Mar 17, 2025
Giant Gorg is a really sweet adventure/ mecha anime from 1984 that feels like it could be from '75, and I mean that in a good way. It's just a show about a boy (Yuu) and his big robot (Gorg) traversing an exotic island while being chased by some paramilitary dudes. Interestingly, the titular Gorg doesn't even make an appearance until episode 3? 4? It's kinda funny.
There are some moments of great animation, and the score is really solid. I agree with the Spielberg comment from another user. The core cast includes some fun and memorable characters, but eventually the party balloons to such
...
great size that many secondary characters get sidelined in the final third of the show. They'll appear in scenes and not have anything to say or any way to influence the plot. If the show were longer they might have more characterization to inform how I should feel about them but 26 is just the right length for something like this, I think.
So I like the premise and episodic chase sequences and environmental traversal scenes. That's all choreographed nicely, maintaining a good pace and tension. The show is generally very grounded for being about a sentient robot, which gives the twists and turns a real sense of danger. Everything in the show is lushly colored, and Yas's characters alongside Nagano's mechs are a winning combo for me. There's also an overarching plot, of course, it's mecha from the 80s. It's fine for most of the show! Our leads are learning about the island and Gorg, GAIL (the bad guys) are trying to catch them, as well as solve the mysteries on a parallel trajectory. There's also some infighting with GAIL and the other mercenary groups. It's cool!
*SPOILERS FROM HERE*
Then we get the alien stuff. I love alien stuff, I love when they do the Zentraedi voice filter, I love when there's a grey-green guy, and I love when an anime character gets chucked in the 2001 infinity room of the mind. Unfortunately, Gorg doesn't do a fantastic job of expanding beyond the elements that I like. Yeah aliens are sleeping in the Earth whatever. I don't know, this aspect just doesn't mesh with everything else going on in the show. It's almost like the GAIL crew never acknowledges that they're dealing with aliens, despite getting decimated by them at one point? It matters that they fight at one point, but after the two plots intersect they diverge again and don't reconnect satisfyingly at the end of the show.
Like a lot of Yas's work, it's a great pulp adventure that fails to come together to say something bigger than the sum of its parts at the end. It's a cold war story about how...
We'll keep fighting each other unless an outside force helps us focus on a common enemy?
Or maybe that we just need to wait for humans to figure peace out but there's nothing we can do right now?
Community and friendship are great but they won't save you from the bomb?
(also Yuu is special because of his bloodline. Yuck.)
Most of the theming I can come up with is much more cynical than the show feels, moment to moment. It's too bad it lands like this because it's really a joy to watch until like episode 20ish. Then it does a bunch of politics and mythology all at once, but I'm really not sure what it's trying to say with all of it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
