Customer Reviews

Pilot Candidate, Vol. 4: Test

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Now I haven't seen the whole series (because it is not fully released in the US yet), Candidate for Goddess (also known as Piolit Candidate) is a great series. It is of a SiFi Drama about the human race trying to stay alive in mysterious attacks from "Victim" (notice the name, which most likely has hidden meaning). In this battle humans use robots controlled buy humans with EX power (actually it's more like an evolved form of human, which basically is a person with a self inhancing ability). The main characters face internal struggles while trying to become piolits of Robots to save their colony. The robots themselves are also mysterious, especially the Goddesses. It seems to hint of the fact that they may not have been man made.

Altogether it is a great series and I recomend it to anyone, however the 2nd eppisode in this volume contains a good amout of nudity that was edited out of Cartoon Network's version. However it is not graphic (so it isn't Hentai) also on the Cartoon Network version the cigarette has been changed to a tooth pick. (I thought this was important to mention to parents)

I am what one would call a hard core anime fan, but unlike others I do not see the extremely exaggerated "borrowed ideas" of what others see to be true. The only similarities between anouther series and this is slkightly with the way the robots are piolited and the way they are piolited in Neon Genesis: Evangelion (another series in which I highly recoment for adults to watch, very enlightening series). The main differece though is that in an eva you sit down and in a Goddess you float. However, I assume some people consider it borrowed because they both have the piolots link up directly with the mind to their crafts. I don't believe it resembles gundam at all (which is a war series), if the reason it is believed it is similar because of the colonies then it is incedibly mistaken because many space series in all over the world have people live on space colonies and ships. This makes it laughable to think it was started by Gundam Wing (which is a good series also), a series which basically is the original gundam series in 79 conbined with other gundam series (hince the catagory it's under: Alternate Universe Gundam Series) remixed with a cupple of original ideas and a more political view on things.

The animation style is mixed 2D and 3D (similar to the way Blue Submarine No 6 is (a miniseries that should be perchaced by all anime fans)

The music is very nice with orchestrated music and great vocal music. It really makes the series even more enjoyable.

The English voices are not too bad, they are not of the superior caliber of Cowboy Bebop (which had the best dubbed voices for an anime), but they are not horrible and are still pleasant to hear.

Also, like I said, the story is also excellent, though from what I've heard it is a short series (of the OVA size, which is about 13 eppisodes).

The extras are really great, however it is better on the second dvd where you get to see what it's like to do the dubbing for the show the japanese stle.

The only main problem I see is the translation errors in the english subtitles (though it doesn't hurt the fun in watching subtitled anime) and the fact that there are only three eppisodes per DVD. (which is why it didn't get a perfect)

All in all a very great series that I'd recomend to anyone (over 13)

This series is the BEST!!! I have seen all the episodes shown on adult swim. I taped all of them and watched them over and over, but unfortunatly the tapes were corrupted and now I'm buying the whole series on DVD. The series isn't a copy off of anything, but the only disappointing part is that the series is cut off when it could have and should have gone a lot further.

Let me start off by saying that this is NOT subtitled, it's "dub-titled". This means that they wrote sub-titles for the English dub, not the Japanese language. So what you get is lines that appear early (and really aren't properly translated... ask anyone who knows what 'kso' means in Japanese...), or they appear late, or, annoyingly enough, they pop up for no reason at all, which tells me that for some reason the English director decided to add lines. In my opinion this makes for a very confusing and annoying viewing.

The story is decent, with the main character being a candidate to pilot a "goddess". Goddesses are giant robots that only certain people can fly, only certain people can repair, and they fight off an enemy called Victims. It just so happens that the main character accidently begins pilotting one of the godesses before his training has even begun, which causes all kinds of problems for the current pilot.

The animation is pretty high quality. I'm not a huge fan of CG and "cell" animation mixing together (usually because it's REALLY obvious). Well, it's just as obvious in this, except that they try to texture and shade the 3D images using normal cartoon colors and shades. It works really well, but they still stand out.

