Overman King Gainer
I've seen quite a few Yoshiyuki Tomino shows at this point. If there's one word I wouldn't use to describe most of them, it's 'goofy', but King Gainer sure is a goofy show. Turn-A Gundam had its odd moments and the first half of ZZ was heavy on comedy, but this is on a different level. I suspect the famously weird opening is designed to make the viewer cast aside notions of expecting a typical straight-laced real robot show, and buckle up for some super robot madness.
That said, it takes a few episodes for King Gainer to hit its stride and for it to become apparent what kind of show this is, mainly thanks to some sloppy plotting while it's setting up the scenario and character motivations. This is especially problematic in a series-long plot thread involving the murder of Gainer's parents. We never meet them, they're killed off-screen between the first two episodes, and we only find this out a couple of episodes later when Gainer starts shouting about it in the middle of an unrelated robot fight. That's the worst example, but the show generally falters when it tries to be serious.
Fortunately, most of the series focuses on one over-the-top super robot battle after another, and these are the highlight. Enemy mecha have a plethora of bizarre abilities that make for varied and interesting battles, and the designs are some of the quirkiest you'll see this side of Gurren Lagann. The robots wear interchangeable clothes, for example, and the cockpits close with a giant zip. Most of the characters are likeable oddballs, with some of them adding an almost Ghibli-esque feeling of comfiness to the series. The villains chew the scenery in classic Saturday morning cartoon fashion.
Any time King Gainer doesn't take itself too seriously, it can be a joy to watch. It's just a shame that the writing for its series-long arcs is relatively poor.
7/10
