Twenty two years later...

WHAT IT IS:
A 3-part Original Anime Video remake of the 1972 Gatchaman series

WHO PRODUCED IT:
Nippon Columbia in association with Tatsunoko Productions

WHEN RELEASED:

Volume 1, "Gatchaman Vs. Turtle King": 10/1/94
Volume 2, "Secret Red Impulse": 1/1/95
Volume 3, "Final Count 0002": 4/1/95

[Characters | Weapons | Video Synopses]

Released in English!

The Gatchaman OAVs have been released, uncut, in English, by new anime distributor Urban Vision.

Release schedule:

Price: VHS video tape. Dubbed: $19.99. Subbed: $29.99. DVD collection (all three episodes) on sale as of July 17, 2001 for $29.95

For a review of the English versions, click here.

Who Did What:

Character Designer: Yasuomi Umetsu

Best known for his designs for the "Clockwork Angel" ("Presence") segment of Robot Carnival and designs for Megazone 23 Part 2 and the remake of Casshan. Umetsu is a popular designer in the 90's, and employs a definitive realistic style when drawing bodies and male features. He worked for Tatsunoko Studios on the Time Bokan and Shurato series and has done artwork for Tatsunoko CD digests and other merchandise.

Mechanics Designer: Kimihito Yamane

Yamane made his design debut at ARTMIC with Bubblegum Crisis and has created mech designs for Genocyber, G-Gundam and the Casshan remake.

Soundtrack: Maurice White & Bill Meyers

When producer Ryu Yoshida was watching original series Gatchaman for the first time, it was the middle of the 1970's, when the popularity of the band Earth, Wind & Fire was at its peak. Since certain sounds bring back certain memories, what better than to combine the two? Yoshida commissioned Earth, Wind & Fire vocalist Maurice White and sound arranger Bill Meyers to contribute their unique, nostalgic jazz-rock sound to the new Gatchaman soundtrack. The result was mixed: some of the music fit, some didn't, and the OVAs suffered from a case of "Let's Fly" abuse ("Let's Fly," sung by Lance Matthews, was the only vocal track included). To fill in the gaps, tracks from the original series soundtrack and the symphonic suite for the 1978 theatrical compilation were also used.

Theme Song: Ichiro Mizuki

Though it was not featured in the opening credits of the OVAs, a modern remix of the classic (and still popular) "dare da" Gatchaman theme was released as a separate single in June, 1994. Singer Ichiro Mizuki (the voice behind many classic anime theme songs) breathed new life into the Gatchaman theme, and later improved upon it with a "cyber mix" of the same tune. This theme song accompanies a special video that was included with Volume 3 of the OVA.

[Characters | Weapons | Video Synopses]

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