Gokudo, Vol. 5: Lover Extraordinaire (2001)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Kunihisa Sugishima
Character Design by Miho Shimokasa
Translation by Julia Rose

Features:

• creditless closing
  
• production sketches
  
• English and Japanese audio
  
• English subtitles
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• Trite
• Cliché
• Hackneyed

Rating: 13+

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Skip it unless you’re dying for a couple laughs

This disc picks up where Volume 4 left off. Gokudo, Rubette, Djinn, and the rest are on their way to find the legendary Savior Device of the Buddha people, which will hopefully restore them all to their rightful bodies. The Chinese witches have somehow been turned into snakes, Panda seems about to give birth to the Monkey God, and the demon Ikkyo has his evil heart set on turning everyone into a successful idol band. As if that weren’t enough, a new character Nanya has fallen in love with Djinn’s soul...which is still trapped inside Prince Niari’s body. This leads to even more mistaken identities, complex love dilemmas, and close calls than you can shake a stick at. Of course, there is the requisite evil monk who also wants the Device...

The plot continues to be maddeningly all over the place. It’s very frustrating when a show has promise and then just drops the ball. It’s as if the animators always wanted to do X,Y, and Z, so they figured why not put all these unrelated and crazy ideas in one title and call it comedy. It just doesn’t gel, and the characters deserve more. I usually love fantasy and comedies, but I just can’t settle into this one with all its wandering hither and yon among topics, genres, and tones. One minute, it’s savvy and satirical, but the next minute, you feel your IQ dropping as you watch. It’s by turns sugary and dull. The only thing missing is X or Akira-style angst. At least it isn’t boring, I suppose.... Too bad it’s nothing much else in place of dull.

The art is commensurate with the previous discs in this series: good, bright, and cheerful. The backgrounds are no more detailed than they need to be, but they’re fun to look at. The voice acting has improved somewhat from the previous disc, as the actors get a better handle on their characters’ personalities, but without a better plot and at least a little more intelligence here, it’s just too little, too late.

The extras are again rather uninspiring, but passable. There’s another batch of production sketches, which are, in truth, nice to look at, and there’s a creditless closing to please the fans of this title’s animation.

In short, if the old “switched bodies/mistaken identity” thing irritates you as much as it irritates me, then you’re better off skipping Gokudo until they’re onto a different story arc. As funny as this title can be at times, the plot is just so hopelessly silly and irritating that it just isn’t worth it. If you enjoy jumbled plots with no real direction but will lots of clichés and outmoded motifs, then you’ll probably enjoy this disc. If, on the other hand, you expect actual plot even in your fun anime, then this one is not for you. As for me, I might keep watching for the last disc, but only if it looks as if it has improved. After that, I can get laughs any old place.