 Alternative TitlesJapanese: ギルガメッシュ More titlesInformation Episodes: 26 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Oct 2, 2003 to Mar 18, 2004 Broadcast: Unknown Duration: 23 min. per ep. Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity) Statistics Score: 6.601 (scored by 1187411,874 users) Ranked: #638422 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #3526 Members: 43,259 Favorites: 186 Resources |
Details Characters & Staff Episodes Videos Stats Reviews Recommendations Interest Stacks News Forum Clubs Pictures Reviews Filtered Results: 25 / 25 Sort Suggested Most voted Newest Oldest Filter Click once to include and twice to exclude Clear AllYour Feelings Recommended Mixed Feelings Not Recommended Categories Funny Informative Well-written Creative Preliminary Spoiler  Apr 22, 2008 I can safely say that this is one of the more origianl series that I've had the fortune of seeing. Edgy, dark, and tantilizingly mysterious this series will grip your mind and emotions and squeeze them violently before letting them go. That being said, this is definetly more of an "accquired tase."~Story~The plot synposis does not in the least do this anime justice. I get the impression that most people who just look at the plot summary provided here will perceive the anime as being something radically different from what it actually is, not to mention it really over-simplifies matters. Let me say that the... intricate story really drives the anime. You don't really know exactly what's going on until the very end, which keeps things exciting but can also be very aggravating. The plot, backstory, and characters themselves are all revealed bit by bit rather than all at once. Certain aspects are given in a straight-forward fashion such as Kazmatsuri's backstory but most everything dealing directly with the main conflict is shrouded in mystery. The show's tagline: "Whose side are you on?" is rather befuddling in that you don't have any concept of the true motivations and natures of the two warring sides until the very end of the anime. While everything seems to boil down to the explosive and twist filled ending, this anime is not one that I found to be end-enduring; in other words, you didn't keep watching solely due to the anticipation of some profound conclusion like you do when watching Witch Hunter Robin. The anime itself was entertaining and each episode self-sustaining.A word of caution: this anime is extremely saturated with symbolism. As such, those with analytical perferences may enjoy it more than those who don't like to delve too deeply into metaphors or philosophy. However, the anime is still rewarding for the latter category...until the end that is. The ending is very in your face symbolic/deeper meaning, and if you're not willing to try and puzzle out what certain things mean in the grand scheme of things, you will feel cheated. I myself initially thought the ending was a total creative cop-out the first time I saw it. After spending hours scouring fan forums, reading the interpretations of fellow fans, and also reading essays on the Epic of Gilgamesh on which the show derives its name and borrows some narrative and thematical elements, I now greatly respect and appreciate the ending. So, if you are unwilling to read up on the Epic of Gilgamesh and discuss the ins and outs of the metaphors snuggled in the ending, I'd warn you to bypass this anime or else risk great disappointment.~Art~The art style was what originally drew me to the series because its so different from anything currently out there. I will admit that it takes some getting used to. The majority of the production is filled with dark, cool color schemes and shies away from pastels and vibrant colors with the excpetion of the color red, which is used liberally to emphasis emotion, passion, violence, and character associations. The character designs are all very distinctive, strong, and unique. They too take some getting used to what with the clumped, sharp looking hair, deep, penetrating eyes, and large lips. The one character who looks incredibly and immediately awesome in the given style is that of The Countess. I am of the opinion that the entire style was implemented just for her character. My one beef with the art of the show is that some of the action sequences are a bit sketchy. It almost seems like certain enouncters are more implied rather than shown, which can be irritating. The degree to which the action sequences are developed fluctuates greatly with some being gorgeously choreographed and others seeming hasty and incomplete.~Sound~From sound effects, to background noises, to in episode music, this anime excels in its ability to sate musical desire. The only bit of music in the series that I would not call high caliber would be the ending theme. My roomie and I had a good laugh at the long standing joke that I could sing just as well as the ending theme singer, and let me just make this painfully clear: I can't sing. At all. It's akin to hearing a cat get run over at high speeds on a mile trek of broken glass. That being said, the ending theme did grow on me. Wether this was due to the immense pleasure I got out of caterwalling along with it each time it played or due to a genuine enjoyment of it, I can't really say. In any event, I recommend joyfully belting out the ending theme each time you get to it for all your neighbors to "enjoy."