Gatchaman Crowds: Insight
Released By: Animatsu
Rating:12
Running Time: 325 Mins
Audio: English DD 5.1 Japanese DD 2.0
Release Date: 15/5/2016
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes
Activated by JJ, the watcher over the Earth, the Gatchaman fighting force are a formidable match for their foe as they protect those humans from the shadows. In the previous season, the evil Berg-Katze tried to destroy the humans in Japan, but the Gatchaman managed to get everyone playing Crowds to prevent that - since then, everything seemed fine, but evil always gets a second chance.
As its been a while since we've seen Gatchaman Crowds, this new series starts with a flashy first episode where two jets infiltrated by red Crowds try to destroy the Japanese president. Luckily, Hajime is on the scene to sort them out. It's an intro right out of a Bond movie with a perilous start, fast action, humour then the opening credits and instantly catchy song.
The Gatchaman team also have a new member who joins their ranks at a time when an alien lands, leaving the people wondering whether he is friend or one more foe to add to the many. Tsubasa is a good kid, has responsibilities at home with her great grandfather so going away to be part of a sentai team might not be such a good idea as she knows he will worry about her. I liked that Gatchaman
Crowds: Insight has moved into Tiger & Bunny territory with Tsubasa having to prove herself worthy of being in the team, just as Tiger had to prove to Bunny that he was worthy of being his teammate. Tsubasa's trouble with using her phone to transform when she waves her hand and shouts "Bird go!" is hilarious.
For those who might have forgotten what Gatchaman Crowds was about, this is a perfect re-introduction to the whole anime. As older fans of the original Gatchaman series (also the Western version Battle of the Planets) will know this is based on it and is basically an updated version brought into the 21st Century. The Gatchaman logo is on everything, mobile phones replace the bracelets that activated their costumes and the place they live in is much more technologically advanced, also the team are much younger than the original ones to make the anime appeal to a younger audience.
Rui's being taken by surprise and injured by the enemy puts a downer on the Gatchaman's enthusiasm for the job as they are more worried about whether their comrade will live or die than stop the red crowds taking over. There are some interesting goings on in this series as Berg-Katze has been trapped in Hajime's device and still insists on causing problems as well as calling her some of the most awful names. She's not taking the bait though; when he gets on her nerves she switches him off. Gelsadra wants to discover more about humanity as he's only been on earth a short amount of time. He's one of the cuter characters who viewers (I know I did) might warm to as he's an innocent, though he can get annoyed at times when the ones behind the red crowds cause mayhem.
Recognisable voice actors in this series are Lucy Christian as PAI-MAN and David Wald as the camply evil Berg-Katze. You might want to watch the first series if you've forgot how it played out as it has been a while since the it was available.
Bonus Material: Clean Opening Animation, Clean Closing Animation and also available from Sentai Filmworks.
Summary: It's bound to be one of the most interesting anime of the month and the most waited for.
