Gatchaman Crowds S01E01

Discussion in 'Gatchaman' started by Cloud, May 5, 2015.

  1. Cloud

    Cloud Administrator
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    As a long time fan of Battle of the Planets and therefore Gatchaman, I started watching new series Gatchaman Crowds on Crunchyroll with some trepidation, knowing that my familiar friends were gone and the series didn't seem to bear much resemblance to the original. Where was BOTP's Zoltar, Mark and the rest of the crew (or Berg Katse, Ken, et al. for Gatchafans)? Any fiery phoenix?

    The story starts off with one of the next generation, Sugane, being guided to intercept an alien disguised as a human, via his interactive Moleskine-type notebook (known as the NOTE, a communicator and the source of a Gatchaman's power that features the Gatchaman symbol).

    After defeating the alien, he bumps into an odd girl, Hajime (which is also the Japanese word for "beginning") Ichinose, who obsesses over journals/notebooks and has just had her own NOTE extracted from her by Lord JJ Robinson, one of the guardians of the Earth (and in a nice touch, voiced by the same actor who performed as Ken in the original Gatchaman series).

    Sugane finds out that Hajime is the newbie addition to their team, although she seems to have some problems keeping her new secret identity quiet. Sugane brings Hajime to the Gatchaman underground base to meet the rest of the team: Jou, a Tokyo U grad and 10-year veteran of the team; OD, a half alien who apparently has extremely strong latent powers and a cat (Altair, Al-chan); Utsutsu, a gloomy first year student (she often says "うつうつします" or "I'm gloomy"); and the long-lived panda-like leader Paiman (not quite 7-Zark-7, but he has the annoying attitude).

    Sugane explains to Hajime that Gatchaman eradicate alien criminals and UFOs from the Earth. The team are currently battling an organisation called MESS, and soon after they are called upon to deal with another MESS-y situation, in which Hajime transforms for the first time.

    I am not sure whether to call the series a reboot or a continuation, because both a Sosai X-like character and Berg Katse do appear (the latter briefly at the end of this episode), but it's actually better than I was expecting and despite the fanboy elements I am glad they have tried to tie it into the original in some form (even in the credits where they show the team in front of the globe, just like Ken was in the original). The art quality is high and the theme song is kind of catchy. I'll keep watching and report back with more Gatcha reviews.

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