Candidate for Goddess is set in the year 4048, over one thousand years since the Crisis of Systems, which resulted in the destruction of four planetary systems, leaving only a single inhabitable planet, Zion. Mankind is forced to live in space colonies, since that one planet is constantly being invaded by alien life forms that have come to be known as Victim. To stop the aliens and protect Zion mankind has developed five astronomical humanoid weapons, Ingrids, also known as Goddesses. At the G.O.A. (Goddess Operation Academy), young men from colonies are trained to pilot the Goddesses and are partnered with Repairers, whose sole job is to provide assistance to the pilots and maintain the vessels they pilot. Each of the pilots require a blood-type of EO have a special power called EX, which varies from pilot to pilot. The time that a child can control a Goddess is limited and replacements have to be found after a moderate length of time.
By: Tricause
Story & Playability
Exhilarating, brilliant, and overlooked; these words can sum up Candidate for Goddess itself. When I saw its initial run
in the US, then known as Pilot Candidate, I was excited about the idea of a training academy for piloting Goddesses to
save Zion, the EX reactions, and the well-developed candidates that held disturbing pasts.
In the year 4084, one thousand years after the Crisis of Systems - in which four planetary systems were destroyed
leaving Zion the only planet left - mankind is forced to build large Gundam-like machines called the Goddesses to combat
the relentless Victim. Humanity does not know why they attack and when they will stop, they just know that as long as
the Victim persist, they must defend Zion. In order to obtain pilots capable of piloting the five Goddesses, GOA was
founded to find young candidates within their colonies with a rare blood type of EO. A candidate with EO blood type can
have what are called EX Reactions, in which in a brief period of time their abilities are heightened drastically and
their hair turns light blue. At the beginning, we find the protagonist Zero Enna, marked as number 88, as well as two
other candidates: Hiead and Clay, who are marked 87 and 89 respectively. The candidates are put through training
processes to test their abilities and are eventually partnered with repairers, whose sole job is to provide assistance
to the candidate and provide repairs to the Pro-Ings, a training vessel used to help candidates develop their abilities
and provide support to the five Goddesses. Additionally, the Goddesses seem to have quite a history and bring up a lot
of questions for the viewer to ask and there is the mysterious Teela, who is the only female pilot and is also the
youngest pilot. The idea for Goddesses fighting to save the last remaining planet against the relentless Victim was a
rather creative one.
Zero Enna, an impatient, optimistic, brash, outgoing, good spirited, and loud boy, makes a round well-developed
character with many different personalities rather than a flat design. Due to his arrogance he starts off as an immature
character, however, this leaves him room to mature as the story progresses. When his repairer is reprimanded for running
out of a training simulation room when Zero accidentally insults her, he insists that since they are partners that they
receive the same treatment, resulting in his punishment as well. Clay, one of his classmates, makes a great
sub-character; he is definitely the class brain and analyzes everything and attempts to calculate a solution for the
situation, though he miserably, yet humorously, fails. Additionally there is the interesting Hiead who seems to have a
disturbing past. He is shown as a cold and arrogant character that seems ill-spirited toward others. However, during the
twelfth episode (Curriculum 11) he begins to show his lighter side.
The story and environment created go together in perfect harmony. The unity between them cannot be overlooked. Mech and
science fiction lovers should definitely take a chance to see what Candidate for Goddess has to offer. Its unique story
accompanied with dynamic and round characters should provide something for everyone to enjoy, landing this a 10.
Rating: 10
Graphics
Overall the art was pretty good. The uniforms presented and worn by the candidates and pilots were all eye-catching,
unique, and very creative. The academy was additionally well designed and had the futuristic feeling with a white and
sterile environment. The character designs such as Zero's strange hairstyle, fits in unity with his odd
personality. Hiead's white and sleek hairstyle fits in with his cold personality. The five Goddesses were also
rather pleasing in their model design with engravings on their equipment and different colors suited their different
designs. On the contrast, the Victim could have been a bit better. Due to this, I was not as pleased with the Victim vs.
Goddess battle as I was pleased with the Pro-Ing vs. Pro-Ing that happened throughout the candidates training processes.
Throughout the episodes, there were no problems encountered with the frame rates, everything fit in harmony and flew by
smoothly.
Rating: 8
Sound
Many can enjoy the introduction music, known as Zion, it fit perfectly with the scene depicted and it really swayed me
into the mood. The majority of the English-dubbed voice acting throughout the episodes was quite enjoyable but at some
times they sounded rather awkward and corny, as can be seen in many other shows. The majority of the characters have
voices that suite them well for the personalities they exhibit. For example, Erts is a pacifist, so he does not like
conflict, and his soft voice tone suits his exterior and interior image. These attributes can lead one to say the sound
is definitely above average.
Rating: 7
Fun
One can easy enjoy the whole uncompleted series, because there was not a point in which there was nothing to enjoy. The
fact that there was no resolution to the series should not affect it negatively, it should be viewed as room for an
unknown future, though admittedly one can be a bit upset that they canceled the series and never reinitiated it. The
opening scene and just Zero's personality can hook someone onto this series as well as the humorous repeated
failures of Clay. The fact that he always believes retreating is an option makes him vulnerable with a average life span
of ten seconds in battle. The story was original, regardless if it had some aspects of Neon Genesis Evangelion and
Gundam intertwined within it. Some parts were corny, but then again which anime is not once and a while? Overall it was
an extremely pleasing experience for a science fiction and Mech lover such as myself. Candidates of Goddesses was
well-developed yet flew under the radar, resulting in cancellation. It would be really pleasing to see some continuation
in the series, but regretfully that may not happen any time soon or at all. One should not take the cancellation on a
negative effect, but should rather see what it had to offer for enjoyment. This series definitely deserves my
recommendation due to all of the aspect presented.
Rating: 9
Final Verdict
8.8333 (very good)
Reviewed by Tricause, Apr 01, 2008
