Gamera: Rebirth

I didn't know anything about Gamera, I had only heard the name, although I do know about kaijus, Godzilla and Ultraman. I loved this series. Veteran fans who have been talking about Gamera from 1965 are very annoying, seriously, you can't see everything the same as you did 60 years ago. If we had to judge everything by the original canons, nothing would ever be right, because the original is almost always the best, so don't be annoying.

And then there are those who directly suspend the series for having this type of animation. Netflix has already released quite a few series like this (quite good ... by the way), and that's okay, for me it's not my favorite style of animation, but this animation fits very well with the type of anime it is. I found the kaijus spectacular, as well as the battles, which is the main thing. In addition, I found the story quite entertaining and much better than I expected. It's not easy to make a compelling story when you know that there is a pattern for each chapter where a new kaiju, gamera, and fight will always appear.

That Gamera has an average rating of between 6 and 7 with these two previous handicaps, means that the series is really 8 and 9, or at least, 7 to 8. These series with this type of animation do not go beyond "fine" by default is already a classic that surprises no one. This is one of those series where you can't trust the MA rating.

Extra: The opening is ****** amazing, worthy of the best shounen arc of naruto, bleach, one piece or boku no hero.

I'm going to make a quick review on Gamera: Rebirth because it's almost the end of 2023 and the series is still kinda new, and I'm a bit of a Gamera fan, so here are my small thoughts on it!

For those who don't know about Gamera himself: Gamera is a giant turtle Kaiju that got quite the fame before the 2000' in Japan for being a Godzilla's contrasting rival when it comes to Japanese monster movies. But the big guy went silent for quite a long period, his last movie being Gamera the Brave from 2006 and no other projects have been taken since. But ... finally the turtle has made a comeback with an Netflix animated series called Gamera: Rebirth, it draws the attention of not only our protagonist, but also 5 other Kaijus that Gamera has already faced before during the Showa period: Gyaos, Jiger, Zigra, Guiron and Viras. The series is mainly focused on our protagonist fighting other monsters to save the Earth and the population in danger, but there's also a side story about four kids going into an adventure trying to escape and getting safe from the Kaijus.

The plot is as simple as you can get: monsters fly around and hit each other while the human characters are trying to give us a reason of why we should care about the monster action. If we have to compare for a moment this series to other anime with giant monsters like Godzilla Singular Point, the Godzilla anime trilogy or even Attack on Titan, Rebirth doesn't try to give a complex story or a deep meaning message behind the Kaiju fights, which in my opinion is a good choice because it will let the fans enjoy what they came here for: mindless monster action. The action itself was quite the spectacle, the way the monsters can fly or jump around while still having some sort of weight and impact on every hit they get is satisfying + the GCI on the Kaijus doesn't look that bad, I've seen better CGI in other action oriented series but the monsters aesthetic, along with their creative design, are charming to look. Gamera was also a very likable character, he's intimidating whenever countering another Kaiju but also protective and badass with the main cast around, maybe one of my favorite interpretation of the big turtle so far, his design is very sick and awesome as well.

So the story and action scenes are decent enough to recommend Gamera: Rebirth to a certain type of audience who wants to get at the edge of their seat. The show knows what it is and it's not afraid to be a mindless destruction fest with giant freaks, so I can give Rebirth a small respect for what is trying to be, but at the same time I can't call myself satisfied with Rebirth for probably insignificant reasons that other people might think. While the fights are well made and the protagonists are always set in dangerous situations I didn't felt much excitement, mainly due to the generic soundtrack playing in the background that kinda killed the tension it was getting. The human characters aren't anything to write a book about, I've seen worse squad of kids in different stories (even in Gamera movies) but I can't find a lot to relate to them and I won't call their friendship unique or strong at all, and it makes me think of them as a generic group to follow. By the last two episodes when the main cast were getting in life risking events and the plot was getting a lot more serious I simply couldn't care. Also while I complimented the CGI for the monsters and how nice it looked, it was a deal breaker for me seeing how terrible it look on the human characters, on top of having bland design they also have stiff and janky movements which makes them look very unnatural. It's one aspect I can compliment Godzilla Singular Point for, creating characters with generally unique design while being 2D animated, but Rebirth does the very opposite. It was a very noticeable problem after seeing the first trailer and sadly it has been the same from start to end. They also revealed a twist villain at the end, a character that seemed genuine and friendly for most of the adventure except not really when the plot needed at finale, it felt to cliché in my opinion.

So... this is what I generally think of Rebirth. Despite the overall nice attempt to bring the big turtle guy back in game, I can't help but feeling they could have made his return a little more epic and fascinating. Am I being to harsh on this small and inoffensive anime? Yeah maybe, but at same time I can't recommend it to a general audience who wants to look at something more memorable and there are other Gamera entries that can offer you a much better experience: like the Gamera Heisei trilogy or Gamera the Brave that I mentioned before. For being a return of an iconic monster, I just wasn't very interested. But then again this is just a dumb animated series made by f**king Netflix so, what could I expect. I'll might have an all new appreciation for the Gridman Universe.

At the time of this review, it has now been 18 years since Gamera, the rocket powered flying turtle kaiju had made any form of on screen appearance. 2006's Gamera the Brave, which received generally unfavourable reviews, would be the last time the franchise would receive any new iteration for years.
With the triumphant return of Godzilla in 2014 and the kaiju renaissance started by 2013's Pacific Rim now being in full swing, many fans of the kaiju genre, myself included, clamored for the return of our favourite turtle.
Unfortunately, Gamera Rebirth would end up not being the great return we were hoping for.

Firstly, the series is ... directed by Hiroyuki Seshita who co-directed the atrocious Godzilla anime trilogy and the series is also animated in the same 3-D style which doesn't look good and comes across as stiff and janky in most places. The characters aren't particularly interesting as they just feel dull and the story definitely leaves much to be desired.

Gamera Rebirth was definitely a series that had a lot of hype behind it prior to it's release due to the fact that Gamera hadn't been seen for many years but just ended up being a disappointing series that left a bad after taste.
And honestly, Gamera deserves better.