Gasaraki - Perfect Collection

Gasaraki blends high-quality animation with interesting mecha designs and a convoluted plot that borrows heavily from Evangelion. In the not-too-distant future, the robot-suits of the Gowa Corporation fight in a Middle Eastern conflict modeled on the Gulf War. That battle is linked to the Gowa family's attempts to unleash the Gasaraki, a powerful entity from another dimension, through a Noh dance by Yoshiro Gowa, the youngest of the brothers. Miharu, a young woman who shares a psychic bond with both Yoshiro and the Gasaraki, thwarts their efforts. While his older brother Kazukiyo plots with a fanatic right-wing cabal to "purify" Japan, Yoshiro and Mirahu embark on a voyage of self-discovery. They learn that the real Yushiro Gowa died eight years ago, and share a vision of a revolt in Heian Japan (794-1185) involving Kugai, huge mobile suits with faces modeled on Noh masks. When Yoshiro and Miharu block Kazukiyo's plot to resurrect the mysterious Gasaraki, they are carried into an Evangelion-like collage of still artwork, processed live action, drawn animation, and computer-generated imagery, overlaid with a pointillist vocal track. Toru Nozaki's screenplay leaves major plot threads dangling, including Yoshiro's death and replacement. Director Ryusuke Takahashi struggles to move the various subplots along, but the result is like watching a juggler trying to keep one ball too many in the air. Gasaraki divides viewers into fervent partisans and furious detractors. Rated 12+: Violence, tobacco use, brief nudity, occasional profanity, grotesque imagery. --Charles Solomon Amazon.com

Reaches a bit too far in the end.

Gasaraki is one of those shows that seems to be either a masterpiece or a total bomb, depending on who's doing the reviewing. Naturally, I'm right in the middle. Gasaraki is slow moving at first, but picks up speed around episode 13 and moves well to the end. The visuals are excellent for the era it was made, and the minimalistic soundtrack fits it well.
The dub is competent, if not stellar, and it's interesting to hear some of ADV's veterans in early roles.
As a political thriller, it's done well, with lots of intrigue and sub plots. The ending, however, felt like a deux ex machina to me, with the revealing of the origin of Gasara.


July 4, 2008

Great attempt to take mecha in a new direction

This either will or will not be your cup of tea depending on how much patience you have, which is to say it takes some to appreciate this complex series. This is one of those mechas where you have the standard teen pilots, ambiguous blue-haired girl, and secret organization. That said, the series is really an attempt to lay a Noh drama on top of the mecha story and requires some background on Noh theatre to really appreciate. Anyway, approach it as a Noh piece and you will see what an impressive attempt this series really is.

It isn't a perfect series as the complexity of the story adds confusion where less may have been more. This is a series that relies on lots of text (with the newscasters serving as a type of Noh chorus) and at times, there's simply too much going on. Some episodes simply end, but this may be a preference (on my part) of episodes which can be self-contained as well as appreciated on the whole. Overall, Gasaraki is an above-par series for those interested and at the price, it's one to own! May 15, 2008

Just Like I Ordered!

Product arrived in exactly the condition the seller stated. Arrived in a speedy fashion as well. Will use this seller again. November 4, 2007

not an EVA rip off.

Many have called Gasaraki an Neon Genesis Evangelion: Platinum Collection rip off, and although I can see some of the reasons why, I could not disagree more. Although both shows have similar looking female leads (Miharu has a striking resemblance to Rei), both deal with mechs, and to some degree philosophy, the overall themes and focuses of the two shows are very different. EVA deals mainly with the human physique, the thoughts and ideas of its characters in order to explore what it is that makes its main character, Shinji, feel so lonely, outcast, and alone. EVA is mainly about the minds and thoughts of its characters with some mech battles thrown into it to make it a little bit exiting.

Gasaraki on the other hand is more of a political drama than anything else. Rarely does it dive deep into the minds of its characters, rarely does it explore the human mind in the way EVA does, instead it focuses on the politics of a near future world, the ways nations and major corporations constantly scheme against each other.

Although this show isn't a mech series, not in the way EVA or Gundum are, it does give a very realistic version of how mechs, or bie-pedaled weapons, could really be used in actual combat. EVA's mechs weren't practical in any way, and most others I've seen are used merely for the sake of having battles between giant robots, Gasaraki's mechs on the other hand could actually be used by real armies in real life wars. They have strengths and weakness that real weapons systems would have. They are very maneuverable, they can ever buildings, and can run circles around tanks. On the other hand, they are extremely difficult to pilot for long periods of time, and jam in the sand. They aren't invincible fighting machines like the Evangelions are in EVA, there simply a new battle platform, just like a tank or a personnel carrier with its own strengths and weaknesses. The mech battles, for the most part, are very realistic and exiting to watch. If you've ever wanted to see what a real mech in battle would be like, this show is a definite must see.


