[First Impression] Gatchaman Crowds insight

Warning: Contains slight spoilers for the ending for of S1 of Gatchaman Crowds. You've been warned peeps.

This is my first time doing a First Impression for an anime that is currently airing, so I reckoned it needed to be a big one. In general, 2015 has been a good year for sequels, in fact, it's mostly sequels like Durarara!!x2 and My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU. Zoku that currently stand as the best of the year, but with sequels come the apprehension that they will ruin your favorite shows. Luckily, three episodes in, Gatchaman Crowds insight is not only looking to match its predecessor in terms of fun, themes and explosive personality, but may even damn well surpass it.

     Hello, people of "The Wired", my name is Quan, and welcome to a new First Impression to the currently airing and long awaited sequel to one of my favorite anime of 2013. Now then, let's begin.

Life goes on as normal for the superhero team known as the Gatchaman, if with a few wrinkles. Now public celebrities and with full control of GALAX with the help of Rui, they enlist the help of the local populace to help defend the Earth with their CROWDS power, as aliens(both friendly and antagonistic), natural events, and new members of the Gatchaman team threaten to destabilize the preciously fragile peace that is barely holding the world together as the human race seek to reach their next stage of evolution. Hajime, now technically a senior member of the team despite her same cheerful and reckless personality, trains her new protégé Tsubasa: a fiery young Gatchaman with a strong sense of justice. O.D guests stars on a hit talk show, Rui continues to tweak GALAX, and Sugane continues his everyday college life with a group of girls swooning behind him. But eventually, seemingly inevitably, things steadily begin to fall apart.
     A mysterious organization known as VAPE is rising from the shadows, armed with strangely mutated red CROWDS and a strong belief that the power of CROWDS will eventually tear the human race apart at the seams. Their first target is the person who controls the CROWDS power: Rui Ninomiya and anyone who tries to protect him, A.K.A: the Gatchaman. But as a completely unprepared Gatchaman team rises to take on this new threat, they slowly begin to realize that maybe they are standing on the wrong side of this conflict. As ideologies collide and pieces of human nature fall into place, Hajime and the rest of the Gatchaman must struggle to survive a battle that could potentially spell the end of heroes; GALAX... everything.

Tsubasa: The newest member of the Gatchaman team.

I really liked the first season of Gatchaman Crowds as you know, but that doesn't mean I can't admit it had its fair share of flaws. One flaw in particular, actually; the flaw that probably prevented the most viewers from staying for the entire 12 episodes: the slow and directionless start. Insight suffers no such issue. Admittedly, the first two episodes of this second season are mostly put aside for introduction, and that's not including a special episode 0 that aired before the start of the summer season. But have no worries, because once episode 3 rolls around, the plot takes off in spectacular fashion to end on one of the most rage-inducing cliff-hangers I've had to endure this season, leaving anybody to guess where the story is going to go from here. But I'm just getting started, because, holy Haruhi, the themes. Gatchaman Crowds has always been a unique platform for the writers to express some thought-provoking themes through a candy-colored lens. The first season mostly dealt with the concept of heroism in a world that is constantly evolving to not need them anymore, the gamification of a world relying more and more on technology, as well as intelligent commentary on the nature of society. Insight has taken a different approach; not completely different mind, it does build on what the first season started, but the thematic focus has shifted to an examination of idealism.

The OP

Character development was a weak link in the first season of 'Crowds', so this new focus will go a long way in fixing that problem. Rui is the one most obliviously developing from the new themes as his obsession with CROWDS and "updating the world" drag him under a sea of his own arrogance, but I don't think(or at least I hope) it will end there. Tsubasa also seems like she will undergo some interesting development, perhaps similar to Shirou of Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, as her preconceptions of what a hero "should be" will undoubtedly be torn down by the crazy reality of this world. But finally, and most importantly, Hajime. Ah, Hajime, who despite being our main character, in a franchise filled with riddles and unknowns, remains the greatest mystery of all. And I can't wait to see what they do with her character, a whole season of build-up in the making. 

I know I'm being maybe a little too optimistic, but hell, Gatchman Crowds insight is currently doing little wrong, and as of episode 3, is my favorite to come out as the best anime of Summer 2015. And maybe that's my bias for the franchise talking, but let me remind you there's a reason why I feel so strongly towards Gatchaman Crowds in the first place. It's unique, it's fun, and right now, the second season is everything I could hope for. And that deserves some praise. Goodbye for now guys.

Click here for my review of the first season of Gatchaman Crowds. 

What am I watching this summer season? Click here. 

Or for something a little different, click here for my book review of Watership Down. 

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