Juusenki L-Gaim

Heavy Metal L-Gaim was one of several mecha series director Yoshiyuki Tomino created during the mid-80’s before Sunrise had him working on Gundam practically full-time. As such it provides you with an original story that while sharing certain similarities to his other works, is completely self-contained and can be watched at any time. L-Gaim takes place in the Pentagona system, a system of several planets, ruled by the immortal Oldna Poseidal. The show focuses in particular on Daba Myroad, a teenage boy who pilots the titular mecha L-Gaim, and his various friends including the goofy Mirao Kyao, the aspiring actress Fanneria Amu, former member of thePoseidal military, Gaw Ha Leccee and the fairy Lillith. One of the few still living members of the Yaman Clan, a group of people wiped out by Poseidal, Daba takes a key part in rebel movements, with the overall goal of someday overthrowing Poseidal’s rule. Tomino’s shows typically alternate between being dark and depressing and lighter hearted and this show is more in the latter camp. While the show is not on the level of say Xabungle or Gundam ZZ, it has a lot of comedy and fun to it. For example the characters are designed as if they are from an 80’s heavy metal band. Kyao and Amu are often providing a lot of comedy relief, as does Gavlet Gablae, a common antagonist for our heroes; the conflict arises because he stole their soup. Yes, that’s right, a series long rivalry comes out of something as incidental as that. Stylistically the show is a lot of fun. There’s not just the design of the characters, but also the music, the mecha, and several different worlds all coming together. As another reviewer pointed out, each episode features a brief shot of an upcoming character, mecha or other plot point, which is unique for a Tomino show (and often treats us to some hilarious engrish). From the other side though the show features a plot that is one of the more complicated from Tomino’s works, especially toward the end of the series. The show features numerous factions, all with their own intentions and each hoping to come out on top. The number of characters is massive, and since this is a show that doesn’t feature a lot of death, the cast just grows bigger and bigger over the course of the show. Plot twists are both intriguing and deserved. Supposedly the show had a lot of conflict behind the scenes between director Tomino and character/mecha designer Mamoru Nagano. I think the influence of Nagano on this show is quite notable and you will find many similarities with his later work, Five Star Stories. Nagano doesn’t have the strongest character design, but his mecha designs are almost without fail quite beautiful and he’d continue to work with Tomino in Zeta Gundam. A great addition! The show does have a few flaws. Like many 50+ episode Tomino shows, the pacing can be tough at times, especially in the first half of the series. Although I think there generally isn’t a stretch of more than 3-4 episodes where the plot doesn’t start moving in a new direction. Certain characteristics can be annoying to some. Daba having multiple female characters after him throughout the entire series, when he never shows much romantic interest in any of them can get old to many. And while I love how complicated the story gets later, I can certainly see that as a turn off for some people. It’s highly unlikely you’ll fully get everything your first viewing. Overall though, this is a show where the good side outweighs the bad by far. Both fun and intellectually stimulating; I can’t recommend this show enough.