GEKIGANGER 3: Uta to Ohanashi DaikessenName of CD

GEKIGANGER 3
Uta to Ohanashi Daikessen (Songs and Dialog: Great Battle)
Copyright © Xebec / 1998 Nadesico Production Committee
King Records
KICA 395
¥ 3059
Available Now
Where to buy

—by Charles McCarter

18 tracks; 62:30

1. Shinbangumi Yokan (Preview of Next Episode)

2. Retssu Go Gekiganger 3 (Let's Go Gekiganger 3)
Vocal: Kaneda Meron

3. Dai 5 Dan: "Okusan, Mitekure! Honou no yonjuhachi te" (Episode 5: "Mom, Look at Me! 48 Fists of Flame")

4. Habatake Gekiganger 3 (Soaring Gekiganger 3)
Vocal: Kaneda Meron

5. Iku zo! Gekiganger 3 (Go! Gekiganger 3)
Vocal: Tokyo Konsei Gasshodan (Tokyo Mixed Voices Choir)

6. Seigi no Robotto Gekiganger 3 (Robot of Justice Gekiganger 3)
Vocal: Sasaki Isao

7. Shouri no V da! Gekiganger V (The V of Victory! Gekiganger V)
Vocal: Sasaki Isao

8. Gekiganger VS Gureito Akara (Gekiganger Vs. Great Akara)

9. Kyou mo Tatakau Gekigan Team (You must fight today, too, Gekigan Team)

10. Sekai Yondaitoshi Kaimetsu (Destruction of Earth's Four Largest Cities)

11. Namida no Shutsugeki (Sortie of Tears)

12. Gekiganger 3 Saigo no Tatakai (Gekiganger 3: The Last Battle)

13. Shouri no V da! Gekiganger V (The V of Victory! Gekiganger V)
Vocal: Kaneda Meron

14. "Itsu kaShinjite" ("I believe that Someday")

15. Ankoku Himo Uchuu Teema (Dark Hemo's Space Theme)
Vocal: Tokyo Mixed Voices Choir

16. Dai 38 Dan: "Matta naishi! Kyouakku Gundan Chikyuu Seifuku" (Episode 38: Don't Wait! Kyoak's Army's Conquest of Earth)

17. Seigi no Robotto Gekiganger 3 (Robot of Justice Gekiganger 3)
Vocal: Kaneda Meron

18. Chikyuu ni okoru Bikutori (Victory that Saves the Earth)
Vocal: Tokyo Mixed Voices Choir

Fans of NADESICO are of course familiar with GEKIGANGER, the giant robot series that captures Akito's interest and inspires him to work towards his goals. In fact, this concept, which started as an in-joke on NADESICO seems to have taken on a life of its own. Last year, a GEKIGANGER OVA was released.
This CD, however, takes the joke one step further, and is presented as a "Vocal Collection" for the GEKIGANGER 3 series. Packaged like a record album, the CD is painted to look like a record, and comes in a cardboard slip case the folds out like one of the old 33 1/3 double album covers. (Surely someone out there remembers those?) It also comes with a 32-page full-color book promising to teach the secrets of Gekiganger "Only to you."
Inside the book are of course song lyrics and character descriptions, but what is most striking is the "digest," a synopses of all 36 episodes of the GEKIGANGER TV series and the "Movie" (which in our reality is the OVA). Great care has been taken in constructing these synopses; clearly someone has put a lot of thought into this. Indeed, with all the planning that has gone into this CD to continue the running gag, the only thing left to do is actually animate it and make it into a real show.
The CD has seventeen tracks, of which ten are vocals. So a show that doesn't really exist has a vocal collection of ten songs. Not bad when you think about it.
The entire CD is done as a "memorial" to the show GEKIGANGER. In addition to the two drama tracks, there is also some brief dialog and sound effects at the beginning of most of the vocals. However, in most cases, the dialog is not obtrusive or distracting from the vocals. These sound bytes also don't go on for too long, so listeners don't have to skip over a minute of dialog to get to the actual song on the track.
Some of these songs have appeared elsewhere. "Hakabate Gekiganger 3" and "Shouri no V da! Gekiganger V" both appeared on the Nadesico vocal album. Also, two of the songs also appeared on the GEKIGANGER OVA CD single. But there are several new songs on this CD, including two songs sung by the Tokyo Mixed Voices Choir. Using a choir gives these songs a very 1970's feel, which is appropriate in the context of the show.
In fact, many of these songs have a strong seventies feel to them, but they somehow manage to avoid the trap of being "too seventies" to be enjoyable. And while the songs are really not that lyrically exciting (they are about a big robot, after all), the vocals are still fun to listen to.
Perhaps most unique on the album is the track "Itsuka...Shinjite" ("I Believe...That Someday"), which is supposedly from the episode where the beloved heroine and girlfriend Aquamarine dies. This song is a slow ballad with a definite retro feel, and it sounds much like the ending ballad from LUPIN III: CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO.
Aside from vocals, the rest of the CD is ok, but not great. There are only two drama tracks, which is nice because it keeps them from getting really uninteresting. The BGM is really not that exciting, as it is supposed to be generic 1970's BGM, which really wasn't all that appealing even during the 1970's. But they do provide a feel for what the music for this show would have sounded like.
But the vocals are what makes this CD really shine. The popularity of GEKIGANGER warranted this CD; one gets the feeling that the people at Xebec are still marveling at how this little in-joke has developed a life of its own. Still, they have managed to respect that and to make a CD that is one of the best CDs I have purchased in some time—even if it is the soundtrack for a show that does not exist. Yet.