However, the Macross franchise isn't the only music-themed TV anime that Big West would produce, and while today it's become immensely forgotten & obscure this OTHER music-themed anime actually has some historical relevance... but, first, we need to go over a certain satellite television network.
Originally founded on December 25, 1984 as Japan Satellite Broadcasting Co., Ltd., JSB would eventually change its nickname in November 1989 to WOWOW, going from a simple united broadcast licensing application company to a full-on satellite TV service that aired its first broadcast (a 24-hour test titled A Japan-US Two-Way Call-in Show: Space TV Will Change the World) on November 29, 1990. The following February WOWOW started offering "scrambled" broadcasts, i.e. you needed to pay a subscription fee to watch it, & later that April traditional "unscrambled" analog broadcasts started airing, eventually resulting in WOWOW getting 800,000 subscribers by 1992. At first a good chunk of WOWOW's offerings (~40%) came from outside of Japan, & the network even got Harrison Ford to act as the spokesperson for a bit, with its first real "hit" being the Japanese broadcast of the late David Lynch's cult-classic TV series Twin Peaks. However, WOWOW was also known initially for re-running animation, both Disney classics & Japanese series that were primarily meant for kids, but eventually WOWOW seemingly realized that if it wanted to remain competitive in the market, especially when other satellite networks started popping up, then it would need to start directly getting involved in the production of new anime... and, coincidentally enough, right around that time the concept of the "modern day late-night anime infomercial" was gaining traction.
The end result, then, was that on "April 10, 1998 at 25:00", i.e. April 11 at 1:00 am, WOWOW debuted the first episode of Nessa no Haoh Gandalla, or (as the end of the OP sequence states) Gandalla, The King of the Burning Desert, the first ever anime that was 100% original & exclusive to WOWOW; this was aired unscrambled, so anyone could watch it if they received the signal. This was a Big West joint, in this case a co-pro between them & Ashi Pro, and in fact was conceived by Yoshimasa Ohnishi, the head of honcho of Big West himself, in what would be his sole creative credit (for anime, at least). However, to be fair, Ohnishi was only credited for "Original Story" & "Creative Supervisor", so it's not as though he himself wrote any of the literal scripts. While Gandalla would be the first late-night anime (if not possibly the first anime, in general) to debut first on a satellite network it wouldn't be the anime that made people take true notice of the concept. Instead, it'd be the follow up that WOWOW debuted the week after Gandalla's 26th & final episode aired on October 16, 1998 that actually made people take note of WOWOW as a real potential contender (& prove the viability of satellite TV as an alternate option to debut anime via)... a "complete" airing of some show that had previously only partially aired on TV Tokyo earlier in 1998 as a last-minute prime time replacement called Cowboy Bebop. Yeah, the WOWOW run of Cowboy Bebop would steal whatever attention Gandalla had as "the first", and after the VHS & LD release finished up in 1999 you pretty much never heard anything about Gandalla ever again. The only exception so far was on July 1, 2015, when character designer Junichi Hayama paid his respects to director Hidehito Ueda, following his passing, by sharing a new Gandalla drawing on Twitter. Even then, Big West & Ashi Pro have never re-released the anime in any form since the VHS & LD release, not even via streaming, and with Big West now able to handle international licensing of anything Macross without Harmony Gold interfereing with things (minus the original SDF, which Harmony Gold still has international control over) there's really no reason for them to ever think about Gandalla again. Hell, even G-on Riders has since been re-released via Blu-Ray & streaming in Japan; what's up with that, Big West?!
However, is Gandalla really an anime that deserves to be forgotten under the sands of time & left to dry out in the vast anime desert? My year-long celebration(?) of the 30th Anniversary of the modern-day late-night anime infomercial continues with a review of "that OTHER music-themed Big West anime", and a true obscurity, Nessa no Haoh Gandalla!
