Gyaru, pronounced like the English word “gal”, is a subculture that began in the 1990s to challenge traditional beauty norms in Japan. It leads to a very tanned look (some more than others from what little I’ve seen) and a lot of make-up. I’ve nothing against the culture as a whole but let’s just say some looks work for me more than others.
1990s is also considered a peak time for anime, at least for the nostalgic. Some of my favorite anime came from the 1970s and 1980s, like most of my US nostalgia, but there were some good 90s anime. This was before computers became a tool, and many older “otaku” (which carries less stigma in the west than it does in Japan) look at the cleaner lines of today’s anime and don’t really care for it. I’ve discussed this in the past. The question is whether or not 90s style art and writing could be done in the 2020s.
Enter artist Ayaka Ohira. Coming from fashion circles and 90s nostalgia, she decided to blend the two in order make Shinsei Galverse, a crowdfunded OAV style animation that recently dropped on YouTube. It tells the story of Planet Mother, the center of peace in the galaxy, that was destroyed because it was too peaceful and the bad guys hate peace because 1990s inspired. 8,888 (I’m not sure if that number is significant) sharda form into Gyaru adorned women called “Galverse”. One of them arrives on a planet in the middle of a war without her memory. So someone she meets there (the press material goes with “they” and since the Galverse are all referred to as female someone either forgot to list Ring as male or Ohira wanted Ring to be nonbinary or something…I don’t really know) gives her the name Zero. In turn she helps protect the children…even from one of her own kind and the evil organization behind Planet Mother’s destruction.
I’ll have a few more notations after the video, but for now check it out. Note that you’ll have to turn on closed captions and set them to your preferred language for subtitles, as it’s in Japanese with no dubs. Enjoy.
The official website for this project includes a press kit that has to be downloaded and unzipped and a manga version of the story that needs some serious reformatting on the web page’s part. You’ll have to play games with the images to get to read the thing. I also don’t know if this is a pilot or intended as a one-shot as nothing seems to indicate one way or another. There’s making of videos and a music video at their official YouTube channel. That’s a lot of effort if they are intending a one-shot, but if Ohira is going for a full series, she has my vote.
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