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Gall Force
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Title Info
- seen: 1-2 of 2
- type: OAV
- grade: watchable
- made: 1987
- Review created: Recently, but I didn't record the date.
- mod: none
These two OAV episodes are about 50 minutes long and have names of their own, namely Destruction and Stardust War, but they work well together and thus are listed in this fashion. Some people also join them with the movie, which they are linked to, and call them OAV 1 to 3. However the movie is complete without this material. Some of the stuff here might seem a bit vague in order to avoid giving movie spoilers.
The OAV's begin at some time after the movie, with the war between the solenoids and the paranoids beginning to wind down to a conclusion. And the most likely conclusion doesn't hold much hope for either race recovering from it. Indeed a terrible weapon, introduced in the movie, has begun to accelerate and intensify the war. At the same time losses in woman power (with a fairly convincing depiction) and material continue to grow. One ship, a small part of the solenoid force, recovers a character from the movie and it is through her eyes that we get to see the battle continue. As the war moves on she begins to doubt her own role in it, and becomes involved with a varied group who are wondering what comes after. Various options are explored, and actions taken, against the backdrop of the war.
It must be said that these OAV's probably work much better if you've seen the movie. In many ways they give a conclusion and further exploration to the background and events of the movie. You can probably still enjoy them without, but you might find there to be a bit much talking. Of course there is still a decent serve of action, both the general war and the actions of the small group we follow. The atmosphere is still grim, and the action and exploration reduce the amount of `pure' character work but this is an interesting extension to the Gall Force story. The ending manages to be complete while opening the possibility for further stories, which was taken up in the earth chapter series.
The animation quality is a little better than the original movie, but not significantly so, although the characters look a bit more `normal'. The number and depth of characters is, as mentioned, reduced. The technical design continues to be excellent and detailed. Although the endless, and largely static, space battles do drag a little. The action animation is superior to the original, and the voices and general atmosphere are still strong. It continues to support my belief that a strong story will allow older animation to remain acceptable.
There is a review at the Anime Critic but it basically just pans it. This makes sense, because if you hated the movie you probably will hate this one too. It is thus strange that the critic is the only one who has a review of the later material.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:18 WST 2009