Review - Rude Awakenings
Reviewed by Richard Brownell on 12.21.2009.
Score: 8/10
I'll start this review getting the whining out of the way. It's difficult to review an anime like New Getter Robo. It's part of the mecha anime genre which is much less popular than it used to be. And it isn't even an anime meant to rethink the genre or tread new ground. Instead, it is specifically created to be a retelling of a previous show with some changes. Anime fans these days don't even like the look of shows like New Getter Robo. So with all that in mind, I'll be judging this show as a fan of retro anime and a fan of previous Getter Robo anime. If you're already turned off by talk of retro giant robots, you may as well move on now.
New Getter Robo volume 1 includes the first four episodes. The first three introduce the iconic three Getter pilots one by one. The leader, Ryoma Nagare, is introduced first. Ryoma is an expert martial artist who has inherited his father's dojo as well as all his debts. The local mob wants him to pay up but he continues to put them off and fight off their goons. Everything changes when three particularly strong fighters challenge him. After he defeats them, it is revealed that they were sent by Professor Saotome to test his physical and mental abilities. Saotome needs pilots for his Getter Robo and Ryoma is his first choice.
The second to join the team is Hayato Jin. He's part of a group of criminals himself and is completely psychotic. He'll kill anybody, enemy or friends, to get what he wants or just because they are there. Right now he's after information about Getter energy and that leads him to Saotome's lab which fits nicely with Saotome's plans and he quickly becomes the second pilot...and a prisoner of Saotome.
Benkei Musashinobou is the final pilot. Earlier in life, he was a ruffian and criminal himself but decided to change his life after being confronted by a Buddhist monk. Now a monk himself, he's far from perfect and falls asleep when people are talking to him, but he's a strong and sometimes noble individual. His fellows monks and his master are all attacked and turned into Oni and it's up to him to stop them. Ryoma and the Getter robots are nearby when it goes down and Benkei becomes the third pilot.
Each episode of the show follows a very defined pattern. There's a setup for a battle. The enemy attacks. The Getters are brought out and fight. The Getters have to combine and they then win. It's an appropriate way to start off a show like New Getter Robo of course, but it's also nothing new. The enemies in New Getter Robo are the oni, seemingly alien creatures that are similar to the Japanese demons of legend. They are similar to the enemies in previous Getter anime.
The art in New Getter Robo is likely to be divisive among modern viewers. It's nearly identical to the artistic direction in the Getter anime from the 1970s. To me, this is a good thing. It works well for a giant robot show and stays true to the look of the franchise. The animation looks great in the action scenes. If the colors weren't so clean, it would be easy to think you were watching a show from 20-30 years ago.
Volume 1 is a good start to New Getter Robo and it will definitely make fans of Getter Robo happy. On the other hand, it's so similar to the original that it's bordering on stale. It's got a lot of macho attitude, but the story is almost too simple. Bad guys come; giant robots blow them up. There isn't much depth to the story right now. But the creators did opt to introduce each character with their own episode which does give us good characterization and shows how each of the characters are different from previous versions of the show. Ryoma, for instance, is more wreckless. Hayato is completely different, changing from silent Hayato to psychopath.
New Getter Robo is full of hand-to-hand combat with oni and giant robots killing giant oni. With a simple premise like that, it's hard to go wrong. But the show is clearly for adults. It's got blood and violence throughout. And it's meant to be similar to decades old anime that's fans are adults. Hopefully future volumes won't be a simple retread of old concepts and will have some true depth to them. But just don't sacrifice the giant robot action.
Special Features
DVD Features
· Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation
· Interactive Menu
· Bilingual Audio - Japanese 2.0 - English 2.0
· English Subtitles - Dialog & Signs - Signs Only
DVD Bonus
· Two Music Clips
· Non-credit Opening
