Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

Back in the late nineties into the new millennium, right after I finished Evangelion, I was introduced to Gate Keepers via bootleg $15 VCDs selling along roadsides. Those were the days when broadband was for the rich and piracy laws in Singapore merely involved random raiding of pirate stores in the residential regions.

Unlike many people like tjhan who caught Gate Keepers airing on TV, I didn’t have the fortune of viewing Fei’s arc in the VCDs because my pirated discs were damaged. What I did enjoy on some kids channel on TV back then was Jubei-chan. Come to think of it, I share several similar tastes in anime with jpmeyer. Maybe he should introduce more shows for me to pick up. In any case, GONZO’s work blew me away. In the first few episodes, I thought 3D CG mixed with 2D animation is kind of a lame idea but the series changed my point of view. In short, it was awesome. OMG Vandread!

Alas, GONZO decided that since their 3D CG is so elite, there wasn’t any need to improve on it. Instead, they should just sign lots of contracts, make many low-budget shows(okay, shows that look low-budget), go international and swing their E-Penis around. The CG was still acceptable when they did their last ever epic production, Last Exile and we all thought their GANTZ adaptation was just a one-off failure. Little did we know that it was the start of the GONZO nightmare. Don’t even mention Afro Samurai. It is the spawn of their incapability to produce their anniversary work and the lamest excuse ever to appeal to the US market. Which reminds me of the incident of GONZO cancelling their Mardock Scramble production. No seriously, when a Japanese company scrapes their important anniversary work which signifies a company’s pride and glory for an Afro excuse to suck American cock, it pretty much tells their shareholders what new low they have stooped to. Great way to boost your shares, assholes! So basically, GONZO is currently VOID of any original works, which is totally acceptable of a company dependent on stocks and shareholders for a living.

So during a recent chat with someone over at Akibanana.com in January, they mentioned that GONZO would have 2 major blockbusters this spring. BLOCKBUSTERS. I anticipated with my penis and shrunken balls and voila! Mediocre. The shows were indeed infinitely better than scum like Rosario and Dragonaught, but only because the latter works were of infinitely negative levels. The GONZO shows this spring are, at best, average compared to the likes of their own previous works. I realise that when I judge GONZO shows nowadays, I have to very much lower my expectations just so that I can squeeze a “not bad for a gonzo” rating for the anime.

Sorry GONZO, my love for your company has been squandered over the past decade due to a lack of fresh supply of new love. It seems that Mardock Scramble isn’t the only love-bait you’ve scrapped in the past few years. You know what GONZO? Just fuck off the scene and continue surviving on unnamed roles sourced out to you from other capable companies. Like doing impressive CG for Vexille but making Dragonaut look like Pokemon Nightmare crossed with Reboot: Megabyte the Queer.

You know who’s next? KyoAni. Fuck afterstories.

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