~Character~I don't really feel like commenting much on this one. I will tell you that I liked each and every character in the series. Especially Kazmatsuri. At first glance, he's a cold-hearted jerkface. But after you get to know him...he's cold-hearted jerkface. The main reason I love him is specifically for one scene towards the end of the anime. I won't tell you what happens, but look for the episode in which the kids go demand answers from him at his home. My roomie and I about died laughing because of something he does after they leave ( I suppose the humor or lack there of is purely subjective, though, but at least his action is unexpected). Look for it!All in all, this is a delightfully wonderful series. Not for the faint of heart or young of age, mind you. It does get a wee bit violent and generally deals with things in a more mature manner. (It's nowehere near Akira, Elfen Lied, or Hellsing standards though. Meh. I'm venturing it'd be in the PG-13ish range...ish. Some scenes are gorey.). It's not for lovers of things light and fluffy although it does have some preciously fluff filled moments. But, if you're in for something original and you've got a desire to go all english essay and analysis happy, I'd say go and get this. Now! DO IT NOW! Reviewer’s Rating: 9 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0Show all  Jun 17, 2015 Last review is very old so... for me? One from best anime i've watched - it was like 4/5 times a watched Gilgamesh - like 4 times few years ago, close to 2007 in TV when i was little bit young - and i watched it some time ago again and it still is so goood to watch.Characters are really cool, the good ones and the bad ones - all of them seems really enjoyable to watch - the dark in whole anime with amazing soundtrack (and the piano one Reviewer’s Rating: 10 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Oct 25, 2007 This is probably one of the best shows that no one has seen, yes it can be slow, it's dark and it can be dreary.But to me it was one of the best shows I ever saw. Obviously this is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. First of all this show should definitely be watched in English, the English dub is phenomenal, more specifically the show's dub is generally made better by the addition of Alice Fulks playing the Countess, there was nobody who in my opinion could have played this role, she is a very confusing woman and I think that Alice... herself managed to allow an air of mystery to wash over this character.Anyway, the art of this show is not very vibrant, if you were looking for vibrant and gorgeous colors you will not find it here, a lot of this show has lots of black and white all over it, that might turn people off. But truth be told, I have never seen a dark noir-ish feel pulled off so well since The Big O.The sound for this show is also top notch, there are lots of explosions, lots of teleportation and a good helping of fighting as well.Character Development is key to any show, generally all the important characters evolve in one way or another throughout this show, I can't go into detail how this happens because I would be spoiling and I do not want to do that.This show has been one that was generally ignored and tossed to the scrap pile, with critics complaining that it was dull or dreary, little did they know that if they had bothered to sit though the entire show they would have seen a very tragic story that in my opinion will bring anyone to tears once the show ends. Reviewer’s Rating: 10 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Oct 29, 2009 This was a horrible series, what more can I say? Well plenty, I checked this out because many anime review sites gave it overwhelmingly positive scores (I mostly check for how the ratings change on a per disc basis and Gilgamesh's scores for the most part went up from the first volume to the last). Now, I try not to let other reviews flavor my opinion of what to expect from the show, but at the very least I was expecting something actually good.The story was just horrible, I popped in the first disc and saw the first 5 episodes and found myself with a... reaction I'd never had before: wtf did I just watch? There have been plenty of times where I pop in the first disc and see the first 4 or 5 episodes and go "this looks promising, looks like it will improve" or "that was average and looks like it'll only get worse" or "that was great, next disc please!" or even "that was god awful, I can't believe I even finished the disc", but this was a resounding "I'm not really sure wtf this is, I can't even tell if it's going to get worse or better" and that pretty much describes what I felt during my entire viewing of the show. If I hadn't paid actual money for it, I probably would have just thrown it away after the first 10 episodes or so. See, from time to time, the series would introduce a single plot idea or point that I thought could lead on to something more interesting, which at the very least kept me watching, only to disappoint me by either just letting it trail off, explaining the plot point away with horrible writing, or just making a mess of it. And it would do this every other episode or so. The characters were slightly better if only because they had to talk to each other. But by no means could I call the characters "good", they ended up being as dull and interesting as the plot most of the time with most of the enjoyment coming from being curious about why they have psychic powers (and no, the explanation for that wasn't good either). It was nice to see the four teens act like teens from time to time and that was clearly where they were the most interesting and had some capacity to develop and watching the show didn't feel like a chore, but in the end both the characters and story just felt like an unrewarding mess. It was like being teased with a 100billontheendofafishingrodandchasingitinhopesofgettingitonlytofindoutthatit′sa100 bill on the end of a fishing rod and chasing it in hopes of getting it only to find out that it's a 100billontheendofafishingrodandchasingitinhopesofgettingitonlytofindoutthatit′sa1 when you finally get it after all that effort. The ending was clearly the $1 bill here and I've heard that the ending is love it/hate it type (although I really say that about the entire series) and in my case I didn't enjoy the hurried explanations of the plot points and the sudden introduction of characters like the writers thought