Synopsis:
The time is 1969. Mysterious aliens known as Invaders are revealing themselves among humans, wreaking havoc all over the world. AEGIS (Alien Extermination Global Intercept System) is an organization dedicated to stopping the Invaders, gathering young people with special powers to help them fulfill their objective. AEGIS' recruits have the ability to open and close different kinds of interdimensional gates that are used to fight the Invaders, thus they were called Gate Keepers.

Review:
Gate Keepers is about a group of young people tasked with the responsibility of protecting and defending the Earth from Invaders, which is certainly not the most original concept around (think "Evangelion" and "Pilot Candidate" among others). Gate Keepers dances around the whole save-the-world drill sans mechs, spaceships, and the like however, because each Gate Keeper possesses unique gate powers that they can channel in various ways. They use these powers to deal with the enemies directly -- charging at their targets without any armor or vehicle and then engaging them in hand-to-hand combat (well, some of them have simple weapons such as gate-power-enhanced bows and arrows, etc.). As a result, each Invader encounter is nothing short of exciting and action-packed.

The Gate Keepers are headed by Ruriko and Shun, separated childhood friends who are reunited by their AEGIS recruitment. Ruriko is the first Gate Keeper ever, and Shun is the second to be discovered. The reunion elicits mixed reactions from both parties however, because when they were little, Ruriko admitted to liking Shun... only to be spurned due to her um, runny nose problem. But two Gate Keepers are just not enough to handle the Invaders, who get more powerful and increasingly difficult to defeat with every encounter. Thus, investigating potential Gate Keepers become part of Ruriko and Shun's job. The episodes consist mostly of fighting Invaders, recruiting other Gate Keepers, and developing the existing characters. Keep watching and you'll discover quite a few surprises and revelations in the later half of the series, giving Gate Keepers that certain something that sets it apart from other kids-save-the-world fare.

Although several other Gate Keepers are found after Ruriko and Shun, these two are given the most emphasis. They have an amusing love-hate relationship that's commonly shared by would-be anime couples, and in keeping with the usual anime tradition there are others who like Ruriko and Shun too. Gate Keepers is far from being a serious anime, as a good dose of humor is also included in the mix. The art and animation are excellent. Characters designs are reminiscent of those you'd see in "Martian Successor Nadesico", mainly because Keiji Gotoh worked on both series. I liked the way the action sequences were executed as well -- cool moves, cool weapons, cool powers... just cool everything!

Overall, Gate Keepers is fast-paced, entertaining, and fun. If you want action, humor, and a bit of romance without the cryptic dialogues, philosophical themes, and other hard-to-grasp stuff -- this is one series to consider.

Miscellanies:
This series is 24 episodes long.

Screenshots:

Shopping - click on title to purchase:

AnimeNation Gatekeepers (DVD Box Set with Gatekeepers 21)
Rightstuf Gatekeepers (DVD Box Set with Gatekeepers 21)

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