|
Another month, another new license from MVM! With ADV out of the picture and Manga focusing on boxsets and online distribution, MVM have really stepped up to the plate with a host of new releases this year, but Gunparade March is a bit of a sci-fi departure from the fantasy titles they have been releasing recently. The series is set in an alternative timeline where strange
creatures known as Genjyu invaded the Earth shortly after World War 2.
Humanity united against the new threat, but to little avail and now, seemingly
alone, Japan struggles against the creatures using technologically advanced
robotic suits. So desperate is the struggle that the government introduced
a student draft, meaning that teens are drafted into the army at the age of 16.
The story focuses in particular on Unit 5121, a battlegroup pretty much made up
from the students of a single school class, as they try to balance their
military responsibilities with the normal trials and tribulations of teen life.
The year is 1999 and the battle is becoming more intense, Unit 5121 is chosen to
deploy a PBE - a hugely powerful bomb that is the only thing that can destroy
the largest of the Genjyu creatures - and although they are successful they very
nearly lose two of their pilots to the blast. The two pilots, Hayami and
Mibuya, are rescued by the mysterious transfer student Mai Shibamura, an insular
girl whose arrival into the close-knit group soon causes a stir. Can she
fit in and work together with her new colleagues to combat the growing threat
from the Genjyu? |
|
Anime columnist Jonathan Clements often talks about 'reinventing the wheel', a reference to how old themes and concepts continue to crop up every few years in new series. Gunparade March may be based on a PlayStation game, but it is also a good example of what he means. School children piloting robot suits against a monstrous alien threat? Neon Genesis Evangelion did it twelve years ago. There's echoes of Mobile Suit Gundam and Full Metal Panic! as well, and the whole concept owes a colossal debt to Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. The characters aren't too bad, but generally fall into the usual |
|
|
archetypes (quiet but kind one, womaniser, hero wannabe etc.), and the story focuses more on the school aspects than the military at the moment. What is strange is that the story starts off in quite a
surprising way, with another Unit getting wiped out by a colleague under the
control of a Genjyu Brain. After this shocking start and the ensuing
mission to destroy the Brain by the 5121, it pretty much turns into a school
drama. There's a summer festival episode, an 'opposites attract' romantic
subplot, a focus on the power of teamwork, a misfit trying to become part of the
group, and so on. The series works best when it juxtaposes these familiar
school plot strands against the darker aspects of military service, but for the
most part it avoids doing this. Instead we get the usual rivalries and
teen romance interspersed with some training scenes, with a single flashback to
an earlier tragedy being the only real sign of the danger the students face. |
|
|
So what does it do well? It must be said that the animation isn't bad, and the mecha and monster designs are decent enough. The characters may be archetypal but at least they are recognisable and there are plenty of hints at future plot elements that could add some much-needed originality to the story. The main one at the moment appears to be the young children assigned to each unit, not only do they appear to have some psychic ability but they also seem to be integral to arming the PBE bombs. It will be interesting to see if they explain these powers over the coming episodes, and I'm also intrigued to see if the |
|
mind control power demonstrated by the Genjyu Brain at the start of the volume will be used against Unit 5121. There's certainly some real scope for expansion on certain elements of the series, but considering it's only twelve episodes long I was expecting a bit more plot development in these first four episodes. Gunparade March volume 1 is an average start to a series that suffers in comparison to those it borrows from. Despite the danger the children are in and the terrible battles they fight there's never the emotional impact both on the characters and the viewer as there is in, for example, Neon Genesis Evangelion. The insectoid aliens directed in battle by 'brain bugs' was done by Starship Troopers (both the book and the film), taking away some of the mystery from the setup, and the robot suits the students pilot lack the individuality of those in pretty much any other mecha series you can think of. The series focuses too much on the school life of the pilots, leaving them acting like giddy teens and showing no real effects of the battles they face. It doesn't ever really get under the characters' skins, which makes them pretty shallow and uninteresting, and the shock delivered by the opening scenes is never really repeated. Gunparade March could be a lot more than it is, but at present it is little more than a combination of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Starship Troopers without any of the imagination, complexity or intelligence of either. Disappointing. Extras: Clean opening and closing sequences and trailers. Yawn. Ratings Feature:
|
