Hakaiou: GaoGaiGar tai Betterman

Preface: If you have not watched GaoGaiGar, Betterman, or GaoGaiGar Final this should be avoided at all costs. This was the first full Light Novel I have ever read and that really added to the time it took to finish it(a little over one year with sporadic reading here and there). There are both good and bad that came with this being a light novel. The only folks who will know of these series are either fans of Super Robot Wars (me) or fans of the previously mentioned series (also me). If you were handed these books at complete random, you would be at acomplete loss but possibly enjoy the imaginative nature handling to the various situations presented in the narrative. Story: First off, the title is both a lie and a homage to old-crossover mecha movies from times long past. Which sets the tone pretty well all things considered. Without getting into spoilers and being as vague as possible, the story takes place after the ending of GaoGaiGar Final, with the focus being on what life on Earth has been like for Mamoru and Kaidou. As the title suggests, Betterman eventually get involved with the protagonists as new issues begin to arise around them as they grow older and become adults. There is a new threat on the horizon and it needs to be stopped. Same big stakes, both new and returning characters making up the cast. The story heavily recontextualizes the last moments of GaoGaiGar Final, giving a much needed explanation as to what exactly happened during the last battle and what it meant for our heroes. With the ending of GaoGaiGar Final being a bit of a bittersweet one, the tone throughout this story is closer to the original GaoGaiGar as opposed to Final, which is something I greatly appreciated and also preferred. There are lots of plot twists that have to really be experienced without any spoilers as the raw unknown factor can both add and detract from the reading experience, which is. It is interesting throughout but do expect lulls in the action when things need to be explained or conversations need to be had. Art: Art isn't really a factor given that this is a heavily prose filled work as opposed to something like a manga but the art included is nice. The characters look how they should but most of the art used are single pages from sketches. While that isn't bad, it would have helped to illustrate the iconic moments when they arose as to really give the reader that extra bit of excitement when they do happen. More sketches for the mecha themselves would have been helpful just to give the reader a better idea of what to imagine when so many things start happening and the action gets very frantic. Characters: Really not much to be said here as none of the characters make a huge shift in personality changes or beliefs throughout this work, which might put some people off but I don't think the target demographic would really mind as one could assume they came for more mecha action and all that comes with it. If you liked the cast before, you will like them now and if you didn't like them before then your mind won't be changed. Enjoyment/Writing: This is where the tension sort of begins and what you consider "good" writing is tested. As a standalone piece of literature, I do not think is a good book. Far from it honestly. The prose is very dry, the details on how characters/machines look is extremely limited(which ends up hindering on the action when it is described), the characters are very flat, there are retcons(there is just flat out wrong information given to you by the author that the translators do make note of), there are too many names to keep track of and the list goes on. Numerous times throughout the story a character's name will be dropped and most likely you will go "Who was that again?". Unless you recently just watched all three series extremely recently, you will have to look up the names just to remind you of who they are and what they look like. This does not help the fact that characters have similar names to one another or are relatives so there is even more confusion to be had. I had decided to read this pretty soon after watching Betterman and I personally still had issues identifying which characters they were talking about. I assume this would be even worse for the older fans who either grew up watching these shows or watched them in the years that they aired as the gaps between each installment is quite large. There are many things that are referenced that happened outside of the TV shows or in smaller format works, which is not a detraction as the translators go the length to explain those references to keep you up to speed. I will give credit where credit is due, the novels do more often than not bring back up past events from the TV shows as to jog your memory. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the story oddly enough does not give recaps on what has happened in previous chapters or key plot points for those who have not read a chapter for a long length of time which can be frustrating as one might struggle to remember what the characters are even trying to accomplish at certain points in the story. This light novel heavily cemented the fact, to me at least, that mecha is a very heavily audio and visual medium. It works best when you are given something to look at and hear, as opposed to just reading. However, even with these numerous shortcomings it still captures the heart of Super Robot anime pretty much to a T. From the shouting and yelling of special attacks, to describing the oddly minute details you probably never considered when one machine combines with another and the hyper-idealistic of passion turning into an actual source of usable energy. It is all here and it surprisingly works really well. It gave me that same enjoyment I got from watching the original Gaogaigar, which is a feeling I could not forget even if I wanted to. Then there are the Bettermen, and their inclusion was a very powerful motivation for getting me to read this story. The amount of love I have for the concept of what a "Betterman" is and how they function cannot be stated in it's entirety, they are perhaps one of the most interesting concepts to grace my mind. If I am able to get anymore content involving them, I will take it in any way shape or form. Overall: Given that this is more than anything the fans could have ever asked for come out of the Brave series, it does a fantastic job of giving us more of 90's style of writing in a time where shows and properties are not really written in such a way anymore. Everything about how this is written and laid out tells me that those in who cared about GaoGaiGar wanted to make this a show or OVA in some shape or form but the amount of money needed and interest just was not there for it to become a reality. For all it is worth, it is a great conclusion to a great series of stories and I couldn't be more pleased even with all the shortcomings mentioned. If this is the avenue for giving old series closure or more material, I am completely for it.