GATE Vol.#01

By: Eduardo M. Chavez
Review Date: Friday, February 25, 2005
Release Date: Tuesday, March 01, 2005



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Kisaragi Hirotaka
Translated by:Madoka Monroe
Adapted by:

What They Say
LIGHTNING STRIKES!
An after-school trip becomes the stuff of legends when friends Akira, Riki, Shigeru and Kazuya are trapped under the black clouds of an electrical storm. Every one of them is struck by lightning, and while their bodies remain unharmed, their normal lives are burnt and destroyed by the bolts from above. Now they must find the "God Beasts" with whom they have forged a connection through a freak of nature, and find acceptance among those foreboding monsters who will determine their fate.
A bishonen masterpiece.

The Review

Packaging:
As I am reviewing a b/w uncorrected galley proof, I cannot thoroughly grade the packaging. I will describe it as best as possible.

Presented in a tall B6, GATE uses the same cover design at the Biblos version. ADV keeps the original cover art, featuring high school student Saijo Akira and beast handler Shuri in front of a profile of the celestial being Byakko (the White Tiger, Guardian of the West Gate). This character image is then framed in an image of Byakko's profile, but in blue tone (so the lines are in white). Very simple and stylish, the design reminds me of volume headers I have seen in Clamp titles. The opposite cover has an SD version of Byakko sitting to the right of the volume description. I like how ADV did not change the logo for this series. This is a concern as they sometimes use new logos even when the original was in English.

Inside, there is no volume header, but the first few pages should be in color in the final print (my review copy is entirely in B/W). The printing is very dark, but that is standard for proofs like this. I noticed they kept all of the original chapter headers and they included an ato-gaki from the mangaka. After that extra, added a preview blurb for volume two and an ad for Princess Tutu.

Artwork:
Kisaragi's art is really nice. Kisaragi uses long relatively thin lines to give the cast a long lanky look. Characters tend to have long arms and torsos, and tiny heads with mad eyebrows and spiky hair. There is very little sense of proportion, as the characters tend to be long enough to be 6+ feet tall, at least. They also have some interesting expressions. Kisaragi does not have a lot of detail in these faces, but with subtle toning and good perspective, these simple designs have a bit of versatility. Costumes are pretty dull, for more often than not the characters are just wearing their uniforms. Animal designs are pretty cool. They tend to look more western than eastern - Seiryu looks like a European dragon; Suzaku looks more like a condor than a phoenix; Byakko is just extra fiery and I don't know what that is about.


The layout is a little hyper for my taste. Kisaragi uses a great variety of sizes and shapes for dialogue bubbles and panels. I have issues with the placement of bubbles mainly as they are occasionally hard to follow. The panel placement conversely is very good. I like how active the layout is and how characters are placed in and over panels for effect. All of this helped with the mood and tone of the manga, and helped create scenes with the help of Kisaragi’s nice background art.

Text/SFX:
In typical ADV form the SFX are all subbed next to the originals. For this series, they used small subs instead of ones similar in size to the originals. Good idea, but better is how I did not notice them sub aside text for this series. This has cleared up what usually ends up being clutter in manga panels, especially in an action title like this.

The translation is very good. While there might not be honorifics (which would have been interesting especially with how these characters interact), the context and the flow of the story felt just right. The four main characters and their guardian beasts each have unique personalities and ADV did a good job keeping their individual personalities show through the translation.

Contents: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Nothing stays the same forever. People change, they grow up, and they move on but how this all happens seems rather normal. There are times when specific incidents can create dramatic changes. They tend to come on suddenly and they are often difficult to deal with.

Four friends hanging out in the Tokyo borough of Shibuya have had a life changing experience together. Simultaneously struck by lightning their lives come together around this freak of nature. However, they have been cursed with the powers of the gods and their lives and the Earth itself is now dependant on their being together. Each one has been given control of one of the celestial beings - Suzaku, Seiryu, Genbu and Byakko. Each controls one of the four corners of the gate between the real world and the astral world. If anyone of them were to die, chaos would ensue; thus, destroying life as we know it.

Friends usually do not mind relying on each other for support. These friends have been forced to work together in a most unusual way, but not monsters, spirits, or girls will be able to tear them apart. They must also accept the beasts inside them. These bonds must not be broken.

Comments
The bonds that keep friends together can be very strong. In GATE, these friends thought they were close before, but circumstance has changed all that. The ideas of unity and brotherhood are examined on a few levels. These friends have always relied on each other for support. They must now work together for survival. However, they as their bond draws them closer they begin to doubt themselves and each other.

I have always felt friendship always has its limits. There are always walls between people, but in this story, fate has opened a gate in those walls. Learning how far they have been even as friends is very true to life and a concept that I have not seen fleshed out this way often. Then there are the celestial beasts that form lifelong mutual partnerships with each of the main cast. Live or die together, but in this situation there really is no choice. There are no walls in these partnerships, as beast and summoner are one, but unless their pact is truly unconditional one personality will overcome the other. Relationships are like that. There must always be dialogue and cooperation. Any power struggle could ruin the concept of a true partnership. “All for one and one for all,” is the saying and it is taken to an extreme here.

GATE is a better than average bishonen title. Good looking bishies, good amount of angst, nice amount of action and not too many women that distract from the main cast, what more can I ask for really. If there is a problem, it has to come from the set up. The mangaka admits this was initially a one-shot, which was expanded into a series. Therefore, the first chapter definitely pulls readers in, but the remaining chapters in this volume were sequentially set up to introduce a main cast member and their beast partner. The chapters are fine, but there is very little continuity so as a reader I began to wane on the concept. Still this has been a good start. I wonder if the mangaka will continue to keep the concept of danger so close to school or if Kisaragi will expand that. Evil has been pretty convenient, in this first volume. Fun with potential.