12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly Epic!, June 4, 1999
An inspiring tale of heroism, mystery, & deceit, GALL FORCE blasts you right in between an ancient war between two races, The female Solonoids and the mutant Paranoids. A small team of renagade Solonoids escape the battle front with their very lives, and embark on a solo mission to save their race from annhilation by reaching a lone, living planet in distant space. The plot twists and turns in the most unpredicatable ways leading up to a very shocking and startling finale. This anime is full of awesome battle scenes and great dialogue. I prefer the subtitled version myself because the very emotion of their voices are kept intact, a virtue that's usually lost with dubbing. Buy this anime now, it'll give you goosebumps and bring a tear to your eye. =)
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
We Have Met the Extra-Terrestrials... and They are Us!, April 8, 2002
*
Taking the world's most universally recognized legend and putting a new twist on it, ''Gall Force: Eternal Story'' is an epic adventure that you don't soon forget and that you will want to watch again and again.
The story opens in the midst of a full-scale battle raging in the depths of outer space between two persistently warring races: the somewhat indescribable cyborg ''Paranoids'' and the all-female humanoid race called ''Solnoids'' (which raises the intriguing question of how they reproduce... but let's suspend logic for the moment).
The Paranoid/Solnoid wars have been waging for centuries, and diplomats on both sides have grown weary of the never-ending battle and have entered into a secret covenant where they have mutually devised a risky plan which they hope will act as a buffer between the two feuding races and hopefully bring both sides to the table to begin suing for peace. But in order for this mission to be successful, their joint activities must operate covertly and be kept a closely guarded secret from everyone on both sides -- especially from the military arms of the two warring factions, each of whom would stop at nothing and spare no effort to recover the ''experimental project'' for ''their'' side to exploit. The details of this ''Top Secret'' diplomatic gambit are entrusted to a single Solnoid who's been dispatched as a secret agent to infiltrate the ranks of a ship's crew to insure that the objective proceeds successfully without a hitch.
Forced to make the leap into lightspeed out of its surrounding blazing deathtrap, a sole Solnoid spaceship, the ''Star Leaf,'' has been targeted for the for the infiltration of both the Solnoid/Paranoid agent and the secret ''experiment.'' The Star Leaf's escape course is to a distant star system: Their destination is a 'new home world' -- a terra-formed planet moon the Solnoid have given the name ''Chaos.'' Chaos is the satellite companion to the planet ''Terra,'' which the Solnoid refer to as ''the planet that lives on its own'' (which raises another question of logic ... ''Why not just inhabit Terra from the very beginning?'' -- but again, let's try to overlook this notable flaw in the story).
In their hasty attempt at escape from all of the senseless slaughter taking place around them, the crew of the Star Leaf must constantly deal with numerous emerging deadly threats, from pursuing warships, equipment malfunctions, the real possibility of mutually assured destruction, and the presence of a sinister looking alien life form which stalks the remaining crew throughout their space vessel. The surviving members of the Star Leaf's crew must also try to understand the meaning and significance of a bizarre precognitive dream they all share involving a mysterious Solnoid-like alien creature which could either be a Paranoid brainwashing and mind-controlling ploy or the key to ending the hostilities between the Paranoid and Solnoid races.
The moon Chaos becomes the final battleground in the Paranoid/Solnoid war as deception, treachery, and the lust for power and military advantage overtake reason, diplomacy and visions of unconditional peace.
Much more enjoyable in the 'English dubbed' version (which is something of a rare experience in anime DVDs), ''Gall Force: Eternal Story'' often catches you off your guard with where you think the story is going to take you and, in a manner much like in the ''SCREAM'' movies, messes with your head as it relates to who lives, who dies, and who the ''bad guys'' are.
A bit more attention to detail could (should) have been paid to the animation itself, in my opinion, and a few things about the story could have been smoothed out as well (but hey... this IS ''Japanese Animation,'' after all), but apart from this feature film's only real problem of the 'fingernails-on-chalkboard' screeching of the original Japanese voice actors, this movie does not fail to deliver: It hooks you right away and reels you all the way in from the opening scene to the emotionally charged climatic ending. Don't push past this one.
* * *
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Anime Movie, September 9, 2001
This was one of the first anime videos I ever purchased when I got the LaserDisc.
The animation shows its age, but it's still a very good movie. A race of female warriors are at war with the Paranoid. They are all trying to get to the planet Chaos. It turns out there is a little secret experiment going on too. There are elements borrowed from Alien, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek 2. ...possibly from Star Blazers too. Some parts of the costume and gadget designs resemble things in Bubblegum Crisis which isn't surprising since Kenichi Sonoda was involved.
There is more information, including chapter stops, on the back side of the DVD case insert. The chapter stops should have been printed on a separate card that goes inside the case or on the back of the case like with most DVDs.
The subtitles are not as clear on the DVD as they were on the LaserDisc. They are simply white on the DVD. The LD had different colors being used. Also, there is no translation for the final song. The LD had subtitles during the ending credits, but there is nothing on the DVD for the "Little Johnny" song which is about a woman being involved with a younger man. (Most people may not think about it, but the song does fit.)
The voice actors used for the English version are OK, but I prefer watching this in Japanese with subtitles. The dubbed translation also tends to be cleaned up some.
I enjoyed most of the music in the show. The songs were fairly good too. I didn't see any credits for the songs so I don't know the actual titles.
Overall, I would recommend this DVD, but I do feel US Manga Corps messed up a few items here.
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