the audience was actually expecting them to appear all of 10 minutes before the end of the show and deus ex machina everything to death. The series just failed at every emotional turn that could've turned out well, there was a particular incident about 3/4 of the way through the series that could have been very emotional and perhaps would have made me hate watching this less if they didn't feel the need to make what happens afterwards with it so incredibly creepy and nonsensical. Nonsensical is certainly a word I'd use to describe this, sure anime is rarely based in any sort of recognizable reality, it's just the nature of the medium and you can get all sorts of incredibly innovative and great things without having them necessarily make perfect sense when applied to the real world, but sometimes even suspending your belief won't help because it still makes no sense internally within the show itself and that is certainly one of (but by no means the only) probably with the entire script: no one checked it for logic at any given point. Now, you'll be able to follow along with this pretty well, the script isn't that over the top hard to follow, but you'll end up questioning every revelation the show makes anyway because it's honestly difficult to see where most of the conclusions come from.I'll give credit where it is due though, sound was pretty good, meaning mostly music here. Sure, the dub was competent, but it sure didn't make me care anymore for the show. Unfortunately, the fairly catching opening (combined with good reviews for it in the A range) was what made me buy this hunk of junk in the first place so while it may be pretty good, you might as well call it false advertisement because the show will never be half as good or interesting as either its OP or its score in general. I've still heard better though and it's hardly worth watching just for that. Art's another mixed bag, I kind of hated it, you could see cheap animation cuts in every single fight, but a few things were done fairly well from time to time. Character designs just creeped me out, but I'll admit I don't watch too many shows with designs at all bishonen like. You might get more mileage out of it, but it also would have helped if everyone didn't always constantly wear the exact same facial expression at all times.Overall, I give this a 4 out of 10. It has just enough going for it to not actually slip off into the realm of the truly horrible but at the same time it's never going to be good enough to be anything more than bad-average and it's certainly not worth rewatching. A few episodes went by pretty quickly for me, but overall, it kind of felt like getting your teeth pulled, you can always use anesthesia to help it along, but it's pretty painful all the same. Reviewer’s Rating: 4 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Sep 16, 2009 This anime promised awesome, the trailer told you it would be awesome.And I can say for a fact that its did not deliver this apparent awesome.I watched the whole series waiting for something cool to happen, when all it was, was a mess of nothing. I cant believe i sat through it all, watching every episode waiting for something to happen. All i got was lame aliens and genocide.I feel almost as disappointed in this anime as i did in the dragonball movie. Reviewer’s Rating: 3 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Aug 8, 2008 This is an epic story that is beautifully drawn and designed. It is very dark and more than a little depressing, but mostly it is emotionally involving. There are a lot of anime characters whom I could calmly watch being dismembered -- because I don't care about them. But the characters in Gilgamesh are emotionally engaging. I believed in their stories, and when they felt pain, it was a big deal to me.In feel, it's a bit like Texhnolyze. Ergo Proxy has some mood similarities but is a very different show. In visual style, few shows come close. ... Perhaps Witch Hunter Robin is a rival for visual beauty. Reviewer’s Rating: 9 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Dec 8, 2012 Sorry, Mario, but the King of Heroes is in another anime. =DGilgamesh was probably one of the first five anime I watched in Japanese. The third, I believe...Yu-Gi-Oh! GX would have been first and Death Note second. So it holds a special place in my heart - not a good place by any means, but still.As I said, Gilgamesh was one of the first anime I watched, and at the time I found it very strange and confusing, particularly in regards to the ending. Now that I'm older, wiser, and handsomer (and have watched many more anime), it makes perfect sense to me.Gilgamesh is a... quick, desperate Evangelion rip-off...is what I thought until this very moment, when I checked its dates. The manga is from 1976-78, and the anime is from 2003 (that's a pretty massive gap...). I could have sworn Gilgamesh came out in 1999 (putting it only a bit over a year after the release of End of Evangelion). Great. Now I have to restructure this whole review.Even if it's not literally an Evangelion rip-off, the superficial similarities are striking. A semi-post-apocalyptic setting. Usage of classical music. A group of children vs. an alien threat. Usage of nonsensical technology. The endings are even somewhat similar. In fact, here's how you can make your very own Gilgamesh:1. Take an Evangelion (any one will do, just make sure it's not a Rebuild).2. Remove the mechs.3. Remove the psychological analysis.4. Make the Angels basically human, and don't kill any of them off. Just have the characters fight them repeatedly.5. Pour a bunch of black and grey paint on everything so it looks boring.6. ???7. PROFIT?So I can wrap up my general thoughts by saying that if you did not like Evangelion, you won't like this. If you did like Evangelion, then you should have the sophistication to not like this. Okay, let's move on!Story! I watched this more than four years