3ET: Gatchaman Crowds

GATCHA

Studio: Tatsunoko Studios

Director: Nakamura Kenji (Tsuritama, C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control)

Main Cast: Ohsaka Ryouta as Tachibana Sugane, Uchida Maaya as Ichinose Hajime

Writer: Oono Toshiya (Tsuritama)

Music: Iwasaki Taku (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Jormungand)



The Gatchaman franchise has a long history in Japan. The original anime series Kangaku Ninjitai Gatchaman aired 1972-74. The story revolves around a five-member team of teen ninjas who fought advanced alien villains to save the world. In the West, it's known as either Battle of the Planets or G-Force and was finally released uncut on DVD in 2005. It also spawned an animated film, a pair of sequel series in the late '70s, and a retelling in a 1994 OVA. And thankfully, it is not necessary to see any of these to understand the newest entry in the series, Gatchaman Crowds.

The biggest critique I can make of Crowds is also its greatest asset. It's a bunch of interesting ideas thrown together, and it hasn't been connected yet. There are a pair of parallel plots going on. One is about Hajime, a girl who WILL NOT SHUT THE FUCK UP who picks up a magical notebook and gains the powers of a Gatchaman, an armored suit that lets her fight aliens. She joins a group of other Gatchamen users, disregards everything they say, and yet everything works out for her. I find her to be completely obnoxious. The rest of the team is, um, interesting, with Sugane and Joe the only relatively normal ones. Paiman (Hirano Aya) is an alcoholic panda and OD (Hosomi Daisuke) is just one of the fabulous.

GATCHA!

I say one of the fabulous because the other storyline is well, flamboyant. A cross-dressing guy named Rui (Murase Ayumu) has created a sort of crowd-sourced good Samaritan phone app. People who use this app are able to earn points by doing good, like helping people after an alien kisses people, takes their form, and causes chaos. This alien, Berge-Katze (Miyano Mamoru at his most fabulous), enjoys taunting Rui, saying that he will not be able to save the world. So far, the two stories have not met, but they will, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the show does this.

The reason I'm looking forward to this collision is how matter-of-fact the show is with its premises. All of the weird stuff is presented as quite normal, which in turn makes me, the viewer, more likely to accept when weird shit happens. I'm not saying it's perfect, it does fall into the trap of setting up something as impossible, and then having that impossible thing happen in episode one, which was annoying. But, there are interesting ideas in this show, and I want to see what it does with them.

GATCHA?

I feel like Gatchaman Crowds is an exercise in contradictions. I'm intrigued by the plot, but I think its convoluted and ridiculous. I despise the main character, but I like enough of the cast to care what happens. I guess what I'm saying is that I reluctantly pass this show, but I can't wait to see what it does next.