Garzey's Wing

Original Title: ガーゼィの翼
Romanized: Gaazii no Tsubasa
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

On his way home from college, Chris, an ordinary lad, happens on a bit of trouble: He's sucked into an alternate dimension where he is apparently some sort of savior known as Garzey's Wing. Thrust into the middle of a slave uprising and expected to lead the group's trek to a mystic tree and the lasting freedom from oppression it will bring, Chris is at a complete loss. Well, more accurately, half of him is. Back in modern times, he's getting on with his life and getting ready for a class reunion. Until, that is, the two halves of Chris start talking via a necklace given to him by his grandmother. Thanks to this communication, Chris in the real world is able to provide tactical guidance and some anachronistic chemistry to Chris in the fantasy world. This is a start, but the road to freedom is a long one, the former slaves are outnumbered, and the pursuing army is relentless. Will Chris, and Garzey's Wing, be enough to pull them through?

Quick Review

Rating: 0.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-06-20

Garzey's Wing may be written and directed by the creator of Gundam, but that doesn't make it any less of an interesting idea written and directed so badly that there's almost nothing left to watch. Despite some tactical cleverness here and there, the bright spots are few and far between. Worst of all is the English dub--adding insult to injury, the badly translated dialogue is so awkward that it is difficult to understand.

If you're absolutely enthralled by unusual fantasy war stories, or are interested in seeing what certainly deserves a place among history's all-time worst dub writing, then you might want to try Garzey's Wing. Otherwise, it's a major waste of time.

US DVD Review

I have not seen USM's DVD, and for all I know it has a better dub than the earlier VHS release. In any case, it's budget priced and claims a director biography and trailers as special features.

Content Guide

Plenty of serous combat, but not much else, making for a 13-up.

Violence: 3 - Not gory, but it is a war.

Nudity: 1 - Nothing worth mentioning.

Sex/Mature Themes: 0 - Zip.

Language: 2 - Some coarse language.

Notes and Trivia

Garzey's Wing is part of a series of novels written by Yoshiyuki Tomino, collectively called "The Tale of Byston Well" ("Baisuton Ueru Monogatari" - バイストン・ウェル物語). The series is composed of 6 books of "Leen's Wing" (first published from 1984-1986, also romanized as "The Wings of Rean") and 5 books of "Garzey's Wing" (1995-1997). The series can also be counted as including the related two books of "The Tale of Fau Fau" (1986-1987) and the 11 book series "Aura Battlers War Record" (1986-1992). The animated version is obviously based on the Garzey's Wing arc, which began publication the year before the anime went on sale. There was also a single radio drama CD released.

There is also a much older TV series (available from ADV) and some OAVs, Aura Battler Dunbine, based on the same series of novels, but it's much more of a fantasy-mecha war story than Garzey's Wing. More recently (2005-2006) there was an animated and manga adaptation of "Wings of Rean," also related to the same world.

Though Yoshiyuki Tomino has written a number of novels, he's probably best known as the main creator of Gundam. He has had an active hand as writer or storyboard artist in the production of a number of anime series, including Tezuka's Astroboy way back in 1964.

This particular OAV series is one of the few that Tomino can be credited as having conceived of, written, scripted, storyboarded, and directed. Sadly, while the creative ideas that have made him famous in the industry are visible, there's really nobody but him to blame for the failed execution.

Availability

Available in the US from US Manga Corps on a budget-priced hybrid DVD. There were also subtitled and dubbed VHS versions, now out of print.

I don't think it's worth even the $10 list price, but RightStuf has the DVD for $9 as of this writing if you want to buy it.

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store