Gamba no Bouken

Gamba no Bouken is a fantastic little adventure piece directed by Osamu Dezaki during the turning point in Dezaki's 70s series. Dezaki had largely focused on directing sports series like Ashita no Joe and Ace wo Nerae in the early part of the decade, shifting to classic book adaptations with Ie Naki Ko and Takarajima in the later half of the decade. Gamba represents a mid-ground between these two eras stylistically, with an art style shift away from the more psychedelic style of the earlier towards the bright colors and fantastic high detail backgrounds of the later.
Visually Gamba ... is very split, with the main cast tending to look cartoony and rounded in character design, allowing for some more fast paced motion for the time. Antagonists are drawn heavily shaded and detailed, much closer in design to actual animals, leaving a contrast that makes both sides pop against each other. Humans tend to be drawn from an interesting perspective, tending to cover any face in shadow, keeping them as some large, mythical creature, furthering the size difference between the gang and humans. I'd say that overall this series looks quite nice, especially with its recent blu-ray release.
In the sound department Gamba uses a solid jazz soundtrack from the venerable Takeo Yamashita, well known for his work in the original Lupin III series. The opening is a bouncy, roaring fun romp, reflecting our main character rather well, with highly stylized visuals. The ending is a slower, more somber matter with a slow pan of a heavily detailed picture of our group facing on the antagonist, showing that their final struggle still looms ahead.
At its core Gamba is a fun children's adventure show with a surprising amount of violence and strife. It could in many ways be compared to a Redwall book. The series focuses on the adventures of a small group of mice adventuring to their destination, filled with comedic moments, and lots of enjoyable action. The characters are not full of depth, generally more archetypes (strong, smart, drunk, stubborn etc.) but are all acted well and full of vigor. I'd say that anyone looking for a solid adventure series with stylized 70s visuals and a fun cast should look no further. Enjoy!

What can I say ? I have no words for such anime WOW just WOW this anime was just incredible ! It's been a long time since I didn't get so amazed by an anime the story,the characters,the art it was so delicious from begining to end !

This anime was not a basic happy adventure,it was tragic,there was sorrowness,deads and it was so violent the appearances = tricky ! This anime would disturb any kids watching it.

I just loved the characters and their bravery every characters was useful not only one character made the whole story each characters got their abilities useful to survive ... and help each others that's just absolutely magnificent,fraternity between characters was so well done and touching

It's deplorable that nobody know this materpiece I think that more people should watch it I can tell you this anime is such an addiction a beautiful,magnificent addiction trust me !