u/TheAlphaRanger2011

Another day, another toku show comes to an end. With Gavan Infinity coming to an end I have my own personal thoughts on the show that I want to get off my chest along with my feelings on the future of Project R.E.D.

My thoughts on Gavan Infinity are…middling, to say. Overall, although I enjoy the show, I don’t like the way it’s been structured and the way it handles its storylines. I’m not the only one who has criticism towards Death Gavan, him appearing only every now and then with plot only for the next episode to be back to regular shenanigans. It wouldn’t have been as bad if Gavan Infinity had about 40-50 episodes, but instead it’s stuck with 23 so the pacing is really off in terms of the overarching plot.

I mean, episode 21 would have been a great status quo change for a second half of the show in an ideal world. 

I wanna talk about the characters as of right now. 

Let’s start off with the main guy, Reiji. I like Reiji, he’s probably my third favorite character in the show. I like what he stands for as a character, I think he has very great moments, episodes 22 & 23 really highlight how good Reiji as a character is, so having him as the first Project R.E.D. protag isn’t a bad thing. His backstory of losing his mentor, and episode 23 revealing that he was essentially a homeless kid and Gato took him in and Reiji wanted to be just like him, that’s a good motivation for the main character, I wish it wasn’t in the final episode, but better late than never I guess. There would be times I found him a bit boring in comparison to the other Gavans but overall I think the show did a good job with the main character, assuming we see him in Omegahorn, I won’t be mad.

Now Setsuna, I think Setsuna might be the most wasted Gavan in this show. Which is  crazy to me since, when the show was starting out, I thought Setsuna was going to be my favorite character because he had the most interesting backstory. He was a robot built for war but was tossed aside and eventually became a Gavan. It’s like Setsuna had the formula to be a great character, but he just wasn’t utilized to his fullest potential. That’s not to say that I think Setsuna’s were bad or had bad characterization even, I just think some aspects of Setsuna weren’t explored well. For example, the woman from his past that looks like Amou, we don’t get ANY reason as to why they look alike. Not even a bit. Not even a hint. Just nothing. That’s been such an important part of Setsuna’s backstory since his first focus episode and we don’t get an answer. If Gavan Infinity characters really will be in Omegahorn, I hope we get an answer for this. They had several opportunities to do something with that only to end up doing nothing with it.

Now for Kiki & Koto. To say that these are the best characters in the show for me is an understatement. The two of them have such strong characterization, even though if we’re talking strictly backstory-wise, compared to Reiji and Setsuna, their backstory isn’t very interesting. They were just two classmates who became friends and decided to become detectives after watching a police drama. However, despite that, they have the best episodes in the show, the best characterization when it comes to how they interact with others and each other, and they just have such a wholesome relationship. Now I’m not gonna say they don’t have their flaws, Kiki becoming Gavan again was rushed, her regaining her memory after one episode, and Koto being Gavan by association, felt kind of unnecessary since they only had like 3 episodes left in the show. 

Now for Kunai. I feel like in his first few episodes he had a very strong impact on me, he has the best suit in the show for me without any doubt. A dimension hopping Ninja Cop who is forced to work for a Criminal Organization in order to save his sister is a great hook for me, also it gave us Rurugie, the best villain in this entire show despite her not even being the main villain. I think it’s kinda crazy, although I understand, that Kunai met Kiki, Koto, and Setsuna before they even met each other despite the fact he came in like 10 episodes late. After a few episodes, Kunai ended up taking more of a backseat in the show which kind of disappointed me. When Kunai came back, it was good to have him back, but his character pretty much peaked in episodes 10-14. Kunai’s not a bad character, just a bit ignored after his introduction, but since he came later on it’s not as bad as Setsuna.

Patran and Wanibuchi have warmed up on me. I still think early on in the show they were really bad, felt like Bulk & Skull wannabes and were just very annoying, but they better towards the end once they stopped bullying Reiji, AGI, and Daisuke and we started focusing on them as actual characters, ironically, the same happening with Bulk & Skull. Although Patran definitely got the better development at the end of the day, Wanibuchi still improved greatly from what he started out as. Before I would say that, on a tier list, I’d rank them at the bottom, but now I think I’d put them around the middle of characters. Great development from what they started out as, but as characters there was still a little bit left to be desired.

