Customer Reviews

Gatchaman [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Visually, the OAVs are wonderful--the animation's leagues beyond the original (unsurprisingly), and the characters are much more differentiated in appearance. For me, Joe's new look worked beautifully, and Rocky/Ryu was okay, but the others didn't entirely feel like the original characters. Ken was too dorky out of costume, Jun didn't look anything like the original, and Jinpei was made too "hip". Nambu wears this really bizarre purple-and-white striped turtleneck that fascinated and appalled me. Solaris/Katze was pretty nicely updated, but the CGI for Sosai X was out of place.

Other than visually, well, the storyline was mangled, the dialogue was poor to fair, and the voice acting was unimpressive. (Note that I got the dubbed version.) I thought the characterization was okay in one respect: if you already knew the characters, they acted "right" for the most part. But the attempts to convey personality were heavy-handed and annoying ("I'm Swan Jun!"), and inadequate for the new viewer.

I still enjoyed them just for the visuals, and I think most Gatchaman/BOTP fans probably would as well. (Particularly if you like gratuitous beefcake/cheesecake shots of Joe or Jun. ;)

This was a very good series - despite some cheesy dialog here and there. In order to really appreciate them, you must try NOT to compare them to the originals. No, they are NOT comparable. They are not up to par with the original story line(s), the characters are not as well developed, and many things must be assumed going into the story. This is NOT meant to be a continuation of the originals, though. Overall, the animation is superb, the updates to costumes, vehicles, etc... are dramatically improved and the story is excellent. This is a fantastic installment in the Gatchaman line and is highly recommended.

I was quite disappointed by the remake version. This video lacks plot and character development. The background music is also poor. You really can't compare this with the original. In the original, you see the themes of loyalty, love, hatred, friendship, competition and betrayal woven throughout the 105 episodes. Unfortunately, these themes are not brought out in the remake video. For example, in this video, you see very little conflict amongst the characters...in the original...Ken and Joe are involved in several heated arguments...Ken is slapped in the face by Nambu for disobedience and Jun lashes out at Ken for Ken's insensitiveness in episode 54.

Battle of the Planets was my favorite cartoon growing up. I was hoping to relive old childhood memories by watching this video...but it didn't happen. For those other diehard Gatchaman fans hoping to relive old childhood memories and who understand Japanese, I would recommend buying the original Gatchaman series now available in DVD video series the next time you are in Tokyo (Akihabara).

This set is almost perfect. Remember the TV series, this was 2x better! Twice the action, storyline, color and cool stuff. The character names are different than in Battle of the Planets (BOTP)and G-force (the watered-down american versions), but the group is the same. More background is given about the characters which is great! WARNING: Do not watch all 3 parts back to back. The story and action tends to blur together. GET IT!

A good remade version of the 1970s cult series. The artwork has been greatly improved as compared to the original. However, being a great fan of the original series, I am quite disappointed that this new series is so short. The original Gatchaman has more than 100 episodes and 2 sequel series (Gatchaman II and Gatchaman F). This greatly shortened version has sacrificed a great deal of storyline. The story is also slightly different from the original (for example, G-2 was supposed to be killed at the end). But overall, this new Gatchaman series is watchable.

This set is almost perfect. Remember the TV series, this was 2x better! Twice the action, storyline, color and cool stuff. The character names are different than in Battle of the Planets (BOTP)and G-force (the watered-down american versions), but the group is the same. More background is given about the characters which is great! WARNING: Do not watch all 3 parts back to back. The story and action tends to blur together. GET IT!

For those new to the Gatchaman world, these OAVs are beautiful to look at, well animated and action-packed. Decent entertainment for the price paid.

Fans of the original series will be disappointed though. One of the main reasons why the original Gatchaman has so many diehard fans was the DEPTH of its story and the vivid character developments. Granted, this is impossible to achieve with just 3 short videos, but the result here still leaves fans feeling let down. The characters here are bland and one-dimensional (Jun is nothing more than a token female as eye candy for male fans, Jinpei is just the token irritating kid).

Still, whether these OAVs are a success or not simply depends on what you are looking for. For me, it was simply for nostalgia ... and these OAVs certainly managed to bring fond memories of my favourite childhood TV series flooding back ! Even when moaning about the deficiencies of these OAVs compared to the original, many of us fans realise that these OAVs have successfully brought back our forgotten passion for our childhood heroes.

I used to watch this T.V. show all the time when I was 5 or 4 and it was awesome! But they showed the episode when the Black guy had to land the ship because it was going to blow up. But before he could land it, it blew up and I was really annoyed! Then they had to cancel it!