Anime Detail

This is a database of older and less well known anime and manga \| Menu \|
		Anime Detail -Help-

Back | Anime titles | anime in romaji order | Shoujo | W.M.T | Old Anime | Manga titles | Blog Home

Information

Title (English) Overman King Gainer

Title (Japanese) Overman King Gainer

Advertising
Fantasy Novel

Notes

Classification -

Synopsis

Review I saw most of the original Wowow broadcast of Tomino's "Overman King Gainer" but I did miss a handful of episodes, including a couple leading up to the finale. So it was interesting for me to re-watch the entire series on the R2 DVD releases. In addition, the "encyclopedia" that came with the R2s added a lot of useful background. (Such as the interesting trivia that Tomino likes to draw the conceptual sketches for his heroines as nudes.) Now that I've had a chance to see and consider the entire series, I've got a few thoughts that I want to share, along with some spoilers for those nice folks who asked me in the past about the ending.
S P O I L E R
S P A C E
In one sense, "King Gainer" is a big, glorious "shaggy dog" story. Tomino obviously had a lot of fun doing it, and enjoyed the large budget that provided opportunities to put enormous detail into this post apocalyptic world. And most of the details are there deliberately to add to the humor or to the general "strangeness" of the background. There are so many memorably goofy scenes :
- Cynthia doing warm-up exercises with her shape-shifting Dominator while waiting for Asuham to get into his Overman � and Asuham slipping and falling while trying to run on the ice to take up the challenge - Kids Munt, the main human bad guy, wearing a "I Love Yapan" sweatshirt after being rescued from the Over Devil. I can't believe that Tomino and staff let that through as a mistake � there has to be some deliberate reason for the "Y" instead of a "J" - Most of the antics of the three ermines ( the Links ) of the Princess Ana, who generally appear to be smarter than most of the humans in the show
At the same time, there were a few serious images that stood out, particularly that of the decapitated head of the original Miiya. This isn稚 totally incongruous, however, since the story is, after all, Tomino's re-telling of part of the Book of Exodus from a Japanese point of view, although Gain makes for a fairly mercurial Moses, and Gainer an even less likely Joshua.
A lot of the "sense of family" that Tomino put into "Turn A Gundam" and "Brain Powerd" comes out in "King Gainer" too. Both Gainer and Cynthia are driven by their feelings of loss of family. Tomino shows faith in the strength of "family" in the broader sense in a manner similar to that in "Turn A", when at the end everyone, including the Exodus folks and the Siberia Railway police, band together to defeat the Over Devil.
So how does the series end?
After Gainer's unsuccessful attempt to meet Cynthia for a date, he and Sarah finally do bump into Cynthia at another time in a game arcade while trying to avoid some Dome Police. They are all surprised at seeing each other in the flesh, become friends and Cynthia helps Gainer and Sara to escape. But then Cynthia wants to "play" a game with Gainer � her Dominator against King Gainer. Gainer isn't really enthusiastic about this, but does eventually step up to the challenge, until a surprise move by Cynthia pierces King Gainer and stabs Gainer in the stomach. Sarah berates Cynthia for being so careless and Cynthia goes into a state of shock at the realization that her abilities with the Dominator are more than just "playing a game".
While Gainer is recovering, Cynthia goes back to the estate of Kids Munt (who is essentially a surrogate father to her) and broods over the accident with Gainer. Cynthia then allows herself to be drawn into Munt's huge floating proto-Overman, the Crystal of Agate, in which she finds the long lost Over Devil. But the Over Devil is more than an ordinary Overman, and soon starts to take over Cynthia, via her feelings of loss and despair. The Over Devil has all sorts of powers that are beyond the abilities of either the Exodus or Siberian Railways folks to control.
King Gainer, however, has a number of similar capabilities, and Gainer comes close to eventually stunning the Over Devil, but when Gainer goes inside to rescue Cynthia, the Over Devil is able to overcome Gainer by playing upon his sense of loss. The Over Devil then takes King Gainer into it and adds King Gainer's powers to its own. Gainer and Cynthia now have lost all their human "warmth" and feelings and start to toy with the others, even to the point of taking Sarah with them.
But when the three of them take the Over Devil to Munt's capital in order to suck up the energy of the rail grid, the rest of the gang come up with a few, last special Overskins with which to fight them. Sarah is the key, however, as she never totally lost all her feelings for the others and starts to shake off the grip of the Over Devil. Gainer is next when he starts to remember his friendship for Cynthia and his love for Sarah. And with this King Gainer is released from the Over Devil and Gainer is able to destroy the Over Devil and save Cynthia.
So the series ends, with :
- the Exodus folks near their final goal ( a place not much more inviting than where they came from, but they don't really know any better ) - all of the main and most of the secondary characters surviving and some forming couples (Adet and Gauri, Lyubov and Azaff, for example) - Asuham dragged off back to London by his little sister Currin ( who is not really bothered at all at having been jilted at one time by Gain ) - Gainer, Sarah and Cynthia ending together (menage a trois?), unlike the ending of "Turn A" where only one girl was chosen - all the cast starting to sing the "King Gainer" song.
All-in-all, a fun series.
(Dave Baranyi)

Credits Creator & Series Dir: Yoshiyuki Tomino

Episodes 26

Release

TV Showing See the whole series for free? This series may be syndicated to regional cable, satellite or terrestial TV stations. For Europe click here.

Date 2002 Sept 6 -

Production WoWoW, Sunrise

Broadcaster WoWoW

Animation Sunrise

References & Help Look up the latest data on this title at:
Richard Llewellyn's Animated Divots, or
Anime News Network (see Encyclopedia section) ,
or in "The Anime Encyclopedia" (Clements & McCarthy, Stone Bridge Press, 2001).
Help & further information.

