DVD: New Getter Robo
Submitted by Catherine on Fri, 2008-07-25 14:07.
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DVD Reviewed by Catherine
Starring: Yoshitaka Arimoto, Hideo Ishikawa
In New Getter Robo we are retold the story of Prof. Saotome and his Getter-Ray powered robots. This series is a revamp of Getter Robo, a series from the 70s which had a big enough fan base to warrant sequels and spin offs. The robots and Getter team were re-designed for this series with more detail and a few character differences.
In the first three episodes we meet Professor Saotome and are introduced to the Getter Robots which he is creates to protect the world as we know it from the demonic Oni. Too powerful for ordinary piolets, he manages to track down three of the most dangerous men on the planet to man his creations; Ryoma; a black belt in martial arts who is down on his luck, Hayato; a psychotic gang leader with no qualms for killing, and Benkei; a ruffian who once gorged himself on food and took women as he pleased until he was turned to Buddah.
All of the characters in this series, possibly with the exception of Benkei, are egomaniacal, hyper violent, hypocrites who seek to protect humanity but at the same time seem to harbour animosity towards it, however, through their adventures, some of the characters learn important lessons and become the better for it.
New Getter Robo has a very retro, bold feel about it, with vivid colours, an abundance of cross hatching and heavy blacks which I am assuming are a throwback to the original. It has a simple, Manga look about it, and CGI seems to be used sparingly and not too obviously, giving it a traditional feel.
The series requires no previous knowledge of any of the prior Getters, but I couldn’t help but feel as though I was missing out on something important when I watched this the way through.
Whilst I found a few things in this show interesting, I sadly have to say that the words blood, violence and more blood pretty much sum up New Getter Robo for me. I had trouble concentrating whilst watching this series. It may be because I find the whole mecha thing to be a bit boring. It may be because it seems like this series is too similar to so many other things I have seen before.
This is probably something I would recommend to my younger brother, if he needed to do the whole testosterone building 'blood, guts and violence' kind of thing that teenage boys seem to love to do.
I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who was venturing for the first time into the world of anime. If you're a fan of the whole robot vs. baddies/gratuitous savagery thing, you may enjoy it, but I am unsure if it will appeal to a wider audience.
