This Forgotten Anime Adaptation of a PlayStation Video Game Is Now Available To Stream

It’s very common for successful anime series to be transformed into high-profile video games. The opposite is rare, but it does happen. Back in 2000, Gate Keepers became a successful RPG game that made a lot of fans when it was released for PlayStation. Due to its popularity, the game was quickly adapted into other formats to reach a bigger audience, including a manga and anime series. After it became an anime series, Gate Keepers became a cult classic, but these days it remains mostly forgotten. This is about to change, as Crunchyroll announced that the entire series is now available to stream on the platform.

Gate Keepers had a pretty unique setting for an anime: the story took place in the late 70s, a period in which Japan was still recuperating from the tragic damage suffered during World War II. In the story of the series, the situation is made worse when humanity discovers that interdimensional beings are infiltrating the planet in order to take over control — and the way to do that is by transforming people into robotic figures that work for them.

This is how the Alien Exterminating Global Intercept System (A.E.G.I.S.) comes to life as a secret organization tasked with ridding Earth of the invaders. They do so by creating portals that give them superpowers to fight the alien threat. One of the people recruited for A.E.G.I.S. is Shun Ukiya (voiced by Takahiro Sakurai in the original Japanese and by Randy McPherson in the English dub), a high-school boy who discovers he can open the portals.

‘Gate Keepers’ Thrived Because It Was In Good Hands

One thing that will help you discover the world of Gate Keepers is the fact that the anime series is a pretty easy binge. The show ran for 24 episodes and it was directed by Koichi Chigira, who up until that point had helmed episodes of Rurouni Kenshin and Magic Knight Rayearth. After that, he went on to direct the hit anime series Full Metal Panic! In 2002, the series got a six-part sequel called Gate Keepers 21 with different characters and set three decades after the events of the original series.

Despite not continuing with Gate Keepers, animation studio Gonzo made enough noise with the title in order to be able to produce other landmark anime series like Hellsing, Chrono Crusade, Gantz, G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, Witchblade, Afro Samurai, and many others. Gate Keepers was the first anime series produced by the animation studio.

You can stream all episodes of Gate Keepers on Crunchyroll.

Source: Crunchyroll