Gasaraki | Retcon_404 (Anime Retrospective)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ธ.ค. 2023
- One again visiting the world of Anime Director Ryosuke Takahashi, Gasaraki is a 25 episode Mecha series released in 1998. The series involves heavy political discussion, Japanese mysticism, and plenty of grain.
-- THIS VIDEO CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR GASARAKI --
Gaming Channel: / @retcon_404plays - ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
You aren't done with Ryosuke Takahashi until you watch and review Fang of the Sun Dougram, where the talky bits and political subterfuge are actually more captivating than the giant mecha combat. And it's on TH-cam with phenomenal subtitles!
Totally agree,. hope he covers it someday. I saw Dougram many years after seeing Gasaraki and Takahashi has a very similar style in both, really obsessing over the politics at the expense of characters. In Dougram I loved all the political stuff but the characters, at least the main heroes bored me to death (someone like Lecoque involved in all the high level political stuff was very interesting). Gasaraki wasn't as bad for me on that front, but its characters are a big weakness. Quite clear that this show has a different focus when you've got say an episode with a 10 minute Nishida monologue while Yushiro doesn't do or say anything.
And then there's FLAG, his "found footage" mecha show....but that one is VERY hard to find. Damn glad I still have the DVDs.
SO TRUE. Definitely his greatest work. I think it's one of the most interesting Real Robot series ever. No other anime I've seen presents such a comprehensive and believable chronicle of a war. Not even any of the Gundam series.
Have you seen SPT Blue Comet Layzner? MC looks like a younger version of Chirico Cuvie and his mech looks like a Gundam without a V-fin
@BatemanGosling Yeah. It's terrible. I did like some bits though, like the fights were cool, and the SPTs look nice.
The backwoods joke caught me so off guard but hilarious none the less can't wait for the next video.
Anyone else find Misuzu having an unhealthy older brother complex
When I started watching Gasaraki the first time I found myself really invested by the way it brought the real robot genre into a realistic alt-universe Gulf War setting. The Gulf War was really the first of its kind where the world could watch it unfold in great detail on TV, and Gasaraki captured that imagery and feel quite well -- only with badass mechs. After that though they gradually lost me over time. The turn towards hard-right nationalism was pretty disconcerting, especially as the show has no real critique of Nishida's dogma. However, I think the real issue I ultimately have with Gasaraki is the mystical elements don't... work particularly well.
The reason - for an obvious comparison - Evangelion's mystical mindscrew elements work is they happen to and around characters with pretty well-drawn mental states and quite deep characterization. With Gasaraki, Yushiro and Miharu are pretty thinly sketched existences. which makes the journey of them unveiling the hidden truths of their reality kinda dull. It's like doing an episode of Scooby Doo where they're all heavily on Xanax. Add to that the plot with Nishida's coup and the dry way Takahashi goes about exposition, I really wasn't invested.
For me I loved the 2 flashback episodes where we finally get the past lives on Yushiro and Miharu they had been hinting to, although will admit it was a lot more due to the style of the episodes than necessarily finding it hugely important to get to know more about Yushiro and Miharu. They are among the two driest leads in a mecha show I have ever seen.
Finally! So glad Gasaraki finally getting some recognition, after all these years. I love this series, great politics, great combat scenes... And Japan weirdness. Great soundtrack too.
Gasaraki is one of the only anime I've ever seen that actually manages to be scary.
So what your saying is the antagonists are the kinds of people that the meme "are you constantly thinking about the roman empire" but ye olde Japan instead
Literally yes exactly that
Saw the psychedelic, terrifying trailer for this like a hundred times on a Robotech dvd I had as a teenager.
Memories.
"Duuuuust to duuuuust..." ^_^
@@JohnathanEnder
“ashes to ashes…soul to soul…”
An anime so dense it makes the metal pipe sound when you drop the blu-ray set.
Hey suggestion could you do IGPX next it’s about mechs being used for races that include fights in the future it was also Toonami’s first original series. Happy Holidays keep up the good work bro I love your Gundam retrospectives
I 2nd this recommendation. One of the first anime I ever watched on my own without being recommended it. Great soundtrack and a star-studded English dub.
I thought blue sub 6 was toonami first original series?
Letsss gooo! I FUCKING LOVE BREAD PRICES
I LOVE ALMOST TWO WHOLE EPISODES DEDICATED TO DISCUSSING G R A I N .
