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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Watch | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:1008#1552] |
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Elemental Gelade is a shounen adventure series exploring a young sky pirate named Cou who discovers a girl his age named Ren stashed away in the loot his gang recently stole. She is actually an Edel Raid, magical beings in the form of human women who can form contracts with others to become living weapons. Because of this, Edel Raids are sought out by criminals to exploit for their fighting power or sold off to others for personal gain. Accompanied by members of the organization called Arc Aile that protect Edel Raids, Cou promises to protect Ren by accompanying her to Edel Garden, the homeland and birthplace of all Edel Raids. What allows Elemental Gelade to stick out from your typical shounen series is that it offers a solid exploration of the relations between humans and Edel Raids. There are humans that disregard the humanity of the Edel Raids, valuing them more as tools for their power as weapons or for monetary value. But there are also humans who recognize the Edel Raids as people with thoughts and try living as normal a life with them as possible. A number of episodes also explore things from the perspective of an Edel Raid, as some show hostile reaction to human treatment of their kind and even show concerns over Arc Aile's protection of them as the protection comes at the expense of their freedom and isolation from those they develop attachments to. This element effects things for some later plot and character developments that adds some intrigue to the series, notably with Cisqua feeling disillusioned with Arc Aile's handling of human and Edel Raid relations and an enemy faction of Edel Raids opposing humanity. Beyond the solid exploration of Edel Raid and human relations, Elemental Gelade is otherwise standard fare to a great degree for a shounen series. Many of the typical character types for a shounen adventure are there with character Cou your typical good-natured and naive hero, Ren the shy and quiet girl gradually taking romantic interest in the male lead, and Cisqua being the energetic and upbeat leader of the Arc Aile squad accompanying Cou and Ren. A number of episodes focus on Cou and his allies having to fend off enemy threats trying to abduct Ren or another Edel Raid for their own gain that are overcome in battles of varying scale. There is a budding relationship between Cou and Ren that gradually develops throughout the show's run, though both are too archetypal for me to give a hoot about with their romance. Also, a fair amount of convenient deus ex machina is milked for Cou and his allies to defeat the enemy threat and get a rather predictable happy ending. This is nothing horrible in terms of plot and character development, but it doesn't necessarily do anything that breaks the mold either. Overall, I suppose I'm kind of indifferent toward Elemental Gelade. It offers decent exploration of the relations between humans and Edel Raids that provides it some solid foundation for plot and character development. But many of the parts that make up its story are still pretty standard for adventure titles aimed for the shounen demographic. Still if you are craving for an adventure series to kill time watching, the series is at least worth a rental or single streaming depending on the means you choose to view it. Last updated Tuesday, July 23 2019. Created Tuesday, July 23 2019. | ||||||||
| Buy | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
 Kei
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[series:1008#2234] | |
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*WARNING>SOME SPOILERS!!! Having only seen the first three episodes of this series, I can pretty much see that there are certain influences from outside sources. The premise of "sky pirates" reminded me alot of Final Fantasy IX, except Coud is way cooler than the lead from FFIX (gomen, the name escapes me for the moment). There is a great balance of action, comedy, drama and romance, as well as mystery behind the organisations trying to obtain the "Seventh Scintillating Treasure Tree" Reverie Metherlence, the beautiful Edel Raid and last of her bloodline. Coud comes off easily as a regular guy, cocky, brash, foolhardy, yet he still has good qualities that make it easier to believe his connection with the other characters, especially the romance he has with Ren. As for the 3 members of Arc Aile, it's easy to see they'll be quite the supporting cast, as they provide the help and comic relief to make this series more well-rounded. All-in-all, this is fast becoming one of my favorite action/romance/comedy shows, and hopefully I can add more to this review when I finish the rest of the episodes. ^^ ~Kei~ ^^ EDIT Phew! Finished watching the entire fansubbed series in a day. I kinda wished that only one group did the fansubbing though, as the translations barely match each other (Edel Raid, Eden Reid, Edil Rade), and it would be nicer if they reached a consensus on the proper spelling. (Even Coud's name is spelled differently, and the last episode had so many spelling errors in the subs). This anime is a definite "Buy", as it has all the elements that make the story interesting, and complete. The character development is such that one can easily identify with the emotions of the the characters at any given level, although I wish they threw in a bit more detail on the relationship between Rowen and Kuea. I found the romance that bloomed between Coud and Ren very nicely done, as it did not simply go into "Oh, Coud saved my life, I love him!" or any other typical reaction. Instead, as the series progressed and they got to know more about each other, they find themselves admiring and falling in love with each other. (I loved the touching scene in the final episode, when Coud's love broke through to Ren, and then the scene where they both recite the Lost Psalm (it was spelled "Last Slam" in the fansub, grrrr...). I also loved the way the series ended, and left room for a possible sequel. Too, I liked the little funny bit about "Do you think we can breathe?" spoken by Ren as they sailed off into the moonlit starry sky. Last updated Tuesday, April 18 2006. Created Saturday, April 15 2006. | ||||||||
| Rent |
 Jan-Chan
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[series:1008#967] | ||||||
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I saw this too long ago, but I still kinda remember it. It is fun if you like kid-adventurer stories in which the main character finds himself looking after a cute magic-girl who has strange powers. And of course there has to be a quest in which she has to go somewhere, and he joins along to keep her safe. This series reminds me soooooo much of Eden's Bowy, that I had to laugh. Last updated Monday, September 22 2008. Created Thursday, April 14 2005. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
|---|---|
| Official Erementar Gerad Website | http://www.mag-garden.co.jp/erementar-gerad/ |
| The official website with story synopsis, character details, gallery, and a kickass background music. In Japanese, so you better brush up on your Kanji... | |
