Gasaraki

Where Evangelion revolutionised the mecha genre, and perhaps inspired melodramatic experimentalism in modern anime, Gasaraki made a quieter step in a different direction for mecha. From the very outset, I’ll just say that one of the main draw points for this series is the mecha design, and the high degree of thought that was put into the functionality of the bipedal machines as effective tools of war in near-future combat. But there is a lot more to the show than that; Gasaraki is one of those rare anime that manage to rise above what could easily have become a convoluted mess of a plot. With ... elements of military, romance, supernatural, sci-fi, mecha, history, and politics, Gasaraki is the product of an amalgamation of a whole slew of genres and plot-lines that manages to work. But it doesn’t work as well as it could have, and the constant juggling of its many characters and stories result in some elements being underplayed and others over-stressed. The character of Misuzu and her endearment to her brother seems to be almost completely redundant at times, and quite often you end up wishing one storyline was given more attention than others. But the hectic plot also means that the show manages to be engaging for the majority of its run without ever resorting to an episodic format, which is a bit of a rarity in anime. One of the show’s biggest flaws is its characterisation, largely in the first half of the series.

The series has a very large cast, and as such, it struggles early on in giving any one character enough attention to establish them as a believable, human individual. For far too long, the protagonists of the series are sidelined to a seemingly inconsequential role of feeling sorry for themselves, and most of the rest of the cast are like talking clichés. This results in a disappointing, flat beginning. But the show does eventually manage to pull in the viewers when things start to come together and the characters are faced with hardship after hardship, the way they handle each obstacle a contribution to their depth of character. By the end of the series I felt a strong affection for many of the characters, and the villains prove to be very satisfying in their antagonistic roles, with Gouda-esque scheming and cunning. The almost iconic Nishida was one of the more interesting characters, a tactical genius and a man of honour and strong values, he provided the backbone for the idealistic elements of the series. Unfortunately, Miharu is never quite granted enough development to make her anything beyond blatantly sympathetic, and Yushiro is often terminally quiet. The more outgoing members of the TA crew proved to be the best source of characterisation from the whole show.

I’m not usually a fan of mecha at all, in fact the mere concept of creating bipedal weapons that dwarf other combatants or transform into jets is just impractical. A man-made bipedal weaponry would not only be incredibly hard and costly to create (just look at how long it took them to get ASIMO waddling about), but it would serve no purpose, having no benefit over existing vehicles of war such as tanks and aircraft. Not to mention, hominoid designs for mecha are only possible to a certain height, whereupon the sheer weight of the mecha would cause its legs and joints to crumble. Gasaraki, however, is the one and only mecha anime where the mecha is both feasible and logically designed. Rather than trying to sell them as useful all-purpose weapons, the “Tactical Armours” or TAs, are portrayed as being optimised for urban combat, where the mobility of tanks is severely limited. They are not oversized, instead built with a stock frame that is able to hold a large array of equipment, ammunition and some missiles. The thought that was put into them is quite impressive, exemplified by the fact that they, realistically, are not flawless super-powered machines. In one of the earlier episodes, for instance, the functionality of the TAs are severely impaired by sand getting into their systems when they enter combat in a desert area. Also, the piloting of a TA is shown to be quite a taxing experience, with the use of drugs to manipulate the pilot’s physical condition being a common occurrence (quite an adept foresight into the direction of warfare). In combat, their mobility is significantly better than alternative vehicles (especially as they are able to hoist themselves up the sides of buildings), but they are not overly dextrous or agile. This down-to-earth, believable portrayal of mecha is something I hadn’t seen done before (or since), and so I give the show credit for its pioneering mecha conception.

