Gunparade March

[areaseven]

Gunparade March: Aratanaru Kougunka ( ガンパレード・マーチ～新たなる行軍歌～ )

J.C. Staff/MBS/Pioneer LDC, 2003

AnimeWorks, 2003

Directed by Katsushi Sakurabi (Shingetsutan Tsukihime)

Rated 13-Up for graphic violence and mature situations.

Based on a popular PlayStation 2 video game. In 1945, World War II abruptly ended when an alien race appeared on Earth and began to slaughter the human population. The year is 1999 - 54 years later, mankind is still fighting to survive against the alien forces. Earth forces now use advanced mecha called Humanoid Walking Tanks (HWTs) to combat the invaders, but throughout the ordeal, far too many pilots have been killed in action. As a result, high school students are now recruited to become HWT pilots. Gunparade March follows the lives of the 5121st Platoon, who have just added a mysterious girl named Mai Shibamura to their ranks.

Story: B+

At first, Gunparade March seems derivative of many anime titles with the alien invasion plot and is rather slow-paced. Character development doesn't sink in until episode 2. But after that, the series and its characters grow on you. As predicted, the show's male protagonist Atsushi Hayami has the "Shinji Ikari Syndrome", always pessimistic and apologetic. Scary part is that Gunparade March somewhat feels like Azumanga Daioh as well; perhaps because Mai and 10-year-old Nonomi Higashihara are kind of like Sakaki and Chiyo. In a sense, Gunparade March also feels like a mix of Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team and Robert A. Heinlein's original Starship Troopers novel (not that ridiculous movie directed by Paul Verhoeven), as it involves a younger generation of soldiers fending off against giant aliens.

Animation: A

For a company not too keen on mecha anime, J.C. Staff (Azumanga Daioh, The Slayers) did an excellent job animating this series. The HWTs (designed by Kazunori Iwakura) have shades of Labors (Mobile Police Patlabor), TAs (Gasaraki) and Arm Slaves (Full Metal Panic!). You'll also enjoy the character designs by Yasuhiro Irie.

Soundtrack: A

Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell, Mobile Police Patlabor) supplies a remarkable orchestral score to go with the series. The opening theme, "Shinjitsu no Tobira" by Yoko Ishida (Pretear, Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar), is very upbeat and light-hearted.

Sub vs. Dub

Gunparade March features Akira Ishida (Xeloss in The Slayers, Athrun in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED) as Hayami, Akemi Okamura (Shu in Now and Then, Here and There, Belldandy in Adventures of Mini-Goddess) as Mai, Junko Sakuma as Mio, Junko Noda (Mitsune in Love Hina, Maho in His & Her Circumstances) as Matsuri, Mayumi Yoshida as Nonomi, Akio Suyama (Hige in Wolf's Rain, Ohgami in Sakura Wars) as Takigawa, Hideyuki Umezu (Nubata in Outlaw Star, Kamado in The Hakkenden) as Setoguchi, and Emi Shinohara (B-Ko in Project A-Ko, Angel in The Big-O) as Motoko.

Dub review coming soon.

DVD Extras

Under construction.

The Bottom Line

Despite a very slow beginning, Gunparade March looks like a very promising anime title.

Links

Official Gunparade March Homepage (Japanese)

J.C. Staff's Official Gunparade March Homepage (Japanese)

MBS' Official Gunparade March Homepage (Japanese)

Media Blasters' Official Gunparade March Homepage

Reference

Anime News Network

Edited June 7, 2004 by areaseven

[areaseven]

While shopping for some new anime, I noticed that Gunparade March was available in a limited edition tin can. Has anyone picked this one up?

[Gaijin]

I saw that too...wasn't sure how good the show was though...it looks interesting and I considered picking it up.

[wolfx]

If you're looking for some mecha action, this title isn't for you. The mecha and action takes a backseat. Heck, the main alien invasion plot takes a backseat and is left unresolved at the end. GPM changes focus after the 1st few episodes to focus instead on the relationship between the 2 main characters. IE: This is a romantic comedy, folks.

But despite that, me being a sucker for romance loved it. Others would think othewise. Just some advice for ppl who are expecting some mecha action.

[Valkyrie]

Gunparade pissed me off quite a bit. I wanted to like it. The premise was solid, and the mecha designs were pretty cool too. The basis for a good sci-fi show, right?

Wrong. It's all just the backdrop for a sappy highschool love story. And not even a good one. It's about as cliche as they come.

Like Wolfx said, there's absolutely no resolution as far as the war part of the story goes. They might as well have cut out most of the battle scenes, because no progress was ever made.

I suppose they could make a second season which focuses primarily on the war (hmm, that'd be the exact opposite of Full Metal Panic!). But I doubt I'd watch it. The series turned me off that much.

