an 'Gatchaman 94' version of the Dare Da song. I loved that! The video is great too!
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5w9no_gatchaman-94-mtv_music
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Posted by Becky Rock on 15-05-2011 at 02:59:
That's a good question about the English lyrics, Sailor. James and Jason, can either of you answer that one?
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Posted by clouddancer on 15-05-2011 at 03:05:
I wonder if it had something to do with trying to draw in a North American (or English speaking) crowd. The studio already knew they had the Asian watchers. *shrug *
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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 15-05-2011 at 03:56:
Or using English was cool.
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Posted by Madilayn on 15-05-2011 at 07:23:
I've always enjoyed the OAV's. I don't much care for Ken or Jun's "new" look (and the less we say about Nambu the better).
But - if you take it as a new thing and not try to compare it too closely with Gatchaman, then it does hold up very well.
I love the look of the Galactor mechs and also think the new design of the GodPhoenix is good. And I adore Katse's look!
Yes, the whole look is very much indicative of the design of anime of the time as is the music, but it does say a lot about the quality of the original storylines that they were able to take those and use them in the OAV's without ti seeming stale.
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Posted by green on 15-05-2011 at 07:33:
Ooooh, TJ! Thanks for posting that link. I have the OVA but on my copy, Dareda gets cut off about a minute in and so haven't heard it all - nor thought to look it up on Youtube thinking it would be almost exactly the same as the original!
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Posted by Transmute Jun on 15-05-2011 at 15:26:
Glad you enjoyed it, Green! That's my favorite version of the song.
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Posted by gatchamarie on 15-05-2011 at 18:11:
When I watched the OAVs for the first time I made the error of trying to compare it with the original story! Now, I like to think of it as a separate thing, and I find that if maybe watching it without knowing anything about Gatchaman it really can hold up well on its own, as Maddy said! I do miss the Team's personal background, though!
I like Ken's look! What I miss is his long hair, though! Joe's look I like also, as I like Ryu's, thinking that it's definitely an upgrade for the Owl! What I dislike is Jun's extra enhanced boobs and different hair ... I won't even get into Dr. Nambu's description!
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Posted by Becky Rock on 15-05-2011 at 22:23:
I loved the new Phoenix, including the bridge and the way their seats lock them in during Fiery. Also the way the wings changed configuration as needed.
I brought it up over in the old Yahoo group, but my son, who first watched it when he was 4, thought the Phoenix was alive and supported his argument by pointing out the bird-like creature that Nambu was conversing with at the end and speculated that was the Phoenix in another manifestation and that was where the idea for the birdstyles came from.
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Posted by Madilayn on 16-05-2011 at 06:09:
Becky I agree with your son. I've always thought that Phoenix is an entity in itself - more along the lines of a spirit being inhabiting the metal shell.
: grins: And yes, I did write a short fic about it. (shameless self plug there - sorry I try not to do that too much)
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Posted by green on 16-05-2011 at 06:37:
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Thinking it is well and truly becoming mine too - I love the edge to it.
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Babe, with your talent you should be shamelessly self plugging more often!!
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Posted by ChrisW on 21-01-2012 at 23:16:
I have to confess that a large part of me watched these going, "What did we fans do to deserve THIS?" The tarted up Jun in particular was disturbing. What they did to Joe wasn't really much better. And what they did to Ken's hair made me want to cry. 
If I take a step back and pretend I know nothing about the source material, I guess it was okay as a stand-alone. But knowing the original, they made so many changes that removed power from the story. Even having Ken's dad show up at his mother's grave meant that Ken knew for a fact that his dad was possibly alive.
Ken's voice actor was a wrong choice. He was too soft. He rarely had that tone of command that should have been there. And yeah, Joe's running off just to run off (instead of because he was dying) lacked the same impact too.
Just ... blah. I watched it to be completionist. It's not something I would re-watch.
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