However, with that appraisal out of the way, the fact that they are more realistic also means that the action scenes are often slightly subdued and slow, not as exciting as the fast-paced fisticuffs of your usual clichéd mecha. There are a number of action highlights, such as Symbol’s TAs taking out a unit of tanks in Belgistan, and the battle following the awakening of the Kugutsu, but all in all, the action scenes are relatively bland, and sometimes the animation budget clearly isn’t there to support them (such as when the rioting takes place later in the series). A few times, they are made more interesting by the ingenious use of the TAs many functions to escape a tight situation. The show maintains a relatively fast pace right the way through, so it isn’t lacking in excitement, but don’t expect to be blown away with intense action sequences. On the whole, the production values get the job done but do not excel. The character designs are different, but, with the exclusion of the Gowa family, also uite unappealing. There are a number of reused cels and shortcuts in the animation are apparent at times. The music, on the other hand, is remarkable, with an ethereal clash of archaic Japanese and modern, militaristic sounds. This melding of sounds is exemplified best by the OP, which I consider a musical accomplishment, and quite possibly my favourite anime OP ever. The soundtrack is fittingly haunting and refreshingly innovative.

So, where the characters and the production are the sources of most of the show’s flaws, the plot is an understated success, crafting a complex mythos for the gasaraki, as well as deftly utilising the global economy as the stage for a truly modernistic conflict. The way the series balances, or rather, collides the old and the new through its exploration of multiple timelines, one set in archaic Japan and the other in the near-future, is clever and engaging. It mirrors the thematic core of the series, which is all about the conflict between traditional and modern values, and the resultant direction of human civilisation. I especially love the story behind the Gasaraki, and their plight was a nice way to cap off the themes of the show in a thought-provoking manner. I will also attest to the fact that Gasaraki truly nails the fragile balance between mystery and explanation; where many anime leave frustrating plotholes, Gasaraki leaves a hazy sense of unknown which compliments the new-age mythical tone of the show. It helps that I’m a great fan of political espionage and conspiracy, as a good portion of the show is spent scheming and plotting, as well as exposition interestingly delivered through news reports. There is a lot of dialogue, and the story is quite involved, so it’s not a show you can casually skip through. That’s not to say it becomes bogged down in pointless dialogue; there should be enough going on to keep anyone interested.

All in all, Gasaraki is a series that should be applauded for trying something new and interesting with the mecha genre, and for the amount of thought that went into its complex story, but is one that failed to live up to its potential through unexceptional production and often poorly written characters. It’s a series that will be highly enjoyed by anyone with the fortitude to watch past its opening episodes, and for anyone who really appreciates innovation and a creative story. Those who simply must have strong dramatic elements to their anime, or who are likely to be apathetic toward the cool mecha designs may find the show very disappointing. In any case, its milestone treatment of mecha as more than a fanciful superweapon, is one that no other anime has put in the effort to match, and its plot is several cuts above the cliché that plagues the mecha genre.

A different kind of Mecha anime.
Gasaraki is a relatively unknown anime series. Instead of concentrating on battles in their machines, it revolves more around family politics and politics.

The story revolves around Yushiro Gowa, the fourth son in the Gowa family. The largest company in Japan. His family puts him in the volunteer part of the experimental Mecha unit. Then things erupt in the Middle East, and a Nato/UN is sent in, and are pushed back by a unknown force. The Gowa family learns that there is another Mecha unit and send in theirs without UN permission. Things get really complicated then, Yushiro meets the leader ... of the other Mecha unit Miharu and things begin to come clear in Yushiro's life. After the UN forces defeat the Middle East country, the United States finds out about the Mecha units and tries to take them for them selfs. That's just story through the first ten episodes. Like I said a lot of political intrigue. I'm not going to go much further let's just say it puts the United States and Japan a odds, and maybe that's what some people want inside Japan to shake it up, because they feel Japan is America's slave.

I know this came out before the Iraq war, but there are is a lot of similarities to what's going on right now, and it's doesn't show a good impression of the United States, Japan, and the UN. The story was captivating, the Mecha battles were believable, nothing over the top. The character's seemed real, and believable. The only thing that kept it getting a 10 was the ending. It was a little anti climatic, other wise the show was great.

I could start off by saying that Gasaraki has a criminally low rating on this site. However, it makes sense that such a heady series wouldn't win over the hearts of wide-eyed mecha anime consumers who expect fight scenes to actually be mech fight scenes, and not the economic and diplomatic warfare that takes precedent in this anime. The attitude as expressed by raters here on MAL parallels the tension that defines the main theme of the series: the eternal and (probably) identical movement of progress and destruction.