AGI and Daisuke were fun, AGI more than Daisuke though. AGI as a character is fun, she is an AI and she’s had episodes with other Gavans who are similar to her in terms of origins, digital consciousnesses and being robots. I think AGI served her role very well in the episodes she had, a very charming and fun character to have around. Daisuke has more baggage in his backstory than AGI does, being Reiji’s friend in the Academy and being alongside him for the ride, aiding him in any way he can except for on the field because he can’t leave the ship or else he’ll die. I said that episode 21 would’ve been a good status quo change for a second half of the show, and I stand by it here, as in episode 22 Daisuke is made to be able to leave the ship completely fine. If this was a longer show then all these things happening would be a great way to advance different plots and stories, this isn’t me saying again that this show needed more episodes, it’s just me saying that a moment like this, although great, could have also meant something greater for the show in an ideal world. 

Now rounding out the character discussion we have Amou, she’s cool. I like her, but don’t have much to say about her. I love the relationship she and Setsuna have. There was quite a bit of intrigue involving her and the woman from Setsuna’s past who looked just like her but was never fully answered. Whenever she appears in an episode she’s cool and a good presence to have around.

I think overall the characters are the best part about this show. Yes the music is also good and the choreography can be entertaining as well, but I think the characters ultimately are what make this show enjoyable, even if I don’t think it’s a good show. In my opinion it’s an ok show with characters that I would like to see again in the future in some way or capacity. 

This review is starting to get pretty long so now I’m just gonna talk about my big criticisms of the show that I haven’t tackled yet in this post.

Kiki & Koto not meeting Setsuna and Amou until episode 21 of the show, not just that, but they meet OFFSCREEN. Kiki & Setsuna are supposed to be the main Gavans alongside Reiji, but we don’t even get to see a proper meeting between the two, and we don’t even get to see a proper interaction between them either. They’re both in Reiji’s dimension in episode 21, don’t really talk to each other they just fight, then in episodes 22 & 23 they’re both confined to their dimensions and don’t leave them again. So throughout this entire show, it was marketed to have three main Gavans, foreshadowing that one day these other Gavans will also be able to dimension hop and interact with each other, but they don’t even get a proper meeting or interaction at all.

I really hope that the movie has some interaction with Kiki & Setsuna, if not, there were wasted opportunities for character interactions and the show really screwed the pooch on the two of them meeting.

Toei held back on the budget it gave this show and it shows. The obvious repeated monsters (Sentai’s been reusing monsters suits too but usually it’s not this obvious, at least they change the top half and not just switch out the arms) and the very human looking henchmen (this isn’t really bad since I kind of like it as a change of pace, it kind of reminds me of Showa Era shows). I understand it, it’s a new franchise they’re trying to launch and they don’t want to put too much in it, they wanna test the waters first. I think Gavan Infinity performed pretty well, we’ll see how Omegahorn does because, looking at it, it does seem like they’re putting all of the budget that we could’ve gotten here into Omegahorn. 

Well, I think that wraps up my thoughts on Gavan Infinity. Personally I think I’d rate the show a 6/10. It’s an entertaining but mid show. Individual episodes are good but when you start treating it as an entire show that’s when the cracks start to show. Ultimately I do think I’m going to miss this cast, if the rumors are true about Gavan Infinity continuing into Omegahorn then I won’t be mad, although it does bring up the question of how they will balance the Omegahorn and Gavan Infinity cast since, from the trailers, the Omegahorn cast looks like a lot of characters already. I wonder if we’ll get an Omegahorn vs Gavan Infinity movie to fill in the slot for the Sentai VS movies, now that would be interesting. Overall this wasn’t a bad start to Project R.E.D. and I do hope that Omegahorn is handled better both storywise and lookswise.