In the year 2007, geneticist Takuma Nekasa is on the verge of a discovery that will change the world. In the distant future, three young scientists have felt the devastating repercussions of this scientific breakthrough. Now, Gawl, Koji, and Ryo have traveled back in time to put an end to the professor’s research, and hopefully, prevent the near-extinction of mankind.
Generator Gawl is a 1998 series from the director of Fullmetal Alchemist (Seiji Mizushima) and the co-producers of Neon Genesis Evangelion (Tatsunoko Productions). Even though it borrows elements from James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day (right down to the “burning playground vision” homage), Generator Gawl has a more thought-provoking story and is well worth your time. Plus, it is only twelve episodes long.
Unfortunately, you might find that Generator Gawl starts off a little slow. Upon arriving in 2007, Gawl, Koji, and Ryo must infiltrate the school where Professor Nekasa works, so they enroll as students. They then become tenants in the house of Masami, the female lead of the show. The scientists’ mission is made all the more urgent when they find out that they have arrived nine months later than intended, and yet the first five episodes or so mostly focus on the difficulties of adjusting to student life and keeping their cover intact. This is made more baffling once they realize that a mysterious enemy is not only aware of their presence, but monitoring them closely as well.
In these earlier episodes, action tends to be put on the backburner. On their mission, the scientists are actively pursued by bio-metallic anthropomorphic fighting machines called “generators.” Gawl, a generator himself, regularly transforms into weapon mode to dispatch these enemies with little apparent effort. The earlier fight scenes essentially consist of two robot-bug-people clashing in poorly lit arenas until one falls down. It almost resembles a child smashing action figures together. There is just no real sense of danger, especially because there are no witnesses to commentate on the duels. Even the two combatants are more or less silent, save for metallic and echoed grunts and yells. Again, this only applies to the first several episodes, and the non-action scenes are actually quite entertaining.
When generators are not battling, the scientists spend most of their time doing ordinary activities with Masami and her best friend, Natsume. While it seems counter-intuitive to the mission, these moments serve to get the viewer invested in the characters, a commendable task for a short series. Gawl, Koji, and Ryo are all interesting in their different attitudes toward the fact that they carry the weight of billions of lives on their shoulders. Jay Hickman (Elfen Lied) skillfully plays Koji as calm and collected, but never dull. His seriousness conveys a sense of great wisdom as he keeps his partners focused on the task at hand. Ryo (Matt Kelley, Full Metal Panic!) is outwardly passionate and tormented by guilt. Kelly’s standout performance is during a nightmare sequence in the fourth episode, but he consistently makes Ryo’s inner turmoil palpable and moving. Being the most powerful of the trio, Gawl must feel the bulk of the burden. Still, he acts as though he is the least concerned, and loses his temper over much more trivial matters. The versatile Vic Mignogna (Fullmetal Alchemist) handles this complexity without making Gawl seem fickle or schizophrenic. Also, some of his deliveries are classic (“Man! I just tell ya, I love cows!”). Masami (Rozie Curtis, Those Who Hunt Elves) can bit a little annoying in the earlier episodes, but the scenes of her bickering with Gawl are priceless. Natsume (Monica Rial, Case Closed) is much more interesting than she lets on in earlier episodes and she provides an emotional core to the series. They only disappointment was Kaytha Coker (All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku) as the ominous Ryuko Saito whose voice not only lacks any detectable humanity, but fails to sound alive at all.
The artwork of Generator Gawl is not stunning visually. It may have been the intention of the twentieth-century artists to depict a sterilized environment for the fictional 2007 setting, but for the most part, the backgrounds are bland and empty. While the generators are metallic, it should be stressed that they are not mecha whatsoever. They more closely resemble arthropod-like exoskeletons with generally humanoid shapes. Generator Gawl playfully mocks this design choice, as Gawl is mistaken for a Power Rangers-esque villain when he transforms onstage, and an actor complains about Gawl's “loser costume.” Also, the animation can be choppy at times, one such occurrence causing a fight scene to look like a slideshow.
As mentioned, Generator Gawl begins to show off its potential around the sixth episode. Koji and Ryu begin to lament that Gawl is wearing himself thin and cannot continue fighting generators all of the time, giving a much needed sense of danger to the show and vulnerability to the protagonists. The eventual plot twists may be predictable, but they are satisfying nonetheless. The show also addresses some heavy themes such as fate, the evolution of mankind, and science versus religion. Gawl, Koji, and Ryo also must deal with the fact that, if they succeed in erasing the past, they may eliminate everyone in the future, including themselves. One quality that makes Generator Gawl significant is that it has its own idea of time how time works and never contradicts itself with paradoxes or unexplained solutions. Time as an entity is well-defined and well-considered. Much of science fiction ignores this idea of saving the past at the expense of the future, showing that Generator Gawl is special, and smarter than it lets on in its beginning.
