Gravity Rush: The Animation – Overture Review
Oi, what are you doing?
Oh hey there! I was just about to a review of-
I thought you said you weren’t going to do any anime reviews??
Pwaha, what are you talking about? This isn’t an anime review-
Say…that…again
I-I swear this isn’t what it looks like. I think you’ve got the wrong ide-
THE TITLE HAS THE WORD “ANIMATION” IN IT, NOW ARE YOU STILL GOING TO-
Shhshshhshsshhsshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……….
Now, where were we?
My “Anime” Review
So I bet you’re all wondering. What exactly is this “Gravity Rush: The Animation – Overture”? Well, in order to answer that, you’ll first need to know what Gravity Rush is.
Gravity Rush is a game that was released back on the PSVita around 2012. It features a gravity shifter named Kat, who could basically change gravity around her, effectively making her being able to fly, and all sorts of other cool things. If you’re interested in finding out more about the game, I did a review of it a while back which you can find right over here. Anywho, while the game didn’t sell well by any stretch of the imagination, it still garnered enough attention for a sequel to be greenlit! This is where Gravity Rush: The Animation comes in. This little OVA is supposed to bridge the events between Gravity Rush and Gravity Rush 2. And so with that being said, how good is it?
The Story and Characters
But Dusty wants some too…
So the whole anime is actually split into two parts, aptly named Part A and Part B. But don’t let that fool you, cause in actually, the parts don’t take place in chronological order…er…kind of. Let me explain in more detail.
This first part of the episode is the more light and fun side of the two, and helps to get the audience get comfortable with the characters and setting again before diving into the real meaty stuff. At least, that’s what I think. It takes place ahead of Part B, but not much actually happens in terms of plot significance. However, there’s always a certain charm to seeing old familiar characters act and behave like old times, like nothing’s ever changed. And that’s something I can appreciate as a fan of the series. For newcomers, on the other hand, I think it does a good job in showcasing Kat and her incredibly cute and bubbly personality, as well as the other side characters (who I’ll keep a secret).
Let’s just say there are certain…ahem…undertones
The second part where it really starts to get interesting. Because now we actually get to see the supposed main conflict that’s going to be the potential driving force behind Gravity Rush 2. This time Kat and her friends go off to investigate an unusual city-wide alert, and later on, they find themselves attacked by a mysterious pair. It’s this part of the episode where we get to see an absolutely stunning fight scene occur. So it definitely feels like the episode paid off right when it needed it to. The episode then ends as a direct lead-in to Gravity Rush 2, with Kat and her friends now in a new world to explore.
The Animation and Music
So the OVA was animated by studio Khara, the same people who were behind the Evangelion movies. With that in mind, I’m not sure if I can tell whether the animation was intentionally made to be this weirdly inconsistent or not. Characters seem to be missing shadows in some places, yet there are shadows in other places, overall making the entire thing very weird to look at. The characters are also entirely animated in CG, but they have this really fractured type of movement that makes them look like dolls being pulled by strings at times.
Hmmm, I feel like something is…missing
However whenever it came to the fight scenes, the animation suddenly amps up its quality, and it’s stunning to look at. The choreography is very well shot, and every single movement is incredibly smooth and snappy. Each hit has great impact and all the CG powers are very well animated. You can tell that these were the parts the team spent the most time on, since they wanted to get it to look like the game as much as possible. This all leads me to believe that perhaps this OVA wasn’t given enough of a budget, so the animation team had to cut a lot of corners in order to even get it out there. Either that or the bad parts were intentionally made this way, and I really hope that’s not the case.
The music is all pulled from the soundtracks of Gravity Rush as well as Gravity Rush 2. So if you’re a fan of the soundtracks, it’s really nice to be able to hear them again in an anime. If you haven’t ever listened to them before, be prepared for a jazzy treat!
Conclusion
All in all, I thought Gravity Rush: The Animation was a fun, but somewhat flawed experience that serves as a great way to get players excited for Gravity Rush 2. Don’t come into this treating it as a standalone, cause you’ll be sorely disappointed. It basically does what Daybreakers did for Persona 5; a complimentary piece that serves to help advertise and elevate the experience of a game.
You know, maybe I should just accept this as the new standard
This episode, however, shows that there’s potential for another OVA-style side story, this time as a true standalone. Or better yet, make it into an anime T.V series! I know many fans would definitely be interested in that!
Would I recommend this to people fans of the games, Absolutely! Even though there are some cut corners here and there, the anime does a great job retaining the core aspects of Gravity Rush that we all love. And by the time of this post, this series is in some desperate need of love. If you’re not a fan, I would say it’s worth giving a shot. Granted you’ll probably be a little lost in the beginning since it relies on you having played the first game. But hey, it could pique your interest. And who knows, maybe you’ll even think about trying out the games after watching it. I promise you, the games are really good.
Great, so where can I see it?
See this is the best part, the OVA’s are actually released in Youtube. And I’ve got it linked right down below! So please, check it out now if you haven’t yet.
Though please if you plan to watch this, turn the captions on, you’ll thank me later.
Thanks for reading, and as always, I’ll see you all next time!
