Warning This review may contain spoilers.

First impressions, so we got modern Japan meets fantasty world with the help of an magic inter dimensional gate that appears out of nowhere sounds interesting enough.

Story, 4/10

When a magic inter dimensional portel opens up in Japan.

Hordes of Fantasy Warriors and monsters poor out and Attck the people of Japan.
With one man standing in there way.
A Japanese soldier named Itami who manages to lead a counter defense in order to push the intruders back.
Which actually works even though any one with half a brain could have come up with it.

Some time after the attack he is apparently a hero now and promoted in the army.
So after that he is in the first squadron of the Japanese army to explore this new land and etc.

the story of gate pretty much starts out like this epic war between the Japanese army vs the empire which is totally not a cheep ripoff of the Roman Empire.

Which I thought was a pretty interesting idea for a war story.
Because you got modern combat with guns and tanks vs fantasy combat with magic and swords. Which would make some very interesting battles going down. And while this epic war is going down we will have people from both side trying to stop the war so the two worlds can coexist in peace.

Sounds pretty cool right? Well if you think that what the story like then I am sorry to tell you that gate is otaku pandering and Japanese propaganda to the max.
And I am not jokeing when I say this.
The underline story is basically Japanese propaganda and otaku pandering.

For the otaku pandering part you got a fantasy world filled with most otaku fedish's like lolis,elfs,animal girls and etc.

it also includes a main protagonist as an otaku who is a hero to the people and has been starting collecting girls for his haram.
There is also A lot of fan service.

For the Japanese propaganda part.
You got the leaders of America,China,Russia government acting like one dimensional evil villains who want to take over the fantasy world and mine it for natural resources for money or eta.
While the noble Japanese government what to protect the fantasy people from those who would have evil intentions like America,China,Russia.

Another example of this propaganda is how normal Japanese soldiers where actually able to beat highly trained American blacks ops who probably have years of combat experience.

I get it Japan your still salty about World War Two but you have to get over it,
The Japanese army isn't as strong as it used to be and you have to understand that.

But Also I would like to add that any country would probably do the same if a new land popped up and it was full of untapped resources and one county was just like no we call dibs on this.
This is global politics 101.

But apparently you can't have a war drama without all these "important" elements like otaku pandering and Japanese propaganda.
Actually it isn't a war drama is more like a war dud.
Because Who needs Gray morality or deep themes or good characters even.
what the fuck is that? Take the safe rote and hope the plebs will bite and call it a master piece of mature writing which it really isn't.

So gate had the potential to be a good war drama and if it had taken it self seriously it would have Been good. But sadly it decided to Take the Safe route And becomes a soulless otaku pandering wish fill ment bull shit with a war thrown in as flavoring.
And when I think about this could have been a pretty decent harem if it wasn't for the war and the badly explored politics.
Hell it could have been a decent adventure story if you again remove the war and politics.

Actually when I think about.
the war and political elements really do actually drag it down to the mud.
Because this could have been a fun story with harem and ecchi shit happening,
And It would probably be a ten times better show.
And that is saying something.

Characters, 4/10

The main character Itami is the most out of place thing in his setting.
He is pretty much an otaku with a pretty decent ranking the military.
And I understand that anyone can have a hobby that's outside their work place.
But I would think if he was a soldier for the army he would be a lot more fit or in fact more highly trained.
I know he not part of the black ops or any highly trained military.
But in all honesty he doesn't even act or feel like a soldier.
Because I have meet people that are or where part of the military in some point in there lives.
And he doesn't have that vide about him.
Even when I include other anime with military people in them.

his presence is probably the most jarring thing in this show.

The side character are very one note and are as bland as toast.
All the characters are spupind,
Even the military leaders Who are In charge.

There not even a single character I care about in this entire show.

There is no character development or fleshing out.
Even though there could be with the whole war thing.
Because war is very stressful and losing your friends or killing things can do things to people.
Some it doesn't really affect them and others well PTSD is quite the popular way to go about things.
Not one character say especially from the Japanese army
What is this fighting actually actually doing to us or how do people feel when killing entire army's in mare seconds.

They feel like robots they just point, shot, repeat.

But in the flip side It more reasonable for the people from the fantasy world to act like that.
Because death and fighting are more common for them,
Especially When you make in the midevil fantasy world setting as context for that.

Art, 6/10

The animation is very average as a whole.
It has some very colorful backgrounds.
The art style is very generic.

I like some of the character designs,
Not there not amazing or mind blowing in any way.

Sound, 5/10

The op I don't care about and the ending is probably the worse choice they could of picked for a ending song.
Because it so upbeat even though people are getting killed in mass in the show.
It doesn't fit very well.

The ost was fine for the most part.
It was done by yoshiaki Fujisawa.

Enjoyment, 6/10

So over all despite being quite negative towards this show in general. I did quite find it quite entertaining at times.
Like for example when the empire tried to attack the Japanese base and the empire army got recked almost instantly.
Which I fould funny because the empire army was so cocky and thinking they were going to win and then they get ripped apart by gun fire.
That was favorite part,
It got even better when they did it a few more times with a bigger army each time.
And still got ripped apart easily.
Those episodes are probably the most fun I ever had in this anime.

And sadly it never go back to the quitly those episodes had

Overall, 4/10

If you like simple shows with fan service and fantasy elements then gate is an anime you will like. But if your looking for a war drama that takes it's self seriously then you won't find it here along with over things like logic or gray characters.

Also if this was supposed to be some sort of advertisement for the Japanese army then it's a fail.
Even as that.