Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman), aka Gatchaman, aka Battle of the Planets, aka G-Force, Guardians of Space, was a legendary and groundbreaking animated adventure series. It set the tone for every heroic adventure series that followed; not just in animation, but also in the live action realm, spawning the Sentai/Super Sentai shows, which came to the US as the Power Rangers. Gatchaman created the template: a team of young heroes (at least one female), with color- coordinated costumes and heightened abilities, unique weapons and vehicles, a super weapon that required the entire team's cooperation, and an alien villain. For 105 episodes, it thrilled audiences with action, mature storytelling, and an epic saga. That was 1972. 20 Years later, the series was revisited.This Gatchaman was a 3-part OVA (Original Video Anime) series, with redesigned models for the characters and vehicles. The story was updated, though the basic plot remained the same. The story was broken down into 3 key portions, from the original series. Episode one adapts the premiere of Gatchaman, with Galactor attacking a secure site, with the Turtle King mecha (a giant robotic weapon and mobile base). The Gatchaman team is assembled and it infiltrates the mecha, only to be caught. They proceed to open a can of whoop-a## on the Galactor soldiers, and Ken, the leader of the team, bests the Galactor captain in combat. However, the team is blocked while trying to escape the Turtle King and have to use the experimental Firebird form. Episode two revolves around Gatchaman facing off against a special Galactor strike team, where they find themselves aided by the mysterious Red Impulse and his team. In the final episode, we learn of Joe's past history with Galactor, and his infiltration of their base; as well as the identity of the Red Impulse. This leads to the climactic battle to stop Galactor's scheme.The new designs are sleek and the action is exciting and recalls the original series. However, the pacing is a bit haphazard and there is a lot of exposition dumped on the viewer, since it doesn't play out over 105 episodes. The producers try to cram a lot into the 3 episodes and it buckles under the weight, here and there. Also, they don't get much of a chance to flesh out the characters, apart from Joe (who was always the fan favorite and one of the key emotional centers of the team). Berg Katse especially suffers, as the villain never really gets to play a strong role. Also, the true nature of the character is just kind of thrown out there, without much buildup. One of the strengths of the TV series was the ongoing mystery of Katse's identity.The OVA also uses some CGI to update things, especially Sosai X, the alien entity that guides Katse. It appears as a CGI pyramid, which ends up being pretty jarring. I suppose the glaring difference was meant to make it even more other-worldly; but, it mostly just has you shaking your head. The line animation is handled in a much better manner and the CGI looks cheap in comparison.In the end, it's a decent encapsulation of the original, without really adding much to the mix. It doesn't really break any new ground, other than to update the look. Meanwhile, some of the music is really out of place, such as the end-credits song. There is a techno version of the original Gatchaman theme that is vastly superior, at the very end of the production.This series was part of a trend of revisiting anime from the 60s and 70s. Other Tatsunoko properties, such as Mach Go Go Go (Speed Racer), Casshan, and Polymer all had updated OVAs or TV series. None of them really captured the flavor of the originals. Like Hollywood, Japanese media haven't quite grasped that you can't recapture lightning in a bottle.If you want a sleeker, more modern version of Gatchaman, this will suffice. If you want epic storytelling, get the original.

There's been a sudden resurgence of 80's properties over the last couple of years. He-Man, Thundercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, G.I. Joe, and others have all returned to the forefront in the form of new cartoons, comics, and action figures. Being a child of the 80's I really wanted to stay with the game, and I found there was really only one property I wasn't terribly familiar with: Battle of the Planets, or G-Force. In need of a crash course, I went to an Anime store to find something G-Force related for rent. This OAV series, Gatchaman, turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. The DVD collects all three 45-minute episodes. The whole Science Ninja Team is introduced to newcomers like me, and everyone gets plenty to do. There is lots of great action and suspense, and the gadgets aren't too shabby either. However, make sure you watch the Japanese version; the English dub isn't too good.Note: If you are already familiar with G-Force and you want to know how good this show is, consult the external links.