Yuki Saijo is a car mechanic in Los Angeles who used to be the guitarist for a band he & his friend Sydney Arms were a part of, but after a tragic plane crash that resulted in the death of his girlfriend Michelle, plus the later death of his friend & bandmate David Blanton, Yuki has sworn to never play again. However, when the band Soppies Camel, which Sydney is now a part of, gets an opportunity to audition for a major label via their agent Yung Minmay, with David's little sister Emma acting as their singer, Yuki begrudgingly agrees to join Emma, Sydney, Joe Sax, & Rick Hudson as the band's lead guitarist, especially since Yuki's involvement is required for them to even get the audition. Meanwhile, bizarrely powerful sandstorms in various deserts around the world (the Sahara, Black Rock, etc.) are resulting in entire villages being buried under the sand, airplanes crash landing & exploding, & countless deaths, including those of multiple different musicians, like Rick's drumming idol & mentor, Jim Harrison. Unbeknownst to most, these sandstorms are being caused by Gandalla, a powerful being that's seemingly related to a mysterious race of creatures known as the Nessarians & can only be tamed by a specific type of music; supposedly, whoever can control Gandalla can rule the world. What does Yuki, Emma, & the band have to do with Gandalla & the Nessarians... and why does one song, in particular, that Yuki wrote for Michelle long ago seem to be the key?
Going off of that intro synopsis, Gandalla does sound a little like Macross in some ways, namely in how music plays a factor in a larger conflict, in this case the seeming battle between the Nassarians & those who want Gandalla for their own purposes. However, unlike how Macross gets into the conflict between humanity & the Zentradi rather quickly, Gandalla actually takes its time by first putting the focus on the personal stories of the bandmates of Soppies Camel themselves. Yuki has to come to terms with the idea of returning to music, after feeling that he couldn't play anymore after the death of both Michelle & David (but particularly the former). Rick goes through a self-destructive existential crisis upon hearing of Jim Harrison's plane crash. Emma feels guilty over asking Joe to memorize a song she had heard on one of Yuki's cassette tapes, not realizing that it was a song meant specifically for Michelle. The band finds out that Yung was David's paramour, which in turn explains why she was maybe a bit too overly harsh on their ability to succeed, as a way to cope with her own depression. Yung has the band change their name to "Golddust" to be more marketable, despite the name "Soppies Camel" being a tribute to Jim Harrison's band, Camel. Joe decides to take an offer away from the band to succeed elsewhere. These are all things that happen in the first five episodes of Gandalla, with only the occasional sidebar moment that focuses more on slowly setting up the side of the story relating to Gandalla & the Nessarians. Yes, the literal first fifth of the show is really more like a drama about an up & coming rock band than it is a story about a mystical sand being, with the word "Nessarian" not even being mentioned until Episode 3, or "Gandalla" spoken until Episode 4, both of which are said precisely with an air of mystery to them for the viewer. In a modern anime world where fans have become so accustomed to knowing exactly what the general concept & plot of a show will be by the end of the first episode, Gandalla fully expects its viewers to be patient & wants the personal conflicts of Soppies Camel/Golddust to take center stage first, before what would normally feel like the "A" plot truly takes center stage.
However, it's Joe temporarily departing the group in Episode 5 that marks the first real shift in focus, as he winds up being caught in one of those musician-targeted sandstorms that results in his friends wanting to know what happened to him, though he's revealed to have survived the ordeal. Still, this moment is where our protagonists start to slowly get involved in the mystery surrounding Gandalla & the Nessarians, so I think this is a good time to go over our major cast. Yuki is essentially the quiet one of the group, almost brooding (but not quite) due to his sad past but is also immensely attentive to his surroundings, which naturally comes in handy at points. Emma is the generally more bubbly member, though not aggressively so, but is also quick to emotion when it comes to sad moments, both relating to her as well as her bandmates. Sydney is what amounts to the connective tissue of the band, generally being the first one to try to communicate when there's some sort of personal issue (like trying to recruit Yuki, or talking down Rick during his existential crisis), and that's honestly neat to see as Sydney could have easily just become the "token black guy" of the band, in other ways. Rick is the exact opposite of Yuki in that he's loud, brash, & quick to act, but he's also extremely loyal to the band once he's out of his existential crisis; he was the first one offered the gig that Joe later took, but Rick instantly shut it down. Then there's Joe, who at first is kind of just there without much personality, but when he tries to break away we do get to see more of him as a person, as well as said sandstorm instilling a bit of personal trauma into his psyche. Finally, for the band part of the cast, there's Yung, who in true manager fashion sometimes comes off as confrontational to the people she represents, but deep down is legitimately trying to do best by them & doesn't want them to get screwed over, both in the initial record deal & later once the stuff with Gandalla takes center stage. Also, yes, it's shown in Ep 8 that her last name is indeed "Minmay", but it plays no factor & was obviously just a fun homage to Macross from Big West. That being said, I guess Gandalla does possibly take place in the same year it aired on TV, 1998... which is one year before the alien craft that would be rebuilt into the Macross crash lands on Earth; hey, you never know.
