Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Only if you're already a fan, February 4, 2000
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. ;)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gatchaman OAVs - Get 'em, March 21, 2000
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.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Quite disappointing, December 27, 2000
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).
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