Gasaraki is, to be frank, a reviewer's nightmare. Most anime is rather easy to form an opinion about, since the episodes are fairly consistent in their presentation, but this one is ever elusive. However, after being held up in deliberations for hours, the verdict is in favor of this anime. There are many things on the surface to like about it, but its appeal goes deeper than that.

Gasaraki is the name of a mystical being, who can be communicated with only by the Kai. You could say that the Kai are humans with a special talent for this sort of thing. Yushiro Gowa is one such person. The story begins as he performs the summoning ritual of Gasaraki. A red light appears out of nowhere as Yushiro dances, and his brothers are collecting data on the phenomenon from a safe distance. Suddenly, Yushiro sees the shape of a woman appear, as she yells "Don't bring back the terror!". Yushiro then resists the summoning, and his brothers' experiment is over. Yushiro's day job is piloting a Tactical Armor (TA) suit, which basically is a giant robot. The TA were developed by his family's company, and he is their guinea pig. The woman he saw during the summoning is Miharu, who is coincidentally also a guinea pig who pilots a TA (though her organization calls them 'Fakes'). Her 'owners' are an organization called Symbol, who have also been developing large robots for people to drive.

The story of Gasaraki could be logically split in two. One of the stories is that of Yushiro and Miharu, who spend time learning about the Kai, the ancient organization centered around them, and the Gasaraki. This story in itself is excellent, albeit short. The other story is that of global economics and military tension. It begins with the nation of Belgistan opposing the UN and giving the American forces a heap of trouble with their TAs. The Gowa group in coercion with the Japanese military see this as an opportunity to test their own TAs in battle. Not-so-coincidentally, Yushiro happens to be piloting a Gowa TA, and Miharu happens to be piloting a Symbol TA. Aside from the Belgistan happenings, there is the economic side of the story. Japan is dangerously close to recession, and its peoples have been obsessed with greed and material objects. Also, there is an influx of illegal immigrants, and riots are breaking out constantly. Many of the happenings in this story are closely tied to certain characters' visions for a greater Japan. This story is also very good. The difficulty in judging Gasaraki stems from the ties between the two stories. At some points, the two come together very well. At others, the outcome is not very favorable. All in all though, there is much to be enjoyed in the story.

Yushiro and Miharu, our 2 heros (sort of).	The TAs aren't too inspiring in design, but their various gadgets are cool.

The story is not without problems though. The first major problem is pacing. It seems as though nothing happens at all in the first 10 episodes, then the pace slowly picks up. The ending is spectacular, but it was rushed and could have been more complete. The second problem is that the story comes across as an Evangelion wannabe. On the Japanese side, Yushiro (Shinji) and Rin Ataka (Asuka) pilot giant robots, aided by artificial fluids which condition them better for operating the machines. On the sidelines is Kahoru Kaburagi (Misato Katsuragi) giving orders. It's difficult to tell whether or not there was an intent to give a nod to Evangelion, but there are striking similarities. Another issue is the attitude the writers take toward America. Most of the anti-American comments which appear in the show are silly and worth a chuckle, but some are outright stupid. The good outweighs the bad though, making the show worth sitting through.

There is a reason that Sunrise is best known for its mecha shows: they do them incredibly well. The animation for Gasaraki is excellent. The action scenes are exciting, and the motion is smooth and flowing througout. The character designs are another reason to like this show. The drawings for Yushiro and Miharu are fairly conservative as elegance goes, but they do have unique features and fit the show well. In fact, most of the named characters have this quality.

The music for Gasaraki varies wildly in its appeal. Some of the music is hauntingly cool, to the point where you might get the shivers. The opening and closing themes are examples of this. By contrast, some of the music is pretty bland, but not to the point where it interferes with one's enjoyment of the show. It's a good soundtrack, as it never gets in the way, but sometimes adds considerable entertainment value to a scene.

As for an overall assessment, it has been very difficult to judge this show because of its mixture of glaring problems and incredibly interesting concepts. My final decision is in its favor though, by virtue of the fact that it has many good things to offer, and that I would recommend this anime to a friend.

Distributor: ADV
Creator: Sunrise
Released: 2000

Plot: B
Character Design: B+
Animation Quality: A
Music: A
Overall: A-