Gasaraki takes place in a not-so-distant sci-fi future. Illegal immigration is a (seemingly) huge problem in Japan ... due to the effects of globalist economics, which has built up the illusion of economic superiority in developed, globalist economies. On the minds of the Japanese people (or so we're told) is the desire for consumption, luxury, and the satisfaction of immediate desires. The interconnected international community, of course, is highly sensitive to huge changes, and an upstart in the Middle East (where else?) has created a problem that needs to be taken care of by all those with interests in keeping the Progress moving.

Enter the TAs. What better way to show-off your cool new mechs than going to the Middle East and hopefully (but is it really even necessary?) kick some ass. The first thing that one will take note of is the incredibly realistic mech designs. Their grittiness perfectly fits in to the muted, militaristic color tones present throughout the series' design. A design that even extends into the past (hey, it fits into the theme!)

The mechs (TAs) themselves aren't really the main focus in the grand scheme of things, although you'll get a nice bit of detail into how they work, and it's great that they're realistic enough that it seems probably that they could work as portrayed. Instead, we have the spotlight shining on a whole mess of characters. Like the TAs, we get a sense that most of these people are simply cogs in a political/militaristic machine, that has been turning for centuries. There are those, it seems, that can gain control of this machine (the 'terror' ?) and our main character Yuushirou is one who has the ability to control some crazy thing in order to get closer to that power.

Of course, with a power like that, who wouldn't want to use him as a means to their end? His own powerful family isn't going to sit by and let someone else harness his ability, so they do what they're supposed to do, be 'mean' to him...

In my opinion this anime shines in its literal discussion (not just exploration) of themes that define the will of human beings to take control of themselves, create civilization, and steer its progress. Therefore, it t is no surprise that politics and the military play such an important role in the anime because it is through these channels that modern man is able to accomplish change. The narrative mirrors this in a way I can only describe as ingenious: the content of the narrative becomes the movement of the narrative itself.

What we see happening on the micro level (this story) has been occurring in a much grander scale throughout all of human history.

So, what is it that Gasaraki is trying to say? Up until the very end there doesn't seem to be any overarching morality that the show is trying to espouse. Instead we have individuals ompeting to force their own vision onto the whole of human civilization. And at the end, well it's something....

Something I find most interesting is the portrayal of the TAs/kugai as vessels which contain the gods humans want to keep closest to them. Those gods really being a certain ambition within us all. That these vessels, in both instances, would also be weapons is quite telling. (see also: swords)


One of the individuals I find most interesting is Nishida, a scholar with the hope of rejecting the progress that has been made and instead descend into a more pure and idealized system. Another is the eldest (?) Gowa brother who does the opposite. The focus is on these big-shots , regulating even our main characters to the level of small-timers. This dichotomy between the big-shots and the small-fries becomes an important part of the series. Big-shots hope to shape the world with their ideals, become fate, while small-fries simply want to see fate as something not etched in stone but forever changing, and live their lives according to their own much smaller and more ephemeral dreams. This difference of perspective is really the only way we can gauge good vs evil, for the most part what is right and wrong gets lost in the force of those attempting to control the narrative. That our main characters struggle with one perspective, may be a clue as to the moral direction this series wants to take.

In terms of thematic content we have: the TA/kugai, pilot/kai parallel, the theater stage and the stage of fate, the eternal conflicts of civilizations and the eternal conflicts of ideas, chaos on the small and grand scale, mortality and immortality, human-ness and anti-human-ness, progress that leads to destruction and the destruction that leads to progress, the sapling that grows among the rubble and the husk that topples under its own weight, the personification of history/fate, the oppressiveness of fate and the rejection of fate, human monkey-ness and human being-ness..and many more.

The anime is also executed well. I think the direction, pacing is spot on. Opening and ending themes are incredible.

Gasaraki is a slow-moving, dialogue-heavy, dark, and realistic anime that asks some of the most important and relevant questions about ourselves and our desires as human beings, especially of those human beings who have power over all others. It also serves as a decent predictor of what has happened since 1998. 8/10.

