AoD Review: Godannar Complete Collection

[Chris Beveridge]

http://www.animeondvd.com/images/boxart/godannarthinpak.jpg Review (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/6375.php)

Godannar Complete Collection (Thinpak) (of 1)
Released By: ADV Films
MSRP: $69.98
Running time: 650 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Resolution: 480i/p (mixed/unknown)
Encoded With: MPEG-2
Release Date: 07/10/2007
Review Date: 10/29/2007
Date Announced: 03/30/2007
Region: 1 - North America
Reviewed By: Mark Thomas

In Summary:
Godannar is a hard show for me to peg down. Many times it kept me intently interested and motivated to continue watching, whereas just as many times lost my attention and made me want to go find something else to do. There is plenty of good action to interest anybody looking for it, and there is plenty of fanservice to interest those looking for that. Yet, there is also enough going on behind the scenes for those who are looking for something a little more than some gratuitous violence and femininity. Nonetheless, the show goes off on tangents too often for it to hold interest from start-to-finish. The net result is that Godannar is a show that is better than many of its ilk, but not as good as maybe it could have been. Mildly Recommended.

[Lego]

Hopefully the singles hit the Rightstuf Bargain Bin so I can watch the luscious character designs

[Vicserr]

At least Marriage of God and Soul Godannar is better in that respect than Super HeavyWeight God Gravion, good character designs, nice mecha designs, all out action and a classic Giant Robot type storyline, but too much fanservice for a traditional Mecha fan like me. If you don't mind that, it's a great ride

[ooga]

I usually dislike giant robo anime. I loooooooove Godannar. Great comedy and heaps or fanservice. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[karen0586]

I have all the singles but the last one and I'm holding on watching it until I have it. It has to go into the TRSI Bargain Bin sometime this century :roll: . There really wasn't anything in that review that I didn't like so I'm sure to enjoy it.

--and I dislike fanservice at the moment.

[ooga]

--and I dislike fanservice at the moment.

Godannar is all about the jiggle though. :(

[neo-pactio]

Just what the doctor ordered for my shoujo-itis. Action, comedy, and girls with oversized boobs. This is going on my list for sure.

[Sugei]

I picked up the thinpack set when it was first released and was being sold for cheap by DeepDiscount.

Godannar is ridiculous fun. I had a blast watching it. I marathoned the show in a little under a week. Which for me is pretty quick. I usually take my time with series. Sometimes it takes me a whole week just to watch one DVD. :sd:

[wanfu2k1]

For some reason I liked Godannar but I couldn't even finish watching Gravion, and I'm a big sucker for fanservice :virgin:
At least Marriage of God and Soul Godannar is better in that respect than Super HeavyWeight God Gravion, good character designs, nice mecha designs, all out action and a classic Giant Robot type storyline, but too much fanservice for a traditional Mecha fan like me. If you don't mind that, it's a great ride

[karen0586]

--and I dislike fanservice at the moment.

Godannar is all about the jiggle though. :(


I think I'm going to like it though. I meant most of the fanservice that goes with all of the harem shows with a pointless whiny guy and all the stupid girls that are in love with him. What I've heard from this one is not going to turn me off, that I know.

[loplop]

I rather enjoyed this series, but I'm a known fan-service fan. Makes we wonder what type ero-anime would this artist create . . . .

[Isuzu Inugami]

Godannar is all about the jiggle though. :(


The giant robot jiggle.... O.O

I meant most of the fanservice that goes with all of the harem shows with a pointless whiny guy and all the stupid girls that are in love with him.

Goh is kind of a dick, but he's not a pointless whiny dick. :neko:

[Vicserr]

I meant most of the fanservice that goes with all of the harem shows with a pointless whiny guy and all the stupid girls that are in love with him.

Goh is kind of a dick, but he's not a pointless whiny dick. :neko:


Well, I don't consider Goh a dick, he's an archetype, Girls don't get to pilot robots and the ones that do get black and blue from the effort that normally doesn't amount to squat(See Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger and the princess from Voltron/Golion) and it's not a mysoginistic feeling, but a genuine concern for her safety, as he did have a traumatic experience with his previous lover/partner that you'll see in the series.

[Kouji Tamino]

Ah, Godannar. A fun series with lovable characters, awesome robot fights, erm... 'full' women, and a highly infectious soundtrack. :D

After getting practically crucified for even thinking of finishing Gravion over getting Godannar, I decided to pick this up at my last birthday. Needless to say, it was worth every penny.

This series is part of my "Holy Anime Trio" of series that revived my love of the medium. I was charmed by the SOS Brigade, blown away by the Lagoon Company, and the crew of Dannar base pulled me in and never let go for a second. This show was deliciously over-the-top in so many ways. The mecha, the characters along with their proportions and personality, the music, the fanservice... Oh, the fanservice. :virgin: The great thing about it in Godannar was that it was so natural and... right. There's nothing worse than out of place cheesecake making you roll your eyes for the 20 time, but for Godannar it just worked. Good lord, do those women have some meat on them or what!?

As for the other over-the-top elements, I was completely overwhelmed with how overblown everything was. Everyone, and I mean everyone shouting their lungs out during frantic battles with extremely energetic and catchy 70's retro BGM booming in the background while melodramatic romances play out. My god, it was beautiful. I hadn't had so much fun watching an anime series in ages. I mean, Haruhi and Black Lagoon were great, but damn! This show yanked me back in and held me there tight! I ate it up like candy.

While it started out as a 'monster-of-the-week' style series, I found the storyline involving the 'Insania virus' contracted from the mimetic beasts quite interesting. I never expected that, that's for sure. I was so intrigued by that, Shizuru's death and revival, and the love triangle so much that I went through the entire box in about 2-3 days.

