Gatchaman Crowds Insight

One day, a huge UFO spins over Japan and crashes into a rural farmland outside Nagaoka, disrupting Tsubasa Misudachi's ordinary life. As the Gatchaman, the legendary defenders of Tachikawa City, supervise the ordeal, a peaceful alien creature emerges from the spacecraft. In the ensuing chaos, Tsubasa is given a special high-tech notebook, or NOTE, from Gatchaman founder J.J. Robinson, signaling Tsubasa's sudden recruitment into their group. Under the tutelage of fellow hero Hajime Ichinose, Tsubasa slowly begins to adjust to life as a defender of justice.

Meanwhile, the CROWDS technology, which enables users to manifest their consciousness' into a physical form, is spreading amongst the public, as well as being endorsed by Prime Minister Sugayama. However, a mysterious organization known as VAPE has gained notoriety by using unique red CROWDS to wreak havoc, shifting public opinion against the CROWDS technology. The Gatchaman, along with new recruit Tsubasa, must put a stop to their destructive activities before it's too late.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ichinose, Hajime Main

Uchida, Maaya Japanese

Ninomiya, Rui Main

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Miya, Utsutsu Main

Koiwai, Kotori Japanese

Katze, Berg Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

O. D. Main

Hosomi, Daisuke Japanese

Hibiki, Joe Main

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Tachibana, Sugane Main

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Paiman Main

Hirano, Aya Japanese

Misudachi, Tsubasa Main

Ishihara, Kaori Japanese

Gelsadra Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Inage, Hiroyuki Producer

Tamura, Yuri Assistant Producer

Nakamura, Kenji Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Itou, Ryouta Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation, Animation Director

Reviews

Sep 26, 2015

monomii

Recommended

Now that the series is finished completely, I think it's time to write a review while the ending is still fresh on my mind. Just a quick note: this is my first time writing a review on MAL and English is not my first language, so excuse my poor mistakes and grammar.
Either way, let's go!
Story - 7
As a few others noticed, the second season took a rather different route than the first - Gatchaman Crowds had more of the "heroes fight the bad guys" kinda thing going on while Gatchaman Crowds Insight had more of a "people debate on whether to do one thing ... or another and the heroes step in from time to time". While it didn't really ruin the whole show for me, others, who might be expecting more or less the same thing after the first season could be disappointed, at least a little.
Art - 10.
I couldn't give less than 10 on this one. The animation was really nice to look at, the art style was amazing, and the CG NOTE forms were incredible (unlike some other CGs i've seen). Honestly if not for the story, the show would be worth the watch for the art alone.
Sound - 10
A bit unsure on how to rate this one, because to me the music was incredible. The OP is one of the catchiest I've heard in a while - WHITE ASH (the artist who performed the OP in the first season) did a splendid job.
Character - 6
While the characters were enjoyable (both design and personality wise) and quite believable, after watching the first season (which had one of the best character developments in my opinion), this seasons characters were a bit disappointing. There was some development, but it wasn't as big as in the first season.
Enjoyment - 9
As i said, this show could be enjoyed even without getting too deep into the story, thanks to the amazing animation and music. The comedy was still there, action could be found at times - it's a fun series to marathon (even with the rather emotion-wrecking end). Having enjoyed the first season, i was hyped for the new one, and had a blast watching it with it's flaws and whatnot.
Overall - 8
In the end, the show has it's pros and cons. To me it was really emotional ride - the action and the suspense were still there, which made it so much more enjoyable to me. If you're looking for a light anime with some thrill from time to time, I believe that Gatchaman Crowds is just the one.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 26, 2015

Fel_Temp

Mixed Feelings

So after the first season's focus on social networking and gamification, the series has moved onto tackling democracy and mob mentality. The results are more mixed than last season. Part of the problem is that it feels like the first several episodes spend a lot of time twiddling their thumbs and not really going anywhere. The Gatchaman are famous now, they got a new member, a friendly alien has shown up, and it doesn't feel like much happens with them for a while despite there being a new enemy. Then it feels like they rush into the major event that drives ... the rest of the series, and it feels really contrived and oversimplified. I know any series like this tackling something like that is going to be a little bit, and I've see criticism of the last season along those lines, but it feels like it's done poorly enough that it really takes away from the impact of what they were trying to say. However, the last 1/3 or so finally gets back into the swing of things and is the sort of thing you wanted out of a followup to CROWDS. It's just a shame it takes so long to get there. I still think this is worth watching for fans of the first season, but don't go in expecting something as good as CROWDS again.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 5, 2015

Flawfinder

Not Recommended

There are two kinds of sequels in the anime world - ones that are made because the writer has more story to tell and one that’s made to cash-in on the original. And whilst this new Crowds anime played out like the latter during quite a few points, the little man inside my mind always kicked that possibility to the curb whilst saying “Cash-in on what, exactly? It didn’t sell great, it’s not popular on MAL, and had so many production issues it’s a wonder people fell in love with it at all”. Unfortunately, another man who lived in my mind responded with “why exactly ... does this sequel exist then? What is it being insightful of? It feels more like a side-story in the vein of Gat Out of Hell rather than a continuation of what Crowds created”.

