Gravion Volume 1: Divine Steel - Denkyu.Com
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- Banchan
- 06/01/04
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Gravion Vol. 1: DVD Review
Written by Banchan
Gravion may appear to be your typical giant, super-robot show but definitely breaks the mold. It combines elements of comedy, action, sci-fi, and mystery into one excellent show. With the first episode we?re introduced to the mysterious billionaire Sandman who lives in a gigantic castle. Sandman has a Batman complex where he keeps a teenager, referred to as Raven, around as his assistant. Furthermore he has hundreds of young female maids that not only clean but operate Gravion?s command center as well. While a bit creepy, Raven and the maids provide humorous situations as well as serious duties to further Sandman?s objective.
The plot begins with a gathering of Earth?s top officials at Sandman?s castle. Apparently the earth has united all of its governments into a single group called the Earth Federation Alliance (what else would it be called). It seems that the government had been out of the loop and had no idea that an alien race called Zeravire had been destroying bases on each planet in the solar system. For some reason Sandman knew about them and had been preparing a group of specific people to battle them using his robotic creations.
The first disc introduces us to the 6 pilots that we see in each episode. Although it doesn?t go very in depth with the backgrounds of any of the characters, there is a small focus on Toga and Eiji, the two male Gran Diva pilots, were we can see clearly how the way they were raised caused them to develop into their current selves. There is still much mystery surrounding the origins of Raven and Sandman that I suspect won?t be answered until the end of the series. Of course the center of the show is God Gravion, the combined form of all 5 Gran Devas. Toga pilots Gran Kaiser which is the humanoid robot the rest of the vehicles attach too. Eieji and Mizuki pilot the G-Attacker and G-Striker respectively, which are both basically jet fighters that end up forming the legs. The G-Driller, a tank-like vehicle with two giant drills on the front, is piloted by Luna and Ena. This separates into the two arms. Finally there is Leele who pilots the G-Shadow, which looks a like a B-2 bomber, and forms the wing structure of God Gravion. The overall design is fairly typical of such shows but it is still awesome to watch!
One aspect that makes this show very interesting is how they try to describe the workings of the combined form. Basically the central form, Gran Kaiser, uses gravitons to pull the other Gran Devas to it. The immense amount of gravity formed from this is and the effect it would have on a pilot is also taken into consideration. Sandman explains that certain people have an enzyme in their body referred to as G-Factor that allows their bodies to adapt to changing forces of gravity. And of course what giant super-robot show wouldn?t be complete without the cliché calling of the attacks out loud. To make this seem plausible, Mizuki explains that the attacks only function when the voice pattern of the attack name and button are pushed simultaneously. The alien race known as Zeravire is interesting as well. Each volley of attacks consists of the standard peon aliens that are easily destroyed and a much tougher and much larger Destroyer. What makes these aliens interesting is that the
Destroyers evolve after each battle and become immune to the attack that killed its predecessor. This allows us to see a new attack that Gravion can use each episode, leaving behind the days of monotonous, boring battles. The last thing to point out is that Gravion does not have the god-like ability to survive anything, despite its name. It can only stay in it?s combined form for so long at which time it must be repaired. I think this adds a more realistic touch to an otherwise unrealistic story. On a final note, who can?t help but laugh at the funny engrish used for display screens such as the notorious ?Status Clitical.? It was these aspects though that I feel set Gravion apart from the standard genre aspects and make it very interesting to watch.
In regards to animation, it first aired in 2002 so the animation is of very high quality. Although Gravion is animated by Gonzo, there's only one extremely busty female, Mizuki, in the show so far (not that I'm complaining). The show has a relatively low level of fanservice, but in no way does it detract from the show. In fact, I think it's at just the right amount that it makes certain scenes all the more hilarious as Mizuki's basketball breasts jiggle in abnormal directions. Regarding the overall animation, my only qualm is that some of the characters facial expressions seem awkward at times. The robot/alien battles are very well done though and more then make up for this. The music is decent but nothing spectacular. The opening song carries a tune common with most giant super-robot shows, while the ending is slow and melodic. Overall, this show is definitely worth a purchase.
Posted on Tuesday, June 01, 2004 (Archive on Thursday, July 01, 2004)