Gasaraki Recommended

Publisher
ADV
Director
Ryosuke Takahashi
Production
Sunrise, TV Osaka, Yomiuri Advertising
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
1998

Gasaraki

By Stus
30th May 04

I have noticed that the series of Gasaraki seems to come in for quite a lot of criticism, I believe another review on this site gives it a paltry 2 out of 10.

However to balance this, I would like to present a review as a fan of the series, which will of course lead inevitably to a different conclusion.

Gasaraki follows the story of Yushiro Gowa a pilot for the JSSDF's Tactical Armour (TA) test unit developed by the Gowa family and Miharu a pilot for the rival TA unit of Symbol. With a mystic edge provided in the Gasaraki summoning ceremony and Kugai. this can be a bit hard to follow at first but it does a reasonable job in tying it up in the end.

The first thing to say is that Gasaraki isn't your standard mecha series, and many of the conventions of other series are broken. For starters it doesn't rely on a big piece of combat every episode to carry the series (like Dai Guard) or a brand new mecha developed in about 5 minutes to save the day (like almost every single Gundam series). The Mecha action is more of a bonus to the main thrust of Gasaraki, which is the political interplay between Symbol, the Gowa family, Japan and America. This does make the series move very slow especially to begin with (Episode 3 before any real combat) which is probably the main criticism of the series.

The animation quality is alright and of about the standard for the time it was made, although character close ups sometimes look a bit deformed (I never worked out why this was done). CGI is used intelligently, sparringly and without a great song and dance for it (unlike many gonzo releases). The Dub is alright as well with your usual ADV fair (such as Chris Pattern as Yushiro Gowa) and a few too many Texan accents for the military characters.

In conclusion I really like this series but it is definitely not for everyone's tastes, a like for political interplay is definitely required, so if you liked the second Patlabor movie you will probably like this series. Although fans of a more normal mecha series will probably be bored to tears.

-- Stus 30th May 04

Gasaraki Images