Geneshaft

Title:Geneshaft
ジーンシャフト
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , ,
Notables: KAKAZU Yumi
KUWASHIMA Houko
SAKAMOTO Maaya
In the 23rd century, after earth was almost destroyed by war and waste, society has turned to genetic modification as solution to limit growth. To limit violence, they have settled on a ratio of 9 women to 1 man, and each man has an assigned monitor to moderate his tendency towards violence.

But earth is threatened again, not from within, but from without. A strange alien ring has already attacked the earth, causing great damage and loss to life. The hopes of humanity rest now in a weapon called the shaft, which is based on found alien technology. In a deep space ship crewed by a group of eccentric women, and lead by a man, they have to fight not only the alien ring, but also the problems of an unreliable and untested weapon to rescue the earth from certain destruction.

13 TV Episodes.
R1 Licensed by Bandai
  • DVD 1 Ring (4 episodes)
  • DVD 2 Halo (3 episodes)
  • DVD 3 Orbit (3 episodes)
  • DVD 4 Mobius (3 episodes)
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 8 8 8 4 8 8 Ggultra2764 [series:651#1552]
I'm quite surprised how solid Geneshaft was in the execution of its premise and being under the radar to many anime fans. Geneshaft basically depicts a future in which one's status in society depends on the genes of the individuals in its populace and the series explores how the norms of this society effect the crew aboard the Bilkis as they tackle a mission involving mysterious rings that are attacking the human populace from space. The series does a solid job exploring the flaws to this world, the reasons surrounding how it would come to be and fleshing out a number of the characters aboard the Bilkis to see how they view how their genes define their role in society, with some strongly in support of one's identity being defined by genetics and others believing it involves one's perceptions of their living environment. Questions are raised such as whether it is right to restrict the emotions of others for the sake of one's duties and obsessing over the flaws of the human condition. The Bilkis mission involving the mysterious rings appearing later have them coming at odds with the society they are in as they learn more about the flaws of it and the truth surrounding their origins when it is revealed someone among the ranks of their society are involved in it, leading to some deaths among the crew that develop later in the show. The solid balance of character depth, world exploration and plot development made Geneshaft an engaging watch for me throughout its run.

Even though the anime has its fair share of cliches it resorts to with its plot and characters, there is enough depth to a majority of these elements where the cliches weren't much of a hassle for me, though a few characters were a bit obnoxious such as Dolce's robotic dummy and a self-absorbed foe that is confronted in the second half of the series. The weakest feature I did find with Geneshaft though was its choice of musical genre for its soundtrack, that being synthesized techno-rock, which nearly all the show's musical choices consist of. The music is rather obnoxious on the ears and is quite the mood killer during tense scenes. The series also may not be for anyone looking for faster pacing or more focus on action in this title as Geneshaft is mostly focused on exploring its dystopia society and how it effects its major characters.

On the visual side, Geneshaft is quite solid in its overall quality with vivid color and plenty of details used in the designs of different settings and characters. CG renderings of mecha, rings and spaceships are well-animated despite looking a bit rough in their quality and said action scenes not being a prominent part of the series.

Overall, Geneshaft made for a surprisingly solid hidden gem for me thanks to being well rounded in its focus on its main storyline involving the rings, elements to the society in which Geneshaft is set in with its emphasis on genetics and how said society influences the mentalities of the characters aboard the Bilkis. This is at least worth a look if you are a fan of sci-fi anime titles.

Last updated Friday, September 28 2012. Created Friday, September 28 2012.
Rent 7 7 6 4 7 masami satomei [series:651#1839]
I was a tad disappointed by this anime...The problem is that I really don't know whats wrong with it, I just couldnt really get into it. I didn't think it was "torment" like the last reviewer, but it was just 'okay'.
and the singer of the end theme sounds like he's stoned or drunk or somethin

Last updated Saturday, February 12 2005. Created Saturday, February 12 2005.
Watch 6 7 5 6 6 6 Jan-Chan [series:651#967]
Well after viewing the first three DVDs released by Bandai my first impression is OUCH !! And I suspect that I cannot even criticize Bandai for a poor dub script given the poor quality of the original anime. I will be honest in admitting that the only reason that I did not give this an avoid rating - is that the SHAFT device is moderately interesting, the storyline is does work, (kind of), and there are occasional moments in which the series actually appears to hold some promise, (errh .. but then again, I may be stretching the truth a bit.)

Not to spoil the plot for you, but this is strictly a case of anime by formula. Now how many formulaic situations and overused clichés have ever bothered you? One guy and a harem (yes, its here), good guys don't get along and yell a lot (of course), a secretive government with a hidden agenda (yep), rebels trying to overthrow the government (yep), a big dark unknown all powerful evil power (yep), the government and bad guys both chase the good guys (Yep, but Tenchi was better), pets always help the storyline (Ok, there is a dog who can email) and there is even the plot twist of a good guy who is worse than the bad guy ring-things (are you surprised?) ..and on ..and on ...

Well, let me find at least a few good things to say about this . Hummm . Wellllllll Yessssss The main character is cute and she gets to ride this really weird robotic spider device, which when it works has really freeky powers. And the bad guys are these really weird ring things that range in size from a few feet to about a few Kilometers, that do some cool evil bad guy things. .

Well, let's hope that someone else is brave enough to buy this series and offer a competing review. And if not, I can always sell my copies on EBAY (but, only after I get to torment my friends by loaning them this series.)

Last updated Monday, October 13 2008. Created Thursday, September 18 2003.

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