It’s pretty sad that few people watch Gigantic Formula, much less blog about it. Looking at all the mecha titles this season (Gurren Lagann, Koutetsushin Jeeg, Heroic Age, Reideen) and their varying degrees of awesomeness, GF is comparatively underappreciated. I think it has great potential, notwithstanding its unpopular choice of CG animation for mechs, and idiosyncratic “frog eyes” character designs. In a nutshell, it’s G Gundam minus the Gundam. plus political intrigue. There’s also something definitely menacing with UN’s Gigantic, Chronos 0.
For the mechs, I’d definitely say they’re hit-and-miss, and most people prefer to hate them, even though all Gigantics were designed by acclaimed mech designers in the business (no Hajime Katoki, though). I don’t like them very much, but seeing as the story is character-driven, you can bear looking at the outrageous-looking mechs.
The narrating strategy employed by GF in recent subbed episodes is unique and interesting. Because it’d be improbable for the Japanese to go around the world, kicking gaijin ass and taking names, conflict is shown between other countries. So far we’ve seen the Greece vs. Middle East-Africa Union fight, and just last episode, England vs. France. This allows the viewer to see other pilots and their pasts in a non-hurried way, making the pilots themselves believable, ordinary humans thrust into a Gigantic cockpit. In a world war at this scale, there are surprisingly few career military combatants. One’s a butler, the other’s a social relief worker, while another is a high school student.
Episode 9 deals with the other side of the current conflict between England and France. As we’ve seen Daniel and Lily (who is voiced by Kikuko Inoue) of England last episode, this time we’re treated to Olivier and Sylvie of France, who are Pilot and Translator, respectively. The two are stepsiblings in a complicated family situation.
This is the weirdest cockpit scheme I’ve ever seen.