The Evangelion Inspiration Saga Part 2: Not Really A Rip This Time

"He who would move the world cannot concern himself over the placement of pebbles. A god worries not over the cries of individual men. He must be detached, disinterested. That is why I can move this world." - Kazukiyo Gowa

At long last, my journey through anime inspired by (or directly ripping off) Evangelion continues with Gasaraki- an original Sunrise anime produced by Ryosuke Takahashi (creator of Blue Gender, assistant directed Ruroni Kenshin and has worked on many Sunrise mecha shows) and Gorou Taniguchi, who would later create and direct a little anime known as ... Code Geass.

Let me start by saying that Gasaraki is not for the every-man anime watcher. The show is a dense sociopolitical drama, drenched in hard science fiction and with an added spice of some ancient Japanese traditionalism and mythology. This may sound a rather strange assortment of themes, but through careful navigation of them, it makes a complete product that I found to be quite enjoyable. The cast of Gasaraki is quite large, given that there are multiple military, government, and civilian factions, all working against each other- so learning the names and getting intimate characterization is largely pushed to the wayside through the first half or so. However, as the plot thickens, the importance of a smaller group of characters is distilled, and they're able to develop beyond feeling sorry for themselves and throwing pity parties every other episode.

The basic plot is that Yushiro Gowa, a nearly mindless, slavish, young man who's pushed into military service by his incredibly wealthy and politically powerful family for the purpose of testing a new armament for the Japanese military- is used and abused for the advancement of this new technology. These prototype Tactical Armors (bipedal war machines designed for urban combat, in places that tanks and warplanes would be at a severe disadvantage) are produced by the Gowa family (based on ancient war machines used in Feudal Japan, that were like enormous, living samurai) in an attempt to garner more political power by ingratiating themselves to the government with their new weapons. Little does the government know, Kazukiyo Gowa, the eldest of the family of 5- 4 brothers, including Yushiro, and a teenage sister- Misuzu (played by the excellent Hilary Haag) has a plan to upend the Japanese government, and become a puppeteer from the shadows in an egomaniacal quest for power.

What ensues is a complex, realistic drama of economic manipulation of the stock market and commodities to cause panic and trigger an invasion of Japan by the US under the guise of a terrorist attack to ensure that the Japanese government does not withdraw its assets from global markets, causing a severe depression and crashing other economies worldwide. Kazukiyo intends to use this as his golden ticket to catapult himself and the handful of his assembled idealistic and coldly passionate individuals into the heart of the Japanese government and world economy.

Kazukiyo is the embodiment of a completely realistic, lawful evil character.-something that is extraordinarily rare in anime, and by far the most interesting character. To me, his machinations were the most intriguing and exciting thing about the show- how he managed to manipulate the government, military, and became so detached from humanity that he would find his own family as disposable as yesterday's trash in order to gain power.

What's interesting about Gasaraki is that for having some top-billed cast members like Chris Patton (Yushiro) and Monica Rial (Miharu) as the two main characters- they have probably the least number of lines in the entire show, and are probably the least interesting characters overall as well, which was honestly, a waste of their talents. Once Yushiro and Miharu find some purpose in life though, their characters finally work their way out of the dreary, drab colors they're rendered in, and feel a bit more alive, but this is in the very final act of the show, unfortunately. However, I found Andy McAvin's Oeufcoque, Mardock Scramble) performance nearly mesmerizing in his delivery of the snakelike, ambitious, and sociopathic role of the eldest brother Kazukiyo Gowa. This dub was done by ADV- and is a very solid piece of work with a good handful of well known voice actors, but anchored by outstanding performances by the supporting cast.

The other, possibly most important part about Gasaraki, is how much effort went into the design of the mechs and the backdrop against which the plot is set. The story begins in Belgistan, an oil rich middle eastern country headed by a not so benevolent dictator who looks and acts nothing like Saddam Hussein, with the introduction of the aforementioned TA's (Tactical Armor). Unlike anything the world has ever seen- the conniving Gowa family has, unbeknownst the world, produced a bipedal tank replacement that is far superior in urban combat, and has been selling them to this dictator. When the NATO forces invade Belgistan to topple the regime, not at all like Desert Storm, they are summarily defeated by these new mechanical monstrosities- which triggers interest in them by the world's governments.

