"Gall Force: Eternal Story" (Anime)

[pkristen]

1 Episode OVA. Originally reviewed January 29, 2002

Summary
The all female human race Solonoids and the all male reptilian/android race the Paranoids have been at galactic war with each other for ages. When it is realized they both have the power to cause mass destruction, the races secretly come together to create a plan for salvation by creating a new species with “infinite possibilities”, a project so secret that even the military is not told about it. Unwittingly caught in the middle of this experiment is the crew of the battleship Starleaf, who – through circumstances – manage to successfully create the first member of this “hopeful” new species: a human boy.

Review
Okay, be prepared for a long vent because this series has the dubious honor of being the most sexist and homophobic piece of anime that I’ve ever unwittingly set myself up to watch. I wouldn’t have been so offended if I had seen it coming! (It blows “Nuku Nuku Dash” out of the water!)

Now, my only prior “Gall Force” exposure is the glitzier and admittedly more buxom and story-challenged remake “Gall Force: The Revolution.” I had always considered it a guilty pleasure because I frankly liked it for its overt lesbianism and character designs. After watching “The Eternal Story”, I can say with a clear conscious that I would take “The Revolution” any day.

Don’t get me wrong in thinking that I approached “The Eternal Story” with the idea it was going to be some enlightened piece of feminist work based on the fact that it had an all-female cast – I’m not that much of an anime newbie. I admit I was quite skeptical, knowing that it was created by men for a male audience. However, I had quite a neutral feeling about the show while watching the first half.

As much as I was probably a little negatively biased going into it, I ended up viewing the first half as being a straight forward science-fiction story about a military crew trying to survive the various hardships of being alone in space during the time of war. (Admittedly, it seemed to have a lot of familiar plot-gimmicks from more famous sci-fi live-action shows, but I wasn’t going to fault it for that.)

My alarms weren’t triggered until over half way through the story when we see a pivotal dream had by the three surviving crew members where they “magically” encounter this unknown humanoid silhouette, that results in them feeling all warm and romantic. Because I was keeping an eye out for any lesbian evidence, I must have checked that dream sequence four or five times to see what the gender was of this “new” creature. When it was implied that this was their first time encountering a man, even if in dream symbolism, I was on full alert to understand just what the hell was the story intent of this whole series.

And so it’s quickly revealed that this secret salvation for the war between the races is the creation of a male – by way of an unwitting impregnation of crew-member Patty. I couldn’t believe how incredibly ludicrous the whole concept was if you look at it from basic logic and human nature (never mind the fact that these are “alien” races.) I would’ve laughed if it wasn’t so offensive to me.

First of all, it’s revealed that this idea of creating a humanoid male came about when the leaders of the two races realized they both created the firepower to destroy the universe, which would have resulted in a no-win for anyone. Being a former Psychology/Sociology major with strong personal interests Anthropology and History, I have NEVER heard of any long-standing war being resolved because BOTH sides offered to compromise and fuse their biology. That’s the equivalent of saying that the solution to the U.S./Russia Cold War was to put away nuclear weapons and create a group of Russian-Americans instead. Yes, races do merge, usually as a by-product of peace time or unfortunate war-encounters, but I have yet to hear of where this was offered as a solution during peace talks!

And then there’s the whole issue of how the Solonoid and Paranoids behind this secret project go to war with their own military to protect and save this new creature/race because it offers “infinite possibilities”. If I may be so blunt: the ONLY thing different that this new “race” offers is a penis to a society that’s never had use for one before. Had the boy been created accidentally in a lab or through the Solonoids regular means of procreation, he would’ve been considered a freak/mutant that has the same limited value that anyone born in our real society with a birth defect. And any female Solonoid who fell for him would probably be as ostracized as gays and lesbians are in the real world.

The bottom line is that I thought this entire series resulted in an unbelievable story about the glorification of the heterosexual human male.

Lesbian Analysis
Because this was an anime created by men for men, I was fully expecting the usual women-having-sex with each other fantasy elements that usually permeates such anime with a majority female cast. The fact that I didn’t get a real strong vibe in the beginning of that (even with the Rabby and Lufy scenes) should have been my warning sign of what was to come.

My first alarm happened when I watched the before-mentioned dream sequence, particular the one that Rabby has. Her dream starts off with her approach an Eden-like paradise filled with very happy lesbians – I was pretty impressed at first. But then this weird yellow light suddenly appears and pierces the chests of this women, presumably killing them while Rabby helplessly watches. The yellow light then morphs into a humanoid silhouette and greets her with open arms. This was the section where I had to rewind several times to see if this silhouette was male or female, with obvious concerns at the meaning behind this dream sequence, which could be completely different depending on the gender. When it was revealed that it was an unknown being (male), I about hit the roof at this depiction of the destructions of a lesbian paradise by the introduction of a man was a GOOD thing as far as the story was concerned!

So this homophobic angle brings up the point of one of the key story elements, when the Starleaf Commander Eluza is unwillingly impregnated in the execution of this experiment. As she’s lying on a medical bed, she proclaims that she knows what the point of this experiment is (which we find out is a solution for peace by both races). It’s revealed later that it’s a recognized part of the experiment that if the “host” rejects the implant, then the host dies, which Eluza does.

Now, it’s probably safe to assume that up until this story that the Solonoids were all lesbians, with Eluza being one of them. It’s easy to think that the (presumably heterosexually male) story creators were showing that a woman remaining true to her lesbianism would reject the act of procreation, especially to create a male, even if it ultimately meant peace for a long-standing war. So this ends up being a symbolically ironic way for Eluza to die. In comparison, Patty succeeds in giving “birth”, a character who also happens to be a touch more feminine than Eluza and who reacts positively to romantic dreams about a man.

However, the other side of this logic is to think that if Eluza had been a straight or bisexual woman, she would have been fine with the idea of being impregnated against her will, even if it means to create peace. I have an extremely hard time swallowing that one, especially since I know that lesbianism is NOT a rejection of a woman’s desire to procreate.

If this solution of creating a new race is the hope of peace for both sides at war, then why go through the means of running labrat-like experiments and ask for volunteers? Are they afraid they wouldn’t have received any because the Solonoids are just a bunch of amazons? That speaks of extremely less noble intentions on behalf of the creators of the experiment.

So yes, Eluza wasn’t willing to be part of an unscrupulous experiment no matter how seemingly noble the intentions behind it. After all, she’s a soldier and has risked her life for her superiors, and yet they do this to her. Who was betrayed first?

And I do find it interesting that the two most butch women in the cast are the ones who are sacrificed first in the story’s progression.

As for general homophobia (or the more lenient label of “hetero-sexism”) aspect of this entire series is that two gender exclusive races’ only solution of peace is this unbelievable introduction of heterosexual procreation to unite themselves. This strips away the value of the cultural and historical intelligence each of these races by invoking this option of crass biology over the ability to talk and negotiate. And of course, the story would progress that they destroy each other and thus ending the series on an “Adam and Eve, last survivors” note.

Okay, I could go on and on, but I think I got my main points out. Whew! I feel much better now. Thanks!