While Gatchaman Crowds episode 1 is unmistakably a Kenji Nakamura directed show, there was more of the original Gatchaman in there than I was expecting, even if it wasn’t all noticeable at first. There may be some other Tatsunoko shows in there too, but that’s for another day and few more episodes.
1) The Gatchaman Logo. It’s everywhere. Costumes. Magical Moleskines. Secret HQ. Teleportation Signature. Despite any initial doubts you might have, the show is telling you again and again that is a Gatchaman Show.
2) Galactor Masks. I missed these the first time through. In the opening credits we see some avatars wearing masks resembling those worn by the rank and file of the terrorist organisation from the original show. There’s also a boy on the train wearing one.
3) Hajime’s Smile. Hajime has a strange smile, it looks like the simplest way to draw a bird. If you were to follow the curve out from the corners of her mouth you’d see something resembling the beak of Ken The Eagle’s mask from the original Gatchaman.
4) Ninja Throwing Scissors. Hajime’s weapon of choice are scissors that she throws. These evoke memories of Ken’s Birdrang and Joe’s Feather Shuriken. And her hair clip in day to day life resembles the birdrang too.
5) A guy called Jo(e). Both series have a moody guy in them called Joe. This Joe passes his time playing darts, a reference to Joe The Condor’s Feather Shuriken.
6) Someone is dressed as a Swan. If Hajime is Ken and Jo is Joe, who is Jun? Well that appears to be Sungune, who has a Swan themed battlesuit. I think. And so does someone who updated the wiki page. To be honest this one might be a stretch, though it did remind me of Cygnus on Kamen Rider Fourze.
7) GALAX. This is the name of the social network that people use in this world. The name is both a nod to Galactor and its supreme leader. The publicity blurb has already revealed that there’s an entity called President X in this show. In the original, giving Galactor orders via a screen was Leader X.
8) There’s a Berg Katse. They show up in episode 1, but is not named. However the self same publicity blurb tells us this is Berg Katse. Outside of the name Gatchaman, this is the biggest nod to the original, being the name of the person created by Leader X to head Galactor on Earth and the series’ main villain.
I’m sure there must be more, I’ve only a passing familiarity with the show in it’s original form and my memories of Battle of the Planets are 30 years old now.
Oh, and go watch it, as it’s really rather good.