Meanwhile, the other major characters are headed up by Amrita, the "Blue Scorpion of the Desert" & beloved leader of the nomadic Lahasal Tribe that venerates Gandalla as the "God of the Sands" & look at the Nessarians as servants of Gandalla that are to be honored & respected. However she is at odds with her second-in-command (& old childhood friend) Kiriya, as while Amrita wishes to not engage in senseless killing to get a job done, like only incapacitating people when they steal back a Nessarian corpse that they later give a funeral pyre, Kiriya is more than willing to kill if it protects the tribe's overall secrecy (& Amrita, in particular). For example, Ep 6 sees an injured foreign soldier, Robert, brought to the tribe's encampment via camel, where Amrita decides to care him back to health, much to Kiriya's annoyance. After being healed Robert agrees to leave the encampment & not reveal its location, with Amrita even gifting him a pendant as a way for the two to promise that they'd see each other again one day. However, Kiriya secretly kills Robert once he's far enough away from the village, letting his body be buried by the sand drift.
On the other side is a mysterious organization called S.D.T., which also operates under the name "Cherry Garden", that wants to figure out the mystery behind the song that a sole survivor of the Sahara sandstorm keeps humming... and sounds exactly like the song Yuki made for Michelle that Emma now sings with the band. Leading S.D.T. is Foxlot, an older man who clearly keeps many things close to his chest, including what his real goals are. He's shown a few times to communicate with an unseen higher up, but I don't believe it's ever explained who; I'll just go with a vague, "New World Order"/Illuminati-esque figure. Meanwhile, Ralph Cradle is Foxlot's second-in-command but is much more personable, as he's the one who's eventually willing to reveal to the band why "Cherry Garden" signed them to a deal under false pretenses, and over time is shown that all he really wants is to protect the planet from disaster; he really is a good guy under the tough veneer. Finally, there's Cascade, who's first seen to be working with S.D.T. but in reality is a Nessarian spy, specifically working for a group called Zanlight, & actively works to undermine S.D.T.'s (& later Yung's) investigations into the truth. Also, it's revealed in Ep 10 that there's actually a seemingly infinite number of Cascades, since he's a literal sand person anyway.
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| As a verb, "to cascade" does mean (for water) to pour downward in large quantities... so fair play. |
Moving back to the actual show itself, though, things really do open up more after Ep 5, though it's not until Episode 9 (when the band is told the truth behind their signing) that the "A" plot really moves into second gear. We find out that a prior kidnapping of Emma's was messed with by Cascade, resulting in Emma being literally incapable of singing the important song due to hypnotic suggestion via trauma, and after being told the truth Yuki suggests that they be flown over to the Sahara, with Foxlot being left no choice but to comply. Meanwhile, we get a little more regarding Gandalla & the Nessarians, including a minor introduction for Zanlight, when it comes to the mysterious "deaths" of the other musicians at the start of the series. Really, the entire first half of Gandalla is essentially pure set up, establishing various plot points & threads that initially feel separate from each other when it comes to the various side of the plot (the band, S.D.T, & the Lahasal), with Episodes 12 & 13 finally seeing the band arrive in the Sahara, only for Yuki & Emma to quickly find themselves in the captivity of the Lahasal, where Yuki quickly befriends Skani, a young boy in the tribe who's also close to Amrita & Kiriya. It's at this point that Episode 14 begins the second half by coming through on the various plot threads, including the story involving Robert from Ep 6, & finally revealing Gandalla himself for the very first time.
