King of Braves: GaoGaiGar Part Two

Title	GaoGaiGar King of Braves Premium Box 2
Director	Yoshitomo Yonetani
Actors	Maiko Itou
Release date	2008-08-19
Theatrical release date
List price	$30.98
ASIN	B0019X3ZQ8
Genre
Manufacturer	MEDIA BLASTERS, INC DVD
Running time	600minutes
Studio	MEDIA BLASTERS, INC DVD
Purchase	Buy it now!

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As a kid, I was fortunate to watch a lot of anime through the Korean video rental store, shows like Slam Dunk, SD Gundam, and the Brave Series, specifically Da Garn. There was one show that I always wanted to watch, but was never able to find, and that was The King of Braves GaoGaiGar.

GaoGaiGar was the final show in the Brave series, produced by Takara and Sunrise during the 90s after Transformers took a hiatus. The Brave series was primarily made to sell some pretty awesome toys, and most of the shows like Might Gaine, Exkaiser, and Da Garn were all pretty forgettable. These shows were relatively popular, but as time went on kids weren't really into the giant robot shows as much. Things like Pokemon and Digimon were the new fads at the time and GaoGaiGar was to be the last Brave series show produced, and the producers of this show decided to go out with a bang.

This show is the pinnacle of what I love about giant robot shows, specifically super robot shows. Everything about this show is hot blooded, full of energy and bravery. There are no mopey whiny characters in this show. Every character is incredibly hot blooded and gung-ho, super ready to take on any obstacle that they come across.

The mechanical designs for this show are pretty wonderful. GaoGaiGar is composed of a bullet train, a stealth bomber, a drilling machine, and a lion known as Galeon. It sound absolutely ridiculous, but the end result is a fantastic looking super robot. There are several other robots in this show as well, such as ChouRyuJin, Big Volfogg, Mic Sounders XIII, and many more. Each robot has a distinct personality and even though it isn't much, it's enough to make these characters very endearing and memorable.

The animation budget is very high for a kids show made in the 90s. I am always surprised when I go back to watch this show, and remind myself that it was made in the late 90s. The stock transformation and combining scenes are all super detailed and smooth. After making seven of these shows, Sunrise really perfected how to make an epic robot transformation scene.

Media Blasters had originally licensed this show and started releasing the show one disc at a time during the 2000s. The show was not doing particularly well, and so they took a hiatus after the fifth volume. They then announced that they would be releasing the rest of the show in a box set, subtitle only, and that is specifically the release being reviewed today.

These episodes mark end of the first arc of the show, and the beginning of the second arc. These parts are when this show go from being a fun giant robot show, to an amazing one. As the final attack by the Zonders comes into play, GGG has to do what they can to save the world from complete mechanization. Destruction is everywhere, and near impossible odds are overcome in that super-robot-genre way that I love so very much.

Even though the end of the first half of the show is great, the show only gets better from there. GaoGaiGar is a show that is able to escalate to new heights constantly, and gets better with every episode. It's the sort of show that is very hard to stop watching at any point, because the show just keeps hooking you back in again and again and again.

If you are a giant robot fan, this is absolutely mandatory viewing. If you are an anime fan, you should also absolutely watch this show as an example of what the giant robot genre is capable of, and just how fun of a ride these kinds of shows can be.