Summary: Lufy, Pony, Patty, Rammy, Catty, Rabby, and Eluza — they are all back. GALL FORCE returns to the OVA scene in a four-part OVA series done by Artmic and Artland.
This is yet another interpretation of the GALL FORCE story in an already crowded universe. Can this new series pass muster, or should it be sent back to basic training?
The basic story is simple: East Force meets West Force and all Hell breaks loose. Yes, the Solonoids, that lovable race of female warriors, are at it again, fighting amongst themselves. During a heated battle, however, it looks like the leaders of the two factions have hung their warriors out to dry. In the middle of all this fighting and chaos, East Force detects a transmission from an unidentified planet. The Gall Force gals leave their posts to go. Lufy, the West Force's Ace Pilot, who is after Rabby, follows them to the planet. And just as their strange host starts revealing secrets about the Solonoid race, the episode ends!
Fans of the old GALL FORCE may really like this series. After all, the familiar characters are still around, the ship warfare is well done, and there is the constant cross/doublecross that twists and turns the plot in ways that are hard to predict.
The characters have all been redesigned, and for the most part they look good — yet very different from Sonoda Kenichi's designs. There are a couple characters, though, who seem to suffer from "sideburns," for lack of a better term. That is, the hair along their face curls up and over their cheeks; this is particularly noticeable on Catty. And while Lufy does not have this problem, she has problems of her own. She looks like she got into a street fight with Vidal Sassoon and lost. And apparently she takes her eye makeup tips from Mimi on The Drew Carey Show. While she does look more formidable than she previously did, she does not look attractive.
One interesting aspect of the combat is that the East Force uses drone ships which they control from cockpits aboard the main battleships. So essentially, they are flying their ships by remote control. West Force does not have this technology and they actually have to physically pilot their ships, which proves to be a disadvantage. In fact, on the whole, the East Force seems to be technologically superior.
The animation is well-done, and the combat scenes are beautiful (but what else do you expect from the studio that does LEGEND OF GALACTIC HEROES?) The voice cast is stell as well, including Mitsuishi Kotono as Rabby and Inoue Kikuko as Eluza.
There are a couple of weak points. The bickering amongst the characters, especially between Lufy and just about everyone else, does tend to wear a little thin. And the aliens they had to fight looked a little too much like the capital-A aliens. But on the whole, there is very little to complain about.
This series is off to an interesting start, and it will be interesting to see how they wrap up the plot threads they have started to unwind in the first episode. In short, good animation, good voices, and an interesting story make this a worthwhile show. GALL FORCE fans will probably be very happy, since this show is much better than the last GALL FORCE incarnation: "New Generation". |
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