Gravion Anime Review, by sothis

Seattle
Joined May 22, 2002
? / F

Gravion

Feb 26, 2005

Story
Ahh Gravion. I recall the first time I saw episode one in all its glory, with its fantastic "Situation Clitical" line that spread through the ears of fanboys like wildfire, becoming famous in the process. I remember seeing the ridiculous chest size of one of the characters (along with a jiggle that would make Jello proud) and the overall ecchiness, and promptly putting it down, never to see it again. After being sent a screener of Zwei, I don't really have much of a choice than to watch the first series in its entirety, eh? And thus, the review begins...

From the depths of the land of mecha series comes Gravion, a show that flawlessly rips off Evangelion, Vandread, and every other major mecha (and maid/ecchi) series out there! Really folks, this series has it all, from the mysterious invaders no one understands to breasts created by animators who have never seen or touched a real one, to zillions of maids and a giant robot that looks like every-other-robot-out-there. I can't think of one thing that didn't seem plagarized, and that isn't a good thing.

Really, Gravion's story has a lot of problems. First of all, there's the fact that the few mysteries we are exposed to (such as what are the Zerevire or what exactly happened to Eiji's sister Ayaka) are NEVER EXPLAINED or solved. That's right folks, the only potential plot we are offered isn't explained or solved in any way, which is a fantastic way of pissing off the fans. That isn't to say Gravion has any fans out there, but hey, if it did, they'd be pissed! In addition to these major plot issues, the plot itself is too much of a carbon copy of every other show to stand on its own. Watching the same-old-giant-robot (that looks like a Transformer, I might add) battle giant robotic looking aliens is unexciting and uninteresting, especially after watching the same transformation sequence happen in each episode. Throw in a bunch of excessive pointless ecchi (though nowhere near as bad as, say, Divergence Eve), and you have a trainwreck of a show.

Then there's the pacing, which is very out of whack. The episodes aren't meshed together well and seem to be fairly polarized. It's either an episode where the kids in the Gravion are fighting a monster, or an episode where they are doing something totally pointless such as laying around on the beach. I can understand the need for character development (though there really was none), but having several hardcore fighting episodes in a row followed by nothing but going shopping for food just seems wrong in some ways. Change it up a little, that's fine, but don't pull a Resident Evil with the pacing. (The reference is from the first movie, where there would be tons of zombies and action and then dead silence and talking, then back to zombies out of nowhere, suddenly).

The story itself? I didn't discuss it because the synopsis above should explain it in ENTIRETY. That's right folks, there literally is nothing else to the story besides the above except for the few mystery points I already described. Someone could tell you the events of the 13 episodes in about 45 seconds and you'd miss nothing by not seeing the show, trust me.
Animation
The visuals were definitely the best part of the series, and it's unfortunate the plot itself sucked so much for that reason. Colors were crisp and vibrant, ranging from all over the rainbow. Admittedly, the maids definitely have a dating-sim feel to them, with plenty of sea greens, pinks, and light blues. The vibrancy of these colors, though, make it watchable and interesting at the same tme. The character designs were good for the most part, but seemed a bit simple in some way. I can best describe them as looking like Stellvia (even though Stellvia came after Gravion), with very round eyes and simple lines and shading. Some of the characters, like Mizuki, almost looked animal-like in appearance because of how their noses were. In general, the backgrounds were beautiful and the Zerevire were nicely done.

Of a not so exciting caliber was Gravion itself, which looked extremely like every-other-robot out there. And thank you, Gonzo, for throwing in a magical-girl element to the series and showing the same recycled animation every time the mecha-pieces joined together! I absolutely loved it after time 9 (BEEP BEEP SARCASM DETECTOR).

In general, beautiful animation that was pretty to look at, with only a few exceptions. If you'd watch this for anything, it would be the animation.
Sound
The music is fairly typical orchestral plus synthy fare, which fits in the background in an appropriate manner. The theme song that's played during Gravion's transformation is a rock song that is appropriate the first few times you hear it, and gets extremely old and grating the other umpteen times you hear it over the course of the series. This song is played every single time there's a transformation, and then is played throughout the entirety of the fight with the monster in question. Voice acting was fine for everyone involved. You'll recognize Raven's seiyuu for sure, he's in plenty of stuff.
Characters
We are introduced to plenty of characters in Gravion, but unfortunately, none of them are developed enough for us to care about any of them. Eiji is clearly the main character and is developed the most out of anyone, but that isn't saying much. We learn a little about his past and why he's feeling so down in the dumps, but the main mystery involving his situation is never explained. Then there's the pilots. We learn a little about each of them, but for the most part, they are just a nice window dressing for the story. There are also a plethora of maids who dress the same as the pilots, thus confusing us as to who is who. The maids also appear to be midgets or nine years old, which is sort of scary considering they are always force stripping Eiji and all. In general, I really would have liked more character development. Gravion seemed like its entire point was fighting in a giant mecha and ecchi, with no emphasis on the characters at all. Some non-maids would have been nice, or characters that actually felt like they were 3 dimensional.

Oh, I did like Sandman though. Even though he really has no background at all, he is humorous and serious at the same time, and I enjoyed his presence.
Overall
Overall, Gravion really wasn't very good in any way except the animation and music. I found myself semi interested some of the time, totally bored most of the time, and badly wanting to turn it off a great deal of the time too. There wasn't a good mix of genres, with not a lot of comedy in between either. After watching some Zwei (the next series) I can say it much more effectively mixes the genres, where this series did not. Combine this with an unsteady pacing and a general plot that feels ripped off from a multitude of sources, and you have a series that in my opinion isn't worth seeing. Check out Vandread. Check out Evangelion. Check out some good ecchi series (which I can't name, since I don't watch much ecchi). Check out anything but Gravion unless you are a die hard fan of this genre and want to see everything. Oh, and I stick by my guns that any series that has to create a character with breasts that are literally twice the size of her head (and jiggle like jello at the slightest move) obviously has something wrong with it. If you are up to the challenge, prove me wrong!