Gilgamesh is a strange beast, with many promising moments as well as characters. Unfortunately, the characters I found interesting were cast to the side, and the plot moved very slowly until the final episode, where everything was thrown into disarray for a rushed conclusion.

Gilgamesh is the 26 episode story of a boy, Tatsuya, and his older sister, Kiyoko, who are the children of the world’s worst terrorist, known as Enkidu. Enkidu’s actions shrouded the world beneath a mirror-like sky which prevents the use of electronics. This event, “Twin X,” has, naturally, resulted in mass chaos and hysteria. Tatsuya and Kiyoko are on the run from their late mother’s creditors at the beginning of the story, but the ones who soon find the siblings are Gilgamesh, the humans/creatures engineered by their father, and Orga, three psychic children led by the mysterious Countess of Wedenberg who fight the Gilgamesh. Tatsuya and Kiyoko must choose between the two forces.

“Whose side are you on?” Despite this titillating question asked on each DVD cover, I didn’t have much trouble picking out the good and the bad. We don’t know until the end all of the characters’ “true motives,” but the one-sided character development makes it obvious that the viewer should care about Orga, whether or not they do. Gilgamesh is often praised for its good character development, and it does all right for the two main characters, the Countess, and Orga. Even Tatsuya’s parents get some screen time in what were some of my favorite episodes of the series. However, the members of Gilgamesh, who appealed to me much more than Orga, are woefully underdeveloped save for Novem.

The art and animation of Gilgamesh are a mixed bag. The dreary palette of colors used for the series can get tiring, but it certainly fits with the “post-apocalyptic wasteland” setting. The character designs are more objectionable. Gilgamesh is loosely based on the late great Shotaro Ishinomori’s manga (and only references the great Babylonian epic). However, the character designs look neither fully modern nor retro, with dark lines, thick lips, and some decidedly odd hair styles. How much this bothers you (if at all) will vary; I liked some of the designs (Novem’s and Tatsuya’s father’s, for example), but the Countess’ tight hairstyle and often pinched features made me cringe, especially whenever one of the other characters talked about how “beautiful” she is. The animation itself ranged from decent to noticeably clunky, and perhaps was more responsible than the character designs themselves for some odd looking (and honestly, ugly) moments.

The music is a suitable fit for the series, but not very memorable other than the opening “Crazy 4 U,” a catchy song by pop idol Koda Kumi. The ending song is a decent ballad, neither wonderful nor horrible.

I feel the need to make mention of the ending of the anime, which for some people can make or break a whole series. Gilgamesh’s ending wasn’t so for me, but it did feel rushed, and it takes a notably stark view of the world (appropriate for the somber tone of the series). Actually, the final scene (after the credits, if I remember correctly) was quite interesting, being very open to different interpretations and questions of “Now what?” but all that came before lacked the punch it was obviously trying to deliver — perhaps because it depended on viewer connection to some of the characters, which I didn’t have much of.

In the end, Gilgamesh will appeal to you if you like the main characters, or if you’re so entranced by the dark atmosphere and plot that you don’t care. Gilgamesh isn’t a bad series, but its uneven character development and pacing kept me from really liking it.

Credits: Images are the English release DVD covers, as found on rightstuf.com. So be aware, the art shown is different from that in the show (except for the box set cover, which uses in series images).

Tags: gilgamesh, series reviews, shotaro ishinomori

Category: Series Reviews

Senna is a college student majoring in English and minoring in Japanese. Her favorite anime and manga include Escaflowne, Please Save My Earth, Scrapped Princess, Nana, and Boogiepop Phantom.