Series Recommendation: Shinkon Gattai Godannar
The marriage between God and Soul burns hot!
Kaijuus, Giant Robots, ultra hot-blooded and cute (jiggly) girls – what more could you ask for?
Animes usually have fan-service. And while it’s not strictly scantily-clad well-endowed females, it’s usually the case. Fanservice can also include scenes that are played for dramatic values – with over-the-top animation to display a rule-of-cool moment that give fans eyegasm. Basically anything that doesn’t actually make sense in the story but it’s included to be visually pleasing to fans – and Godannar is chocked full of them. From sexy girls to badass mecha combination and special attacks, it has it all. And your eyes won’t be able to leave the screen while watching this anime.
Animes usually have fan-service. And while it’s not strictly scantily-clad well-endowed females, it’s usually the case. Fanservice can also include scenes that are played for dramatic values – with over-the-top animation to display a rule-of-cool moment that give fans eyegasm. Basically anything that doesn’t actually make sense in the story but it’s included to be visually pleasing to fans – and Godannar is chocked full of them. From sexy girls to badass mecha combination and special attacks, it has it all. And your eyes won’t be able to leave the screen while watching this anime.
+ Plot: Godannar is a Super Robot anime released in 2003 with 26 episodes. It tells a complex story about alien invasion, sacrifices for loved ones and the complicated but passionate union of men and women. Coupled with the awesome giant robots on giant monster action with A LOT of shouting. It will surely leave a burning mark in your heart.
Godannar’s premise is actually quite unique. If you know of Usagi Drop, this is a bit similar in terms of the main characters’ relationship. Goh is a middle-aged man – at least in his thirties, and his “fiancée” is a teenage girl that’s still in highschool. And yes, they did have a wedding ceremony in the first few episodes. Of course they aren’t your usual married couple, and there are a lot of special circumstances and nuance to their relationship that is explored throughout the whole series. The sacred companionship and emotional connection that is “love” and “marriage” carries with it the weight of both partners’ souls. The Kaijuu invasion is pretty much an accompanying vehicle to advance the relationship plot, and it is a pretty good one at that.
Godannar’s premise is actually quite unique. If you know of Usagi Drop, this is a bit similar in terms of the main characters’ relationship. Goh is a middle-aged man – at least in his thirties, and his “fiancée” is a teenage girl that’s still in highschool. And yes, they did have a wedding ceremony in the first few episodes. Of course they aren’t your usual married couple, and there are a lot of special circumstances and nuance to their relationship that is explored throughout the whole series. The sacred companionship and emotional connection that is “love” and “marriage” carries with it the weight of both partners’ souls. The Kaijuu invasion is pretty much an accompanying vehicle to advance the relationship plot, and it is a pretty good one at that.
+ Animation: Great 2D action mixes with some CGI scenes (mostly just the Heart Breaker skill and the combination scene). The robots in the series all have different agility, fighting style and designs and it reflects on their action very clearly. The clunkier ones moved more slowly while the nimble one is smooth and fluid. Overall the action is very satisfactory for a kaijuu-vs-giant-robot series. It’s not amazingly detailed like some modern Gundam series but being a Super, it’s quite satisfactory with the use of the limited animation method, making the action seems snappy and heavy. Furthermore, the close-up shot to the mecha’s face or body was very detailed and well done. The combination scene was pretty badass, even though they were reused quite a bit.
And yes, I know we have to mention this – but the jiggle physics in Godannar is just something else. I reckon they spent more effort on how the chest of a teenage girl and her strangely-young middle-aged mom move by ignoring gravitational force and whatever force is in play. Sometimes it does get a little over-the-top, but Godannar knows what it’s doing and it just runs with it without being reserved. The anime just flat out told you that “yes we have unrealistic jiggly women that makes no sense, but we also have some amazingly badass giant robots fighting giant monsters!”. Tho in fact, I was pretty surprised that with the caliber of the action and the ecchi, it seems Masami Obari-sensei wasn’t involved with the series. I thought that badass robot + TnA was his telltale signs.
+ Mechanical Design: by Masahiro Yamane and Tsukasa Kotobuki. Masahiro is a seasoned veteran that is very experienced in mecha animation as well as design. The designs in Godannar are very unique. Each country’s robots have different gimmicks and designs which reflect their personalities. I think it’s also pretty clever to name the main robots after the japanese words for Husband and Wife. The mech for Goh – the male mc – is named Dannar (danna in japanese is husband) and for Anna – the female mc – is Go-Okusaer (Oku is wife). When they combine they become Godannar – a literal marriage. Each countries’ pilots also have their own complicated relationships that can be seen through how the unit combine and operate.
Godannar is a wrestling/martial arts-type mech that fight using fists and kicks. And it’s a pretty interesting archetype to watch in contrast to Supers with ridiculous weapons that appear out of nowhere. There are only a few mechas with hand-to-hand CQC combat like Jeeg, Belcross from Heroic Age and now Godannar. The amount of Supers that fight bare-handed with flaming fists are countable on one hand, and Godannar is no doubt the most badass of them all.
And yes, I know we have to mention this – but the jiggle physics in Godannar is just something else. I reckon they spent more effort on how the chest of a teenage girl and her strangely-young middle-aged mom move by ignoring gravitational force and whatever force is in play. Sometimes it does get a little over-the-top, but Godannar knows what it’s doing and it just runs with it without being reserved. The anime just flat out told you that “yes we have unrealistic jiggly women that makes no sense, but we also have some amazingly badass giant robots fighting giant monsters!”. Tho in fact, I was pretty surprised that with the caliber of the action and the ecchi, it seems Masami Obari-sensei wasn’t involved with the series. I thought that badass robot + TnA was his telltale signs.
+ Mechanical Design: by Masahiro Yamane and Tsukasa Kotobuki. Masahiro is a seasoned veteran that is very experienced in mecha animation as well as design. The designs in Godannar are very unique. Each country’s robots have different gimmicks and designs which reflect their personalities. I think it’s also pretty clever to name the main robots after the japanese words for Husband and Wife. The mech for Goh – the male mc – is named Dannar (danna in japanese is husband) and for Anna – the female mc – is Go-Okusaer (Oku is wife). When they combine they become Godannar – a literal marriage. Each countries’ pilots also have their own complicated relationships that can be seen through how the unit combine and operate.
Godannar is a wrestling/martial arts-type mech that fight using fists and kicks. And it’s a pretty interesting archetype to watch in contrast to Supers with ridiculous weapons that appear out of nowhere. There are only a few mechas with hand-to-hand CQC combat like Jeeg, Belcross from Heroic Age and now Godannar. The amount of Supers that fight bare-handed with flaming fists are countable on one hand, and Godannar is no doubt the most badass of them all.
+ Music: Ichiro Aniki, Akira Kushida and Mitsuko Horie sing all the OPs and EDs. That should guarantee the quality of the OSTs. Their voices are both emotional and powerful – which describe the feelings of Go and Anna perfectly: passionate, gentle yet flaming hot. It’s one of the mecha series that deal with this sort of relationship seriously and manage to not make it too creepy.
+ Conclusion: Godannar is largely famous (or infamous) for the excessive amount of fan-service. However, the story, characters and mecha action shine through all that and deliver an emotional experience that is hardly found in a super robot series. It is definitely a good watch if you are at least 16, since it will give you a new perspective for human relationship as well.
+ Conclusion: Godannar is largely famous (or infamous) for the excessive amount of fan-service. However, the story, characters and mecha action shine through all that and deliver an emotional experience that is hardly found in a super robot series. It is definitely a good watch if you are at least 16, since it will give you a new perspective for human relationship as well.
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