Gasaraki

It's always awesome to see a good mecha series that doesn't bank on flashy fight scenes. The bipedal weapons here are presented as being very new technology to the battlefield, still very limited in many ways but much better suited for urban combat than tanks. Where the show really shines is in the story itself that it tells. It was deep and complex in itself, however the amount of time spent on any individual detail relevant to the core story wasn't quite enough to really drive it home all the way. It left it feeling like they just touched on most of the key points ... enough to keep it coherent but not quite enough to have me completely emotionally invested in it. Still, it's far beyond a great number of other mecha shows.

I also would've probably considered it worth much more if the characters were flushed out better. Even the main characters themselves remain seeming a bit shallow throughout. All said and done though, while it may have fallen a little short in the ways I mentioned, I felt like its good points came together very well to create something that was very enjoyable. I'm glad that I took the time to check it out.

Gasaraki is one of the more trickier titles I've had to try figuring out in terms of what it wanted to tell and how to critique it. Focused on young mecha pilot Yushiro Gowa, the boy is treated as nothing more than a tool by his family who have considerable influence in Japan's military and political world, considering they have Yushiro become part of the country's military to test out their mecha, the Tactical Armor. This starts off the complicated tale of Gasaraki, a series that dabbles into political conspiracies, elements of Japanese folklore and the "real robot" genre of mecha anime.

Let's first tackle the ... simplest element of the series in the form of its "real robot" approach. Directed by the same man involved with 80s mecha title Armored Trooper Votoms, Gasaraki depicts a near-future implementation of its mecha similar to how Patlabor pulls it off with grounded implementation of its technology and limits to how far humans can make use of said robots in battle. This series is one of the more meticulous mecha titles when it comes to detailing the various capabilities of the Tactical Armor units seen throughout the series, demonstrating various elements such as having support staff coordinate mission details and locations, use of the mecha's features for various battle scenarios and believably dealing with realistic circumstances such as physics and terrain.

The elements of mysticism and politics introduced to the series are the more complicated element to the series and what has led to its very mixed reception among fans. Let's dabble into the political element of the series first. The series focuses on some shaky elements related to real-life global issues such as a Middle Eastern conflict similar to the Persian Gulf War and a radical element to Japan's relationship with America as the Gowas are among a conspiracy that would involve returning Japan to the militaristic regime it was under before their defeat in World War II. The latter element is the major focus for many of the later episodes in the series as this conspiracy drives Japan and America to the brink of war and the tension escalating from the conflict make for the highlight to this series. The political focus, combined with Gasaraki's "real robot" element, gives the series a realistic feel as its events give off a serious mood and are often accompanied by news program clips that make for a unique approach to delivering details on the title's major events without resorting to narration or exposition.

The mysticism element is more of a mixed bag here. The series makes use of elements in Japanese folklore and Noh musical performances to symbolically represent Japan's cultural identity and attempt using as a major story element involving the Gowa family. But this attempt felt hackneyed, was not as polished as the political and realistic elements that were otherwise conveyed throughout much of Gasaraki's run and lead to a subpar and rushed final episode once events with the American-Japanese political situation get resolved.

But perhaps this show's biggest issue is that it can be hard for many viewers to stay engaged to it. As lead characters, Yushiro and Miharu are rather bland and even as they are fleshed out, their characters lack much in the way of dimension, they mostly serve as players to the conflicts that play out and Miharu spends a good number of episodes in the second half in a catatonic state. The series also can get in the bad habit of being very dialogue-heavy with the various philosophies and political banter exchanged between characters at a number of points throughout Gasaraki, which become increasingly present during the American-Japanese conflict that takes place. While the exchanges help to get into the heads of some of the characters within the Gowa family, they can be difficult to follow if one isn't savvy enough with understanding Japanese history and culture.

Visually, Gasaraki is a bit of a mixed bag. The series sports polished and nicely detailed designs for its mecha, solid choreography and fluid movement for mecha battle scenes, implementation of CG animation for computer displays and providing diverse looks for its characters that aren't reused for the many designs implemented. However, the color tones used for the visuals are drab, consistency issues with a number of the title's designs are an occasional occurrence and details on visual elements not involving mecha and computer screens look rather rough in their appearance.

The soundtrack to Gasaraki is perhaps the high point of the series for me, consisting of dramatic and haunting musical pieces that are effectively used in the show's many tense and suspenseful moments. The OP and ED for the series (Message #9 and Love Story respectively) are excellent fits for Gasaraki and do well to convey the regular mood and themes that you can expect out of the series.

Overall, Gasaraki's quite the mixed bag for me. It tries making an effort to be realistic and different with its political and supernatural themes, which works well to a degree with the political elements and realism conveyed in its storytelling. However, these efforts are a double-edged sword as they can limit accessibility and engagement to many viewers with its convoluted themes, heavy-handed philosophizing, sloppy implementation of its supernatural elements and rather bland lead characters. While reputable for its mixture of "real robot" and political elements, your mileage will definitely vary with the amount of enjoyment one can get out of Gasaraki.

Overall
First, this is a very slow and heavy anime to watch. It has big ambitions and demands a lot of focus from the viewer. Sadly, a great backstory gets demolished by a slow, dull and uninspiring execution.

Animation
Considering it was made in 1998, you shouldn’t expect too much graphics-wise. Particularly the characters look quite bad and uninspiring. Action sequences are confusing to the point where you don’t know who is who as all the mechas look basically the same. All is not bad though; there are unusually few recycled animations and still frames, and the dark style really creates a nice mood.

Sound
Voice acting is not bad ... per se, it’s just that the script runs along so slowly that every conversation turns out frustratingly calm, there is not much emotion showing at all. Background music and sound effects are quite good and enhances the mood. Opening and ending themes are decent and fitting.

Story
Story-wise, Gasaraki is very ambitious. There is a complex and quite cool backstory involving philosophy, high level politics and historical events that all helps supporting the main story. And in 25 episodes, it all gets decently presented and knitted together. The problem is, the pace is so slow that there is little time for anything to really hook the viewer. The characters are left flat and without much depth, just floating along with the current. And there are many instances of “hey, was that sixteenth rescue mission really dramaturgically necessary?” All in all, the story is very interesting in theory, but disastrously poorly executed in practice.

Character
Despite bad graphics, slow pace and lack of hooks, Gasaraki could have been saved by the characters. There are a lot of them and a little personality and depth here and there would have lifted this anime immensely. Sadly, both personality and depth are lacking. There seems to have been to much focus on developing a complex story, and little effort has been put down to bring the story to life.

Value
The G_P sub I watched was good, but the font used made it somewhat hard to read.
The re-watch value of Gasaraki depends on how cool you think the story is. It certainly could be watched again to get some things straight. But the slow pace and general dullness speaks against it, at least for me.