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Giant Robo: Gin-Rei Special
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Title Info
- seen: 1-2 of 3
- type: OAV
- grade: flawed
- made: unknown
- Review created: Fri Sep 22 11:04:33 EST 2000
- mod: none
To be brutally honest this tape is pure fan service...no, not nude shots (although there are quite a few) more in the nature of giving the fans more of what they want. And clearly what the Giant Robo fans wanted was more of Gin Rei. Of course as the only female on the `experts of justice' the rest of whom are largely martial arts bums and a kid, it wasn't likely to be anyone else. Then again Gin Rei is pretty cool, an expert spy, a skilled fighter, and a master marksman with a true `heroic' bent to her character. Of course the fact that she can do this all while looking awful alluring in her familiar chinese-style dress can't be overlooked. Still, as can be guessed, fans of giant robo are probably going to be a lot more interested in this material than any one else.
The first story, something like "Barefoot Ginrei" is pretty abysmal and budget restricted. This includes using lots of footage cut out of the OAV series and then spliced into the middle of this. There's a fair amount of nudity but the story itself is better forgotten. The second episode, "Gin Rei's Blue Eyes" is much better, actually having a plot, characters and sequence...but is still fairly basic at its heart. This second sample is pretty watchable, and has its moments, but really only hard core Gin Rei fans are going to value this material highly.
There are clear signs of some budget restrictions, most obvious in the first episode. Likewise the style maintains a sort of modern production of older style, or somewhat retro, look and atmosphere. While this is in keeping with the parent series it may be strange for someone unfamiliar with it. This is largely because the short running time, and certain degree of assumed knowledge, may make this somewhat confusing for new viewers. Taken as an independant product I would have to say the animation is nothing special, competent but simple, that does little to fill the voice left by the short running times and basic stories.
While I am sure I have seen a review of this title, I can't find one on any of my regular sources.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:18 WST 2009