[Anime Review] GEAR Fighter Dendoh

Title: GEAR Fighter Dendoh, GEAR Senshi Dendoh

As the synopsis goes: 
One star filled night, a red light crashes down on an island in Japan, carrying with it 6 data weapons and a turquoise haired girl. Seventeen years later, "Gulfer", a machine empire out to kill all living beings and conquer the universe, plants itself an outpost on the Moon and commences attacks on the Earth. GEAR, a secret organization established to counter the Gulfer, defends Earth from this threat. Dendoh, GEAR's main fighting weapon against the Gulfer, chooses two elementary school kids named Hokuto Kusanagi and Ginga Izumo to pilot it, and with GEAR's and the 6 data weapons' help, they fight to protect the Earth from the Gulfer.  (It's taken from: ANN)

Although this anime is quite old (being aired around 10 years back) I only heard about this series in 2006 or 2007 from a fellow mecha fan but unfortunately I haven't 'converted' to being a mecha fan at that time yet so I just ignore it. Until just recently when I managed to get my hand on this series which is directed by Mitsuo Fukuda of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed fame. This 'unknown' series was his stepping stone for the Seed franchise. But unlike Seed, this is a super robot shows which aims for kids as we can see that even the main characters are kids but that doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable for the adult audiences (especially to the mecha fans).

Now moving on to the story: Basically this show used the monster-of-the-week concept where they fought different enemies every episode for a quite number of episode. Kinda normal for super robot shows huh? But after you watched the first episode, you'll become interested to the characters and would want to know what will happen next. Even the pilots are interesting. It should be noted that Dendoh is piloted by two people or should I say kids, which are Ginga Izumo and Hokuto Kusanagi (Though I always wondered why Dendoh are two seated while the other Gear is only one seated :O). Ginga Izumo is a strong hot blooded, kinda dumb (or more likely is very dumb -.-) kid and Hokuto Kusanagi is your typical good kid type. The story started with Hokuto moving into the neighbourhood and met Ginga at the school. Suddenly, a Gulfer attacked the school and they were forced to flee somewhere else. After being nearly smashed by the Gulfer, somehow Dendoh respond to their called and chose them to be its pilots.

Dendoh is somewhat owned by a secret organization called Guard Earth and Advanced Reconnaissance or GEAR for short. Kinda like Gutsy Guard Galaxy from Gao Gai Gar. So after all those incident, the two kids decided to work with GEAR to protect the Earth from the invading Gulfers with their Dendoh. Most of the enemy grunts are weak of course, being easily defeated by those kids without any problems. Except for the other Gear fighter which is Altair (which is a human who fought for the Gulfer) who piloted Knight Ogre or Phoenix in some other fansub. This Knight Ogre are giving them a lots of headache. And as the story progresses, we can see the development between Ginga and Hokuto, how they matured in terms of fighting and strategy when beating stronger enemies.

Well this story is not like your typical super robot shows where you have infinite energy or shouting makes you suddenly stronger. No. In fact, Dendoh uses two large AA Batteries (lolwut) called hyper batteries or something. The batteries doesn't last very long and after they used their ultimate attack, they'll only have enough energy to go back to the base and if the energy become zero, the Dendoh will automatically shut down. But don't worry, later they'll get an aircraft support which can change their batteries during battle. Another interesting things about this show is about the Data Weapons which consists of 6 mechanized animal which are Unicorn Drill, Viper Whip, Leo Circle, Bull Horn, Gattling Boar and Dragon Flare. These Data Weapons enhance Dendoh's fighting abilities and also acts as a weapon which is usually used for the ultimate attack. Also, these Data Weapons are like their digital pets for these kids to express themselves.


What about the Art: The animation quality is above average eventhough it was produced in 2000-2001 since it was produced by Sunrise. Even Dendoh is very unique in terms of it's design and fighting style. You dont see a lot of mecha which have turbines on the arms and legs and fight like Dendoh right?

How's the Sound: The OP song called W-INFINITY by Hironobu Kageyama(JAM Project FTW) and Hitomi Mieno is very good and same goes to the ED which is Countdown by Little Voice. Though the songs are not that hot blooded compared to other super robot shows, but it is still good. Maybe because their target audiences are kids? Also the song from C-Drive which is a group from this series is good as well.

Who are the Characters: The main characters or the heroes are like mentioned earlier Ginga Izumo and Hokuto Kusanagi. Although they're very different from each other, but somehow they both know that they need to fill the gap between each other especially when someone feels down. And from this their friendship grows. Later, they'll be joined by Eris Williamette which is a leader in Data Weapon research. Oh and Eris is as old as those 2 kids eventhough she is a lead researcher. Other important character is Vega which is the Assistant Commander of GEAR. Later on (or quite earlier) you will know who she really is. These are basically the main important character of the series. Of course there are other characters especially the GEAR staff which I think is quite similar to any other anime which have this sort of military organization.

Thereby the Conclusion: Overall this series is quite enjoyable especially if you're a super robot fan (or Fukuda fan lul?). Though there are some flaws and plot holes in the series which was not explained (or was it because i missed it?), you will be satisfied with the ending. And remember that although it's a kids show, I think the adult will be quite enjoyed with this show as well.

That's all for my first review. Thanks for reading~


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