If you can get over the dub-titling (if you only watch English tracks, you should be OK), this is a good title to own.

In the future, mankind lost 4 planets due to a terrible mistake. They reteated to space and built colonies,huge domes with glass protecting it. There is only one planet left, Zion. The alien form known as VICTIM is out to destoy it. So.....

Mankind built huge mechas called Ingrids or Goddesses. The candidates must first train to become one of the 5 Goddess pilots. They go to the Goddess Opperating Accademy or GOA. And when they become pilots they go to GIS. And.....
To be a candidate you have to have the abiltity of EX. Having a reaction to such a power turns your hair teal. It may be telepathy or the power to move fast without being seen. OK.....

The story follows 5 candidates. The main character is Zero Enna. He is a hyper boy and can't stop talking about his dream to pilot the White Ingrid that saved him when he was younger. He has a rival named Hiead and friends Yamagi, Roose, Clay, and another senior named Erts whose brother is a pilot.
Zero and his classmates train and live on GOA. And the story also go into the lives of the pilots. Now...

I love the anime and I'm getting the DVDs. It came on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network but was cancelled for some strange reason.
Get it because it's in space and space is COOL!!!!

In the future, mankind lost 4 planets due to a terrible mistake. They reteated to space and built colonies,huge domes with glass protecting it. There is only one planet left, Zion. The alien form known as VICTIM is out to destoy it. So.....

Mankind built huge mechas called Ingrids or Goddesses. The candidates must first train to become one of the 5 Goddess pilots. They go to the Goddess Opperating Accademy or GOA. And when they become pilots they go to GIS. And.....
To be a candidate you have to have the abiltity of EX. Having a reaction to such a power turns your hair teal. It may be telepathy or the power to move fast without being seen. OK.....

The story follows 5 candidates. The main character is Zero Enna. He is a hyper boy and can't stop talking about his dream to pilot the White Ingrid that saved him when he was younger. He has a rival named Hiead and friends Yamagi, Roose, Clay, and another senior named Erts whose brother is a pilot.
Zero and his classmates train and live on GOA. And the story also go into the lives of the pilots. Now...

I love the anime and I'm getting the DVDs. It came on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network but was cancelled for some strange reason.
Get it because it's in space and space is COOL!!!!

Pilot Candidate is set in a future where humaity is living in space and only one Planet is left. Attacked by enigmatic aliems called Victim. society is protected by 5 enormous Robots called Goddeses or Ingrids. There is one catch only People born with a special blood type and certain age can fly them for a certain period of time. (Fans of Evangelion will notice Blatant Simalarities) Volume One intoduces us to 3 main characters. Zero being the main hero with mysterious power and past. Clay Fortran set in the usual Smart sidekick role and Hiead as the equal mysterious rival. along with the current pilots and their instructor. Zero having the lack of focus and drive\ego the usual hero types have (think Tai from Digimon season 1--They even look alike and may have same english voice) finds himself in many incidents including: 1 displaying the mysterious power 2 seeing his past(he was saved by a goddess) 3 being accepted by a goddess and seeing a mysterious gril while inside) and 4 sets up the rivalry between Hiead and Zero. all in all a good video that will take time to build up as the follow the pattern.

Funny, charming, witty, and just plain cool. I liked it even if they used that 2-D CG thing but it combines real good. Also I love the Robot Designs.

I'm buying all four DVDs because I saw the series on Cartoon Network and simply cannot forget about it. Those who say there is no character development are quite obviously blind, because the entire series is about Zero's CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. You say it isn't about the action, so what is it about? Well, it's about the life of the characters and how at a young age they are thrown into a war against an enemy they can barely defeat! The music is excellent, and anyone who says otherwise just doesn't like orchestrated music. This is an anime fans dream soundtrack. The art is amazing, it's quite hard to find an anime with characters that look this good. I'm shocked and surprised at some people's insulting reviews about the series..but trust me: This DVD set is sooo worth it. Even if it does end suddenly, it's just great. I think it ended due to low budgets..but I'm not sure. We can only hope they will schedule more episodes in the future.

