GaoGaiGar

I liked it alright. Often formulaic, and occasionally the stock footage was annoying (they seriously just threw in Final Fusion in one episode when people were just talking, what the hell, the kids won't fucking eat the TV if Gao Gai Gar isn't formed Once an Episode), but the characters were decently interesting, and I was willing to keep watching more of it and tick away the hours, so it definitely engaged me.

It's certainly not without its flaws, yes, but it's certainly a really good show for having the Monster of the Week format, and I'd say that if you want to get into the Super Robot Genre, it and Gurren Lagann are good shows to start, though I'd say TTGL would be better for that.

If you like Gao Gai Gar, you should try watching Da Garn, another Brave series - it's by the same writer I believe.

Imo, GGG got more interesting about the time we finally saw the Machine Lords get serious, saw the origins of the mechanical lords, and therefore the appearance of the imo, best satellite character, Soldato J

That J does have some slick theme songs.

I think the series really kicks in around episode 24 or 25. It has some some pretty awesome fights towards the end and J is pretty cool character but I still think it didn't have enough character development, especially for the main characters. Mazinger Z replaced drama with comedy and Getter Robo actually had some character development, at least in the early episodes.

I'm not against for having a battle scene in every episode but I still think you could have some character moments at the same time. Even though every Gurren Lagann episode has some action, not every episode is about how to defeat the monster. The episode 5 is essentially about encountering a different culture. In Getter Robo character development and defeating the monster are sometimes related, for example Ryoma has to get over his fear of heights in one episode and Musashi over his fear of lizards or sometimes all the three Getter pilots must learn how to collaborate better.

edited 1st Dec '12 1:02:35 PM by harkko

Yeah, some people might say those old shows are action and nothing else, but nobody watches a show just for that alone.

GGG did some neat episodes itself, though, like where Gai goes underwater or when Volfogg first fights.

edited 1st Dec '12 3:08:56 PM by Justin_Brett

I watched a bunch of episodes as research for my fanfics, and yes, it was pretty formulaic. But it was always interesting to see HOW they'd defeat the monster (at least, getting it in a good position for a Finishing Move), rather than whether they would defeat it at all.

And then, right around Episode 27, the whole formula gets shaken up as the bad guys show a disturbing amount of genre savviness. And even when the Big Bad of the first arc is defeated, things start going wrong in the very next episode.

The show also came up with some absolutely wonderful ways to justify/avert certain tropes. For example, the Carpenters are like a swarm of gigantic reverse locusts that restore cities, which gloriously averted Offscreen Rebuilding. Also, the way the show treats the concept of destruction and negative emotions as not necessarily being a bad thing in FINAL is also a nice change of pace.

I could go on...

Yeah, you can really tell the show came from the people involved asking those questions as kids. Like the Dividing Driver - pretty much every Super Robot has had to deal with collateral damage, so they came up with something that gets rid of the problem entirely.

GaoGaiGar is on sale for $15!

So this is both the unfinished English version, and a Subtitled version as well?

It appears that way, but it seems that it's sold out now.