And it's the second half of Nessa no Haoh Gandalla where the show truly becomes even better. Episode 15 is dedicated solely to Zanlight, showing off its two main heads (the kinder Kryser & the maniacal Tyrone), what exactly the Nessarians been doing to the musicians caught up in the sandstorms, & why Nessarians comes in three forms (regular human-like people, winged centaurs referred to as "Tenma", & grotesque humanoid monsters), all setting up future concepts that can play in the viewer's mind moving forward. After that, though, all of the previously established sides of the story finally start interacting together in a regular fashion, & with it everything that had been set up starts paying dividends. Yuki's unending love for Michelle causes friction with Emma, who starts having feelings for Yuki. Amrita's relationship with Kiriya slowly falls apart once Yuki & Emma start interacting with the Lahasal, which in turn lets Kiriya's selfish feelings for Amrita become more blatant. Both Rick & Joe eventually have to deal with their own personal relation to the events that have been happening, whether it's Rick finding out what truly happened to Jim Harrison or Joe's traumatic moment with the sandstorm being used against him by S.D.T. In comparison, Sydney is admittedly mostly just there, but has moments where his consistent emotional grip on things helps out when dealing with Emma or Cradle; it's just nice to have a guy who keeps a solid head on his shoulders throughout. It also helps greatly that, outside of the bandmates (who are all decent people), all of the conflicting sides are shown to have both "good" (Amrita & Skani, Cradle, & Kryser) & "bad" (Kiriya, Foxlot, & Tyrone) people in them, and while some of the "good" people still aren't necessarily the most trustworthy it still helps give the feeling that no one side is blatantly (or stereotypically) "heroic" or "evil". Admittedly, Zanlight's side of things are mostly vague until the last few episodes, but it easy to see that Tyrone wants Gandalla mainly for its sheer power, while Kryser cares more about the livelihood of the Tenma that they've gathered together.
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| Sure, S.D.T., go ahead & shoot the literal sand god. It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for 'em. |
From a production staff standpoint, I mentioned at the start that Nessa no Haoh Gandalla was directed by the late Hidehito Ueda (Fuma no Kojirou OVAs, H2, Pachislo Kizoku Gin), who I've really found to be one of those "reliable hand" directors, i.e. he was known for doing consistent & solid work when put in charge, but rarely had what one would an "iconic" or "trademark" work. The same is true with Gandalla, which overall is well directed & generally looks fine enough for the era (i.e. the early, & cheaper, days of the modern day late-night anime infomercial), & Ueda even storyboarded 11 episodes himself throughout, so he knew how to take good advantage of the usual limited animation tricks in ways that made sense. I think it also helped that the show has a bit of striking visual feel due to its character designs, as while Haruhiko Morimoto (Macross) & Yasuhiro Moriki (known more for creature & mech designs) are credited with the original designs (my guess being for humans & Nessarian monsters, respectively) they were adapted to anime by the duo of Osamu Horiuchi (Full Metal Panic!) & Junichi Hayama (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure OVA), with Hayama also acting as Chief Animation Director for the entire show. Because of that, Hayama's distinctly "manly" visual style absolutely takes center stage here when it comes to the characters, so much so that you can't even really tell that Morimoto had designed these characters first, with the only exception maybe being Emma, who definitely looks the least Hayama-ish of the cast. But it also helps give Gandalla a unique visual style that very few anime can truly match, and I wouldn't be surprised if his work here is what led to Hayama reuniting with Hidehito Ueda to do the character designs for Pachislo Kizoku Gin three years later. While certainly not a perfect show visually, and maybe a bit visually plain at points (which I'll explain why in a moment), Hayama's style helps give Gandalla a strong visual identity, nonetheless.
