I was still following new anime pretty closely when this released (back when that seemed both possible and worthwhile) and it wasn’t too well-received. I remember posters on anime forums of yore ripping it to shreds for being dull, too talky, too slow and ponderous. Too full of philosophy and politics of war. Which honestly sounded interesting, even to my smooth-brained teen self. So I finally watched it.
If Evangelion asks "what are the psychological implications of teenagers who fight other-worldly beings inside giant, human-esque war machines?" then Gasaraki asks "what are the sociological and foreign policy implications of teenagers who fight other-worldly beings inside giant, human-esque war machines?" You already know Gasaraki doesn’t answer this question as well as Eva answers its questions, but does it answer the question well at all?
Um, well. Gasaraki is definitely one of the anime of all time.
Look, the thing is, I usually find it more interesting when an ambitious story doesn’t achieve its ambitions than when a predictable story does a formula/trope well. This is probably because I’m usually consuming media at least in part for inspiration and ideas. And for all that this show lacks, it's rich with ideas... even if it plays too safe to really engage with those ideas.
It confronts directly a lot of the ideas you feel simmering under the surface of most anime, especially the mecha/fighting/shounen genre. Things like being a singularly special boy in a collectivist society who relies on you to save their world; questioning whether to maintain your successful position in the globalized world or reach for the cut-throat glory days; the underlying desire to overthrow deeply flawed Western culture (and the U.S. in particular).
Rather than allusions and metaphors, Gasaraki serves characters straight-up saying things like
Quote:
We are made to see an unsightly nation corrupted by decadence. There’s no question whether Japan has become much wealthier overall. But isn’t there more to life than just securing material wellbeing?
and
Quote:
Grace lost to time might yet be restored to its former glory.
and
Quote:
In other words, we should rid ourselves of our ochlocracy, and return to the samurai oligarchy of the past?
There’s little I find more satisfying to consume than people from other cultures talking about their culture. One of the reasons I’m still watching anime after all these years is for its unique view into Japanese culture. But I recognize that many would find an essay about Japanese cultural sentiments expressed through mecha anime more interesting and entertaining than this series. Our girl Gasaraki has some flaws.
CHARACTERS
The most significant disappointment here is the characters. The two main characters, Yoshihiro and Miharu, have fascinating backstories and circumstances, yet they themselves are (in large part because of these circumstances) mind-numbingly dull. Eva showed us that even a taciturn ragdoll like Rei Ayanami can be interesting by putting her in extreme situations and in contrast to the other main characters—plus, most effectively, teasing us with the possibility of her gaining some humanity or desire to be alive. But Gasaraki doesn’t use this strategy, relying instead on the timeless soul-bond between the leads as their focal point.
Then you have the cluster of antagonists (from which most of the above dialogue is taken) who could have been more fleshed out and interesting, but they’re little more than brush strokes. There’s an easy opportunity for one of Yoshihiro’s brothers to be frustrated by the power ambitions of his coworkers while he’s just interesting in tech, and a lot of space for conflict between the Symbol organization and motivations, but it’s not explored in the rich and contentious way it could be.
My favorite characters are Yoshihiro’s fellow soldiers. They have distinct personalities and character designs, even provide some levity now and then in this otherwise deeply humorless (not derogatory) show.
There’s an afterthought of a little sister who seems to exist only to scream “oni-chan!” and imply she’s in love with her brother. Even in there lies some unused potential for reincarnation-fueled, “we’re-related-but-we’re-not-related” romance that’s just left on the table and all we get is one of the most pathetic, useless characters I’ve ever seen (I take back all my complaining about Relena).
PLOT
Then you have the plot, which honestly seems hard to fumble. Japan is secretly developing bipedal tactical armor (TA) weapons to be used by a SEELE-esque shadow organization who aims to resurrect feudal war gods to restore Japan as a world power. The problem is that the plot is entirely conveyed through conversation.
Now and then you get a character who visually and narratively represents an idea (the Symbol member who has a gnarly self-inflicted scar reflecting his perspective, for example), and the show does sorta pop off visually and emotionally in the second half. It has moments where I do think it fully delivers on the strangeness of its premise, using its hyper-realistic tone to make the mystical elements both creepier and more believable.
But for the most part, it just feels bogged down in creeping toward its conclusion through dialogue, rarely showing emotion or conflict between two characters, rarely showing characters interacting with the setting or demonstrating their motivations or viewpoints through action.
ANIMATION
The art is purposefully drab, with a dominant pallet of dark blues, fatigue-green, and gray. There are occasionally beautiful scenes, rooms drenched in red sunset light and ancient masked ritual dancing, but mostly it’s characters shouting numbers in control rooms and plotting in buildings.
Character designs are actually interesting without being unrealistic. There’s a character with a very triangular head who is at one point referred to as Mr. Triangle and it seems rare to see that kind of accurate in-world recognition of visuals. Usually you get things like… guys flipping out over hot how Akane is in Psycho-Pass and it completely breaks immersion because she really and truly just looks like a cartoon with a bowl cut.
Anyway, I really wanted to discover an overlooked and misunderstood gem here, but Gasaraki just isn’t that great despite its promise. It is unique, though, and not to be that person, but they don’t really make series like this anymore. It’s from an age when seinen meant “a grown man might actually relate to and be interested in this” and not “this is too porny for kids, even though it's porn for kids.” Sometimes you just get tired of anime tropes and want to watch something that plumbs real-world issues and Japanese culture. In that case, you should probably watch some of the many wonderful live-action Japanese films we’re lucky to have but, if you’re like me, sometimes you want to watch Gasaraki for some reason.
