Friday, December 12, 2008

Anime Review - Gatekeepers & Gatekeepers 21

Just finished watching gatekeepers and gatekeepers 21 at www.anime-sub.com. I still think about the fond memories where I rush back from school during form 1 to watch this anime on AXN. Back then I considered myself a hot blooded youngster and this kind of anime suits my taste. Gatekeepers was then a pioneer in terms cell shaded and CGI graphic being used in the anime. I quickly became a fan of Gonzo, the main developer of this anime.


Some of the main characters of the anime

Gatekeepers is set in the year 1969, during the time where Japan was having an economic bloom. This anime revolves around high school students wielding gates which enables them to harness energies from another dimensions when they combat invaders which are aliens that are immune to everything except the powers of the gates. These high school students work under the A.E.G.I.S. Organization. Although AEGIS is a world wide organization, the anime centers around the Far East Division of the AEGIS organization which is located under Tategami high school. Gatekeepers who are scouted and recruited into AEGIS are enrolled into this school to make them available during the times when they are needed.

The story centers around Shun Ukiya, Gatekeeper of the Gate of Gale which enables him to control the wind. The heroine in the anime is Ruriko Ikusawa, which wields the Gate of Life, which enables her to heal wounded comrades.

According to the antagonist of the story Kageyama Reji, the minus(Dark) gatekeeper, invaders are created by a minus gatekeeper during World War II. These beings prosper under the negative attitudes of humans and proceed to multiply themselves and replace humans in the society. When a high abnormal frequency which is only audible to the invaders is present, the invaders will change back to their original form via wearing sunglasses. Their main aim is to disrupt the well being of the community and enslave/destroy humanity


The best part of the story is during the fighting between Shun and Kageyama. Kageyama prevails because of his superior gate robot(a robot with a gate amplifier) but Shun managed to defeat him(good guys always win ~_~).

Shun Vs Kageyama (in Gate Robot)

Gatekeepers 21 is a six part sequel to the original gate keepers which takes place 31 years after the destruction of the Far East AEGIS branch (last episode of the original gatekeepers). It takes on a more sinister plot as AEGIS is no more due to the fact that all of the high ranking AEGIS officials are assasinated by the invaders. Invaders now multiply via converting original humans into invaders (no matter whether the human is good or bad). There is only a 3 girl team of gatekeeper funded by the "turn good" Kageyama Reji and supported by the occasional apperance of the immortal Yukino Houjou (The gatekeeper of Ice).

The main character in the story is Ayane Izusu (which has taken her maiden name instead of Ukiya despite Shun being her father). The new AEGIS team hunts invaders and collects the diamonds formed after the death of 1 invader in hopes of changing them back into human one day. Well, I'm not going to spoil the whole plot this time. Search for the anime in youtube if you want to watch it. Ending the review with a picture of Miu and Ayane (left to right) of Gatekeepers 21.



You can watch the anime by clicking here (they are using veoh player).

P.S. This is my first review. Sorry for the mistakes. I'll try to improve on them in the next review. Cheers :)

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