As for the writing, while Yoshimasa Ohnishi created the concept & scenario for Gandalla the actual scripts were headed by Ashi Pro's Akiyoshi Sakai (Space Warrior Baldios, Gold Lightan), who by this point was also a producer at the studio & therefore was also a producer for Gandalla; in fact, Sakai was the man who came up with the name "Ashi Productions" back in 1975. However, Sakai himself only wrote two episodes here, with the majority of the writing coming from Kazuhiko Godo (Aoki Densetsu Shoot!), Yasuko Hoshikawa (Miss Machiko), & Naoyuki Sakai (Gundoh Musashi... but let's not hold that against him), creating something that winds up feeling more like a live-action series than an anime; to be fair, this entire writing staff was also very versed in live-action scriptwriting. Seriously, in many ways Gandalla is framed, written, & feels like a character-focused drama that could have worked just as well via live-action, hence why I said that the show could sometimes be a tad visually plain, and anyone who's expecting something a bit more fantastical & action-packed may wind up feeling that it's a little too dry for their liking. But if you find yourself interested in the initial story behind the band & their hopes of getting a record deal, only to find themselves caught up in an ordeal where one specific song they perform is the secret behind a mystical power in the Sahara desert, then I think you will actually find yourself a bit surprised by Gandalla's writing & story. While it might sound off-putting at the chain of creative staff (Big West founder->anime writer/producer->team of smaller name writers), it really does feel like this was a proper team effort, with Ohnishi overseeing the general development of his concept, while Akiyoshi Sakai oversaw the writing itself to make sure it all stayed true to Ohnishi's intentions.
Now, to be fair, it's not a perfect script when it comes to storytelling. Proper antagonists like Foxlot & Tyrone don't really do all that much until the very end (& even then they themselves only do so much more), while the last six episodes escalate things rather quickly, but at the same time the story is very much focused more on characters like Yuki, Emma, Amrita, & Kiriya, who are simply caught up in all of this than directly combating anyone. Also, while I'm sure some wouldn't necessarily be pleased with the actual ending, I honestly really respect that the show didn't simply end with a standard "happily ever after" where everyone comes out of it all fine & dandy. Instead, it's a much more bittersweet & even melancholic ending that, I feel, actually does fit the kind of story that the anime had been telling up to that point. I mean, when you're dealing with an entity that is fully capable of literally burying entire cities under sand, it's kind of silly to think that everything will inevitably return to normal, after all is said & done.
Considering that this series is very focused around music, how is the score by Toshiyuki Watanabe (Round Vernian Vifam, Space Brothers)? Well, true to Watanabe's general style it's a mostly orchestral score but actually only presents itself in key moments, with the anime more than happy to let entire scenes go by without music (again, very similar to a live-action series, which Watanabe has also done a lot of music for), but at the same time this does allow the scenes where Watanabe's score actually comes into play feel more important. It's also a score that does run the gamut from calmer pieces to intense tracks (sometimes shockingly so, in fact), and for those who enjoy orchestral anime scores there's a lot to enjoy here, even in isolation. There are also a handful of vocal songs in the soundtrack, with Megumi Maruo performing the slower, more downbeat & operatic songs, while proper rock songs (i.e. what Soppies Camel/Golddust play) are performed by F.E.N., a band led by Yusuke Nakamura which included a pre-Granrodeo Masaaki Iizuka as a member. F.E.N.'s members had previously done vocal songs for shows like Blue Seed & Martian Successor Nadesico, & they even performed together as F.E.N. in City Hunter: The Secret Service, so they had good experience working together. To be fair, Gandalla's story is predicated around one specific song in particular, "LOVE'S GAIN" (one of F.E.N.'s rock songs), so you don't get quite the amount of variety of insert vocal tracks that the Macross franchise became iconic for (only really four in Gandalla), but they're still solid & catchy songs that match the late-90s era the show was made in, running the gamut from more upbeat songs ("HOW DO YA DANCE" & "instant "LOVE") to slower ballads ("SHADOW IN PUDDLE"). Also, "LOVE'S GAIN" is actually pretty damn good & I think could have easily been something you'd hear in a show like Macross 7.
