Perhaps I'm just overly sentimental, but there's a significant nostalgic value to this series. If you're an anime fan, it's very unlikely you don't remember watching G-FORCE or any of the other names this group went under. (Don't get us started on the names, we're still recovering from that editorial in issue 2.1.) And like the BRADY BUNCH movies, this 3-part OVA series can be a lot of fun for past fans. Even those who didn't like it the first time, but watched because there was nothing else on in the frontier days before cable, will probably enjoy making fun of it all over again. This is definitely a show to watch with a bunch of your chums, giving the experience an almost Hodgesonian quality...
Frankly, if you don't already know the original series, this one will probably bore you. At least, it should. The story is as cheesy and episodic as the old stuff, but that's not too much of a bad thing since the target audience has always been a bit young. The old story of a secret organization of good guys defending the Earth against a secret organization of bad aliens is pretty tired, but this isn't Shakespeare.
Now, the show has been updated, sort of. The changes are, for the most part, cosmetic, but everyone looks pretty much the same. While the machines and equipment are much sleeker and better looking, the show retains its particular "flavor." As I said before, this show isn't about plot. It's not even about animation or action scenes. It's about style. (albeit a pretty goofy style).
Where else can you find such bad haircuts? (They don't wear those helmets for protection...) Disposable guards who all wear the same uniform but manage to look slightly different from each other! (Some barely fit into those outfits.) And an evil villain with gender issues I couldn't even begin to explain...
But that's all old hat. What's new? Let's see, Mr. Eagle (Again, just leave the names alone...) still has his neat little bird-boomerang and a great big bag of father issues. Mr. Condor uses nasty little feather-darts and a variety of guns. He's even more aggressive and angst-ridden in this show! As usual, he doesn't feel he's being allowed to fully express his homicidal side and breaks off on his own by the third installment. Ms. Swan still has her electric yo-yo, but now she has a pair of cool hoops and some actual cleavage. Gee, I wonder why she's the only one who loses all her clothes during the transformation scenes... Little Mr. Falcon (No, he's not a duck!) still has his bolos and computer skills, but he's lost his speech impediment! Mr. Owl still drives the bus and often sits in it while the other guys have all the fun. Being Supernumerary on a five-person team isn't all it's cracked up to be. He doesn't even get any weapons! (Not that he needs any.) The good Doctor / Team Leader / Guy In Really Bad Suit is as perfunctory as ever, but then, how motivated would you feel if you had to walk around in that outfit? The animation is an interesting mix of good detail and mediocre backgrounds. Some of the backgrounds look like they could've been ripped right out of the archives, yet the machines are often surprisingly interesting. This isn't really so bad, since your attention shouldn't be focused on the electrical outlet behind the unpleasant man pointing the big gun. It should probably be focused on his poor color coordination. I was surprised at how well the action scenes were done. They're fast, smooth, interesting, and full of neat little tricks. And although it may sound morbid, you'll cheer at the actual fatalities and lack of parachutes. This is no edited-for-Saturday-morning show. (Did I mention the brief nudity?)
Under normal circumstances, I automatically prefer subtitled animation to dubs. I like to hear the original Japanese voices and enjoy failing to translate anything more complex than "Yes." But this is different because I grew up watching the dubbed versions of G-FORCE on TV. To hear this in Japanese would seem so... foreign. Besides, this is a pretty good job of English dubbing! The lines, while banal by the very nature of the story, flow smoothly and clearly. And you don't have to watch any Japanese people talking with Southern drawls. (The story is so cheesy it doesn't need to be Americanized!) Even the music is better than I'd feared. "Let's Fly" may be a sort of 70's love ballad, but it's a halfway decent one. And don't let those previews you may have seen scare you, the weird music that sounds like a DJ working in a straitjacket is nowhere to be found in the show.
So, if you got any kind of kick out of the old shows, this one will probably kick you back. If you didn't enjoy them at all or, *gasp* don't even know what I'm talking about, just move along and continue watching your new-fangled animation, and leave the rest of us to our cartoons!

GATCHAMAN OVA series volumes 1 and 2 ｩ1994 Tatsunoko Production Company , LTD. English Dubbed $19.95 Volume 1- UV1003 English Subtitled $29.95 Released in North America by Urban Vision Entertainment Approx. 50 minutes each Volume 1 Now Available Volume 2 Now Available Volume 3 Release 9/16/97