The TA's are designed modularly- with each limb and torso part being replaceable if damaged- and having many types of armaments available for attachment, easily changed out, unlike tanks. They're also capable of climbing, with the usage of two launchable grappling hooks and angled jet propulsion systems on the legs and chest to enable them to clamber up concrete/rock structures, like buildings without horribly damaging or toppling them. Each TA is piloted by a single soldier, who is hooked up to an array of medical equipment and can be injected with different compounds to increase reaction rates, be awoken from an unconscious state, or to ease pain due to combat, all in order to increase effectiveness. These are not completely infallible killing machines, as many mecha anime would have you believe however. In the desert sand, several of the TA's are damaged by the gritty dust getting into the actuators- and later, in the swamp, a pair of them sink. Given that they're on legs, they can also be damaged and rendered nearly useless if they are removed. In short, they're very functionally designed, but have the same drawbacks that a walking tank would have in real life. Great thought was put into the lore behind the design of these- which I appreciated.
If one has seen Code Geass, they can also spot many similarities to the knightmare frames- which draw direct influence from Gasaraki's TA's.

Since I've been rambling on way too long here, I'll wrap this up quickly with the animation and final comments: the animation is average at best. It's easy to tell that this show did not have a great budget, even in 1998- but it's never so awful that it's unwatchable, though there are a few moments where frames are reused and a good amount of stillframe while people are talking or sitting in a room is used- but it doesn't hamper the overall experience too much. The music is quite good, though- with a good composition of orchestral themes and a mix of traditional Japanese music thrown in when appropriate.
The worst part about the show is probably the underutilized main characters (and their voice actors)- but otherwise it's a very mature, complex, and well thought out political/war drama that is a rarity in anime for how realistically it was put together, and how grounded it stays throughout. The first half is quite slow, but it picks up a fair amount in the second act.

Final rating: 7.5

"If human feelings are what must be sacrificed to become a god, then I would rather remain humbled by sorrow!" -Yushiro Gowa

Out of all the anime I've seen over the years that fall in and around the mecha genre, Gasaraki definitely has one thing going for it: Style.

The show is a fusion of unlikely elements: Gritty mechanized warfare that's so real it's almost boring with its endless chatter about maintenance and data collection. Elaborately costumed and choreographed traditional performing arts. Classical Japanese history. War in the Middle East. Trans-Pacific diplomacy.

Somehow Sunrise manages to fit all these individual pieces together into a nice-looking whole with a muted but satisfying color palette, consistent but not-too-formulaic episode pacing, and well selected musical choices that compliment the military and spiritual ... aspects of the show equally well, creating this harmonious whole that mecha fanatics can't help but lose themselves in if they're not trying to follow the story too closely.

Unfortunately, if a person does try to follow along with the nebulous twists and turns of Gasaraki's storyline, major flaws become apparent that seriously detract from the brownie points the series collects on style: While Gasaraki does manage to stitch all the genres and tropes I mentioned above into one cloth that's largely believable, fitting that many elements into 25 episodes forces the plot to weave all over the road as far as the characters' motivations are concerned, and leave you a little dazed at the end wondering what the purpose of all the warfare was supposed to be from the beginning.

SPOILERS THIS PARAGRAPH: Yushiro started out the series as some kind of spiritual medium who could perform the dance of Gasaraki for Gowa. Then he also turned out to be the lead test pilot for Gowa's state-of-the-art mobile weapons program. Then these other mobile weapons appear in Belgistan (making Gowa no longer state-of-the-art?), and Yushiro goes there and meets Miharu, which in a roundabout way reveals that he is both a 1000-year-old reincarnated soul AND not the real Yushiro Gowa. Then, while Yushiro and Miharu are AWOL from their respective militias to "find themselves" in Kyoto, and hear the story of the kai and kugai from a man who's just conveniently waiting there for them, the JSSDF randomly decides that the Japanese population needs to be purged of modern materialistic greed (and taking the United States down with it?) provoking Miharu's former comrades to attack Gowa/JSSDF headquarters so Yushiro can return from Kyoto right in the nick of time and save the day?

It reminds of a Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle in a way, with reincarnated clones coming back from the dead to have incest babies that will eventually challenge their own incest parents to a duel to the death in another dimension in the future. (Just teasing Tsubasa fans.) It's hard to care anymore who lives or dies when the story has become so complicated that you lose sight of why winning the war is important?

