The year is 1969; Japan is going through an economic boom, and as far as outward appearances show, everything is growing at an accelerated rate. But for those on the "inside", issues in Japan are everything but booming and wonderful. The whole globe is under threat of invasion by the "Invaders", a group of shape-shifting aliens who are lead by two super-powered head figures - Count Devil, and General Machine. But, of course, the Earth has it's defences. A team of teenagers with the special ability to open gates to another dimension and draw powers through them to defeat evil. Sounds pretty much like your basic anime storyline, right?

It's more than just the invaders versus the humans, though. There's plot twists and personal issues amongst the group of Gatekeepers. Some of the characters themselves are enigmas within the storyline, such as the character Yukino Houjou. This is what makes Gatekeepers such an intriguiging anime in and of itself. The main storyline surrounds the character Shun Ukiya, a teenage boy who has just discovered his Gate power when an Invader attack got too close to his home and he fought to protect it. He is arguably the main character of the story, but there are also many other characters who are closely linked to the main focus of the story. One of which is Ruriko Ikusawa, a female Gatekeeper, the first one recruited by the secret organization of A.E.G.I.S. or the "Alien Extermination Global Intercept System". She is Shun's childhood friend, and also a strong part of the Gatekeeper team.

While the threat of Invaders isn't only on a local level, the only focus the storyline takes is that of the attack on Japan. It may seem redundant, and leave you wondering what is happening throughout the rest of the world, but there is good reason for it to be focussed on Japan alone. The reason the Invaders chose Japan as their main point of attack is because of all the changes, technologically, that Japan is going through at this time. The Invaders are part machine themselves, and can merge with pretty much anything you can think of - From an airplane, a train, to even a large sound system. We do learn of the other branches of A.E.G.I.S. though, as members of the American, Scottish, and German branches come to Japan to lend the Far East Branch Gatekeepers a hand.

The soundtrack and animation of Gatekeepers is about average, the animation is clear and crisp, and has a very nice style to it. The character design is very well done, especially for some of the more interesting characters such as Fen Feiring, and Yukino Houjou. Some of the animation can be a bit off at times, but it never lacks depth or detail. The soundtrack is relatively good, the opening and ending themes are quite catchy, and something that is nice to listen to with or without the anime to watch with it. The background music is pretty good, but almost a bit too repetitive. All in all, nothing too special, but it is greatly enhanced by the great animation.

While the storyline seems to have some holes in it, there are things that you still won't even find out after the series itself finishes. Even with some holes, and things left unexplained, it just draws the people watching even more into the anime. Most of the unanswered questions are brought up in the OVA, Gatekeepers 21, which takes place 32 years after the original series. Gatekeepers is an anime that really makes you think, though. It tends to draw you in more and more by leaving little hints that make you want to know more about it.

Some may say that Gatekeepers is an "old anime, not upto current standards", or some such things like that. This may be true, but it is mostly just the setting of the anime that makes it seem older than it actually is. It was only just released in 2000, so it's not actually as old as it may seem! Based in the past, but not a fictional past as most past-based animes tend to be. It's not the kind of 'past-based' anime set it the time of castles and knights, nor is it the wild west... It's only about 30 years ago, and set in a realistic modern-type city setting. It even has some real-life black and white clips of wars and other propaganda from back in the 1960's, which give off the impression that it is an old, outdated, documentary. Thankfully, it doesn't continue on the same way as it begins, but as far as anime has progressed now, Gatekeepers is a bit outdated in the grand scheme of things. But old relics never die out completely!

Gatekeepers is an anime of many faces, with it's main genre being quite hard to define. It could be considered a sci-fi anime, with the story being mainly focussed on an alien invasion. It could also be considered fantasy, adventure or action, because of the fast-paced storyline, awesome battle scenes, and fictional magic powers. It also falls under the categories of comedy, shoujo (girl's romance genre), mecha and drama. While it may seem to have stretched itself a little thin by covering so many genres at once, it also contributes to the greatness of this anime by drawing in all types of anime fans. It basically has something for every type of anime fan. It's a great series that I'd recommend to anyone, not just anime fans, because of the diversity of it's genres.

~Reviewed By Lunaki