Gasaraki

>>14265428
Mmm...it depends. Gasaraki is one of my favorite series, but thats largely due to nostalgia (It was the first series I bought on DVD). On its own...well, without spoilers, there is some abstruse political/economic stuff later in the series, but the mecha action generally remains cool--the Raiden is a badass machine. The ending, though...well, again, no spoilers, but it is, uh, weird.

>>14265486
Okay. Just as a note, political elements and heavy exposition do not bother me in the slightest. I can enjoy a lot of "boring" anime where there is not always a lot of action. As long as the ending doesn't become conveluted and I can grasp the ending and digest what I'm seeing, I don't mind a weird ending.

Ancient aliens were awful.

>>14265527
Oh good, spoilers! Welcome to the thread, dickhead.

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Japanese Rice Shortage Problems/10

>>14265535
What does that mean.

I'm overdue for a rewatch, but I remember enjoying it.
The mecha designs were great. Could've done with less "Onii-sama" though.

>>14265428

Very unfocused with two main plots (mystery and political side) that didn't merge very well.

>>14265583
I don't mind keeping tabs on separate intersecting plotlines. I like what I'm hearing so far.

>>14265591

It's not a complex series to follow. The problem is that those elements are at times disconnected. In short it doesn't flow very well. You literally have the mystery side on standby while the political drama unfolds and viceversa. That said it's still enjoyable and fall just a little short from the flawed jem cathegory in my book.

>>14265428
not that anon , but Ancient Aliens are not spoilers, it's not different than UFO, area 51 , etc.

It has it's good parts , bad parts, and strange parts, it's a ok series.

If I answer yes or no to your "does the series pay off" that would be a spoiler.

I still have the DVD set and their model kits.

The action holds up, like VOTOM
The plot, less so. It's serviceable, but had holes that even modern writers don't know how to fix

>>14265428
It wasn't boring per se, but nothing really interested me. The fights were weak and few, and the spirit alien stuff was just bullshit and the entire show ought to have gone without it.

I enjoyed it, but it was very dry and mindfucky at times and the ending was very rushed. Definitely worth a watch though.

>>14265428

>>14265428

It is actually one of my favorite animes. The characters are dry though, not bad, but everyone is very somber and kind of soft spoken. The mecha action is really good. The music is great, the plot is great as well, though the finale could of used an extra episode. Good worldbuildind. The relation to feudal japan, and the minor political philosophy involved is all good as well.

9/10 imo. But definitely something allot of people would find boring/dry.

>>14265428
It was a great series provided you have an attention span and delete the last episode so you don't accidentally end up watching it.

>>14266031
Oh..is the last episode that bad? It's not comparable to NGE's original ending, is it?? As long as I understand what is happening during the last episode and I'm not in the dark on a bunch of shit, I think I'll be fine. But I should mention, so far the mystical elements are not my most favorite part of the show.. I simply tolerate them.

>>14265917
Seeing as its one of your favorites, I have to ask: is this one of those shows that are better on a re-watch, where subtle plot movements went un-noticed the first time around, are more apparent on the second go around?

>>14265607
I honestly prefered the mystery plotlines when things got to be "FUCKING WHEAT BRO SHIT'S GONNA GET NANNERS." I kinda tuned out.

>>14266060
>It's not comparable to NGE's original ending, is it??
No, because NGE's original ending kind of makes sense when you look at it from a certain standpoint.
If you leave the show on episode 24, it will be a nice open end that mostly wraps up the political side of the series.
If you watch episode 25 you will be left wondering who the fuck decided that was a good idea and the supernatural side of the show will be solved in a way that will make you wish it stayed unanswered.

>>14266060
It's not terrible but it's anti climactic I feel gasaraki needed one more episode before then or a Actual battle with the Kugai before shit gets weird

>>14265428
It was boring.

>>14265428
The military fiction parts were fun and the RICE cospiracy was pretty good.

Problem was that the MC and his girl were not even characters and the ancient aliens did it-elements were only wealky woven into the rest of the story.

>>14265607
>In short it doesn't flow very well. You literally have the mystery side on standby while the political drama unfolds and viceversa.
Not really. The folks in the MC's family were basically by their karma forced to re-enact their ancient history. It's just that the parts about ancient aliens that don't mesh well with it.

A bit dull, enjoyable but hard to stay focused.

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Did anyone else find the Kugai to be really spooky? There's just something weird about the way it moves and the organic sounds that it makes that cause it feel extremely out of place, but in a good way. The entire sequence where Miharu is running from the thing was amazing. I think the lack of dramatic music had a lot to do with it.


>>14265583
I thought the two plots merged very well at the beginning. After the Kugai reveal, I was able to figure out on my own that the TAs and Fakes were just artificial Kugai created through science rather than magic. Basically toned down Evangelions. I thought that was a pretty cool plot point and it even explains away the "unrealistic" elements of the mecha when you realize the source of the artificial muscle they use.

I just wish that the actual Gasaraki itself was explained more. I just finished the series and didn't really get the last episode, I think I need to rewatch it again because it was actually 2deep for me. Which is odd considering I was able to follow the other complex subplots, even the economic stuff.

