Review - Gilgamesh Tablet 01: Orphans of the Apocalypse
Reviewed by Richard Brownell on 9.23.2007.
Score: 9/10
I bought the first volume of Gilgamesh for my brother on a whim with no knowledge about it or if it's even good. I'm a good bro like that you see. But we watched it together and truly enjoyed it. I've since heard good things about it and began collecting it myself. Upon finishing the first volume, Gilgamesh comes across as a great show with a lot of mystery and very little not to like.
It's really all about the atmosphere and the feeling you get while watching the show. Everything is a shade of gray. Really, pretty much everything. I'm reviewing Ergo Proxy right now, but Gilgamesh has even more gray than that. And it's not bad by any means. The show comes across like an anime interpretation of some old film noir movies. The few colors in the show are carefully chosen to highlight a certain scene or character. For instance, the young male hero of the show wears a jacket with what is basically a red cross painted on it (not as in Red Cross the organization, but red-colored Christian cross). The Countess in the show is seen attending a theatrical event, filled with color, showing that the wealthy in this world can live normal lives.
But the poor do not get such a luxury. The world has been nearly destroyed by an incident involving an unusual terrorist attack. As a result of the attack, the world has lost its luster. The clear blue sky has been replaced with a dark but reflective sky that only serves to remind the people who survive in the world of how miserable it all looks. This results in a unique look to the anime that is both beautiful and disturbing. It's like the whole world has turned into the bad side of town.
Tatsuya, the young male hero, and his sister, Kiyoko, live alone now. Their parents are gone and have left them with a terrible debt. Debtors in the future are not so kind and are out to steal Tatsuya's organs and make Kiyoko start selling her body for money. In an effort to save themselves, they flee their only home to an abandoned house. It just so happens there are three other teenagers already staying there. Wearing matching outfits with strange symbols, these three oddly enough want Tatsuya and Kiyoko to join them in their fight with the devils of this world.
Their discussion doesn't last long as three other teenagers, this time without matching outfits come looking for them and a battle ensues. It's not an incredibly intense battle as many of the shots happen very quickly, sometimes with the various attacks happening off screen and only the aftereffects seen. But this only serves to fuel the thriller style action going on around them.
These new teenagers manage to kidnap Tatsuya and Kiyoko and bring them to their base where they too ask them to join them in their fight against the demons of the world. Both groups that seek out the heroes are rather similar. They both seem to shop at Hot Topic. They're both polite on the surface. And they both share supernatural powers that they use to fight the other group. This is partly why Tatsuya and Kiyoko have no interest in helping either of them. But only one of the groups is associated with the terrorist that did his best to destroy the world. Still, the choice of these two groups is why Gilgamesh has the subtitle "Whose side are you on?"
The music of Gilgamesh does quite a bit to add to the creepy atmosphere. It's got a haunting orchestral score that never presents any sort of peaceful harmony. It's mostly dissonant, occasionally replace by an acoustic guitar. It's very apt that the main character carries around a tuning fork and has perfect pitch. The harmonies that never resolve themselves would probably get to her if she could hear them. But she does her fair share to lighten the mood by playing on the piano one of Beethoven's best works, the Emperor Concerto. It's also played in the beginning as the terrorist attack occurs which is one of the best uses of classical music in anime that I've ever seen.
The biggest weak spot of Gilgamesh is its animation. Most of it is told in still shots which usually look fantastic. The character designs are unique with pale characters that have strong but sometimes blank eyes and thick hair. But the animated scenes seem to be either well done or weak with very little in between. The battles usually look great as do some of the normal shots, but then it will cut to a walking scene that uses a couple frames of animation going back and forth that just looks bad. It pulls you out of the spooky atmosphere of the show. These are the types of problems that quality modern anime should be able to avoid.
In the end, these first five episodes of Gilgamesh have me engrossed in it despite its flaws. It's not fast-paced and doesn't have a huge fleshed out cast of characters. But there is something entrancing about the atmosphere of the show. If you enjoy dark thrillers, it will make you want to keep watching. There's a lot of mystery to uncover and new battles to see. Perhaps it's simply because it is so different from everything else I'm watching, but Gilgamesh will certainly keep me coming back for more.
Dub Quality
Dubbing Gilgamesh must be difficult. With it's gothic atmosphere and characters who appear lifeless, it's quite a bit different and more morbid than most shows. So the decision director Steven Foster chose is to have subdued dialog delivery. He probably had the actors pull it back quite a bit. But unfortunately, this technique doesn't work for all characters of the show. The leads do well, as do the others fighting the Gilgamesh, but the Gilgamesh themselves occasionally seem stilted in their dialog. Some of the smaller parts do as well. It's not a bad dub by any means, but it's not one of Foster's best.
