Older anime fans like myself, will perhaps relish the days
of Gatchaman, Voltron Force or Galaxy Rangers. Just a simple
cartoon, where kids of our ages get hold of powerful mechs or superhuman prowess.
Without the need of adult issues complicating the storyline. Gear Fighter Dendoh
is one such animation, remade with the technology of the new millenium. It involves
around two rather clueless children (I suppose they are not even teenagers as
they bathe together with their rubber ducky!) who are the predetermined pilots
of an all powerful mecha which is earth's last hope against an alien invasion.
Sounds familiar doesn't it? The anime is anything but dry, however, even though
the outcomes are most predictable. The character drawings are excellent (though
not in the class of Ayashi no Ceres or Fushigi Yuugi) and the mecha
ideas refreshing though i wish there were more evolutions to it. It didn't keep
me glued to the seat, but it was an anime that both my teenage brother and I could
enjoy.
This is one of the most outstanding Mecha shows that ever existed,
it kept me hyped up from the beginning till the end. When I first got my hands
on this series I was skeptical as I've seen so many Mecha fallen into the "1
bad guy per episode with hardly any plot development" category. Dendoh
seems to share familiarities with your generic Mecha show, but is much more than
that if you stay with it for a couple of episodes. There is continuity throughout
the whole series; I can only think of 1 or 2 fillers but they were done extremely
well so I didn't mind at all watching them. I won't give too much of the plot
away as basic story follows Gina and Hokuto who were chosen to be pilots of Dendoh
to fight off against the Karufa Empire. There are many plot twists, characters
and did I forget to mention action? The fighting bits in Dendoh are animated
really well, I never got tired watching the finishing moves cos the quality is
just superb that makes want to see it again and again. Majority of the fights
aren't your old-style cheezy miracle comeback battles, they actually make their
comeback in a convincing manner.
Needless to say if you enjoyed shows
such as G Gundam you'd find yourselves right at home with Dendoh
and whizzing through all the episodes before you know it like myself.
(4.5)