Back

Skin design by DivxDB

Information
Title (English)	Overman King Gainer
Title (Japanese)	Overman King Gainer
Advertising Fantasy Novel
Notes
Classification	-
Synopsis
Review	I saw most of the original Wowow broadcast of Tomino's "Overman King Gainer" but I did miss a handful of episodes, including a couple leading up to the finale. So it was interesting for me to re-watch the entire series on the R2 DVD releases. In addition, the "encyclopedia" that came with the R2s added a lot of useful background. (Such as the interesting trivia that Tomino likes to draw the conceptual sketches for his heroines as nudes.) Now that I've had a chance to see and consider the entire series, I've got a few thoughts that I want to share, along with some spoilers for those nice folks who asked me in the past about the ending. S P O I L E R S P A C E In one sense, "King Gainer" is a big, glorious "shaggy dog" story. Tomino obviously had a lot of fun doing it, and enjoyed the large budget that provided opportunities to put enormous detail into this post apocalyptic world. And most of the details are there deliberately to add to the humor or to the general "strangeness" of the background. There are so many memorably goofy scenes : - Cynthia doing warm-up exercises with her shape-shifting Dominator while waiting for Asuham to get into his Overman � and Asuham slipping and falling while trying to run on the ice to take up the challenge - Kids Munt, the main human bad guy, wearing a "I Love Yapan" sweatshirt after being rescued from the Over Devil. I can't believe that Tomino and staff let that through as a mistake � there has to be some deliberate reason for the "Y" instead of a "J" - Most of the antics of the three ermines ( the Links ) of the Princess Ana, who generally appear to be smarter than most of the humans in the show At the same time, there were a few serious images that stood out, particularly that of the decapitated head of the original Miiya. This isn稚 totally incongruous, however, since the story is, after all, Tomino's re-telling of part of the Book of Exodus from a Japanese point of view, although Gain makes for a fairly mercurial Moses, and Gainer an even less likely Joshua. A lot of the "sense of family" that Tomino put into "Turn A Gundam" and "Brain Powerd" comes out in "King Gainer" too. Both Gainer and Cynthia are driven by their feelings of loss of family. Tomino shows faith in the strength of "family" in the broader sense in a manner similar to that in "Turn A", when at the end everyone, including the Exodus folks and the Siberia Railway police, band together to defeat the Over Devil. So how does the series end? After Gainer's unsuccessful attempt to meet Cynthia for a date, he and Sarah finally do bump into Cynthia at another time in a game arcade while trying to avoid some Dome Police. They are all surprised at seeing each other in the flesh, become friends and Cynthia helps Gainer and Sara to escape. But then Cynthia wants to "play" a game with Gainer � her Dominator against King Gainer. Gainer isn't really enthusiastic about this, but does eventually step up to the challenge, until a surprise move by Cynthia pierces King Gainer and stabs Gainer in the stomach. Sarah berates Cynthia for being so careless and Cynthia goes into a state of shock at the realization that her abilities with the Dominator are more than just "playing a game". While Gainer is recovering, Cynthia goes back to the estate of Kids Munt (who is essentially a surrogate father to her) and broods over the accident with Gainer. Cynthia then allows herself to be drawn into Munt's huge floating proto-Overman, the Crystal of Agate, in which she finds the long lost Over Devil. But the Over Devil is more than an ordinary Overman, and soon starts to take over Cynthia, via her feelings of loss and despair. The Over Devil has all sorts of powers that are beyond the abilities of either the Exodus or Siberian Railways folks to control. King Gainer, however, has a number of similar capabilities, and Gainer comes close to eventually stunning the Over Devil, but when Gainer goes inside to rescue Cynthia, the Over Devil is able to overcome Gainer by playing upon his sense of loss. The Over Devil then takes King Gainer into it and adds King Gainer's powers to its own. Gainer and Cynthia now have lost all their human "warmth" and feelings and start to toy with the others, even to the point of taking Sarah with them. But when the three of them take the Over Devil to Munt's capital in order to suck up the energy of the rail grid, the rest of the gang come up with a few, last special Overskins with which to fight them. Sarah is the key, however, as she never totally lost all her feelings for the others and starts to shake off the grip of the Over Devil. Gainer is next when he starts to remember his friendship for Cynthia and his love for Sarah. And with this King Gainer is released from the Over Devil and Gainer is able to destroy the Over Devil and save Cynthia. So the series ends, with : - the Exodus folks near their final goal ( a place not much more inviting than where they came from, but they don't really know any better ) - all of the main and most of the secondary characters surviving and some forming couples (Adet and Gauri, Lyubov and Azaff, for example) - Asuham dragged off back to London by his little sister Currin ( who is not really bothered at all at having been jilted at one time by Gain ) - Gainer, Sarah and Cynthia ending together (menage a trois?), unlike the ending of "Turn A" where only one girl was chosen - all the cast starting to sing the "King Gainer" song. All-in-all, a fun series. (Dave Baranyi)
Credits	Creator & Series Dir: Yoshiyuki Tomino
Episodes	26
Release
TV Showing	See the whole series for free? This series may be syndicated to regional cable, satellite or terrestial TV stations. For Europe click here.
Date	2002 Sept 6 -
Production	WoWoW, Sunrise
Broadcaster	WoWoW
Animation	Sunrise
References & Help	Look up the latest data on this title at: Richard Llewellyn's Animated Divots, or Anime News Network (see Encyclopedia section) , or in "The Anime Encyclopedia" (Clements & McCarthy, Stone Bridge Press, 2001). Help & further information.