Well, actually, I haven't seen the DVD! But, I have watched the show on Cartoons Network's Adult Swim. Pilot Candidate is one of my most favorite animes! I'm not going to go over the story, because you can read that from the other reviews.

The graphics are amazing! Some people don't like the 2D caracters on the 3D backgrounds as I take it from their reviews. I actually love it! It gives the show a neat effect that you don't usually see in any other anime! It brings the story to life in a sense. It is VERY cool looking!

I also LOVE the plot in general! the caracters are well developed with personalities and habits. I can relate to some of them, and understand their feelings! The story is kind of mysterious in a way, and always leaves me with that feeling. It's very cool to know that a show leaves me like that, making it enjoyable for me to watch. You piece the story together bit by bit to find out new things! I feel quite emotional when watching this show. You take a ride through the characters minds and feelings. It gets quiet addictive! There is not much action though. It is based more on the storyline itself through mysteries and ideas.

I watch ALOT of anime and I must say I rate this show as one of my favorites! To help you decide whether ot not you may enjoy this, I will list what other shows I watch and enjoy: Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho, Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, Tenchi Muyo, Dragonball Z, and I think Dragonabll, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Gundam Wing are ok. If you like all or most of those shows as well, this is a MUST HAVE! I suggest buying the whole series! I know I will eventually (when i get a DVD player!)

This episode is basically boy-meets-girl and some filling out of the characters. It isn't a heavy action flick; it is a training episode with a quick montage of physical training and then one round each in the training pod. Boy-meets-girl is just that; after some time the pilots are partnered with their repairers, and they meet, and then that's all she wrote - except Zero's gal starts breaking him of the zero G phobia. The pairing is like one of the most predictable pairings there is; maybe later episodes will prove this first impression wrong, but each pair is just the male and female version of the same general character. (One may seem obverse, except if you dig down you can predict a closer personality than some others, even if one is tormented. Unless they do break the male/female pair set up.)

Most of the episode is about the characters, but in the most basic way: feeding habits and basic personality, like the dude in glasses ogling the ladies with interest when the other guys are going "Yuk, girls!" I haven't watched any other volumes and I picked up Zero's "small guy" attitude right away, especially when he keeps trying to be "first" ahead of his own self appointed nemisis. (Zero "picks" the fight all the time, trying to be first in the toilet, even, and his competition basically ignores him like the loud mouthed, over eager pest he is.)

Whether or not a viewer likes it depends on their mood and wants: I prefer the more action and sultry gal-pal oriented series like Van Dread. But anyone disliking action and simply wanting a show written in the most basic ways about people may prefer this. Zero's personality can annoy some; I myself think he's a relief from the sniveling wimps in some shows and while he has more guts than brains at times, he makes up for it when he puts on the brakes and settles down, proving his brains are quiet good, thank you.

This is basically a kid-oriented show, with some mild risque, and the plot itself is far more kid oriented than normal. Even the overall plot, the save-the-world-from-aliens plot, is basically the stock plot of easy to understand evening shows. If anything, watching it reminded me of watching a movie about elementary school, which is basically what it boils down to, even with the same general age group and mental and social maturity of the participants. If you have kids and want a reasonably safe but not pre-school show, consider it.

For me "***" (three stars) is an honest rating meaning this is an entertaining movie. I'm not one of those people who sling out 4 and 5 star ratings on shows unless I think it's just so fabulous it deserves it. And I try to avoid anything I would rate lower on the premisis that [nobody] watches a show they don't like. (Kind of like ordering and eating food you don't like or marrying someone you hate...) So my three-star ratings are often the same thing as most people's rubber-stamped 4 star ratings.

In the end, my impression is that if they put six episodes in a case for [money], this would be a decent watch for most anyone except people way off base to the norm. Otherwise, it's appeal is even more narrow than some wilder shows, mainly because it costs quiet a bit for a sweet little pre-teen flick.