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GATCHAMAN CROWDS #2 - - Watch & Learn
It’s impossible to watch everything at once. Plain fact. While I’ve enjoyed going back
through both FIST OF THE NORTH STAR and HUNTER X HUNTER, they are both older shonen series, and thus, are kind-of ‘double-dipping’
in terms of purpose. I also figure I ought to be keeping up with at least one
new series this season. Group that with a nagging curiosity about just how
ridiculous this iteration of GATCHAMAN gets… and we find ourselves right here for
this game of catch-up.
I can totally see why this show has been sticking so sorely into
diehard G-Fans' craw. With the first
episode, it was dryly amusing to simply appraise CROWDS and compare it to the
self-aware reinvention phases of other superhero franchise. Now, it’s already
becoming clear that it isn’t a particularly coherent ‘self-aware
reinvention.’
When I read over some… * AHEM *… episode summaries which more enthusiastic
fans have written up, the show doesn’t actually seem that complicated on paper.
However, there’s just something about the presentation that seems almost intentionally
obfuscated.
Again, the notion of GATCHAMAN being reinvented as a loose network of
sleeper agents (is that the right word?) who are assembled by an
app-based network based on their proximity to the threat-at-hand is novel and
intriguing. However, seeing that premise in action feels akin to, say, watching
a bunch of kids jump through the hoops of e-courtship. You actually gain a new
appreciation for the direct, confident way that things to get done.
Honestly, this show’s uncomfortably reminding me of EUREKA SEVEN AO.
The fractal, geodesic design of the evil aliens (or whatever they are) establishes
a visual link, of course. More to the point, though, it really feels like the product
of Tatsunoku spuriously licensing their property out to some outside creative
whose experience doesn’t pertain to the material, at all. What we’re getting is a clumsy, out-of-step take that seems like it’s stumbling toward a poorly-phrased
statement about the modern world.
Or something.
Watch this
episode, "Asymmetry" here and decide for
yourself, then read my write-up on the previous episode .
About the Author
 | Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk |
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