Gate

Publisher
ADVManga
Writer
Hirotaka Kisaragi
Artist
Hirotaka Kisaragi
Country of origin
Japan
Length
2 volumes
Year
2005

Gate V. 1

By David Rasmussen
5th Mar 05

What is it with this title and it's obsession with death anyway?
After surviving a freak lightning strike four male friends soon discover that they've been branded with mystical sigils, each of these signifying that they have had a "God Beast" representing the elements of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water sealed into their bodies.

The God Beasts once guarded a gateway between dimensions, but came under attack and were thrown down (which is how they ended up in these guys). So they need to be separated from these four and put back into guard duty, BUT doing so would probably kill them!

So they close the gate instead of separating with their god beasts.
Now they just have to come to peace with their new "companion" god beasts and learn to coexist with them... or it'll kill them. They must not challenge the supernatural or risk saving ghosts while trying to bond with their god beasts or it'll kill them.
Uh... is there anything about this title that won't end with the "kill" option at any time?

Part one of a two parter, this is about as short as Figure 17 but will it be as good? Only time will tell.
Breakdown.

Gate Breakdown the 1st (of 2)
What's Hot? - Short? Yeah that review was short, but then again the title it's based on is short too.
Straightforward it's four guys who get merged with powerful beasts and have to learn to first use them to seal this gate, then learn to bond with them before it kills them... eck, everything ends with "death" as an option in this title! Anyway the good part is it's a fair read.
The title has it's merits, and the story of how these four work to overcome shortcomings and become worthy of this power laid before them is interesting, and not at all cliché (I'm sure you haven't seen it before).
It's not exciting or action packed, but it's a solid enough read nevertheless.

What's Not? - It's not so action packed. It's more of a smart read than an action read, but then again there's some action in here too so that's good. It's also short, so the title zips along and wraps pretty fast. That's a minus, but an unavoidable one. Oh, well, it's still a fair read despite that so I have no complaints.

Moments to Remember? - Uh... not much. There are some moments but you'll have to find that.

What to Ignore? - Their "guide" in this book is a rather stone expressioned female who seems to be part Vulcan from her downright lack of emotion! What's with her anyway? Sheesh! Oh, and then again there's the whole male bonding in this book, well "male/god beast" bonding in anycase... sheesh. Most of this book is male bonding or male/beast bonding or something... eck.

Overall? - It's the mastery of superior godlike power through male bonding!
Too bad the title is very short lest we'd see this develop more and maybe go into interesting directions, but I guess I'll have to save my full judgment of the read until I wrap this review with the review of Volume 2 before I can say what I thought of it! So stay tuned for the closing review, which should be in a few months!

-- David Rasmussen 5th Mar 05