Wyatt

Anime is often highly archetypal, and not in the colloquial sense of "cliche". The term archetype can also refer to the notion of foundational "types" or symbols that recur throughout various time periods or cultures. These types have spiritual and philosophical meanings. The premise of Gamba's Adventure, of a mouse that journeys to liberate a colony of mice from their wicked tyrant, is a liberating savior narrative that evokes Moses and the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. A shallow artist would use this powerful, time-tested story as a means to help give structure and heft to their work. The great Osamu Dezaki, director ofGamba, does the opposite. He recognizes the innate spiritual meaning of his subject matter and directs the show in a way that matches those crucial feelings. A mouse's adventure could easily come off as trite, full of cutesy obstacles that will be easily overcome. Conversely, Gamba's Adventure reveals its ambitions from the opening scene, where Gamba, sitting in the dirty sewers of a Japanese city, imagines what the ocean must look like and sees a utopian, rainbow filled vision. This image is too grand to be cute; it expresses Gamba's hope as viscerally as he feels it. Soon after, Gamba tells local tough guy (mouse) Yoisho that he is a coward for not joining in the fight against the evil Noroi. Yoisho tearfully replies, "I know!". That moment of guilt is devastating, and makes tangible how defending the weak is, for the main characters, a moral obligation. Gravity permeates every aspect of the series' visual design. The scratchy backgrounds by Shichiro Kobayashi contribute to the reality of the setting, making us understand the real danger the mice face. The cities are full of bent nails and rickety wooden shacks. Chuuta, the escapee of Noroi's wrath, is so beaten down when he first appears that one fully believes Noroi must be stopped. The fight scenes with enemy animals are violent. Our heroes bite and smash rocks against other animals, whose size and viciousness makes them utterly terrifying. Even one-off antagonists like a group of rabid dogs feel like the mystical creatures Odysseus runs into on his famous journey. When the roaring waves threaten to drag a character out to sea, one feels the reality that a mouse has almost no chance to prevent such an outcome. The ED has a shockingly ominous tone, and the lyrics threaten that the evening sun will "bleach the skulls of you and your friends". How fittingly metal. There can be no disappointment when Noroi is finally introduced. Few Shonen manga antagonists have been as chillingly demonic since. The positive aspects of the setting are rendered with striking weight as well. Gamba's righteous gaze towards his destination is so convicted that it is, indeed, hype. Kobayashi's backgrounds make no two sunsets look alike, and all of them are awesome. One mini-arc takes place in a forest full of juicy fruits. Dezaki and Kobayashi make it seem like paradise. Dezaki was no doubt aware of how bizarrely engaging he made this children's show. Even Digimon Adventure, my favorite children's anime, does not contain the same level of danger and physicality of Gamba's Adventure. It makes for an aesthetic delight, but it also takes the heart on a ride. When a traitor to Gamba's crew is told by Noroi, "a traitor has no home", one is reminded not of fictional mice but of the seriousness of our own lives. Gamba's nerdy pal Gakusha realizes that a village's communal song has a hidden meaning in the lyrics. The hidden meaning that Gamba's Adventure has for us all is to make us see our whole lives as a journey just as perilous, as bursting with opportunities to do good, and to do so bad.