The Show:
More teen angst, more pointless battles, a few surprising (and not so
surprising) revelations and a plot that is rolling forward ever so slowly.
That what's in store for viewers of the fifth volume of Gilgamesh.
While the series started off with a lot of promise, it has gotten bogged
down with long exposition and plot lines that seem to go nowhere.
Series Background:
Fifteen years ago the Heaven's Gate project, a scientific organization
with unknown goals and methods was about to be shut down. A lone
scientist who was working on the project and also lobbied for its termination,
Dr. Madoka, enters the inner core of the project and sets off a reaction
that has global implications. A wave of energy races across the planet
and alters the sky, making it shimmer and reflect lite, blocking out most
of the sun, and making computers and other technological equipment useless.
This happened on October 10th, or X - X in roman numerals, and it's now
referred to as Twin X.
Now, fifteen years later, the "Sheltering Sky" as it is called is still
encircling the Earth and technology still doesn't work. Two orphans,
Kiyoko and Tatsuya, are trying to stay ahead of debt collectors and find
enough food to eat in this bleak future. Running to avoid being caught
by some bad men they owe money to, the pair hide in a house were they meet
some interesting children who have amazing powers. These young adults,
known as Gilgamesh, fend off the hoods easily, but then they are attacked
by a second group of teens called the Orga. After a pitched battle
with no clear winner, the leader of the Orga, the mysterious Countess of
Werdenberg asks Kiyoko and Tatsuya to join her cause in fighting Gilgamesh.
When they refuse, she buys their contract from the debt collectors and
in effects owns them. The Countess says that the members of Gilgamesh
are evil, but they say the same about her. Could these two groups
be interested in these kids because they are the children of the infamous
Dr. Madoka?
As Tatsuya discovers that he has special powers just like the Orga,
Kiyoko finds out that she doesn't. The Countess has no use for the
powerless sister who is starting to cause trouble, so she kicks her out
of the Hotel Providence the she and the other Orga live. Kiyoko
still has to pay back the money that the Countess paid for her though,
and the monthly payments will keep her in poverty for the rest of her life.
Not everyone is willing to just accept the Sheltering Sky though.
The Mitleid Corporation has constructed a mechanical computer inside of
a huge spiral tower. They plan to use the device to reverse the events
of Twin X. Gilgamesh has sworn to stop them, but the Countess pledges
that her Orga will help protect the tower.
This volume:
After the Mitleid Corporation's tower has fallen, chaos ensued and Tatsuya
is arrested. He is interrogated at length before being released,
but learns something about his origins that comes as a complete surprise
to him: He's a clone of his father. Shocked and shaken by this revelation,
he runs away from both the Countess and Gilgamesh and holes up with his
sister for a time. Just until the Countess wants him back again.
As Orga come to get Tatsuya, there's a battle with Gilgamesh, yet again.
Kiyoko's home is destroyed as she accompanies everyone to the Hotel Providence.
Surprisingly, she's attacked there by government agents and discovers that
she now has power to use Dynamis and defends herself. This ability
comes from an unexpected source that might not be the boon that she first
thinks it is.
I never liked the character designs for this show, and the animation
is very crude and unappealing. The story started out pretty interesting,
but isn't being developed at a good pace. The plot is really creeping
along and is filled with way too many teens feeling sorry for themselves.
When Tatsuya finds out he's a clone he freaks out and mopes for days.
Why? So what if you're a clone? That doesn't really change
anything in your life.
The show started out with the concept that the viewer doesn't know which
side is good and which side is bad. That was fun and a little different
but they took it too far. The plot just seems to recycle over and
over again with Tatsuya thinking that Orga is looking out for his best
interest and then Gilgamesh. Repeat. In between the two
sides fight and fight without either of them achieving a decisive victory.
Now the series is starting to wrap up and things are coming together a
bit, but it's a case of too little too late. I really don't care
anymore.
The DVD:
Audio:
This disc offers the option of the original language soundtrack in stereo
or an English dub in 5.1. I alternated between the tracks with every
episode, and thought they were both very good. I preferred the Japanese
track, but only slightly. The English 5.1 dub made very good use
of the rear channels, for example it had the children's psychic voices
echoing from behind the viewer which was very effective. There were
no distortions or other audio defects in either track. A solid sounding
disc.
Video:
The anamorphic widescreen image looks pretty good overall. The
color palate consists of mainly blacks, whites and greys and these
are reproduced faithfully. The lines are a little on the soft side,
but not too much so. The level of detail was fair and the contrast
was good. Digital defects are nonexistent, even aliasing doesn't
show up.
Extras:
There were a good number of extras on this disc. The disc starts
out with a clean opening and closing, two galleries of production art and
character art, a glossary of terms, as well as some previews.
Revelations: A Gorgeous Puzzle is a 25-minute featurette that
examines the nature and origins of the Gilgamesh creatures using clips
from the show. It was a nice recap if you've forgotten some of the
details.
The other featurette on this dies is Going, Going, Goth.
Running about 25-minutes, this covers the release party at the Alamo Draft
house and has a lot of interviews with the English voice cast.
Finally there are two "tables" labeled "04: History" and "06: Future."
These are two minute reels of clips that show scenes from the earlier and
later episodes respectively. I didn't find these very interesting,
and the future one gave away some plot points.
There is also an insert that gives a recap of episodes 8-14.
Final Thoughts:
Sitting through the first four volumes of this show, I kept thinking
that it would soon start getting better. Now that I've seen the fifth,
I realize that it isn't. The show had a lot of promise, but
it never delivered. There are too many scenes of young men and women
feeling sorry for themselves and pointless fights and not enough real plot
development. Though some things that have been hinted at in previous
shows are confirmed in this volume, it's not all that exciting. They
dragged it on too long and now I really don't care. If you've stuck
with this series this far, this disc would make a good rental.
Buy: