Gestalt Reviews

• Yet Another Incomplete OAV Series...

  
  By A18ZM0DL1MWZQ0 on 2001-02-11
  Companies like Media Blasters and ADV seem to have an odd talent for acquiring OAV (direct-to-video) series that never finished their run. "Ninja Cadets", "My Dear Marie", "Dragoon": the list is distressingly long and "Gestalt" only adds to it. To make matters more confusing, this is obviously a series that has its grounding in a video game that was never released in the US.

  The story is a bit confusing if harmless and unresolved. The characters obviously inhabit a world that was thought out pretty thoroughly by someone at some point, but we the American audience aren't given more than the basics of the world and its dynamics. Media Blasters could have done well to include a background information section on this DVD. It's a shame they didn't.

  The story itself is cute if somewhat odd. It begins with a priest leaving his order so he can go south to the closed, forbidden land of Gestalt (which is only referred to as "G" for reasons of superstition). Well, along the way he helps out a town and is given a mute slave girl as a gift (no, this is not going quite the way you think). He's attacked by the person that was sent to bring him back to the order, he lifts her curse of muteness, she defeats his would-be bounty hunter, they start to fall for each other, etc. You can kind of mentally fill in the blanks yourself for the next 45 minutes of screen time.

  From a technical aspect, the disc is perfectly fine. The CG work in the episodes comes out well in DVD format and the layout is nice, even if they extras are pretty much restricted to an art gallery.

  On the whole, it's a nice, light, if somewhat strange disc. It's a shame they don't take the story further, but I would assume that's the purpose of the Japanese video game. If you're looking for something light and more-or-less romantic, I guess you'd do okay by getting this, but I wouldn't recommend jumping to get it right away if you're looking for the next hit anime title.
  
  

• I must be missing something

  
  By on 2001-01-14
  Okay, I have the distinct feeling that I was supposed to read something before I saw this anime because there seems to be so much more then I saw going on. The plot seems to be somewhat serious until the characters break out in weird laughter or gags out of nowhere, kind of like in tenchi, but unlike tenchi there really isn't anything funny about it. Also, for an hour of anime, I was definently left with the feeling that there was so much left, maybe because none of the characters reached their stated goals and yada yada. I'd suggest Gestalt be watched once future volumes are released... but I've yet to find out if there is anything else to it. So... if you're really dying to see a different anime and you want something that's going to leave you wondering and confused... go for it! But otherwise, save your money.
  
  

• I wanna see some more!

  
  By A2G3HEJ2WSRZVP on 2001-09-02
  This is such a beautiful OVA series, and it's a shame that there are only 2 episodes. I admit, I purchased this DVD only because I thought the cover art was cool. I've never heard of it before, but there was just something in the art style which grabbed my attention. It was totally an impulse purchase, and, having watched it twice now, I do not regret one bit.

  The artwork and the character design is just as beautiful as the cover art, and they are very smoothly animated. It's a big-time eye-pleaser. And the dub is surprisingly quite tolerable, although I clearly prefer the original Japanese voices.

  But as for the storyline.... Well.... OK, I really like the story that's there. But it's just darn too SHORT!! I love Olivier's inner conflict of wanting to know the truth about the gods, and I like Ohri's character. They both have such great potentials, and it's such a shame that neither get very developed because of the time constraint (60 minutes). I so wish there were just a couple more OVA episodes to really dig into their characters and develop the plot more. I WANNA SEE SOME MORE!!! (I guess I'll have to track down the manga series, eh?)

  Still, I love this DVD because it just looks so darn beautiful. If anybody wants an eye-candy anime, I know this one's gonna be on my recommendation list.
  
  

• Yay, another OAV without prerequesite manga!

  
  By A3Q935L83D6QVN on 2004-01-08
  I love the way the American translation companies think they can translate OAV series that don't cover a whole series without confusing and annoying many people.

  I, like many others, bought this anime because the box art was pretty. And while I admit that I was disappointed with the short length, I still enjoyed it. Its not so much that the plot is incomplete, as its just not fully introduced. What is covered by these two episodes is essentially the first two chapters in a seven volume series.