However, I'd say that the true gem of Gandalla's music would actually be its OP theme, "Dear" by HΛL. This is simply an absolutely wonderful rock song, in general, that helps instill a real sense of wonder & mysticism into each & every episode of the show, and it makes for an excellent standalone listen as well. That being said, though, the OP sequence is a real tease, as it showcases things like Gandalla himself (in the various forms he can take & split off into) & certain Nessarian creatures when they actually don't appear in the show itself until the last third or so, creating a bit of a "Come on, when do the skeletal stone monsters start appearing already!" situation after only a few episodes. Still, HΛL's song is an absolute classic anime OP theme that sadly has become forgotten with time, due to Gandalla's sheer obscurity, but definitely deserves more love. Meanwhile, the ED theme "Sing my song" by Harumi Sugiyama (who looks to have been the vocalist for F.E.N.) is very strong in its own right, an acoustic & melancholy ballad that works extremely well in matching the general relationship between Yuki & Emma as the show goes on. Much like with "Dear", "Sing my song" would easily continue to play in my head long after I watched a batch of episodes of Gandalla, and that's easily the best kind of praise I can give any anime theme song, OP or ED. While admittedly nowhere near as iconic as the music Mari Iijima (as Lynn Minmay), Yoko Kanno, & Humming Bird (as Fire Bomber) did for their respective Macross productions, the music that Toshiyuki Watanabe, Megumi Maruo, F.E.N., & even HΛL made for Gandalla still results in an admittedly good overall soundtrack, & both OST releases were actually put on the Internet Archive about a year ago or so, so check them out if you're curious.
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| "Tenma" is the Japanese word for "flying horse", i.e. a Pegasus, but as you can see the Tenma in Gandalla aren't quite that. |
As for the voice cast, it's actually a little tricky to get into much detail for that, as while it's filled with many notable voice actors much of the cast actually kind of downplays their performances for this show, once again kind of fitting the live-action-esque execution; even people known for playing things up are generally much more subdued here. One of the few exceptions would actually be our lead role of Yuki, played by the venerable Yasunori Matsumoto, as while Matsumoto does have plenty of stoic moments as Yuki there are also plenty of moments where he does scream out passionately, usually in relation to his undying love towards Michelle; it maybe gets a little repetitive, but it works. Rika Komatsu (Diao Chan in Dynatsy Warriors) as Emma, in what looks to possibly be her biggest lead anime role in her career, is another example where the voice actor actually is less subdued among the cast, which is fitting considering a lot of the emotional strain Emma goes through in the show, & Komatsu does a good job here. There's also Toru Furuswa (Deckerd in Brave Police J-Decker, Knives in Trigun [1998]) as Rick, whose penchant for being kind of the emotional loose cannon of the band does help make him memorable. There's also Yoshikazu Nagano (E. Honda in Street Fighter IV-6, Chrollo Lucifer in Hunter x Hunter [1999] & OVA) as Kiriya, who likewise shows probably the most emotion overall, due to the character's own flaws putting him into unideal situations, which in turn admittedly warrant lots of pained & angered emotion flowing out. If there's anyone who really "hams it up", in turn, it'd probably be the late, great Hirotaka Suzuoki as Tyrone, as despite the character who's ostensibly the "main villain" of the entire series not really doing anything himself until the final episode Suzuoki gives Tyrone all of the brash, cocky, & self assured bravado of a villain who thinks he's always one or two steps ahead of everyone else.
Meanwhile, the rest of the major cast are mostly subdued in their performances in Gandalla, with only rare exceptions. Koji Tsujitani does get moments as Joe where he freaks out when needing to confront his trauma from the sandstorm he was caught up in, but otherwise tends to be about as calm as Issei Futamata consistently is as Syndey, with Futamata admittedly doing a good job as the emotional rock of the band. The same is true of Masami Suzuki (Amelia in Slayers, Chacha in Akazukin Chacha) as Amrita, who is almost entirely steadfast & showing little emotion (as intended for the character), but gets a handful of moments where Suzuki can breakdown & let Amrita's true emotions come through. There's also Ai Orikasa as Yung, who like Amrita tends to put on a much more serious & hardnosed facade to hide her true emotions, more often than not. Meanwhile, actors like Kiyoyuki Yanada (Cradle), Hisao Egawa (Cascade), Yumi Touma (Michelle), Kaori Yuasa (Skani), Hironori Miyata (Gord, Cradle's subordiante), Ikuya Sawaki (Foxlot), & Ryotaro Okiayu (Robert) all deliver more or less expected performances for their respective characters, based on their (admittedly straight-to-the-point) personalities. Easily the most surprising performance, though, comes from the legendary Kazuki Yao as Kryser, as Yao delivers absolutely none of his trademark boisterousness or raspy-voiced screaming that he's become so iconic for. Instead, Kryser is an immensely calm & sad character, one who at times feels emotionally defeated by Tyrone, and while Yao honestly does a good job with the role it's just so unexpected from the man. Yao also voiced David in a flashback in Episode 3, and while I did think that maybe it would have a larger meaning later in the story, considering some of the truth behind the Nessarians/Zanlight & the musicians caught up in the sandstorms, it really just wound up being a minor call back in Episode 23 between Yuki & Kryser, though Kryser has no direct relation to David whatsoever.
