Gdleen
Entry updated 1 December 2025. Tagged: TV.
Japanese animated OVA (1990; vt Gadurin; vt Gadulin; vt Jikō Wakusei Gdleen). Ashi Productions Company. Based on the Light Novel by Yuto Ramon (illustrated by Hitoshi Yoneda). Directed by Takao Kato and Toyoo Ashida. Written by Michiru Shimada. Voice cast Eriko Hara, Ichirō Nagai, Keiichi Nanba and Kei Tomiyama. 45 minutes. Colour.
Ryu (Nanba) of the Akamaru Corporation's Planet Research Group regains consciousness after his Spaceship's crash; his boss, Robot MOS-01 (Tomiyama), recommends he "detect as many resources as possible for the Akamaru Corporation" (see Economics) as success would mean he would "be climbing the corporate ladder very quickly". Ryu is more concerned by the giant insect (see Life on Other Worlds; Monsters) attacking him and shoots it. The Robot is not impressed: "You have destroyed an important research specimen ... you are not a good candidate for the elite." The discussion is interrupted by a group of four armed Aliens, later identified as the Babaress: the robot introduces themself and, dismissively, Ryu ("he is just an employee"), then offers a business card – only to be beaten up by the aliens.
Ryu escapes by leaping of a cliff into a forest, whilst MOS-01 is rescued by the Miyori army, who have "the power to control the innate abilities of plants and minerals" (see Psi Powers): the robot is excited by the commercial potential of such Magic. The Miyori are involved in a Religious War with the Babaress, though they worship the same god, named Governor. Meanwhile Ryu – now out of his spacesuit to reveal the business suit underneath (he also has a suitcase) – sees Fana (Hara), a faery of the Euredona tribe, bathing (see Fan Service): she gives him a ring which enables them to understand each other (see Universal Translator). The pair are captured by the Babaress, who plan to sacrifice them, but Ryu suddenly displays resourcefulness and they escape; later he is attacked by a Babaress, but Fana uses her power to save him: doing so nearly kills her, though it seems also to mark a shift to adulthood and she grows wings.
After some romantic confusion, Fana is abducted by the Babaress and taken to Governor's "castle". Whilst rescuing her, Ryu discovers the god is a Computer (Nagai), set up by the "Governer" who had arrived to colonize the planet 7,000 years ago: he created the civil war to prevent any of the tribes from becoming too powerful, only to die shortly after. The computer, now calling itself Governer, had continued with this plan – not a result of it needing to follow its programming, but because it enjoyed it ("it is natural for the strong to dominate") and believing itself a god (see AI). Governer wants to "sacrifice" Fana – that is, use her as a sample to draw information from – but offers to transport Ryu and MOS-01 to Earth. Ryu refuses and kills the computer (which proves surprisingly easy), whereupon the castle uproots from the earth and is revealed to be a giant structure, which then explodes; but Ryu, Fana and MOS-01 survive: the first two become lovers, the latter haranguing Ryu for his indifference to his responsibilities as an Akamaru employee. A still shows the couple in the future, with children.
At the beginning and towards the end, the planet is shown to be a World Ship, the surface being the outside of a central cylinder circled by artificial moons; there is also a prophetic narration. Though important to the plot of the seven-volume light novel series, in the context of the OVA – based on the first book – they are largely irrelevant.
Gdleen is a good Anime, with some nice animation and reasonable plot. The main drawback is its short run-time, meaning the story is rushed: more of Ryu as a salaryman and his interactions with MOS-01 would have been amusing (see Humour), whilst the Miyori and Babaress are fairly generic. [SP]
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