MORE SPOILERS THIS PARAGRAPH: The height of the illogical insanity for me, was in the last episode when the American President calls Mr. Nishida on the phone at Gowa headquarters to concede defeat, telling Mr. Nishida that he regretted being the first American President in history to surrender, and that he wished he could have met Mr. Nishida. That didn't make any sense at all, because Mr. Nishida was not the Prime Minister or any sort of official Japanese government official at all? He's just some crazy old military advisor obsessed with Japanese swords who knew the Gasaraki legend and managed to convince Kazukiyo Gowa and the JSSDF guy that the kugai's revival was some kind of divine message. How did the US President even have Mr. Nishida's direct phone number? Is it possible that even Gasaraki's own writers had lost track of what was going on by the last episode?

After finishing the first four episodes of Gasaraki, I had really high hopes for where the end of the series was going to go. I really thought it was going to turn out like Evangelion, or Lain, or xxxHolic, and have some kind of deep-but-vague conclusion that I could kick back and think about for a while. I kept suspending judgment as I watched one episode after the next, holding out hope, waiting for the end when something unexpected would happen that would tie everything together and make it all make sense... But that validating moment never came, and there was just massive disappointment waiting for me as the power of the Gasaraki faded away leaving Yushiro and Miharu smilingly gazing into the sunrise with all their friends, like the end of some fluffy Pixar movie, so easily seeming to forget everything that happened to them in the last 24 episodes.

I love this series because it's nothing like what you expect it to be. It's highly thoughtful and insightful into the relationships of large political families. When watching this anime, I think it's vitally important to go read up on the importance of the Noh play in Japan and what it actually MEANS. You will not be able to fully appreciate this series without having an appreciation of Noh (and wikipedia's article is totally insufficient to get this appreciation - I suggest a trip to your local library for a breifing of Japanese literature and art history). I literally had to go study up ... on the mythology and art utilized in this series immediately after the first time I watched it and then immediately watch the whole series over again to grasp what this story was trying to tell me. It's intelligent, understated, and indirect just like the true essence of the Japanese aesthetic; IMO a work of art.

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.

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.

From the same fellow, Ryosuke Takahashi, who brought you Armored Troopers VOTOMS and Silent Service, Gasaraki shares its 'stable-mates' interests in the politics of war and the dilemmas of the soldier, buts adds little bit of a supernatural edge to the proceddings.

The design of the mecha is what makes Gasaraki interesting, but these distinct designs can only just make up for the general lack of action in the series overall. Character development is also fairly weak, but seceral characters are forced to make difficult decisions, which adds to the dramatic elements of the series overall.

Gasaraki is also among the more ethnocentric series available on DVD ... in the US. Noh drama, and the early history of Japan both are key plot points, but most anime fans may not 'get it' because of the general obsurity of these narrative elements.

an interesting curio, but only demends space on the shelf of a dedicated mecha fan.

Gasaraki is a very unusual show. It doesn't mind being extremely poetic. It doesn't care that a lot of viewers will regard it as excessively high-brow. I think the director must have watched a lot of art films, especially Fellini.

Gasaraki is not a great show. It is not the next Cowboy Bebop. It does have a lot of elements that don't fit together very closely -- the giant robots don't fit well with the supernatural elements or the realistic techno-thriller politics.

Gasaraki evoked a very powerful mood in me. In the end, perhaps it promised more explanations than it delivered, ... but certainly it delivered more atmosphere and mood than I had imagined to be possible. I didn't care about the plot -- I didn't even care much about the main characters, and I was very frustrated by the fact that the writing seemed pretty weak for some key character relationships -- but there were a few characters who positively inspired me, and there was a genuine sense of depth to this show.

I was always quite eager to see this series and I managed to pick the set up cheap fairly recently. I'm not the biggest fan of mecha anime but I've been keeping an open mind and have started to appreciate them a little more now, as long as they're done properly. This series has quite an adult feel to it, it can be fairly political and it doesn't rely massively on mecha action. It's a slow paced series, which I normally quite like but I must admit, at times it did become a little tedious. Overall, the story is fairly simple until the very final ... episode. I thought the final episode itself was excellent and made the series worth watching in the end. I think it's fair to say that I had high expectations going into this series (I'm not sure why exactly) and it didn't live up to them but it was a good, solid anime series, just nothing special. It had it's up's and down's, one minute I was getting really into the series, the next, I was losing interest slightly. I believe this is one of those series to forget you even have and then eventually, somewhere down the line, re-watch it again. I'm sure I'll appreciate it a little more the next time around.

