Gad Guard
Publisher
ADV
Director
Hiroshi Nishikiori
Production
Amber Filmworks, GONZO, Team Gad Guard
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Year
2003
Gad Guard vol 1: Lightning (eps 1-4)
By John Huxley
10th Feb 05  Boys love toys. No, really, it's true! We love gadgets of all kinds, the flashier and bigger the better. From mobile phones to cars and PCs, boys are prone to inexplicably falling in love with inanimate objects. Which probably explains why Hajiki, the young star of Gad Guard, develops an unusual ‘affinity' for his expressionless giant robot, Lightning. His unrelenting love for this gigantic hunk of metal even drives him to create his own little hero costume, complete with matching red mask and white gloves. Aww. On the surface, Gad Guard (not to be confused with Dai-Guard) is a fairly typical mech show. Hajiki, a street-wise skater kid with a part-time delivery job, stumbles upon a curious black cube-shaped object during his rounds. By accident or design this small box soon undergoes a transformation for reasons unknown, assimilating all the nearby inanimate objects to form a humongous, towering beast of a robot. Somewhat taken aback by this light show, Hajiki quickly regains his senses and claims the robot as his own after discovering it can be controlled by human contact. Unfortunately for Hajiki his newfound friend has gained some unwanted attention, namely from a seedy gang who possess a similar robot of their own. With everyone after these precious transforming devices known as Techodes, it soon develops into a oversized game of cat and mouse with Hajiki stuck right in the middle. The first couple of episodes take us through this preliminary stage of the story, while the third and fourth episodes introduce a more segmented structure with self-contained, easily digestible storylines. However, thanks to some smart direction we never become too detached from Gad Guard's central story; important happenings and little snippets of character development are spliced seamlessly in-between each episodes' unique storylines to keep things moving along nicely. However, it's certainly true that the plotlines could have benefited from a few more original ideas; Gad Guard is a solid if hackneyed story that many will feel is too familiar to remain interesting for long. To be fair Gad Guard does have a good while yet (six volumes to be exact) to develop the storyline into something more exciting, which I'm sure will happen eventually. Padding out the unspectacular story is a sizeable cast of eccentric characters. Ranging from shockingly stereotypical right through to relatively well defined, believable characters, Gad Guard's cast is nothing if not amiable (with the possible exception of the hugely irritating Catherine). The central characters, Hajiki, his potential love interest Arashi and nemesis Katana, all receive a good amount of screen time, and while Katana's moody grimacing may whiff a little of an unscrupulous attempt to appeal to angst-ridden teenagers, generally their presence is not at all unwelcome. Hajiki's home life is of particular interest as he seems to be the main provider for his hard-working mother and younger sister, all the while balancing his (rigidly Christian?) school life, day job and newfound role as a mech pilot. With such a hectic lifestyle you'd expect the whole thing to come crashing down like a house of cards, but thus far he's doing an exceptional job of keeping things in check. Hopefully events will conspire against him and force his home life to collide with all these various alternate identities, but time will tell. Of course Gad Guard wouldn't be much of a mech show if it didn't contain a few action scenes, now would it? Luckily Gad Guard is well stocked in this area; each episode throws up a few impressive set-pieces that normally involve lots of explosions, destruction and general mayhem. The wide range of pretty CGI and digital effects help to mask the relatively unspectacular direction, although the touch-activated control of Hajiki's mech creates a unique dynamic as he rushes to regain control of his beloved Lightning, however sadly underused. If you're looking for action, Gad Guard won't disappoint. The mechs and characters that occupy Gad Guard's urban environments are rendered in a slick cartoony style with a vibrant rage of colours and a good level of detail; Hajiki's red and turquoise fish patterned jacket is an excellent example of how the digital age has enhanced traditional cel animation (even if we can't buy proper cels anymore, dammit!). Perhaps more importantly, the design of Gad Guard's mechs can be divided in to two distinct groups - the regular mechs which perform everyday menial tasks and the mystical and powerful Techodes that dominate the storyline. The regular mechs are purposefully cumbersome in their design yet relatively plausible as pieces of useable machinery - they're butt-ugly, but you can appreciate that they may have some practical application. Techodes, however, are the very antithesis of the regular mechs. With more familiar humanoid proportions and a rounded, almost cute design reminiscent of shows like Giant Robo and Steam Setectives, these mechs are infinitely more pleasing to the eye. They're not as iconic as the Evangelions and nor can I see them shifting even a fraction of the amount of Gundams sold, yet I'd certainly consider snapping up some merchandise if it ever makes its way to these shores. Gad Guard's urban aesthetic is complimented by a decent score that includes several jazz pieces, rarely straying in to the j-pop/rock usually associated with these titles. Thankfully Cowboy Bebop's influence has not entirely evaporated, and while Gad Guard can't quite match the peerless atmosphere created by that particular show, it's efforts are appreciated all the same. The final credits are of particular note; the underground comic style of art mixed with slick CGI and an effective (gasp!) instrumental tune is worth watching several times over. But don't whatever you do go mistaking this for the next Cowboy Bebop. Gad Guard is the latest in the long, long, long line of mech shows to flood anime shelves each and every year. Unfortunately Gad Guard isn't quite good enough to stand out from the crowd, but if you've had your fill of Evangelion, Mazinkaiser, Full Metal Panic and the like, you could certainly do worse than Gad Guard.
R2 DVD Notes
Features: English 2.0 & Japanese 2.0 audio, English subtitles, promo tralier, clean opening, colour art gallery
Release information: UK: 2005, ADV
Notes: The cover features a smirking Hajiki and pouting Arashi on the back of his green vespa set against a sketchy monochrome background. With no mechs featured it's a relatively nondescript piece of artwork, and potential buyers would have to read the description on the back of the box to really get an idea of what Gad Guard is all about. But it's still a pretty design and there's an alternate cover to choose from if this one doesn't take you fancy, although they're both similar in tone. The extras on the disc are entirely standard fare with only the clean opening animation and relatively small art gallery to speak of. Not ADV's best outing in recent months but by no means their worst, either.
-- John Huxley 10th Feb 05
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