So despite having loved the original and having had the disc for a decent while now, I finally decided to bust out Volume 1 of Gate Keepers 21 tonight. For anyone who cares, there aren't any spoilers in here, just some general observations.

Volume 1 contains the first three episodes, which I enjoyed. The animation is sharper and crisper, which looked good to me. The show is darker than the original, both in terms of the artwork and the mood of the show. Despite the differences in appearances, the show is definitely Gatekeepers thanks to the character designs of Keiji Goto (who, among other things, worked on the original and Nadesico). Oh, and there's a 5.1 Japanese sound track, which is fucking great and needs to be done all the time with other shows. Fuck that 5.1 dub shit, or, while we're on the subject, dubs period.

21 doesn't quite have the "fun" feel of the original, which isn't a bad thing per se; it's just different in that it's more serious. That's not to say that there isn't some good comedy in there, however, because there is. There are some definite tie-ins to the original series, as well as some inside stuff that you're just not going to get or fully enjoy without having seen at least some of the original.

I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the series, which I'll probably be doing this week when I go to pick up a couple of other discs, including the long fucking overdue last disc of Kare Kano (His and Her Circumstances for you non-pretentious types).

If nothing else, Gatekeepers 21 has shown me that it's time to get a new cell phone, because the one I have is crap.