Opening Songs
OP 1 - Gate (Kishida Kyodan & The Akeboshi Rockets)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - Prism Communicate (Risa Taneda, Hisako Kanemoto, Nao Toyama)
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
Episodes: 12
At first glance, "Gate" does seem to be quite a unique show. Talking about a modern day soldier who is sent into a newly discovered world that spawns from a gate that suddenly appears out of nowhere, the possibilities are almost endless. That whole new world for a modern day soldier with modern day technologies under his belt should prove to be interesting. To be honest, it IS quite a cool show. Sure, its one of those shows that may not appeal to anyone and everyone, but there is a lot to like here. If you like a story with a deep amount of lore to be uncovered, then you'll love it. If you're all for gun blazing action and fan service, then "Gate" might not suit you THAT much, its a little bit of a thinking man's show with fantasy and some (very minor) fan service thrown in. One thing's for sure though, if you do watch "Gate", then you can expect an adventure with a whole heaping ton of fun and unexpected twists.
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| Tuka is most definitely the hottest of the 3. |
The opening theme is "Gate" by Kishida Kyodan & The Akeboshi Rockets, a group that I adore quite a fair bit despite them only performing theme songs for so few shows. In all of the openings that they sung, I was least impressed by "Gate" out of all their performed theme songs, even when I'm saying that, its an amazing effort. Its energetic, it gets you pumped and its pretty hype, that's pretty great. The ending theme is "Prism Communicate", a slow song by the seiyuus of the 3 main heroines in the show. Not my cup of tea, but there's not really much else to say here.
Rating: 8.0/10
Just for the first season alone, I personally enjoyed "Gate" quite a lot. Its engaging, its characters are fun and humane (coming from someone who went through military accord before), even on just the modern side, there's a lot to like. The fantasy side feels a lot like an MMO anime done right, with a lot of an adventure feel with our characters journeying throughout the land like a band of heroic badassess. In terms of the feeling of "adventure", its quite hard to get "Gate" beat. You get the same feel of awe and wonder as the main characters explore this new land. While the 3 main heroines do feel a little bit tacked on, they're rarely ever out of place and at least they don't cling to the main character needlessly without reason. The story is massive, there's a lot going on and the show tries its very best to give us satisfactory story telling without leaving out too much. Its good enough, though there definitely will be a lot more in season 2. There is some action, and while these moments are quite rare, they're pretty nice to look at, especially with the flashy explosions and magic when all the fighting occurs.
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| My face when I look at the next season's animes at the end of each season... |
Yoji is an old man in his 30s that's pledged to being a military personal. Well, I say that but he's basically being a soldier for money so that he can spend it on his otaku stuff. Yes, despite everything, this guy is an otaku soldier. One day, on his way to an anime event, he sees something out worldly happen right in front of his eyes. A massive gate appears out of nowhere in the middle of Tokyo, and out of the gate spurs forth an endless amount of other worldly creatures, including orcs, griffons, wyverns and other...sorts of nonsense. These creatures slaughter innocent bystanders and start attacking the city. Being a soldier at heart, Yoji jumps into the fray and starts to try killing these things while rescuing civilians. After long, grueling days of battle with the military helping out, they manage to suppress the invaders, with Yoji being promoted in rank as being one of the soldiers who helped the most during the attack. He is charged with leading a force into this gate and to explore the new world, seeing if it brings any threat to mankind. Little does he know, he's in for an adventure of his life.
"Gate" just rubs me the right way and is one of the most fun shows of 2015. The 2nd season is out and probably almost done at this point, I can't wait to jump right into it. At this point, I expect nothing but greatness.