ago, so my memories of this are a bit sketchy. The premise and some of the material revealed in the first act is decent, but the second act stagnates and the third simply dips into absurdity (imagine the overarching plot of Evangelion, except that neither SEELE nor their plans has ever been mentioned before this point). It's pretty clear no one working on this made any attempt to join the events of each episode together into a meaningful whole.Art! Gilgamesh's art is not very good. If I were to describe the style, I'd say it's rather similar to Serial Experiments Lain, except less colorful and (due to being made five years later) smoother. Like Lain, characters have poses where they look good, and poses where they look awful. Except in Lain I think that was intentional. Here, they're just off-model. The animation budget was clearly limited, as the battles are brief and movement in general is avoided where possible.Sound! I tend to not remember soundtracks unless they're really striking. Or, put another way, if I like the show, I'll notice the soundtrack. In case you didn't notice, I didn't like Gilgamesh. The opening song is good, or at least entertaining - Wait! That's another thing it has in common with Evangelion! An addictive opening song! However, Cruel Angel's Thesis this is not. It also doesn't fit with the show, like...at all.I don't recall much of anything in regards to the voice acting (as a reminder, I watched it subbed). In fact, it might have been pretty weak, but since I don't remember it, I can't comment on it.Characters! Like I said in regards to story, everything in Gilgamesh is extremely disjointed. As I recall, this applies to its characters as well, who are kind of arbitrarily characterized on an episode-by-episode basis (if you've seen Kaze no Stigma, you know what I mean). My memory is a bit too hazy for details (why I am I even writing this review, then?), so we'll go with that.Enjoyment! I watched to the end. That's something. Would I watch to the end now? I doubt it. Reviewer’s Rating: 3 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Jun 6, 2015Not RecommendedPreliminary (3/26 eps) I'm writing this review because I see so many people praising this ''shit''.And this is just a warning to those who are about to waste a lot of precious time.I got drawn to this anime because of the title.Gilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamian king written about in the Gilgamesh Epic (Epic of Gilgamesh) which has been dated as the oldest and therefor first piece of great literary work.Well that sounds awesome doesn't it?Too bad the anime doesn't even come close to it. ... This whole anime is some sort of postapocaliptic style story about good vs. bad with 2 kids caught in the middle. not really anything special in my opinion but none the less I started watching it. I soon came to realize that it was a grave error that has caused me to waste precious time I will never get back and I dropped the series.Story:The plot isn't all that bad, well it's definitely not good, but it's mediocre.The way that it's told however is rather boring and played out even though this is an old anime.Like I said post-apocalyptic world with Good vs. Evil and 2 kids in the middle. They are the children of the one guy that actually put the world in it's current position. They are hunted down by a group called gilgamesh and taken in by a count that fights gilgamesh through a bunch of other kids with telekinetic type powers. this is where it goes wrong. all the fights are fought through these powers and it's just lame.Art:The art work is plain, totally uninspired and lackluster. The graphics are terrible and there's allmost no motion. It's like watching an anime from one still to the other. Character movements are minimal, and poor, the background is played out, and poor. it really offers nothing. this is probably the main reason why the anime is so boring. because if the art and graphics/motions were dope the anime might have been much cooler. the telekinetic fight scenes, the explosions and wall crumbling scenes all are so minimal in detail etc. that it just doesn't amaze you in the slightest bit.Sound:There's nothing much to be said about the sound. it' s nothing special, any mediocre anime this would have been okay.. it doesn't uplift the anime, but it also doesn't enhance it.Character:Just really played out again. The characters look lame with a lack of detail. The hair and faces for instance really looks horrible in this anime. the background stories are also not really deep and not really interesting. it's allmost as if the makers of this anime didn't really wan't to make it.As if they were terribly underpaid and went like '' ok if that's how it's going to be.. scribble scribble.. ok done, yeh we know this looks horrible... but fuck you, pay us now, we don't care if you release it''Enjoyment:it made me sigh a lot.... like *sigh* ... why am I watching this?*pfff* am I really watching this?* *ungh* i'm gonna stop watching this... *ehh* i'm still watching this *clicks stop* ahh finally free!!!Overall:do yourself a favourDON'T WATCH THIS!!!thank you Reviewer’s Rating: 3 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Jan 16, 2009 IMO, probably the most under-rated of all the gothic post-apocalyptic animes out there. As far as an engaging plot, the surface plot is a bit lacking but the plot twists and character engagements are absolutely first rate. It's an easy watch, but do NOT watch this thing dubbed. The english voice actors are horrid, and I mean HORRID - they will completely ruin it for you. I liked the art because it was so unique, but I know a few people who are so turned off by it that they couldn't even watch the show. The soundrack is perfect for the show. Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Jun 4, 2015 There are a tonne of factors to what kind of anime they like, or how much someone enjoys an anime and why they like it. For some people it’s the story, a lot of people enjoy anime for its artistic (visual specifically) merits. How the characters interact, what kind of characters they are and what kind of adventures they have. Some people enjoy their anime with an air of mystery and complexity, something a little darker, edgier, something that makes you think or something that makes you feel.Gilgamesh contains absolutely none of this. In a sense it’s good at catching you by surprise in that... sense since you don’t get what you’re expecting to get going into it; because you actually expect it to deliver something, but it doesn’t. If there is one thing positive that I took from Gilgamesh it’s that you can never judge a book by its cover, or its premise. Because Gilgamesh actually does have an allure to its art and it does have an interesting set up. Because of a scientific catastrophe, the sky has become a mirror, electronic media is no longer functioning and children born after the event have strange psycho-kinetic abilities. It sounds really interesting. However from the very first episode, it never appears to be a very riveting tale, everything from the acting, the soundtrack, the colour palate and the animation itself do absolutely nothing. While the acting is actually the shows strongest point for the most part, that’s saying very little, because everything else is so incredibly bad. Immediately, the most striking feature of the show is its bland and grey colour and atmosphere (with the occasional splash of red, livid blue, brown and yellow, which might I add are all very depthless in tone). While this atmosphere is kind of cool in the beginning, it gets tired by about the third episode and it never gets any more exciting. The animation and the character design is ghastly. Nearly all of the characters have these odd fish faces and they move very stiffly and plainly. You’d expect that there’d be all these exciting fights between the psycho-kinetic kids, throwing each other about with their minds, hurling energy at each other in big, bloody and moving mind-brawls. The Gilgamesh kids even have a transformation that is seldom ever used (and looks super goofy), but here’s the deal. There are quite a few fights sure, but 90% of them is just throwing up energy shields and teleporting, with the villains usually retreating after a couple of attacks. The animation is very lazy, the voice acting and sfx are half-assed and the fights add absolutely nothing to the show. They don’t make it any more interesting or exciting, they’re just there. I’m not going to say an awful lot about the soundtrack, since I can say it all very briefly here: it’s hilariously cheesy and bad, that’s all you need to know about that. You’ll barely even notice it’s playing (the opening theme is also awful and does not set the show up at all). So the art and sound is super bad, how about the story and the characters involved? Nope, just as bad, if not worse. The biggest offenders are the villains, who have a vaguely explained motives and a goal that doesn’t actually end up achieving anything. Oh, also they don’t seem to actually have any motive aside from wrecking the only chance of returning the planet to normal for nearly two thirds of the entire show (SPOILER! And since they actually manage to accomplish this, the first half of the show builds up to nothing and then fizzles out SPOILER!). most of this shows story is just why? Why are they doing this? Why do they want this? Why does the main character have a romantic interest in his older sister? Wait… hold up. Yes, it is apparent that the main character is in love with his sister and if this was not the intention, the real intention was poorly conveyed. He even turns down another love interest just to pursue his sister. (SPOILER! Oh no, but it’s ok because we later find out that he’s a clone of their father, so she’s more genetically his daughter rather than his sister, so that makes it better since she looks a lot like their mother. Hold up… does that make it better? I don’t think it does, no matter how you look at it, they’re either brother and sister or father and daughter SPOILER!). The characters are all just as boring as the art and animation. Clingy younger brother, over bearing older sister, cool older male supporting role, comic relief male supporting role, love interest female supporting role, androgynous character, mysterious anti-hero that slowly becomes likeable, cold adult character, personality-less cronies; and that’s all they ever are. The characters are never more than their assigned roles, you’ve pretty much met all of these characters before. I won’t ruin the ending if you’re still keen to watch this pretentious trite, but let me just warn you to be careful not to cut yourself on the edge, because it’s super edgy and 3deep5you and you probably just won’t get it. So, in summary, Gilgamesh is a boring, inane, tiresome and pretentious excuse for anime. The sort of thing that people that would like to think that they have sophisticated and mature taste in anime like to pretend is super cool because almost no one has seen it(not saying my own taste isn’t any better than anyone else’s but you know what I mean). I cannot in good faith recommend that you waste your time watching this, because this is super uninteresting and is not what you’re looking for if you’re after an artsy psychological anime with an interesting message. It is also not a super obscure action anime with cool powers and strong characters. About as edgy as wearing a Korn t-shirt to school and as deep as a glass of water, Gilgamesh is not an anime worth your time, no matter what your interests are. Reviewer’s Rating: 1 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Jan 13, 2023 Damn. Definitely had me sitting at the edge of my couch in silence for a long while after I finished it.This is an anime I came across by chance, by digging deep. I mean DEEP. I've never