Anime Rave: The Gargoyle of the Yoshinaga Family: Deceptively Great Show at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

Anime Rave: The Gargoyle of the Yoshinaga Family: Deceptively Great Show

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Popularity: 5% [?] Published by tj_han May 15th, 2006 in Anime Rave

I don’t get why there are multiple subbers for something as average as Kiba while a great show like Gargoyle takes so long to get picked up. From just watching the first episode alone, this show just shot up the rankings, powering into possibly fourth or fifth place. So what is so good about a show featuring an immobile chunk of sculpted rock and a hyperactive kid?

From what I’ve seen of it, it is a slice of life series with a lot of true emotions, lubricated by a bit of slapstick comedy. Sometimes, SoL can be rather boring but Gargoyle prevents any boredom through the clever use of energetic slapstick humour. The main thrust of the episode is still about how a little girl regains her trust in her blind dad’s guide dog. Gargoyle and gang are mere props in this aspect. I found the first episode to be very touching.

Gar-kun sits at the gates, frying all intruders with an arsenal of weapons, including lightning, lasers and flamethrowers.

But Futaba is not too pleased at the bad rep their house is getting.

This is the Mama of the house. She’s the only one who totally accepts Gar-kun at first.

The main story for episode 1 goes like this. Lieutenant Avery (LTA Avery) is Mimori’s blind dad’s guide dog. He is a good dog and Mimori is very proud of him. When burglars break into their home however, and Mimori is captured and tied up, Avery just stands and watches. Gargoyle, with his vast array of sensors, detects the danger and teleports over to save them. But Mimori, being a tiny girl, has been mentally scarred from the traumatic experience and has lost trust in Avery because he didn’t bark or protect her.

Little girls are surely mentally scarred by big black men grabbing them in the dark.

Gar-kun teleports to the rescue.

What I like about this is that the show doesn’t gloss over any residual effects of the trauma Mimori suffered. Lesser series end after Gargoyle saves the day. But this show follows through and also focuses on how Avery won back Mimori’s trust. Gargoyle has the ability to talk to animals as well so it uses that to help Avery explain his rationale for not taking action, which was a completely logical decision. Would you resist an armed robber who has taken a girl hostage, with no weapons of your own?

But the meat of the episode is the post-trauma therapy.

Avery is hated by Mimori now.

And she becomes a hikikomori.

Avery explains the rationale for his actions. In spite of how it looks, this is actually a serious discussion between two great protectors of justice.

In spite of knowing the reason, Mimori still cannot bring herself to trust Avery again. I like how the episode makes things difficult. Way too many problems are solved with little effort lately in anime, so it’s nice to see that sometimes, characters still have to try hard. This is the touching and serious part of the show, which many viewers were not prepared for, since the OP was all about robots and gargoyles battling green monsters.

Avery wins back her trust.

And injures himself trying to prevent a second robbery.

I’m sure in later episodes, there will be fighting. Which is good since I like fighting. In the first episode alone, we have seen the introduction of a mysterious antique shop girl who seems to be the creator of Gargoyle, her rival who has another Gargoyle and an army of robbers.

The comedy is pretty decent as well. There’s comedy and seriousness at the right moments. I like how the younger sister calls her older bro "Fagg!!" because he really is. You know how girly bishies are quite common and no one really points out that they look more like girls? Futaba (the kid sister) is brutally honest about her feelings towards her brother.

In spite of it being slice of lifey, the episode ends on a cliff-hanger.

The voice casting is pretty good with a couple of big names. Saitou Chiwa uses her kiddy voice for Futaba. The animals sounded manly, like the men they really are.

As for music, it’s standard seiyuu stuff. The OP and ED isn’t anything to shout about. The OP is slightly better with a nice melody.

Watch this for a dramatic touching funny and exciting slice of life show! The raws are up to 6 or 7. I hope the standard of the first episode is maintained.

Popularity: 5% [?]

