I finished
Gatekeepers, and to my delight the show still holds up remarkably well, though there are certainly a few episodes in the 24-episode series that just don't work. This show hails from what I consider the Golden Age of Gonzo animation, back when Gonzo was known for excellent animation (including surprisingly good 3D model integration), as well as taking familiar concepts and putting their own unique spin on them. Gatekeepers has a really simple premise: a bunch of kids with superpowers (which are triggered by opening portals to other dimensions known as "gates") band together to destroy the assholes of the world, who in turn can throw on goofy Black Sunglasses to turn into alien Men-in-Black. Naturally, these Men-in-Black can fuse together to form such intimidating forms as giant balls, evil Big Boy statues, chunks of freeway, giant Japanese lanterns, 50-foot werewolves, etc. And did I forget the giant mecha controlled via car steering wheels, stick-shifts, and gas pedals? Perhaps I forgot the 1950s B-Movie Big-headed Alien and Alien Nazi who goes around shouting "Hail Vader!"
Yeah, this is one goofy series, and I've barely even touched on the sheer amount of awesome silliness in it. This show is just pure fun: stupid, silly, intentionally cheesy, hopelessly optimistic fun. It's a show that very carefully straddles the line between being a fairly sincere "Sailor Moon"-esque series and being an outright parody of it (in much the same way that Martian Successor Nadesico and Vandread play off of the Space Odyssey genre), and it's a show that's often willing to make fun of itself if there's a good laugh to be had (and there are good laughs to be had). The cast is enjoyable, the (excellent) dub has probably every notable English voice actor in 90s/early 2000s anime, the animation has (for the most part) aged very well, and the story does a pretty decent job of balancing between plot-important episodes and stand-alones as it heads towards a better conclusion than most anime get these days. It's not a show for everyone, as you're either going to love the optimistic and bombastic (but sincere) style the show is going for or you aren't. I could nit-pick it to death by harping on the shallow characters, the occasional terrible writing, and all the repeated stock footage/music cues, but honestly this show isn't about any "deeper meaning" or "complex characters". It's about having fun, and I don't see the point in criticizing it for what it's clearly
not trying to be. I highly recommend the show for the experience it is, especially if you liked some of the other shows I named and anime like Godannar; Gravion; and Gurren Lagann.
The show has long since been out of print on DVD (and I doubt that Funimation will license-rescue it), but I know Netflix carries it and here's a streaming
link from a site with the dub if you want to check it out.
A word of warning, though: this show did get a sequel OVA series named
Gatekeepers 21, and I
HIGHLY suggest you avoid it like the plague. It is an evil, hateful series that goes out of its way to destroy anything you may have liked about the first series. I have only seen one other P.o.S. anime sequel that matches it in sheer loathing for its source material, and that's the Martian Successor Nadesico movie
Prince of Darkness. If you've seen that, you might understand what I mean:
excessively dark, depressing, takes glee in the wanton character assassination of beloved characters, betrays core concepts of the original show, etc.
So, I guess it's Vandread next. That should be fun.
Topic: Rate the last TV show you've seen (Read 1199056 times)