I don’t know what happened from there on out, but let’s just say the word “clusterfuck” might have a new picture in the dictionary soon enough. So you’ll have to excuse me if this review isn’t very coherent, but Nakamura anime are tough to summarize in general - unless it’s Tsuritama, in which case we can easily summarize it as coherent whilst also easily summarize it as being awful - so I doubt more than two guys are going to give me shit for this.

So sometime after Hajime absorbed Berg Katze into herself and caused the Crowds system to be widespread, popularity for the current state of things has declined and a mysterious organization called VAPE is causing havoc around Japan. However, things become even more complicated when an alien named Gelsadra (or Gel for short) crash lands on the planet, near a girl named Tsubasa who ends up becoming a new member of the Gatchaman on the basis that she’s basically Hajime 2.0. I don’t exactly have a good grasp of what happens afterwards, so let’s just say that VAPE’s entire purpose is to show that the current system is flawed without making much of a struggle after that’s done, causing the prime minister to resign and Gel to run for his position. From there on, the show becomes a load of idea-slinging as Tsubasa and the other characters do their best to maintain order despite Gel having a personality that makes Steve Carell’s stupidest roles look smart.

Gatchaman Crowds has never been a very subtle show, but that’s not exactly a valid complaint because The Simpsons wasn’t exactly Cowboy Bebop during its time either. What is a valid complaint is the feeling of “hey, haven’t we already done this?” that a lot of the show goes through. Too many of the themes are recycled from the first season or are so similar that it makes no difference, and because the show is mostly focused on the characters trying to maintain things rather than fix things this go-around (there’s literally no main villain in Insight and anything that could pass for one is more an annoyance than a threat), there’s a giant lack of urgency going on in the proceedings. Which probably wouldn’t be too bad by itself, but Crowds’ lack of compelling answers to the issues that it raises hasn’t been fixed either, and the issues it raises are stuff people have talked about multiple times by now. Yes they’re still relevant, but a good story would do its best to hammer in why it’s still relevant.

Does Insight do this? Maybe, but the show lost me around the last third and it wasn't exactly holding my attention before then either, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you either way. All the logic-bombs at the expense of actual story or action that didn't end anticlimactically were more alienating than Ghost in the Shell’s long cold philosophical jargon, and it got to the point that I was no longer a participant in its world, basically becoming Paiman with even less understanding of the situation. I couldn’t tell you what Tsubasa contributed to the story either other than being Gel’s best friend. And I couldn’t tell you what the significance of the Kuu-samas were beyond presenting a conflict that the characters had to solve, although I will say they weren’t the least bit threatening and I can’t recall them affecting much to begin with.

Action was never the point of Crowds, actively rejecting it as a solution whilst using technology and words as an alternative to defeating Lord Zedd, and I respect that. But we have so many western cartoons that deal with all this social satire stuff now in the exact same manner, and they do it way better in terms of getting to the point whilst also being funny to boot. Remember when I said that Prison School felt like a South Park episode that felt stretched out to more than ten times the length? Insight is a Rick and Morty episode that feels the exact same - although aliens have been done in South Park as well.

In fact, the finale of Insight reminds me of the finale of Rick and Morty’s latest season in terms of the final resolution and how the latter was executed so much better. Without spoiling too much, in both finales, an important/beloved character makes an important sacrifice in order to allow the people they love to have a better future amongst their alien brethren in order to end their seasons on an emotional note. However, whilst Rick and Morty decided to let the visuals and overall direction speak for the event's impact itself, Insight ruins it by having the entire final episode dedicated to explaining the sacrifice and what it accomplished despite the fact that I clearly got the idea in the episode prior. And I didn’t even think it was that much of a sacrifice since the show hasn’t exactly established its universe as one where characters suffer any permanent damage unless having to live with Mamoru Miyano’s voice for the rest of your life is considered your personal hell. I’ll give it points for being something new in the Crowds universe, but that’s like praising the most controversial scene in Man of Steel by saying “at least it did something differently to The Dark Knight” and nothing else.

Look, I like the core idea of Crowds fine. But at the end of the day, I just don’t see why this sequel needed to exist. It didn’t fix the problems I had with the first season (bar not being as ridden with production issues) and it didn’t follow-up on anything said season set up, coming off more like an expansion pack rather than a vital part of the Crowds’ canon. Doesn’t exactly help that the characters just aren’t any fun here either. The two new leads did as much for me as a CD drive attached to my television set, mostly because they felt like rehashes of previous characters. And the returning characters’ annoying traits really get exemplified when they’d rather examine the story rather than contributing to it.

Seriously, what the fuck happened to the Hajime from the first season? The one who was always taking charge and leading humanity towards the brighter side of life despite all the complaints directed towards her attitude? The Hajime in this anime is nothing but talk, with half her old self transferred to the new girl and the other half sailed into space.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Gatchaman Crowds Insight Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 26, 2015	89 replies	by BigBoyAdvance »» Mar 8, 2:15 PM
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