CHARACTERS. This show has a very large cast. From the Gowa family, which has seven members, to the TA team, which has eight members, to the Japanese politicians and illegal immigrants, it's very hard to keep track of everyone. Fortunately none of the characters look alike, so it's not too hard to tell them from one another.

The show also has a very great cast of secondary characters, some even better than the main characters. The TA crew is very fun to watch, with LT Sunao AKA munchkin (she's the youngest member) being my personal favorite. None of them get very deep pasts; for that matter neither do any of the main characters, but they do serve their purpose of lightning the mood of what otherwise could be a very dark series and movie the plot forward. Some, Captain Jun for instance, do get some pretty good development, even if it's completely dropped. Some are funny, some are serous, and some are just a little quirky, but they all get their own unique personalities and habits, which makes them all very fun characters to watch.

At the same time, however, the main characters, Yushiro Gowa and Miharu, are never really developed, especially Miharu. She's never given a real personality, or any sort of past. I never got a feel for who she really was, what she was thinking, or what her motivations were. In the end she, unfortunately, turned into a carbine copy of Rei from EVA. she was young, a mech pilot, a tool used by ambitious men, had short blue hair, and never did or said much of anything at all. Just as Rei was wasted in EVA, Miharu is wasted in Gasaraki. It's a real shame.

One character that was interesting to watch was Misuzu, Yushiro's little sister. All though the beginning part of the series she's the most annoying character I've ever seen (well, one of the most). She had a horrible voice actress, she didn't look her age, and she constantly referred to Yushiro as "big brother" instead of by his name, and was always weeping and running around scared. I have siblings and know how they act, but this girl was just too perfect, too innocent and whiny. She talks about dieing for her love, and quotes Hamlet. In the last volume though, her character completely changes from one of wasted potential to one of great interest. I won't ruin the ending, but lest just say she plays a surprising role in the outcome of this series.

PLOT. The plot in this series seems to change every two volumes, so there really are three parts.

Volumes 1-2 focus mainly on the war in Belgistan. These volumes introduce all the main characters and give us some really interesting battles to watch. As I've already talked about the war, I won't go into further detail.

Volumes 3-5. The middle part of the series, and the part I dislike the most, focuses on the two main characters, Yushiro and Miharu, running away from their captures and trying to find out just who exactly they are. These episodes get very mystical and delve a lot into Japanese myth and culture. We get to see a little bit of Japans deep past.

Volumes 6-7 bring the series back on track, revolve around a right wing attempt to other throw the Japanese government, and send the US into economic depression. This is, by far, the most exiting part of the series. When the US cuts wheat exports to other nations dew to crops failing, people riot in the streets and the Japanese government is forced to declare marital law. Since the right wing fanatics are in control of the military, they easily take control of the government after this. They then put into motion a plan that will throw the entire world into depression. In response the US sends it own TA's into battle.


ENDING. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I've seen good series become great series because of their endings, Now and Then, Here and There (Complete Collector's Boxed Set) comes to mind, and I've also seen great shows get ruined by their endings like EVA. Although I wouldn't say Gasaraki was ruined, I'd say that the ending brought it down to a 4 star instead of a 5 star rating. This is probably where most people get the idea that this is an EVA rip off, the ending is so much like it. I don't like psycho babble; I want the ideas and meaning to come out in the story, not a monologue at the very end. Fortunately the ending psycho babble only lasts for half of the last episode instead of two whole episodes like EVA's did, but at the same time it isn't as intelligent as EVA's ending (although that ending was very needlessly boring and complicated). Gasaraki could have been a 5 star ending, but that ending was just unsatisfying. The ending credits save a little face, but just a little.

MUSIC. Most anime's have great opening songs but horrendous closers, think Serial Experiments Lain - Boxed Set (Signature Series), Cowboy Bebop - The Perfect Sessions (Limited Edition Complete Series Boxed Set), EVA, and just about every other anime series out there. This one is the complete opposite. It has a completely horrible opening song, but a really beautiful closer. The rest of the music for this series isn't really noteworthy; nothing really stands out.

BOTTOM LINE. I've only touched the surface of what Gasaraki has to offer. There is so much more to this series that I just wasn't able to get to. this series really has a lot more in common with Ghost in the Shell then it does with EVA, so if you like Ghost than this might be good for you.

Replay value; low. November 2, 2007

an anime that pushes you

to be frank, I love this anime. it's very intelligent, very realistic (well more like unrealistic with a lot of realist boundries.) it's not very funny at all, but it was never designed to be. if you like anime, if you like mechas and you wanna see how they would work in the real world. then this is for you.

the only down sides to this anime is that it's not always action packed which is ok because then you are just getting to know the characters around. May 23, 2007

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