heard a soul talk about it, nor can you hardly find anything about it online, which is crazy to me. I'm in multiple anime related fb groups with millions of followers and not ONCE was this anime ever posted about (that's wild, cuz they have EVERYTHING). So its definitely a hidden gem.I'm pretty critical when it comes to what I watch, I'll judge every little thing and I've... dropped so many animes over 'ugly artwork' without even giving them a chance...and to be honest, I almost dropped this one too. But I'm glad I stayed to the end. It had me staying up past 5am clicking 'next episode' because I HAD to know what was happening next.Honestly, if you can power through and ignore the animation quality in the beginning, its worth it (at least in my opinion). The art isn't the best especially in the beginning, it almost seems as if its one person is doing the entire thing themselves, but after a couple episodes it does get better, not to the point of AMAZING quality, but enough to the point where you don't even realize it anymore and you focus on the story and characters. (Think of the first episode as a 'pilot'. The pilot is always crappier than the actual show. Its kinda like that. Give it a chance)The story is quite unique. You'll constantly feel like you've finally figured it out, because it seems to make sense, you'll swear you're catching on, but you'd be wrong. It does this until the end. It constantly has you thinking, which I personally love.I will be honest though, this anime is NOT for everyone. Its pretty niche, but for the right person, its an absolute gem. One that makes you feel things that you can't quite explain. If youre someone who enjoys anime such as Ergo Proxy and Wolfs Rain, this has a very similar vibe, yet they are nothing alike, if that makes sense. But if youre someone who loves desaturated palleted, gritty anime with gloomy undertones, I think you'll love this.If you don't stay for the art, at least stay for the story.I'm gonna be thinking about it for awhile. Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Jul 4, 2009 it was the stupidest anime in the world. if you want to sit through 26 episodes of crap....this is perfect. i mean what the hell happened at the end. i hate that they wasted 26 episodes on this shit and not on something that's more worth it...like blade of the immortal. Reviewer’s Rating: 3 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Oct 28, 2012 Disappointingly, the sophisticated synopsis and brooding promotional artwork attributed to this series are ultimately acute exaggerations for something that inadvertently repeatedly undermines its already labouring self. The scenario— where an unprecedented phenomenon proclaimed to be caused by an act of terrorism has befallen the earth leaving its inhabitants vulnerable—naturally has a large amount of scope but its execution has been highly constrained to the point that Gilgamesh is actually simple compared to the average anime series. It almost exclusively focuses on a small group of adolescents with identical sets of basic superpowers (them being nondescript is actually a positive feature of the series in adding... a level of realism to the story), who are taken in by an enigmatic wealthy women in order to defeat a band of people possessing demonic abilities who are intent on carrying out the terrorist’s still-destructive will. Obviously given the magnitude of the initial incident—which was in fact caused by the leader alone— the enemy pose the biggest threat the world has seen. Seemingly however there are only two other groups seeking to oppose them: a scientific institution hoping to rectify the existing ailments, and a special forces unit working in parallel to the adolescents. Furthermore in the simplification of the plot and the dilution of the intended tone, the adolescents only sporadically engage with the enemy who appear very indecisive in large parts of the show. Consequently this means that the main characters spend a lot of the time idling—mostly in one place as well through being somewhat detached from the outside world—where in these periods awkward sexual relationships are usually established.With having not just the exceptionally stretched plot, but also visuals that beyond the character designs are crude— even when taking into account its age— and an irksome soundtrack, this is a shabby production. Conclusively, from the combination of those shortcomings and the downbeat themes that still managed to be conveyed, Gilgamesh is a dismal viewing experience. Reviewer’s Rating: 2 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Feb 8, 2010 Story:Although the story, when first introduced, seems simple enough one is quick to understand that not everything is as it seems. Those people that enjoy a story told with all the cards on the table likely wont enjoy this show as much as those who like to keep guessing whats really going on. The line of "bad guys" and "good guys" is never clearly defined. The plot line really does a great job of allowing you to either like or dislike the protagonists or the antagonist by keeping much of their motives hidden until the end.Music:Some great classical works from Beethoven and others meld right... in and feel like the belong. The characters even build a connection with the musical scores on a level that is not often seen in most other anime. Characters: Those that like steady and progressive character development will notice it lacking here. Many of the characters don't know anything about their past and those that do keep it hidden. By the time you can fully appreciate who the character really are the series is just about warping up. Don't let this alone keep you from watching the show as the characters do have personality and are easy to become attached to. Overall: Anyone who enjoys trying to figure out what really going on or does not like to be spoon fed the answers will enjoy the Gilgamesh series. Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all May 1, 2011 Oh My God, what have I just watched? I've finished this series in four days, but what the hell? In retrospect, I will always suggest watching the first two or three episodes of an anime before you decide to drop it. For Gilgamesh, the first three episodes were in a strikingly beautiful gothic-noire style with high levels of tensions fitting of Edgar Allan Poe. The science theme is incorporated later on and remains. Bits of pieces of information and of the past come together and at around episode 10/25 all the pieces come together.Psi-fighting, transforming monsters, transgenics, guns, sibling love,... adopted family, and love that trespasses differences of species all fill the 26 episodes of this series. Sure the general storyline is pretty goodish (the reason why I gave this a one will become apparent later), and the only REAL problem was the excessive re-using of scenes. Everything you really need to know is: The Countess with her psychic-wielding children and her ex-lover fight each other to bring their own "peace" to the universe.Now where did everything go wrong? What killed this series with a -9DMG hit to its score? By episode 25 I was pretty curious as to how this series would end. Would it have been possible? Let me quote one character in the last episode:"It looks like this foolish badly written play is finally at an end"I think I have been laughing through the last episode due to how terribly ironic, laughable, and depressing it was. The heck? It makes School Days and Neon Genesis Evangelion look like happy endings. Gah...I am not particularly fond of the storytelling here, it's not particularly riveting or out there, but it's bearable and gets the key points across.If you're looking for something mildly deep and don't mind watching a twisted ending, I think this is worth a go.On the other hand, THIS SERIES HAS THE BEST EPISODE PREVIEWS EVER :D Reviewer’s Rating: 7 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all Apr 21, 2022 what the fuck did i just watch?This was some crazy shit, I was not expecting this. This show does so much shit at such a low budget that it's not even remotely surprising that some of it is very messy. This show belongs to a sub genre of television that is meant to be watched at around 13 years old. The internet is down, the tv is shit and you're running a high fever. This allows you to truly comprehend the show emotionally but completely fail to understand it intellectually. You wake up the next day slightly traumatized and maybe with a fetish for a... specific kind of white woman. Anyways this show is a tragedy, steampunk, post-apocalyptic, gothic, mystery, thriller. That's a lotta shit. The show's about a cult who purport themselves as the "gilgamesh" meddling with the world order, as you may have guess they are up to some serious fuckshit. Some kind of geomagnetic fuckshit has made the sky a mirror that prevents all computer electronics from working.The style of the show is very unique, it has a supremely suffocating muted art style that feels inspired by a french noir movie. Fitting with the setting they chose a soundtrack that feels like it's taken out of an old ass scooby doo episode or star trek or some shit. Like it's all big band stuff with horns and fluts and shit.The main character's are pretty solid. The countess is one of the best renditions of ice cold bitch I've ever seen. The main character is a biiiiittt mid though. (the fits are fucking fire too)The lore is just god damn excellent, it's like neon genisis evangelion except it's exposition isn't bloody nonsense, mixed with some Nier like mystery. (the 11th episode i swear is some nier shit)Alright boys, it's time for the bad.1. the gilgamesh are a bit underdeveloped. I can tell purely from their design and how they position themselves what they are meant to be , but their motivations, personalities and organization in general is left pretty much untouched.2. some characterization is kind of clumsy especially near the end.3. the final episode is rushed to hell, imagine the end of evangelion if it was only 2 epiodes. (wait, we got that and it fuckign sucked)4. a lot of animation is not great, especially in fightsall an all this shit is at least an 8 out of 10. i honestly think most of the issues were budget related. It was tough at times but getting through to it was definitely worth it. Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Jun 28, 2010 This was one of those series that I was lucky enough to stumble upon. The story in this series is so creative and gripping and the character motivations are very accurate. At first I didn't really feel that the characters were very believable but as the series progresses they reveal motivations that make the series very thought provoking.I've noticed that other raters have given this series a bad rating but I encourage people to stick it out to the end because this series has one of my favorite endings in anime that was really deep and cool. It really makes a profound statement at the... end that really solidifies the theme of the entire series. Reviewer’s Rating: 9 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Aug 15, 2010 Gilgamesh. What to say about this anime that wouldn't do it a disservice? How often do you find plots that blend one of the oldest myths of all time, a futuristic plot, a tragedy, a mildly incestuous brother/sister relationship that is not only noticed but lightly mocked by the other characters? As well as totally denying the viewer any real insight into either the main antagonists, the shadowy scientist that exists behind them, the true origin, or exactly what happens when its all over!Did that confuse you? It's okay if it did. Rest easy in the knowledge that this anime provides characters that are totally,... tragically flawed, but also totally believable, relate-able, and human. The entire time I was