While most mecha anime lean towards fantastical premises, Gasaraki takes the opposite approach. The show portrays a realistic view of what mechs would be like in the modern world. Where so many mecha shows have a toy tie in, forcing elaborate designs and numerous different models, Gasaraki only has a few unique robots and they’re not the type you’d expect to make any toys from. If you are the type who is sick of how far out there the genre can be, this is a great show to watch where things are a lot more down to Earth.

The basic premise of the show is ... that the Gowa family, a powerful Japanese family has gotten into the industry of developing mechs known as Tactical Armors (TAs). When a mysterious explosion occurs in the middle-eastern country of Belgistan, the Gowa family jumps at the opportunity to be able to work with the JSSDF (Japanese Strategic Self Defense Force) and use the TAs in real combat and extend their influence on the nation of Japan. At the same time, a mysterious organization called Symbol is also developing their own mechs known as Fakes. Yushiro Gowa, youngest son of the Gowa family is the primary pilot of the TAs. But upon learning some mysteries of his past and encountering the Symbol pilot Miharu, Yushiro decides to break off from his family and find out more about himself.

Gasaraki has several things going for it. As mentioned above, the show is far more realistic than the typical mecha show and this results in battles that are a lot different than the typical fare. The show never feels the need to shoehorn us into a battle every episode. There is really only one time in the entire series where I felt a battle was forced. The show has a ton of depth to it. The cast is significant, the plot is complex and the show does a good job of intermingling Shinto-mysticism into the story in a way that fits very well. In fact episodes focusing on this part of the show is arguably the peak of the series. The animation is very consistent, with only a couple of weak episodes. Both the opening and the ending themes have great music. The opening in particular is really unique in that it is made up of footage from future episodes and is changed every couple of episodes.

Where I think some people will be bothered by the show is that it goes too far in the political direction to the detriment of entertaining storytelling. Early episodes are filled with many news reports of events in the middle-east, which can be too much for some after several episodes in a row of it. As we start getting into the middle of the series a character, Nishida is introduced who has a quest of overthrowing the Japanese government, with the goal of Japan supplanting the U.S. as the world super power. There are numerous scenes from this point forward where either the character has long monologues or there are long political diatribes between him and other characters about the nature of the Japanese people. It is not the politics I care about here, but rather the fact that from a storytelling standpoint, having episodes that are at least 1/3 to 1/2 filled with a couple of characters in a room talking about a dry subject matter can be rough to watch. Heck, a major plot point of this show is U.S. grain exports. Did you ever think an anime would be about such a topic? Towards the end of the show when the political storyline is resolved the show takes a complete 180 and has one of anime’s most bizarre final episodes, which can also be off putting for people.

A big complaint one could have with this show is the dryness of the 2 leads, Yushiro and Miharu. Neither character has much of a personality. While there are some interesting things that happen to them, they are not the type of characters you would typically have much sympathy for because they’re not very relatable. After a notable event in the series Miharu practically goes comatose for at least a half a dozen episodes, not speaking at all. This makes an already dry character even worse. That is not to say that this show doesn’t have some good characters; as it does. The show has several characters who are well developed and interesting. But you’d think the two leads would be among those characters, but in this show it’s far from it.

I’ll admit that the show is not for everyone, but it’s worth at least one viewing, especially if you are interested in a show that is different than the cliché stuff out there.

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.

I like this show, the animation is interesting as well as the concept of the story. I like the character designs and the mechs. But to me the story was unable to engage me and keep me interested despite those cool concepts.

If you can bear through it, go ahead however the show as a whole is not interesting enough to me to keep watching but its not irredeemably bad.i think the show would have benefited greatly if the episode count was cut.

Moreover its has difficulty to spice things up, for the most part the show consists of people talking, the dialogue is interesting but ... applied to the story it's just unimpacted, for the most part and ep of gasaraki is just an exposition dump, the dump is cool but christ is this boring to watch