Gatchaman (OVA)


Gatchaman is a three-part original video animation based on the anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. It was released in Japan from 1994 to 1995. This version of Gatchaman is set in the year 2066, where the evil leader of the nation of Hontwall is threatening to take over the planet. Scientists from the International Science Organization are disappearing and only five teenage heroes, the Science Ninja team, can stop the disaster.
In the United States, Harmony Gold and Urban Vision released the OVA with an English dub on VHS in 1997 and DVD in 2001. The OVA was re-released on Blu-ray and DVD by Sentai Filmworks in 2013, with a new English dub that used the cast from in-house ADV Films version of the original series and 1978 movie.

Cast

In 1997, Harmony Gold released the series with a dub recorded by co-publisher Urban Vision, with its former in-house dub producer Sky Quest Entertainment. This dub changed a few character names, but kept an overall faithful plot otherwise. This version was released on VHS and DVD, before Harmony Gold's license expired.
In 2013, Sentai Filmworks, licensed and redubbed the series using ADV in-house dub producer Seraphim Digital. This dub keeps the original Japanese names, and uses the cast from Sentai's uncut redub of the original show and the 1978 movie.

Design

In the OVA series, the characters' designs and ages were changed along with other elements as part of the process of "updating" the series for modern audiences. Ken, who had long hair in the original series, was given short hair. Joe was redesigned with more of a "bad boy" image, given a tattoo and made a smoker. His car was also updated to a Shelby Cobra. Jun originally had long green hair but has short brown hair in the OVA, has developed physically and has worked as a model in the past. Jinpei is renamed as Jimmy and given more of a "street kid" look while his position on the team becomes "hacker". Ryu is now the oldest at 25, he was originally 17, and his hairstyle is changed to a blonde-and-purple mohawk. The GodPhoenix was also redesigned and appears to be larger than the original. The Red Impulse squadron had only three members in the original series while in the OVA continuity there are more.

Music

The film's soundtrack was composed and produced by Maurice White and Bill Meyers, with additional music by Bob Sakuma from the original TV series. The ending theme "Let's Fly" was performed by Lance Matthew.