Gravion Volume 1
Being a veteran of such enjoyably, blasé cheese-fests as Detonator Orgun and the US version of Robotech, I thought I was in a good position to salvage at least a few minutes worth of entertainment from Gravion, unsurprisingly I was wrong, and proving that beyond a shadow of a doubt was about the only thing Gravion managed to get right.
The year is 2041 AD, a new enemy has appeared in Earth’s space, known as the Zeravire and is laying waste to military installations all over the solar system. The only thing standing between Earth’s destruction and these sinister beings is an eccentric billionaire known as the ‘Sandman’. His foremost weapon against the ongoing invasion is ‘Super Heavy God Gravion’, a giant mecha that can manipulate gravity employing it as a weapon. In the meantime, Eiji a troubled teen breaks into Sandman’s castle in a desperate attempt to find his missing sister. Along the way he runs into Toga, a blue haired youngster who pilots the mysterious, Gravi. It’s not long before Sandman ensnares Eiji and brings him into the fight against the Zeravire making him Gravion’s sixth pilot.
I’ll try and start this review on a positive note and in regards to animation Gravion does an admirable job. By no means their best looking show; compare this to Gonzo’s Last Exile and you’ll come up wanting, this is still a supremely confident showcase of the digi-mation pioneer’s affinity with the genre. An achingly cool giant robo is the crux of any mecha show, in this respect Gonzo have delivered with their customary level of panache.
Designed by Gundam’s Kunio Ohkawara, Gravion is a hulking lump of gaudily coloured mecha magic. He can look a little stiff and at times scarily like a sarcophagus, but has to be one of the most magisterial and extravagant robots to ever grace the genre.
No matter how impressive Gravion may look, when we eventually get to see him battle against the Zeravire, it is an experience akin to watching paint dry.
The first time you see his combination sequence you may even be mildly impressed, by the fifth time you will be reaching for the fast forward button. It wouldn’t be so bad if the sequence was shorter but as it stands it lasts upwards of two minutes and is almost exactly the same each time.
The way fight sequences are handled is also extremely tame, not to mention devoid of excitement. Each time Gravion is on the verge of defeat the pilots will suddenly become privy to a newer and more devastating weapon, which has somehow eluded them up until that moment, enabling them to crush their adversary with a single strike. It’s exactly the type of thing that makes the writing come across as forced and lazy, it just seems every time the writers found themselves in a corner they were content to tie up the loose ends in an entirely unbelievable and sloppy fashion, with no regards to logic or even the slightest of nods toward innovation.
The human cast don’t fare much better, compromising a core cast of about six characters, if you cut these guys in half they would have the word ‘stereotype’ running through them like a stick of rock. There’s Mizuki, whose only purpose is to jiggle her grotesque brassiere every few minutes, Eiji the hotheaded new guy who is an ace pilot within the space of two episodes, all of this despite the fact he’s never seen a mecha before, and Toga the precariously gifted leader who has been an orphan since birth. The character development is kept to a minimum and I was literally dumbstruck by the fact that each and every character has exactly the same back-story give or take a few trivial details here and there.
The character design is another sore point, imagine if Baz Lurhman fresh from Moulin Rouge had decided to go into the visual design side of anime and you have some idea of the terrors that await upon seeing Gravion. The only character that remotely interested me was Raven, crimson haired and kitted out with a strange visor he’s forbidden to remove, he is sly enough and charismatic enough to transcend the weak stereotypes that seem to populate Gravion, making him easily the least unbearable and most intriguing character so far.
Whilst my comments may seem overly harsh they are more than justified.
Gravion is generic fodder for the fanservice and giant robot hungry peoples of Japan that would never have seen the light of day over here if not for its association with Gonzo. I didn’t hate the show by any means yet it was so crushingly average I literally had to force myself to sit through all five episodes. The niche group of hard-core mecha fanatics out there may be able to derive some enjoyment from this, however if you were planning to buy this purely on the strength of Gonzo’s involvement my advice would be to steer well clear.
In Summary
It’s not often a show leaves me as utterly inexpressive as Gravion, this series practically defines the word ‘generic’. Gonzo have ably demonstrated they are capable of releasing the odd howler over the years but this takes the proverbial biscuit, I’m almost tempted to say it is so bad it’s good, yet it was so average at being awful I can’t even use that as an excuse. My advice, root out oft-sidelined mecha classic Dangaioh and forget Gravion ever happened.