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14 Responses to “Anime Rave: The Gargoyle of the Yoshinaga Family: Deceptively Great Show”

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1 T_T||| 476 comments May 15th, 2006 at 8:55 pm

LOLI ALERT! I SEE A FREAKIN’ LOLI! Pass to me next time we meet up.
2 kacpy 30 comments May 15th, 2006 at 10:18 pm

Yea, it is a good show, but Shi-Fa already said they have no clue when the next episode might be out, cause they have no translator. So we are back to the starting point, unfortunately. Why does F/SN get 3 fansubbers and this zero?
3 T_T||| 476 comments May 16th, 2006 at 12:01 am

Because F/SN has blind followers and a huge solid game fanbase foundation. Even though the anime is turning into a yawnfest now.
4 kacpy 30 comments May 16th, 2006 at 1:45 am

It was a yawnfest right from the start imho.
5 T_T||| 476 comments May 16th, 2006 at 7:14 am

Was following the anime closely until the recent episodes, that is when Saber goes dere dere. Then somehow I didn’t feel obliged to watch it anymore. Maybe the loli from this gargoyle anime will cure me of my sickness.
6 Os 54 comments May 16th, 2006 at 9:41 am

This was a lot deeper than I expected when I first heard about it. I have no clue whether to label it a bust or not… I’ll watch more… but that’s what I said about that one with the cancer girl… Hantsuki or something. Episode 2 is still just lying there.
7 DrmChsr0 157 comments May 16th, 2006 at 10:27 am

Shingo must’ve been sleeping.

I’ll catch this, along with GINBAN DENSETSU WEED~.
8 Hung 18 comments May 16th, 2006 at 4:22 pm

I dunno if this is slice of life, per se. Unless that means a town full of burglars… Seriously, is the main source of revenue of this town form burgling?

Character designs are where it’s at. Let’s see if they can make a good anime around them.
9 Waterfall 122 comments Nov 2nd, 2006 at 11:58 am

To tj_han,

Re: Yoshinasan’chi no Gargoyle at http://www.garkun.com/

The only English anime blog I know (besides this one) that did reviews about it was Matthew’s~
http://matthew.animeblogger.net/archives/cat_yoshinagasanchi_no_gargoyle.php
And that’s because he doesn’t need subs.

It doesn’t get fansub love because people see the OP/ED with chibi animals and think it’s kiddy. See Keroro Gunsou and Animal Yokocho as examples that don’t get fansub love. Do we really need ten groups doing Death Note and Kanon? I don’t think so.

This show has my favourite seiyuu, so I’m hoping that all the episodes will be subbed. 2nd ep shows the reasons for the burglaries and a new rival for Gargoyle. If you do see the 2nd ep, note that the rival’s name is Kreb (Hebrew for Cherub). Doremi translated it as Kelp, so all the references to angels and devils make no sense.

The story seems engaging despite the anime cliches. I like how that the cliches are there but doesn’t use it as a crutch but a platform for interesting story-telling. Best underrated anime for 2006 for sure.

Byes.
From
Waterfall
10 lacora 1 comment Jan 8th, 2007 at 11:57 am

it sucks!
11 Maceart 2 comments Jan 25th, 2007 at 2:41 pm

No fret, Garkun is now on episode 7 subbed and is an ongoing project for Doremi-fansubs (from the DVD source).

Keroro Gunsou is subbed up to episode 80.
12 Spanky 1 comment Feb 20th, 2007 at 6:50 am

Up to Ep 9 now, and the underlying current of “no easy answers” continues. As in pointing out the pitfalls of talking to plants, and what happens when someone is “saved” by a “bad” guy.

Really underrated series. Wish it had been subbed earlier (I might’ve voted for Lily in Saimoe), but a Doremi transsub is appreciated, too. They’re aiming to wrap up all the eps and the DVD specials by the end of March.
13 Maceart 2 comments Apr 3rd, 2007 at 7:51 am

And episode 13 is out! Enjoy this awesome series, we loved subbing it too.

1 Kotaku Trackback on Jun 11th, 2007 at 9:01 pm

Do not use any < and > for your own sake. It will end the comment there and then. Also, there is an automatic IQ filter which weeds out comments made by those who accidentally got transported from the stone age.

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