Gestalt

Summary: >

During the times of ancient gods, a war was raged and the god known as Gestalt was cast out and forced to take refuge on an island which now bears his name. Even saying his name is said to invite disaster, so people refer to it as "G". That explanation wasn't good enough for a priest named Oliver who decides to travel to the forbidden island far to the south to learn the truth. The order of priests isn't happy about this however, and they hire a dark elf to bring him back.

That was only the start of his problems on his long quest, and it would seem to be nearly impossible for a guy like him, if it wasn't for his unlikely companion. Oliver inadvertently ends up in the possession of a slave girl named Ohri. At first she seemed like just an innocent girl, but the truth is that she's a very powerful sorceress (with her power sealed). Being a priest, Oliver wasn't too hip on bringing a slave girl along, but Ohri is certainly proving helpful in his travels. Her homeland also happens to be... the forbidden island of Gestalt.

Thoughts: >

Gestalt is a mix of fantasy RPG type elements with a more fun outlook, but due to poor execution and unoriginality doesn't manage to be very interesting to watch. And yet all the elements are there for a much better title. It's rare to have so much potential in all areas, but not be particularly bad at anything either. Should you watch this though? Honestly I wouldn't bother, because even if you'd think it's decent, it doesn't manage to get anywhere in two episodes. There were probably at least 8 planned to correspond to the manga this was based off of. The most striking thing about Gestalt, is that even though the budget is low and everything looks pretty generic, the character designs are well done. The animation is REALLY bad though (to be fair I've seen worse), and it shows in the amount of panning and a few painfully rendered sequences.

Media Blasters put a minimal effort into this DVD transfer which certainly doesn't help and it looks as if copied from a VHS master. The dubbing wasn't that great either. It's not all sunshine and flowers on the Japanese side either though, because in the beginning where Ohri doesn't speak she makes these vocal noises that are annoying as hell in Japanese. Once she gets her voice, the subtitled version is the way to go. If for no other reason because women doing sorcery incantations, sounds totally awesome in Japanese.

So overall a title that is worth skipping, especially when it never manages to go anywhere. I think if put into the right hands and they were to do a remake of this title with a lot of tweaks, it could be made into something pretty awesome. But as far as it gets here, Gestalt is can't cut it.

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