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[R1 DVD art]
AKA: 神魂合体ゴーダンナー!! (Shinkon Gattai Godannar!!), God and Spirit Combination Godannar!!
Genre: Mecha / sci fi
Length: Television series, 13 episodes, 23 minutes each
Distributor: Currently licensed by Sentai Filmworks.
Content Rating: 15+ (fan service, partial nudity, violence)
Related Series: Godannar Season 2
Also Recommended: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Robotech, Vandread
Notes: This show is split into two seasons. There is also a video game based on this series.
Rating:

Godannar Season 1

Synopsis

Saruwatari Go -- a mecha pilot for Earth -- is, upon his wedding day, called away on alert. Delivering his apologies and rushing off to face the threat, he leaves Aoi Anna standing on the altar. So, what does she do? Sighs and makes arrangements for the wedding to proceed another day? Calls it off in a blind rage? Hell, no!

She runs out of the chapel, jumps on a scooter, and wows to face the threat with him. And, in perhaps one of the biggest coincidences in animedom, she accidentally comes across the mecha of Go's previous wife, killed earlier in action during a rescue mission.


Review

And I don't think there's an anime girl who've ever made a better first impression than that. Granted, since she is no more than 17 years old, I was rather puzzled that she married someone she was rescued by when she was a mere twelve. Nevertheless, I wasn't about to let something like that sidetrack me.

I should probably explain that the reason I decided to watch this show is that I saw a commercial or trailer for it at the end of the last episode of the Divergence Eve digisub. I noticed that the whole thing looked like an early 80's throwback show as far as mecha design and such went, and even though I don't really much care for mecha shows, I was curious. I do suspect the character designer of Divergence Eve to have a hand in the creation of THIS series, because just about all of the women (save for one aged around 12 or so) sport excessively large breasts. (I guess puberty must be hell on the women from that parallel dimension of the planet Earth.) It does lend itself to some amusing scenes at times, tough. For instance, every time you hear a cellphone ringing, you would then be treated to Anna's mother plunging her hand into her rather excessive cleavage, fishing out her phone and answering the call.

But even outside of the early 80's throwback style, this show does have a rather nice and colorful art style and great animation to boot. The mecha designs are rather nice, and said 80's style gives it a distinct flair I can't remember seeing anywhere else. (Although I would have to admit I haven't really seen much of the sort anyway.) The intro song is no help in that matter, being a rather ridiculously over dramatic song about the team. I honestly don't know whether they're doing this for giggles or they are being serious about it. But it really helped me get into the spirit of this show.

But unfortunately, as the show progresses, this was not to hold up.

It was made all the worse too, since the beginning showed itself to be so promising. But, with the character introductions out of the way, the show was steadily declining to the general "fight of the episode" show. Outside of Go's previous wife, Milla, being brought back to life due to mysterious circumstances (but with the mentality of a newborn child), which, again, offered nothing but an opportunity for Anna to start doubting her relationship -- her MARRIAGE -- to Go. This, again, led to lots of unnecessary angst on her behalf.

In the end, as I watched the last few episodes of this season, I grew tired of the show. With the continuing fighting, I found it hard to maintain interest in seeing more of it, or waiting for more episodes. I suppose it's always possible for the show to get better in the second season again. In fact, I hope it does. For now, though, I'm putting it to the side. If the demand is there, I may view the second season and review that. In the mean time, I will be putting my efforts at other shows.

So, here's for a show that started out rather well, and will hopefully be ending on the same note.

Not bad at all, but could have been loads better.Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: The fan service is plentiful, most of it based on boobs. I'm not entirely sure whether there was any full nudity here -- it's been a little while since I saw the show.

There is also the issue of violence. The monsters they fight don't play around, and even though the fights themselves never get particularly excessive, they are unsuitable for younger audiences. Of course, the episode with the transforming human doesn't exactly help matters.



Version(s) Viewed: digital source
Review Status: Full (13/13)
Godannar Season 1 © 2003 Project GODANNAR
 
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