Always love to say Gasaraki is the show where international grain export levels are a major plot point, worthy of 10+ minute monologues...
sounds like a joke but its true...
Man, sure would be rad if you did a retrospective of Big-O!!! Love your videos!! Keep up the good work!
I just want to say thanks for making these videos the way you do, I don't really have the time to sit and watch anime like I used to cause of family and work and a lot of the retrospective or story explained videos I find either go off on wild details/speculation, take forever to get to the point and its just tedious, or they speed through stuff so fast it's hard to keep track of whats going on. You manage to actually explain the story in a way that is slow and clear enough to actually make sense but don't take forever to actually do it so I don't fall asleep while listening. Thanks for doing what you do.
I love your videos as always, honestly one of the best anime TH-camrs ever.
This was an intriguing geo-political mecha-based anime. Removing the supernatural elements would have elevated this from an intriguing series to a great series. I must say I loved lengthy conversations among the various players as each contemplated whether to support a coup.
As soon as I got the notification I had to tune in
Finally! Somebody is talking about this series!
I've seen or at least heard of every anime you've talked about so far-but this one completely new to me. I'm definitely Interested to find out more about it.
Keep up the good work 404!
I see it as the Obsolete before Obsolete. Love the corpo hell genre!
Dude I love your choice for retrospectives, you always nail anime that I'm interested in.
Can't wait for the break blade video!! Such an underrated watch
Thanks for visiting this anime. Always been curious about it but not 25 episode binge curious.
This anime gets even more interesting when you counterpoise it against Evangelion (which it is a clone of).
I was thinking about watching this
The music is always awesome in these
I tried to get into this show back when it got an English dub, but, ugh, it was way too obtuse to enjoy, no matter how cool I thought the art style and mecha designs were.
I’ve literally tried to finish this show like 5 times over the past 20 years. Thank for the sparknotes
Great to see you covering this. Gasaraki seemed quite the oddball when I watched it for the first time back around 20 years or so ago. After familiarizing myself with more of Ryousuke Takahashi's content it seems a lot more in line with them, especially Dougram and Votoms. I feel that Yushiro and Miharu are very similar to Chirico and Fyana from Votoms, mecha pilots on opposite sides that come together and have a special connection but are also very dry as characters. And the Dougram connection for me is the big time dedication to the politics and logistics at the expense of characters. I feel that a lot of Takahashi's work, especially something like Dougram or Gasaraki is a total counter to Yoshiyuki Tomino, the other big mecha director of the time and creator of Gundam, as Tomino's works tend to be a lot more character focused, delivering exposition in often very confusing or haphazard ways. While with Takahashi he is totally willing to say, give you a 10 minute monologue from Nishida about how the mentality of the Japanese people has suffered and how he must take advantage of international grain export markets to change things, lol.
Anyway, I really do enjoy Gasaraki, with my favorite part being the 2 flashback episodes. Yushiro and Miharu are total wallpaper, especially when Miharu goes silent for a half a dozen episodes, but the storyline was interesting for me and I've rewatched it several times.
If Nishada were in Boston he'd probably hold public office.
the most experience i have with this show is a video called mechs vs tanks and man the tank lovers go crazy are so angry and salty in the comments
Gasaraki is one of my favorite animes, warts and all. Its attention to detail is pretty top tier. I use to serve at Yokota Air Base which was a location in the anime, and the characters mention that they have to drive alone the Ome highway, and yes! To get from Tokyo to Fussa, Ome is one of the routes you can take to drive there.
Symbol was created & ran by Phantom to summon Gasaraki so he could return to them. He was contriving circumstances so Yushiro & Miharu would summon them.
Can someone please explain why this director is so beloved? The only series of his that landed even slightly for me was Votoms.
I think Takahashi's work could be credited in defining what "real-robot" actually meant as a genre in terms of both aesthetics and subject matter overall.
Maybe he just scratches the itch for those who just enjoy a certain aesthetic of grittier, more "realistic" mecha' that is somewhat niche among the genre?
That's about all I can add, t.b.h.
Takahashi's works tend to be very different than Yoshiyuki Tomino, the other big mecha director at Sunrise at the time. Tomino's shows are super focused on character drama and the overall political situation and stuff, while covered, often is done so in the background or with very poorly told exposition. Takahashi's works tend to be the opposite, you don't get as interesting characters but there is a lot more focus on the political stuff, logistics, etc... So if one is looking for a mecha show that is totally counter to the Tomino style, Takahashi's works absolutely have an appeal to them. I'd say Votoms is the most commercialized of his works and probably the one with the most mainstream appeal.