  After watching Gestalt, I did a little research on it. Sifting through massive amounts of Gestalt therapy pages (o_O talk about a pain in my bum), I was rewarded with information on the lovely manga that spawned this annoyingly short OAV. I found out it was based on a manga by the wonderful Kouga Yun, who, for some reason, has this problem which her long running series getting crammed into short OAV series (go watch Earthian and you'll know what I mean). I also discovered that there was no prayer (at least at that time- its not impossible now) of getting a translation of the manga over here- Gestalt, like Earthian, is a shonen-ai series.

  Now, I'm not going to say why it is, because that would be a huge major spoiler. But it annoyed me none the less. But what with Gravitation and FAKE being released over here, its actually not completely unlikely that we'll be seeing something of Kouga Yun's translated soon, Earthian at the very least.

  Eh, anyways, I don't think there's anything in here that would really offend anyone- the plot hasn't gone into shonen-ai territory yet, and I didn't notice anything else about it to be particularly "iffy".
  
  

• Learn a lesson

  
  By on 2001-01-16
  This DVD is great it taught me a lesson that I think everyone should know. This movie never get's boring It makes you just want to watch it over and over again. It's also a great family movie!
  
  
• Rent first before you purchase
  By ABNGLPBPK7TGU on 2001-03-29
  I am confused as to whether this video is a movie or a series. It ended as though a continuation is supposed to pop up in the local anime store sometime soon. But, unfortunately, there is none and I am left feeling dissatisfied. What happens eventually to the priest and the girl whom he saved from slavery? I guess I'd never know. The story is serious in some parts and then goes into fits super-deformed characters and exaggerated expressions which did not correspond well with the storyline (unlike Sailor Moon or Magic Knight Rayearth). I also didn't care for the characters - I found myself rooting for a tree or rock instead. The artistry is plain and looked like pastel paint. The dubbed voices was hard to listen to and the story wasn't satisfying. So, why not 1 star? Well, it had an excellent trailer clip on Rurouni Kenshin. Gotta love that trailer clip.
  
  
• Gestalt is a great OVA
  By A2JGK0GA1IDAR0 on 2001-06-22
  I personally adored this OVA. I'm sad it was so short, but it was nice to see the characters moving around in color and all. Filled with pretty bishounen and sexy girls, this is a show that should appeal to both genders aesthetically. It's got bright, bright colors and the special effects are used pretty well. The magic used is reminiscent of a video game, but I mean that in a good way. I really liked the plot and found that I liked most of the characters and so on. It was also very comedic; while watching with my friend, I laughed out loud several times. So, overall, I'd reccommend this.

  4 stars instead of 5 for two reasons:

  1) it's just too short. 2) It's based on a fairly long-running manga series from, I think, Dragon Jr. magazine. This manga is by the author YUN Kouga and anyone who wishes is free to go out and buy it, but of course it hasn't been released in english anywhere, so if you can't read japanese you're kinda out of luck. I do have to wonder why companies keep picking up OVAs which are basically teasers for their respective manga series or games and have no definitive ending, when they know the USA will never see that title (at least not any time soon). For fans who can't read japanese (most of them) that's probably extremely irritating.

  Basically I reccomend this title a LOT if you know Japanese, and to a fair amount if you don't (it's still entertaining, even if you never find out where the story goes on to).
  
  

• The Most Beautiful Anime!!!!!
  By AS5ETOOOKZ1GS on 2001-06-22
  Gestalt has the most gorgeous artwork!!! This anime has a lot of criticism about story line (the reason for it is that there is manga published prior to it), and it is true there are a couple of moments where they should've speeded up the story. The dub is horrible, they use those high pitch, squeaky voices for some of the characters, so I suggest watching it in Japanese. And if you wont put subtitles in, at least the first time you watch it, it adds a lot of mystery to the show and you will truly enjoy watching it.(really!) If you are the person who ever bought something because it looked absolutely beautiful (even though that was not the reason why other people would buy it), Well, than this one is for you!!! The DVD included trailers and small art gallery.
  
  
• Wonderful Animation movie
  By on 2002-06-01
  This is great story and animation is the best I have seen. It is full of beautiful colors and this is wonderful story. This story has everyting hate and romance, priest and sorceress, monsters. Once I have seen it I just couldn't stop watching it.
  I wish there would be more movies this kind!!!
  
  
• so CUTE
  By A3MVTTBPD2LPDX on 2001-11-20
  i LOVED this one..but i also wanted it to last for long..it wasnt enough to watch it..and 2 bad there was a priest in it..i really wanted to enjoy a love story
  
  

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