[Myriad]

Saw it.....

Agree with the above two posts.

Not my cup of tea.

[Keiichi]

Well, they're working on a second season. I loved this series, watching the characters grow up was a lot of fun.

[Mellow Yellow]

Second season? Right on, I liked this series. I always felt something was missing at the end, hell, the two main chars don't even kiss Now they can resolve the alien thing too with a second season

[areaseven]

If you're looking for some mecha action, this title isn't for you. The mecha and action takes a backseat. Heck, the main alien invasion plot takes a backseat and is left unresolved at the end. GPM changes focus after the 1st few episodes to focus instead on the relationship between the 2 main characters. IE: This is a romantic comedy, folks.

But despite that, me being a sucker for romance loved it. Others would think othewise. Just some advice for ppl who are expecting some mecha action.

After finding out that the original game was a dating sim, I didn't expect much more from the anime after the first episode.

[robokochan]

Crap.... that will teach me to buy something before I read all of the posts...

ROb MN

[Gaijin]

I haven't a problem with it being a romantic comedy...but is it good at that?

[rikiryou]

Well, not exactly a dating sim per se, it's something like a mix of strategy as well (the fighting bit), and interaction with the other characters within the base itself. Other games that would fall under the same category would be... Hmm, Rayblade, and the Sakura Wars series, and perhaps others which I have yet to hear of.

As for being a romantic comedy, the show is somewhat more of a mixture. It has a dark side to it (people dying), a light-hearted side (the crews' day to day life) as well as the romance side, which doesn't take place until later on. And don't worry, Hayami is definitely not a clone of Shinji, he may be pessimistic, but he's also optimistic at the same time. He's your average slow-minded, nice guy who gets picked on a lot of times. Girls flock him? No they don't. Which is how things should turn out, not like the other shows that've been around where a useless protagonist is surrounded by girls for some unknown reason.

Overall, the show's not great, but I enjoyed it.

Edited April 18, 2004 by rikiryou

[wolfx]

Well, they're working on a second season. I loved this series, watching the characters grow up was a lot of fun.

I'll kill you if you're just making this up......

But anyway, there's an anime out which takes place somewhat in the same universe as GPM. It was Mars Invader something something. A new mecha anime which apparently is so weird that you wouldn't even think its in the same universe.

Anyway, the GPM game is apparently quite revolutionary. It has a dating sim on it, but you can choose your role. You can be the commander/class president, the pilot, the mechanic or the support team etc. Its prettty cool. Then your classmates will fill in the other roles automatically. Your relationship with your friends also effect how they react to your commands, story progresssion etc. E.g: you pissed off this pilot chick during coffee break, she's not gonna listen to you much during battle when you're trying to win the mission.

The game sounds interesting. Too *(!#&*(@& bad its not translated. There was a new GPM game coming out complete with 3D graphics, but I'm not sure if its out or not.

[Druna Skass]

What's the deal with that black striped brown cat?

[MrDisco]

While shopping for some new anime, I noticed that Gunparade March was available in a limited edition tin can. Has anyone picked this one up?

it also comes available with an order form to mail away for one of the Mech units.

[Keiichi]

I'll kill you if you're just making this up......

I swear it's true!! It's been in the works, however, for a LONG time now, not sure what's going on with it...

[areaseven]

What's the deal with that black striped brown cat?

Every other anime has to have a mascot, right? Look at Neon Genesis Evangelion and RahXephon.

[wolfx]

I'll kill you if you're just making this up......

I swear it's true!! It's been in the works, however, for a LONG time now, not sure what's going on with it...

Are u sure you're not talking about The Mar's Daybreak?

I haven't heard about a GPM sequel though despite it needing one.

[Druna Skass]

What's the deal with that black striped brown cat?

Every other anime has to have a mascot, right? Look at Neon Genesis Evangelion and RahXephon.

Heh heh the penguin that lives in Misato's freezer and drinks beer has to be the coolest mascot I've seen os far.

[Anubis]

Many shows have their animal mascot.

Eva has the warm-water penguin Pen-Pen.

Love Hina has the flying turtle Tama.

Ai Yori Aoshi has the ferret Oyama (something like that).

Trigun has the black cat.

Cowboy Bebop has Ein.

Excel Saga has Menchi.

[areaseven]

Many shows have their animal mascot.

Eva has the warm-water penguin Pen-Pen.

Love Hina has the flying turtle Tama.

Ai Yori Aoshi has the ferret Oyama (something like that).

Trigun has the black cat.

Cowboy Bebop has Ein.

Excel Saga has Menchi.

Macross 7 has Guvava.

RahXephon has the cat Buchi.

Steel Angel Kurumi 2 has the dog Kyanwan (Can-1).

Azumanga Daioh just has too many mascots.