Getter Robo G

Getter Robo G, the sequel to Getter Robo, is in my eyes, a total upgrade to the original. While still not perfect, it addressed many of my complaints of the first and feels like an organic and fitting continuation of this crazy world.

STORY: 8/10 - G picks up after where the first ended, with the Getter Team including new recruit Benkei Kuruma. Now their enemies are the Hyakki Empire, the race of demons created by ancient aliens, who have grown in numbers and strength since the end of that. The Hyakki want to steal the Getter Generator in order to fuel their own evil plan. I like the story here a lot more because the Hyakki are a lot more interesting conceptually than the Repilioids in the first. There's an element of mystery to them that we later learn a lot about. The story goes through many interesting developments and mini-arcs, including one I can only describe as "Die Hard with mechs." The final is simply awesome, some of the best shit I've read recently. This is where I see a lot of Gurren Lagann and Gunbuster influence be conceived. All in all great shit.

ART: 10/10 - Man, the art in this is something else. It's so much more ambitious than the original in every way. Characters look sharper, the Hyakki have a lot of varied designs, and the two-page spreads are some of the best in the medium, particularly towards the end. Paneling is superb and the action is easy to follow and there's a lot of instances where the barriers of a panel are exploited to increase the sense of scale of the action and its subjects.

CHARACTER: 7/10 - The returning characters from Getter Robo 1 are just as great as before, but G still has some character issues. Benkei doesn't compare to Musashi and it's disappointing that they pulled a "Landfill" from Beerfest by replacing him with someone that looks and acts just like him but has no character of his own. Just as with the first Getter Robo, we're also suddenly introduced to a new faction towards the end, but they're pretty interesting despite them not being on screen for long.

ENJOYMENT: 9/10 -The Getter Robots themselves also have a new design for each of them and have very expanded abilities and capabilities. There's always something new on the table for practically everything which makes the series great fun. The stakes of the series increase to a drastically larger level than the first as the plot shifts into a new territory and MacGuffin. I'm glad it didn't stick to just one thing for too long, and while chapters still are very long, the pace of everything does feel better due to the extra variety.

OVERALL: 8/10 - Getter Robo G is great fun and so many impressive elements in it. I'm sure it will wow you more than the first, and it's clear to see from this how and why Getter Robo as a franchise is so influential. It has a few faults still, but for the most part, this is a total improvement from the first and feels like a great evolution of the series. But as they say, the best is yet to come.