I love how the two lovebird mechanics have their own sub-romance throughout the series, and I had to feel for poor meek, soft spoken Shinobu surrounded by the booming loud, hotblooded crew of Dannar Base and always feeling left out and useless. Imagine my surprise, or perhaps not, considering how obvious the development was, when Shinobu became a hotblooded pilot like his big brother, including his own set of potential love interests!

And yeah, considering what Goh had gone through five years earlier, his stance didn't seem too out of line. He was just being overprotective, that's all.

Overall, I love this series and it's become my favorite mecha series. It had everything I could want from a light and fun anime series, including a canon shoujo-ai couple with their own focus episode!! I just recently finished my second viewing already. Now excuse me while I drill the OP and ED songs out of my damn head. If this isn't even close to the best that Super Robot shows have to offer, I have some more collecting to do!

[Keith]

And for those who enjoyed Godannar, don't forget to check out GaoGaiGar! Much less fanservice, but even more hot blooded giant robot action!

[Fencedude]

Well, I don't consider Goh a dick, he's an archetype, Girls don't get to pilot robots and the ones that do get black and blue from the effort that normally doesn't amount to squat(See Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger and the princess from Voltron/Golion) and it's not a mysoginistic feeling, but a genuine concern for her safety, as he did have a traumatic experience with his previous lover/partner that you'll see in the series.

So he's a misogynistic dick?

Not to mention that Shadow and Ecaterina could break him in half, and he knows it.

[Vicserr]

Well, I don't consider Goh a dick, he's an archetype, Girls don't get to pilot robots and the ones that do get black and blue from the effort that normally doesn't amount to squat(See Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger and the princess from Voltron/Golion) and it's not a mysoginistic feeling, but a genuine concern for her safety, as he did have a traumatic experience with his previous lover/partner that you'll see in the series.

So he's a misogynistic dick?

Not to mention that Shadow and Ecaterina could break him in half, and he knows it.


Reread that bolded part my dear Fence, I was talking about Goh and Anna, He's not married to Shadow or Ecaterina.

[Fencedude]

Reread that bolded part my dear Fence, I was talking about Goh and Anna, He's not married to Shadow or Ecaterina.

Its pretty debatable really.

You are right, to an extent, but its still not exactly the most fair outlook, and I find it somewhat depressing that you appeared to be defending it using highly misogynistic examples from older Super Robot shows.

[super rats]

I enjoyed the first half a lot more than the second half, but it was fun all around. The character designs are hot and hilarious at the same time.

[Vicserr]

Reread that bolded part my dear Fence, I was talking about Goh and Anna, He's not married to Shadow or Ecaterina.

Its pretty debatable really.

You are right, to an extent, but its still not exactly the most fair outlook, and I find it somewhat depressing that you appeared to be defending it using highly misogynistic examples from older Super Robot shows.



Maybe, but those shows I gave as examples empowered women as characters and gave them a place in the cockpit instead of being hero bait and/or decoration like most of the shows of the time or even now.

[Isuzu Inugami]

Goh is kind of a dick, but he's not a pointless whiny dick. :neko:


Well, I don't consider Goh a dick, he's an archetype

Heh, I kind of like that line; I'll have to remember it--"I'm not a dick, I'm an archetype!" But it isn't that Goh doesn't want her to pilot a robot that irritates me, it's the emotional distance he seems to keep his wife at all the rest of the time that got me mad at him. He does get better, though.

[Dicrel Seijin]

Yeah, well, you do have to cut Goh some slack, especially when his first wife comes back from the dead and then moves in with the newlyweds. O.O

As I have not finished the second to last disc, I probably shouldn't be here yet.

[Garasharp K7]

At least Marriage of God and Soul Godannar is better in that respect than Super HeavyWeight God Gravion, good character designs, nice mecha designs, all out action and a classic Giant Robot type storyline, but too much fanservice for a traditional Mecha fan like me. If you don't mind that, it's a great ride

You're not wrong about Godannar being better than Gravion, but I can't help but enjoy that show, even with the dodgy fanservice. Sure the character designs look a little off in places, and the cast look like they're auditioning for a part in Moulin Rouge, but Gravion itself is cool as all get out, we get some nifty aliens and and a diabolical mastermind behind it all. (haven't seen many of those in anime for a while) The show still has some passion, dammit! :)
Hell, it's worth it for Sandman's lines alone:

"Soldiers of the Gran Knighthood, combine!"

And did I mention the soundtrack? That's pretty cool too,

But yeah, Godannar is still the better show.

[pachinko parlor]

I loved Godannar. It was the first series that I bought as the singles came out since my 3 year hiatus from anime. That led me to Gravion which I thought was ok EXCEPT for the scenes where they actually used their giant robots. I actually fast forwarded all the giant robot scenes. :P

[Mark]

This is a great series served by a great trailer from ADV. I bought the series on that alone and am very happy with it.
But when it comes to the DVD release, I recommend the singles because of the inserts. :virgin:

My one and only gripe is some of what happened to Lou in the later half of the series. She left the group and never came back- I like the whole "adopted kid" storyline. And I wanted to see her fighting back to back with the rest of the gang in Celleblader. And the biggest problem is when she's older, she's shown wearing the same robot uniform she's been wore piloting Cosmo Diver. She should have a Celeblader uniform or at least whatever outfit she wore when she went rogue with Ken.

I realize asking for yet another season would be too much: who's left to fight and who could possibly stand up to the robot aces the series has churned out, but I just love all the characters.