Hey! What's this? A show about a bunch of kids with superpowers that are charged with defending humanity against an oppressive alien invasion? That's something you don't see every day! Alright, alright. All kidding aside Gate Keepers is actually a fun show despite the fact that its concept leaves originality at the door.

Originally released in 1999 in its manga form, Gate Keepers was quickly snatched up and a 24 episode show was produced by GONZO. The series also went on to be popular enough to warrant a six episode OVA sequel a couple of years later. As I already mentioned, the show does skip most attempts at being something new and fresh. Though, in all honesty that isn't necessarily as bad a thing as it may sound.

Things get started in the year 1969. Japan has undergone a period of tremendous economical and social development following the Great War. Beneath the surface of daily life there is a conflict brewing between forces of this world and of another. An alien opponent as stepped forth with plans to invade our planet and wage war against us. Fortunately we have the Alien Exterminating Global Intercept System (A.E.G.I.S.) to stand in their way and impede their progress.

Joining forces with the A.E.G.I.S. are a group of empowered people known as Gate Keepers. These Keepers possess the ability to unlock a gate within themselves and borrow strength from another dimension. While knowledge about Gates and Keepers may be relatively new to the world it is safe to say that in the fight against the alien invasion force these warriors are devastatingly effective. As formidable as they are, and as powerful as they may be, there is no way around the fact that most every Gate Keeper is a high school student.

When the show begins we meet a young Japanese schoolboy named Shun Ukiya. He seems to be your typical kid with a penchant for comics (well, manga) and athletics. Shun spends his mornings arguing with his sister and trying to forget about his late father whom he holds a grudge against. One day when he's walking home from school he stumbles upon a scene that defies reason.

A giant bowling ball rips through town at a breakneck speed. It topples houses, crushes cars, and nearly runs over some passersby. It seems to be moving with purpose and it navigates the mazelike streets of this rural Japanese town with great precision. Eventually it meets up with its prey; a mysterious armored van. A great battle erupts between the two as a young girl steps out of the van to launch a barrage of glowing arrows at the ball. The damage is minimal but when Shun arrives on the scene something bursts from within him.

With no knowledge about how he did it or why, he throws a can at the giant bowling ball and it erupts with a strange energy. The focus of the fray quickly turns to him and before long he's healed by the mysterious young girl and launches himself at the bowling ball with a pipe. He destroys a red component inside and sends the entire thing shattering this way and that. Bewildered by what just happened explanations come in rapid succession though he's transfixed by the girl who healed him. Eventually Shun notices that she's a runny-nosed kid from his kindergarten class.

From this point on the formula of Gate Keepers takes hold. We soon discover that Tategami High School is actually a secret base for A.E.G.I.S., Shun is a Gate Keeper like his father before him, and the world is not quite as it seems. A good majority of the episodes stem from this point and introduce more Gate Keepers as Shun and Ruriko (the healing girl with arrows) are charged with finding and recruiting them. Several Keepers line up to fill in the ranks and they come from all walks of life as you'd expect. The heroes are not just from Japan because, quite frankly, and alien invasion affects all of humanity.

Once the team is assembled the show really begins to take off. With A.E.G.I.S. being a secret organization the show takes on a certain James Bond-like quality. With Gate amplifying gadgets, vehicles, and classified missions all around mixed with the 1960's atmosphere there is a certain charm to everything. It's also not uncommon to see giant robots jumping about as alien agents get flung everywhere.

For a good majority of Gate Keepers things are very episodic; especially early on. It's not uncommon to meet a new character, watch a battle, and then witness the next episode repeat the same pattern. This goes on for a while but after a while some pieces of the puzzle start to come together and there is more fluidity in the program. It helps that the show gradually becomes more cohesive because it helps balance things out between the character development and action. As Gate Keepers ends, the sequel series 21 begins.

Well, I say that Gate Keepers 21 is a sequel series but in reality it's kind of its own thing. Taking place several years in the future and featuring the kids of the original Gate Keepers generation there are only a few ties that bring the two shows together. This second series is more of a send off really. It's a proper ending that fills in most of the blanks left at the end of the 24th episode of the original. What happened to the main characters? How did some things pan out? These questions are answered in a mature fashion and a significantly darker setting than we saw in the 1969 conflict.

Without giving too much away regarding the entirety of the Gate Keepers franchise I do have to say that I was very pleased with the show as a whole. I was a little afraid at first as things seemed to be heading down the beaten path. Superpowered high school students, a transforming alien menace, giant robots, and secret organizations defending humanity are the stuff that anime was built on. Thankfully this series handles things in a light manner and never gets too serious with the material. It's kept fun throughout and because of that it finds some originality of its own. If you held off on checking out the show because there were only three episodes on each volume then Geneon's collection is definitely the way to go.

Gate Keepers originally aired in 2000 while Gate Keepers 21 was released in 2002. Both shows look quite nice with good video quality all around though it's safe to say with the shorter lifespan, and presumably better budget, 21 takes the cake in the presentation department. In both regards there are a few flaws that permeate the image. Despite the fact that only three episodes appear on each disc there are still trace amounts of compression artifacts. Video grain is also present so you can expect to see something of a fuzzy layer atop most scenes.

Produced by GONZO the design in Gate Keepers is simply stunning and easily carries the visual experience. The artwork pops from almost every scene and the animation is fluid throughout. The 1960's aesthetic certainly helps craft a unique environment and the vivid color palette doesn't hurt either. Overall this is a strong looking show from a design standpoint though the technical presentation falters here and there.

As far as the audio is concerned Gate Keepers offers English and Japanese languages presented with 2.0 stereo. 21 ups the ante a bit with 5.1 selections all around. The original series sounds as good as you'd expect but with all of the action the presence on the soundstage is unfortunately somewhat limited by the lack of immersion. The sequel OVA definitely sounds more robust with some fine use of the rear channels and a decent output all around. In both cases the audio is virtually flawless with no dropout or distortion to muck things up.

Surprisingly there are actually quite a few bonus features included on each of the ten discs in this collection. The first disc includes a special prologue and ending video as well as textless animation and a commercial for the show. The second offers more of the special animation videos along with galleries for Japanese covers and some line artwork. The third brings the special ending once again with character licenses (profiles or sorts) and a line art gallery. The fourth disc has the Japanese opening, a special ending, a line art gallery, and some covers for the scripts. And finally, on volumes five through eight you're going to find just a special ending and line art gallery as well as some Pioneer previews.

Gate Keepers 21's two discs bring yet more supplemental material to the table. In addition to reversible cover art you're going to find clean open and closing animations as well as the same in Japanese form. There are also conceptual and regular art galleries, cover art, licenses, and some more previews to take a look through.

Color me surprised! Gate Keepers shattered my expectations and left me bewildered in the end. This was a series that I have to admit to chalking up as run-of-the-mill and unoriginal. In the end it turned out to be a lot of fun and was a unique entry in an already crowded genre. It's safe to say that the franchise is something of a guilty pleasure and the experience is more entertaining than substantial but that doesn't take away from its quality. If you have passed this series without giving it a fair shot then you're missing out on an enjoyable experience. Geneon's collection is the perfect way to check out the whole shebang but if you're on the fence at least rent the first volume to see how you feel about it. Personally, I liked it a lot and I'm going to strongly recommend it.

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