@@quiddity131 It's funny that Takahashi's most recognized work is VOTOMS, when its the only series of his I started, but couldn't bring myself to finish. Personally I find his best mecha' themed work to be Dougram, or FLAG.
I always felt that Gasaraki was based off a novel that was heavily abridged.
Watched it without access to internet back in the days of dialup & felt i was only getting half the story.
Still have my DVDs brought from a Virgin megastore.
I liked that the enemy mechs were little Abrams with legs :3
One note I want to make, having recently dove into this series and also being a scholar of modern and historic war, is that the conflict in the Middle East presented here, along with the American leaders, use of a multi-national coalition force, and the imagery in general are all based upon the 1991 Persian Gulf War. At the time, this was the largest mobilization of multi-national forces since WWII and was the first conflict the newly-reformed US military fought since its (more or less) disintegration at the end of the Vietnam War. A big element of the Gulf War was the testing of new technologies and doctrines in a trial by fire against the Iraqi army, the then-fourth largest army in the world. The military feared high casualties and resistance but ended up instead largely steamrolling weary Iraqi forces with their modern fighting abilities, driving the invading army out of Kuwait. After the war, tabs were kept on Iraq to make sure they were not hiding the development of weapons of mass destruction.
This is the IRL setting Gasaraki draws from for its plot, and the idea of deploying a new experimental fighting machine into this kind of conflict feels very much rooted in the reality of that war.
I recognize that "anti-tank", rifle, it is anti material RT-20 from Croatia.
They didn't specifically say that the compound was created from Belgistan/Symbol Fake muscle fibers. Presumably it was made from Gowa's Mile 1.
my parents' got me volume 3 for Christmas's when was 9 or 10
Lots of confusion?
I got it in middle school expecting Gundam wing. I was wrong.
@@Trevor-08 yea , though I had never heard of Gundam or anything I had antenna tv
I love this shows aesthetic and visuals(aside from some ugly art in parts) but man the story and characters were insanly uninteresting
So it's like porn.
@@szysi3k Porn can be fun
I love this animé. One of my favourites.
I think Gasaraki is probably one of my favourite anime series thus far!
Well... I was curious about this back in the day seeing trailers, but listening to this summary, I am glad I skipped it.
In case you are still looking for more mecha anime I would love to see your take on Battletech.
Man, I wish we had the full series available. The Kugai looks awesome.
Hearing Armored Core's garage theme while these TAs step into the garage *Chef's Kiss*
Merry Christmas bro!
One of my favourite anime
It is always interesting to see how the U.S is portrayed in Ainme. I also like these smaller mech I just find them neat.
I felt like this anime was all over the place.
One of my favorite mecha design, the Raiden Armor. It looks as if Israel and Japan had a joint venture.
A lot of Mecha shows, only three of them are American. Megas XLR, Exosquad, Netflix Voltron.
Uugh... I'm gonna mental burst and faze shift everywhere bruh 😂😐...sorry
i started to watch the series about a month before the launch of the video, and was no so motivated to continue, but when i saw the notifiacion of the video was, well i need to end the series, and yes i was bored with the anime, but the mechanical parts was very nice.
I think they should remake the series, have Gasaraki a longer series, so have more time and more development of the story and characters, I remember watching it, I had to rewatch almost each episode to understand it
Is it just me, or is Captain Ataka a dead ringer for Misato from Evangelion?
i think her English VA was even the same.
The biggest praise I can give to Gasaraki is that a few things about it feel prescient politically. Nishida's whole schtick was very MJGA (Make Japan Great Again) and it was interesting that his viewpoint seems to be one that ultimately condemned human progress in all the developed nations (along with capitalism) in favor of just admitting that maybe our constant need for material things and attention and creating hierarchies are aspects that need to be dismantled. I'm not saying his overtly nationalist tendencies were right, but it was interesting to see what the logical endgame would be for a Japanese Trump-like guy with Nixonian intellect.
ngl he's one of the many jerks who want to make everything worse for everyone to restore a past that never existed. I'm not going to overthink their ideology because they're objectively wrong and it will never work when implemented.
