Forum - View topicShelf Life - Gasaraki
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rinmackie
 Posts: 1040 Location: in a van! down by the river! |
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I have the complete collection of Gasaraki that I purchased years ago. But it's so dense, I could never really get into it! Such a shame, especially since the visuals and the opening/ ending parts are so beautiful!
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1561 |
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I remember that ADV really promoted Gasaraki hard when it was first released in the US around 1999. I was a kid so I didn't realize it at the time, but in retrospect it seems like they were banking on Gasaraki being the next Evangelion. Because they're both cerebral mecha shows that deal with Big Ideas, I guess. Gasaraki never really took off, though, as it's much, much slower and more talky than Evangelion ever got. Plus, ADV's one-volume-every-two-months schedule for the show (which was the standard back then) made it really hard to follow. A dense series like this really works best when you can marathon it in a few days, otherwise you lose track of the huge amounts of info being thrown at you.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18208 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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My reaction to Gasaraki (which I watched as ADV released it) was virtually identical to Paul's. I think I've only ever rewatched it once since then, and not in many years, as it's certainly not a casual view.
And despite the supernatural aspect, it is a series that I would recommend to those who favor intense realism in the depiction of mecha. Don't think I've seen any series not directed by Takahashi which does a better job on that front. |
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VampireNaomi
 Posts: 146 |
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I see lots of cool Lupin stuff on Patrick's shelf. Really nice!
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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I tried to get into Gasaraki a bunch of time but could never get into it. I love the idea of a more serious, grounded mech show, but the mystic side was always unnecessary in my mind and run against the idea of making it more grounded. If I recall correctly the first episode keep switching between a mech action scene and some sort of weird ritual and I always though about just fast forwarding the ritual side since it added exactly nothing to the episode.
Even evangelion didn't put the mystic side at first, it slowly introduced them over the episode. |
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explosionforgov
 Posts: 80 Location: United States of America |
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I've only ever watched the Castle of Cagoliostro film, and the run of Lupin III that was aired on Adult Swim back in the day, but I love me some Lupin.
The women's business casual stores nearby have thankfully decided that brightly colored blazers are en vogue, so I recently procured a red one for a Lupin cosplay, and a turquoise one for an Osomatsu cosplay (although I'm not sure which 'Matsu I want to dress up as yet). |
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Animelvr2
 Posts: 20 |
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My favorite games are Ace Attorney, Professor Layton, Rune Factory 4, and Harvest Moon.
Don't know if you would like them Patrick, but they are my favorites. 
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unitmikey
 Posts: 286 |
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Yeah, Gasaraki had more promise than it ended up delivering considering that it seemed like everyone was ready for a gritty mecha show grounded in realism to round out the nineties.
But the ending is so last minute "let's try to be a little more like Evangelion for an episode" and just felt so very tacked on. If you want a more fun, entertaining version of this kind of mecha aesthetic from around the same time though, Blue Gender does the job pretty well I think. |
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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If i got Gasaraki, it would be half-hoping it would be a "star-crossed lovers but with Mecha" series, which is apparently not what it is at all. Being cerebral is all well and good, but I have to care about the characters to get invested in a story very much, so i'm not sure that show would be for me.
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Heishi
 Posts: 1323 |
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Gasaraki is a pretty underrated show.
It's a fascinating take on the mecha genre, since it does combine mecha with magic or supernatural phenomena. Something you don't see very often in mecha. Plus the OP song is just fantastic! |
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Ouran High School Dropout
 Posts: 440 Location: Somewhere in Massachusetts, USA |
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I really liked Gasaraki when it first came out. At the time, I described it as "the thinking man's mecha show" to anyone who asked. I'm glad that 1) Nozomi rescued the license and 2) that this 1998-99 show hasn't been forgotten.
Do you have to pay attention to it? Hell, yeah!  But don't let that put you off giving it a chance. I just wish there were more shows like it made these days. Does anyone know if it's legally streaming anywhere at the moment?
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18208 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Actually not as rare as you might think, as there have been numerous examples of magically-powered mecha over the years.
Corrected that for you. 
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HdE
Posts: 50 |
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Whenever I see folks singing Gasaraki's praises, I always get this weird feeling that I must have seen a different show with the word 'Gasaraki' pasted on top.
I've got it pencilled in to treview on my Youtube channel at some point. But the short version: I think it's absolutely terrible. |
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Heishi
Posts: 1323 |
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Hmm... I guess this and KnM are the only shows I know that combine mecha and magic together. I guess I should watch more mecha anime. 
Oh, and the ED song is really good, too. But I like the OP better. Captures the mood of the series, perfectly. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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Man, I'm not really sure what to think of Gasaraki. I enjoyed the atmosphere, but following the plot can be hell much of the time. I watched it all the way through, but I feel like the thing I remember most were how messed up those mecha are spoiler[y'know, all the drug injections and stuff just wrecking the pilots] and the designs of the mecha themselves were pretty unique imo (back loading, can twist their wrists around like an owl)
I adore Ryosuke Takahashi though, from VOTOMs to Flag, I love the guy (hmm, Bakumatsu didn't do anything for me either though I suppose, so maybe he just has to be doing mecha? Except for Panzer World Galient, that was really boring, so watch VOTOMs, a VOTOMs spinoff (like Mellowlink) or Dougram instead then). But yeah, Gasaraki didn't quite do it for me, even though the OP and ED are both amazing (I will definitely agree with you on that one, people!) I'm still glad it got rescued though, as a Ryosuke Takahashi fan, it was worth seeing once, but I wish VOTOMs stuff got rescued too! And Flag, I think most of us can agree that that one definitely needs to be dug out of Bandai's corpse! I'm just going to hope that Discotek gets on those two and Dougram sometime soon. I feel like if Tekkaman Blade 2 was successful enough to get a bluray release, these should at least count for something. |
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