watching this series (which I did in about 1.5 days, since once you pop, you just can't stop) I kept thinking, "when/where is the deus ex machina? What is going to save these characters (as usually happens in Western writing) that are clearly only experiencing this much pain to make the catharsis at the end more satisfying? Right?" WRONG. And I have never enjoyed being so wrong so much.This anime, more than the beautiful animation, the haunting characters, or the awesome fights, makes use of a wonderfully unique and different plot. If Death Note is a good benchmark for taking a new idea to its logical, fleshed out conclusion, then Gilgamesh should be the benchmark for creating the most ridiculous, most believable, least informative (and yet totally, amazingly entertain) story that really could be delivered in just 26 episodes. Reviewer’s Rating: 9 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all  Jul 10, 2010 Gilgamesh is one of those shows that you don't expect much from and end up being presently surprised at how much you enjoyed it. It does however require some patience as it starts off pretty slowly and maintains a slow pace throughout.What I likedOne of the main things I liked about the show was how it seemed so generic in the first 2 episodes (its teenagers with superpowers fighting other super-powered teenagers) but then managed to do some unique and interesting things. First off while it does seem like your standard good vs evil story , the characters themselves don't really fit into the... good-guy/bad-guy roles. Isamu, Fuko and Tohru who are the "good-guys" are not your altruistic goody two shoes heroes who are trying to save the world. Their main reason for fighting Gilgamesh is that they don't have anything better to do. Initially they don't seem to really care about anything , Isamu in particular is a very stoic apathetic character, but as the series progresses they develop nicely into quite likable characters. The countess who leads this group also does not fall into the good-guy character and in many scenes is an out-and-out bitch. Her reasons for using the children to fight Gilgamesh are entirely self-serving and she does not care about saving the world. The countess is by far the most interesting character here as she can come across as a cold hearted bitch in one scene and later on we see her as a lonely woman who is a slave to her past and at times you feel sympathy and compassion for her. Likewise those on the side of Gilgamesh, while technically villains, are not what you would call evil and in their own way are trying to save humanity. The art style is also really good. The world of Gilgamesh with its sherltering sky and such is not a happy place and the art style really gets that point across with a load of dark colors and shades and everything has a real goth feel to it. And lastly while the plot moves at quite a slow pace there is a good story here and a quite interesting ending.What I didn't like Alas not all is good with this show. There are some real flaws and one big one in particular. That main flaw being that while at its core this is a good vs evil story very little time is spent developing the characters on the Gilgamesh side. Other than appearing in battles we never get to see them and the main villain, Enkidu, does not even show up until very late in the series. This was such a missed opportunity as some of the members of Gilgamesh look really badass and from the glimpses of their personality they seem really interesting characters. The show would really have benefited from spending some more time developing the members of Gilgamesh. Another thing I did not like was the battles and action scenes. They are not bad per say just very generic and not that fun to watch. ConclusionOverall I liked Gilgamesh. It is not going to break any new ground and its overly dark, depressing tone and art style can be off-putting at times and the pacing of the story could have been better. But while it starts off slowly it steadily builds steam and finishes well , and it has some really interesting characters and relationships. Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all Feb 16, 2024 I want to give this an 8, but I can only justify a 7. Was this completely genius? Absolute nonsense? All of the above? One thing is for sure, it was intellectually fascinating. I just know there are deeper themes and symbolism here that I'm not fully understanding which would help me appreciate it more. The last three or four episodes wrap things up in rather messy fashion, leaving us with a fairly disappointing conclusion that falls flat. I've read the Epic of Gilgamesh before and I don't recall anything in it that matches up to what we get here, except perhaps a very... loose connection with seeking immortality. The problem is that seeking immortality seems to have very little to do with the primary themes of this story.I'm trying to figure out obscure symbolism such as the tuning fork. There are clearly other influences at play here. It's unfortunate that this isn't more popular with a history of online discussion for me to scroll through because then it might be easier to sus out some of the influences and get insight into things I didn't get that maybe other viewers did. I'll be re-reading the Epic of Gilgamesh. I'm also planning to read the source manga. Unfortunately, the manga is very difficult to find. I managed to locate several chapters online, but I can't find all of them. Each volume is too expensive on ebay. Once I do these things I'll come back for a second viewing.I should also mention it's pretty amazing that they were able to tell such an ambitious and creative story on what was obviously a low budget. The fight scenes sucked but that art style was cool and I liked the muted color palate. Reviewer’s Rating: 7 What did you think of this review? Nice0 Love it0 Funny0 Confusing0 Informative0 Well-written0 Creative0Show all |