I think the anime is an interesting fantasy of how a coup of that type would go in a mecha show, but in reality it would fall apart quickly due to infighting, anti-intellectualism, and egos clashing
Have to play some golden axe after listening to this
I hope you do Argento Soma sometime soon.
I didn't know Takahashi did this anime... I didn't know this anime even existed before today. Don't think I'll watch it but still I enjoyed the review.
Gasaraki was kind of like if you took GITS Standalone Complex and got rid of all the action. I could not get through the series
Once upon a time I bought this show's DVD set on sale with no knowledge of the show beforehand.
... And the last episode has never been able to play. 😢
I bought the entire box set from Right Stuf back in the day for I think the price of a single DVD. They had some sort of clearance sale and I got it quite cheap. Sorry to hear the last episode never played for you! It is one of the most bonkers final episodes in mecha anime.
If you want more boring anime that feel important, you gotta check out Tecnolyze and Ergo Proxy (the less boring of the two). Both are interesting watches that ask lots of questions and that feel like they should have more action than they do.
I had heard of Gasaraki, but never seen it. Glad to hear its story filtered thru you. The technical aspects of the combat seems really cool and well thought out. I guess all the technical stuff feels like they really put some effort into it with them plotting a trade war.
Incidentally enough, I watched Texhnholyze a few months ago and are 3 episodes away from finishing up a rewatch of Ergo Proxy now... Watching the latter because I wanted something with the mood/atmosphere of the former.
Oh, and interesting to note that Shukou Murase, who was the character designer of Gasaraki was the director of Ergo Proxy...
I can't wait to hear your take on the guyver ? By the way have you mentioned which version you'll be watching ?
I am watching the '89 OVA version, mostly because the original movie just kinda stops adapting the story halfway. Not opposed to looking at that in the future though, along with the 2000's series and the live action movies which look like a lot of fun.
@@Retcon404 I've seen them all I have the first six episodes on VHS this was my first real anime gifted to me. All I knew was Voltron and ribotech before this.
Are you using the Bomberman hero ost as bg music?
Which is better, the King of the Hill dub or sub?
where can I watch this
Misuzu's VA appears to be the main girl from ghost stories/Lina inverse from slayers (specifically the series, not the OVAs). She uh, she is not good at softspoken. She is good at telling someone angrily that they are a big idiot, with 0 fucks given. This is probably her worst performance.
oh thats awesome, I love slayers lol
@@Retcon404 i have watched slayers so many times, both in english and japanese, that i can literally play the entire thing in my head. Fantastic fantasy series! True classic.
Please do a video essay on the Big O and Samurai champloo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like robots...
0:41- Shin megami tensei?
Started off okay but ended badly!😒
Hillary Haag deffinitly got a lot better at voice acting
I own this from the original mad man DVD releases in Australia.
Still never finished it's that's how bad the series throws up a wall of unwatchable nonsense post the 'not the middle east' arc.
Great mecha design and implementation though hard to fault any of that. 👍
WAIT......THERES A DUB?????
I Watched this last year and had to suffer through the subs as dub wasnt an option....
Yeah and the dub isnt terrible! it's very... dry but it kind of works for Gasaraki
You took 2 mins to say Gasaraki
For those who like this show somebody tell me why because i couldn't even pass episode 10 (and i force myself to get there). I hardly got invest in it as it was so all out and no real focus. Maybe (and i doubt) it get better but for what i've seen it was very awful. The fight are slow and boring. You may argue this is realist i will tell you realism is not a gage of quality espcially when it is done at the detriment of the entertainement
For those who have not seen it there is a lot lot loooooooooot of politics (and i say i only watch 10) talking about japan and japan and japan. Fine this a japanese anime, but code geass too speak about japan, and it was not that boring. The character are the main problem here, we don't know who is who and who does what i had to focus to get the name of a single brother of the protagonist (actually i've forgot all the name in the show) the main character is the boredt i've ever seen ever. Guy try to be mysterious, gloomy and all while he just edgy. Like the dude got less dialogue than all the pnj combined. His sister is the generic siscon, and his brother are always plotting stuff we don't even get. The team of mech pilot exist but hey since everybody look the same and you don't know who is who you can't relate to anybody. Mention special to the captain girl (still forgot the name) the only character who made me go to episode 10.
You may find my com hard, yes it is. So for those we enjoyed it i really wanna now what the hell did you like about it.