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Elemental Gelade
Anime DVD Review
Elemental Gelade is like a mix between A Little Snow Fairy Sugar and Nausicaa, danger and lots of explosions but love and sweetness as well. Elemental Gelade may not wow you with it's visuals or even with it's storyline at first but it will grow on you. Blundering sky pirate Cou finds the mother of all treasures in the form of the lovely Ren, a member of an ancient race called Edel Raids, much desired for their magical powers. When Cou agrees to protect Ren on her journey to a mystical garden, the pair must fend off fleets of enemies that want Ren for themselves. After all, her powers can be a destructive weapon if they fall into the wrong hands.
I think Elemental Gelade puts those popular proverbs about women into one package and this is almost like a warning to all guys about girls. Ok... warning is too strong a word but it's almost like a guidebook. Everyone knows about how women can endure the most pain in the world (a.k.a. childbirth). The strength to endure THAT is incredible; can you imagine if that strength was turned against you? How about: behind every successful man is a successful woman? Replace success with power; the stronger a man's Edel Raid is, the more powerful he is.
 Even the proverb that women come in all shapes and sizes hold true here. Kuea is a voluptuous commanding woman... except when she is hungry, then she's just voluptuous. Cisqua is a well-meaning, sweet, money hoarding fiend that everyone wants to listen to but really can't because it's just no fun to listen to her. Cisqua is also a little underdeveloped and weíre not talking about just the height. If you like that though... go right on ahead.
And then there is Ren... The quintessential "I've been hurt too many times before" girl. To Ren, all men, especially human men, are bad. There is no difference between anyone; they all just want to have her for her power and use her like an object. She tries to act indifferent towards everyone but she feels drawn to protecting Cou. They are both orphans and she feels like she might have found the one person that might be able to understand her and protect her as she protects him. She wants to trust him 100% but her history, her facade that she wants everyone to see and believe in, her lack of faith in Cou, and her lack of faith in herself holds her back.
Ren's character forces us to ask ourselves about her belief about people and life; she fears her own truth and what the future will bring. Do you hold these same fears? Do you think love or courage can overwhelm those fears? Do you think hers can?
Reviewed by Carloyn Whu, January 2007
Below: Scenes from Elemental Gelade.
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