- Patrick Velky
Generator Gawl is a 1998 series from the director of Fullmetal Alchemist (Seiji Mizushima) and the co-producers of Neon Genesis Evangelion (Tatsunoko Productions). Even though it borrows elements from James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day (right down to the “burning playground vision” homage), Generator Gawl has a more thought-provoking story and is well worth your time. Plus, it is only twelve episodes long.
Unfortunately, you might find that Generator Gawl starts off a little slow. Upon arriving in 2007, Gawl, Koji, and Ryo must infiltrate the school where Professor Nekasa works, so they enroll as students. They then become tenants in the house of Masami, the female lead of the show. The scientists’ mission is made all the more urgent when they find out that they have arrived nine months later than intended, and yet the first five episodes or so mostly focus on the difficulties of adjusting to student life and keeping their cover intact. This is made more baffling once they realize that a mysterious enemy is not only aware of their presence, but monitoring them closely as well.
In these earlier episodes, action tends to be put on the backburner. On their mission, the scientists are actively pursued by bio-metallic anthropomorphic fighting machines called “generators.” Gawl, a generator himself, regularly transforms into weapon mode to dispatch these enemies with little apparent effort. The earlier fight scenes essentially consist of two robot-bug-people clashing in poorly lit arenas until one falls down. It almost resembles a child smashing action figures together. There is just no real sense of danger, especially because there are no witnesses to commentate on the duels. Even the two combatants are more or less silent, save for metallic and echoed grunts and yells. Again, this only applies to the first several episodes, and the non-action scenes are actually quite entertaining.
When generators are not battling, the scientists spend most of their time doing ordinary activities with Masami and her best friend, Natsume. While it seems counter-intuitive to the mission, these moments serve to get the viewer invested in the characters, a commendable task for a short series. Gawl, Koji, and Ryo are all interesting in their different attitudes toward the fact that they carry the weight of billions of lives on their shoulders. Jay Hickman (Elfen Lied) skillfully plays Koji as calm and collected, but never dull. His seriousness conveys a sense of great wisdom as he keeps his partners focused on the task at hand. Ryo (Matt Kelley, Full Metal Panic!) is outwardly passionate and tormented by guilt. Kelly’s standout performance is during a nightmare sequence in the fourth episode, but he consistently makes Ryo’s inner turmoil palpable and moving. Being the most powerful of the trio, Gawl must feel the bulk of the burden. Still, he acts as though he is the least concerned, and loses his temper over much more trivial matters. The versatile Vic Mignogna (Fullmetal Alchemist) handles this complexity without making Gawl seem fickle or schizophrenic. Also, some of his deliveries are classic (“Man! I just tell ya, I love cows!”). Masami (Rozie Curtis, Those Who Hunt Elves) can bit a little annoying in the earlier episodes, but the scenes of her bickering with Gawl are priceless. Natsume (Monica Rial, Case Closed) is much more interesting than she lets on in earlier episodes and she provides an emotional core to the series. They only disappointment was Kaytha Coker (All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku) as the ominous Ryuko Saito whose voice not only lacks any detectable humanity, but fails to sound alive at all.
The artwork of Generator Gawl is not stunning visually. It may have been the intention of the twentieth-century artists to depict a sterilized environment for the fictional 2007 setting, but for the most part, the backgrounds are bland and empty. While the generators are metallic, it should be stressed that they are not mecha whatsoever. They more closely resemble arthropod-like exoskeletons with generally humanoid shapes. Generator Gawl playfully mocks this design choice, as Gawl is mistaken for a Power Rangers-esque villain when he transforms onstage, and an actor complains about Gawl's “loser costume.” Also, the animation can be choppy at times, one such occurrence causing a fight scene to look like a slideshow.
As mentioned, Generator Gawl begins to show off its potential around the sixth episode. Koji and Ryu begin to lament that Gawl is wearing himself thin and cannot continue fighting generators all of the time, giving a much needed sense of danger to the show and vulnerability to the protagonists. The eventual plot twists may be predictable, but they are satisfying nonetheless. The show also addresses some heavy themes such as fate, the evolution of mankind, and science versus religion. Gawl, Koji, and Ryo also must deal with the fact that, if they succeed in erasing the past, they may eliminate everyone in the future, including themselves. One quality that makes Generator Gawl significant is that it has its own idea of time how time works and never contradicts itself with paradoxes or unexplained solutions. Time as an entity is well-defined and well-considered. Much of science fiction ignores this idea of saving the past at the expense of the future, showing that Generator Gawl is special, and smarter than it lets on in its beginning.
- Patrick Velky
