Gate Surfers is a serialized seinen anime drawn in heavy black brush ink and flat colour, in the spirit of 1990s OVA. Heavy ink, nobody cute on the job.
A hundred years into peace, the worlds are joined by gates: standing rivers of blue that a trained crew can ride. Riders lie flat along the Line, five bodies in a diamond, and haul cargo across the span to the far threshold. It is ordinary work, a respected trade, and mostly safe.
Mostly. Out past the walls of the bridge is the Tank, and things live there. Every rider knows the one rule that keeps a world alive: a shark cannot pass a threshold. Nobody talks about what happens before you get there.
The pilot follows the crew of Kareha, a village under a great tree, on a winter run. The rite is held, the cargo is bound, the gate opens. Then the ki starts pouring off the new rider like nothing they have seen.
At home in Kareha: Saku, who leads the rite. Mother Ishi, keeper of the stone. The Initiator, who works the mouth of the gate and never crosses.
- Status
- Pilot in production
- Form
- Serialized anime
- Look
- Heavy brush ink, flat colour
- Language
- Japanese
- Cast
- Ao · Tsubaki · Shio · Gin · Nagi
From the film
“She hasn't blinked since the gate opened.”
Stills
The crew
Kite. She leads the diamond. She has not blinked since the gate opened.
Heart. She hauls the cargo at the centre. The hook is the job.
Port Fang. Iron, not scale. The harpoon is his, and so is the club.
Starboard Fang. The rifle does the talking. Nagi writes down the time.
Wake. Trails the formation. The sword fits him better than the plates.