A title like Nessa no Haoh Gandalla really is the ideal kind of anime that I love to cover here, as it hits all of the right amounts of obscurity that truly piques my interest. Sure, it's not really known of (&, outside of the first two episodes, is pretty much without any English translation at all), but I do know that occasionally some older anime fans acknowledge that they've heard of it, usually with a simple handwaving of it as nothing special, despite them never really explaining why. Not just that, but when you actually start digging into its history & staff you start to find some really neat nuggets, like how it was the only anime ever conceived of by the founder of Big West, that it's the "OTHER" music-themed anime from the company that produces Macross, or its status as the first (late-night) anime to ever first debut on satellite TV. Then you add in what I felt was an intriguing concept (a godlike sand being that can only be controlled by a certain type of music, and how a small American rock band plays into it), an instantly memorable & addictive OP theme, & a unique visual style via Junichi Hayama... man, how could I not eventually watch & review this show?! It honestly reminds me of when I first gave Hareluya II BØY a watch back in 2012, and how after watching all of it I saw that what (few) people tended to say of it was kind of off base, in some regards. This is a perfect example of what I love to do with this blog, as while I don't really care about "proving others wrong" I do want to be able to discern what's actually true & what may be a simple case of anime fan telephone resulting in the facts being lost in transport. Even if those people were in fact right & it's not all that good, I at least want to know for myself so that I can explain why in proper detail.
Looking online to some extent I saw that, apparently, Big West tried to advertise Gandalla as a "Super-Production that Surpasses Macross", which to me sounds like how Sunrise originally considered Metal Armor Dragonar as the series that would take the place of Mobile Suit Gundam back in the late 80s. Obviously that never came to pass, as Macross would eventually be revived both in the 00s (Macross Frontier) & 10s (Macross Delta), while Nessa no Haoh Gandalla would become nothing more than a forgotten story... but that's not to say that Gandalla has absolutely nothing of worth to it, as its own thing. Unlike Dragonar, which definitely imitated Gundam in many ways (& one could certainly say to a detriment, at points), Gandalla is not like Macross in most ways, with really the only thing that's directly shared them between being a general focus on music & how it can bring people together, despite the wildly different places they may come from, while also giving music itself a literal power that can bring either peace or destruction, depending on who uses it & how. While there are certainly some very minor surface level similarities, Big West really made Gandalla something wholly unique from Macross, and while some aspects of it from a storytelling perspective may not have worked out quite as well as I'm sure everyone was hoping I definitely respect this show for taking the risks that it did. Gandalla was willing to challenge viewers' expectations, like with the slower first half that focused more on the bandmates than the larger mysteries surrounding Gandalla & the Nessarians, & stuck with that ethos to the very end of the final episode.
Obviously, Cowboy Bebop had every reason to steal Nessa no Haoh Gandalla's thunder when it came to becoming the show that proved the validity of satellite TV being a new place for late-night anime to debut through, and is a perfect example of the adage "It's not about who does it first, it's about who does it best"; Bebop is often cited as being one of the greatest anime of all time for good reason, after all. However, I would say that Gandalla still shouldn't be left dead & buried under the sands of time, as I certainly had a much better time with it than even I expected to have, & I'll always go to bat to put over a show that really tried to do something different & interesting. In the end Gandalla will likely hold a similar place in my heart as Next Senki Ehrgeiz & Hareluya II BØY do, i.e. it's certainly not going to go down as an unjustly ignored classic, but it really hit a chord with me, personally, so I'll always be willing to stand up for it.
Anime © Ashi Productions/Big West
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