he year is 1969, and Japan is undergoing an economic boom period. The problem is, it's also under attack by some sort of paranormal force. "The Invaders," as they're called, possess humans and transform them into battalions of absolutely identical grim, gray-faced, black-suited men armed with energy weapons. These men can then merge to form big, black death-machines. It's not even remotely clear where they come from or what they want, but it is clear that they're powerful, creepy and lacking in regard for human life.
So AEGIS, Earth's defense force, is assembling a crack team of Tokyo teenagers (naturally) with the preternatural power to open interdimensional portals. These "gates" are apparently used for "summoning massive energy," which can be channeled into attacks, or used to heal, or bent to various other seemingly magical effects. Spike-haired Shun Ukiya is one such teenager, although he doesn't realize it until a group of Invaders gets too near his family's home, and his protective anger causes his powers to manifest. AEGIS promptly recruits him, much to the chagrin of the group's only other "gatekeeper," Ruriko Ikusawa. Ruriko is a generally sweet and painfully earnest girl who's insecure about her skills, but she projects such confidence and intelligence that she's a natural leader at school. Unfortunately, Shun knew her when she was an awkward child with a perpetually runny nose, and their relationship gets unpredictable as they try to come to terms with each other years later.
The first two episodes of this initial installment in the series deals with Shun's recruitment and his first battles against the invaders. In the third episode, Shun and Ruriko investigate a pianist who reportedly manifests strange powers when she plays; AEGIS thinks the reports may indicate that she has "gate-ability." The two gatekeepers attempt to interview her, but discover she's a simpering airhead who can barely handle polysyllabic words. But when they hear her play, the world around them changes in an eerie, dreamy way. And later, when she appears at a benefit concert, the Invaders make their move, and her abilities become key.
Family history, plot mystery and everything in between
Like so many anime series, Gatekeepers is trying to be a bit of everything at once. It contains elements of science fiction, fantasy, drama, comedy, action-adventure, horror and parody. It leaps between childish slapstick and family melodrama at breakneck speeds. At times, it goes way overboard, with its tongue so firmly in its cheek that it's a wonder it can communicate anything at all. But it's still a fairly lively, charming show, with a lot of story packed into a very small
space.
In particular, Shun's relationship to his family is both cartoonishly iconic and genuinely touching. In flashbacks, the series reveals that Shun's father was an impractical, energetic inventor who frequently made boastful promises to his family, then broke them, and ultimately died as a result of his own ambition. Shun's childhood love/hate relationship with his untrustworthy, irresponsible, but clearly loving "stupid dad" is mirrored in Shun's relationship with his little sister, who both looks up to her brother and clearly sees him as a reckless, selfish liar who can't be counted on to keep his promises. Shun's ongoing determination to surpass his father's sad legacy similarly mirrors Ruriko's determination to overcome her childhood reputation and the insecurities it foisted off on her.
Against this emotional backdrop, the Invaders themselves would seem like a mild, laughable threat, if they weren't so spooky. The animation department of studio GONZO clearly had a lot of fun playing with the fluid, malleable antagonists, which manifest as a frightening, featureless, patently alien ball of darkness in one episode, and a giant stereo system pounding out evil electric-guitar riffs in another. The fact that their motivations and abilities remain entirely unclear so far leaves a lot of plot room for their unpredictable activities, just as their apparent habit of only possessing utter jerks leaves a lot of room for comic scenes of people behaving badly just before their brains are scrambled. It's not clear at this point where Gatekeepers is going in terms of tone or story. But so far, it's made a good start at establishing characters who are worth knowing, and who are up against a threat that would be worth knowing more about.
Episode 3 is particularly weird—the fight against the stereo, which sweats and looks panicky when threatened, is just silly. But the imagery of the gatekeepers' new recruit manifesting her strange and considerable powers is both impressive and involving, right up until the end, when it gets downright freaky.
— Tasha
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