>>14265651
>The fights were weak and few
I thought the fights were great, especially the final TA vs Fake encounter. I need to capture some webms from that actually.

>>14266116
I was really hoping for a fight with Yushiro in a TA trying to nonlethally disable the Kugai being piloted by Misuzu. Would have been a much better final encounter than the 2deep shit that we actually got.

>>14265428
What little action there is is great.

The explanation for where the synthetic muscle tissue used for the TAs comes from doesn't gel well with the series tone.

Has a typical post-eva 2deep4u ending.

I've seen the series twice now, and while it has it's ups, the downs really do drag it down to a 5/10. Not unredeemable, and worth a watch, but nothing spectacular-- which is a shame, because it easily could have been.

Oh, and boring rice politics are boring.

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Fakes were the far cooler TAs. Why did they have to be such jobbers?

I love the style of the mechs and fighting, and the more modern political setting. The ending felt a bit dumb though.

>>14265616
>implying modern writers don't turn in scripts full of more holes than swiss cheese

It's... very Ryosuke Takahashi-feeling, for better and worse. It's not bad, but it also gets overshadowed by other works that attempted a similar feel.

Is there any good art of the Fakes? Or just Gasaraki art in general?

>>14266060
It's awesome. Gasaraki's one of my favorite shows partly because of how many disparate thematic elements are intertwined and the last episode is the cherry on top. If you like Gasaraki I suggest watching Flag afterwards, there's absolutely nothing supernatural in it but it features similar amoral geopolitics stuff.

>>14268269
>Fakes
>walking tank turrets

>cooler than European plate armor giants with knee and thigh pile bunkers

Ishtars are cool but they can't compare to Raiden.

>>14269379
I prefer the taller, more angular look of the Ishtar.

>>14269359
Not that is actually makes a big difference to me, but just out of curiosity, how much mech combat is actually in Flag? I'll probably end up watching it anyway.

>>14269414
Not a whole lot but I'm not counting operator shit like scouting and preparation. It's only 13 episodes btw.

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>>14268987
I haven't been able to find much, just a bit here and there (uploaded the wrong pic, weird)

>>14265428
I really like the show and re-watch every now and then. I do admit the show drags a bit in the middle. I normally like Takahashi's mystic elements he inserts into his show, but this time he really dropped the ball with the ending.

>>14266077

I've actually only seen it once, so I can't really answer that question. I think that the presentation is pretty easy to follow, even when there is lots going on( which there will be) it is pretty digestible.

>>14269937

Anything else of value from that artbook you got?

Is this the show with the YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ritual shit?

Shit was too avant-garde for me.

>>14272116
>too avant-garde
>he says as they are hundreds of years old
What?

>>14272116
what other mecha shows are essential YOOOOOOOOOOOOOcore

Gasaraki has the YOOOOOOO
Turn A OP has pan flute + throat singing

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>>14272595
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzXCz3IMD6w

>>14272621
Same composer did the Neo Ranga and Gasaraki OST. Dude knows his YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

>>14265428

This show officially ends after they curbstomp the American ATs underground and there's a little good job bit afterwards, pause and eject disk afterwards.

Also ATs had some orgasmic sound effects, the way they move and also the sound they make using their grappling hooks.

>>14272640
Always funny seeing realisticucks butthurt when something doesn't adhere to their retarded ideals.

>>14272654

You want butthurt check the comments on this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4b-haPATmI

It's not normally something you would describe as "goes hard", but the ED really goes hard.

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>>14271968
I don't even have the artbook, just one or two pictures I found on /m/ ;_; I'm not even sure if the whole thing is out there somewhere.

>>14272870

Thanks

A question for those who also watched the show like I did: Aside from the politics and mysticism, what does anyone think of Yushiro's romance with Miharu?

>>14273389
I thought it was pretty qt, but I watched Gasaraki before I watched VOTOMs. After I watched VOTOMs, it seemed to me the relationship was pretty much just Fyana and Chirico with the hair colors switched.

That gets me to another criticism of the series, now that I think about it it kinda feels like they were trying to blend together two different shows in one--On the one hand, you have a modern-day political series dealing with stuff like the first Gulf War, economic problems, etc., represented by the more 'realistic' TAs and Metal Fakes. On the other hand, you have a medieval Japan fantasy series, represented by the samurai mechs (Kugai), the noh dancing, and the flashbacks with the Watanabe clan and the shogunate and stuff. I wonder if Gasaraki might have been better served going with one or the other--either being a near future political series revolving around votoms-style action and mechs, or a fantasy series like Escaflowne but with samurai mechs rather than knight mechs.

>>14273520

>>hair colors

Chirico's was blue; Miharu's was teal.

>>blending together two different shows

How to do that without problems? Sorry to go off-topic, but stories I'm writing will do that.

>>14273615
Hmm...that's a good question, but it's also a difficult one two answer, as blending things like that is a tough job--it's why not many shows try, and why those that do, like Gasaraki, often run into issues with the execution.

If I had to give you one piece of advice from what I thought were Gasaraki's mistakes, it would be this: If you're trying to blend together two different shows or genres, try to make sure the connection between them is as clear and well-established to the viewer/reader as possible; if there's a kind of mystery connecting the two, try to make sure viewers/readers can unravel it if they were paying attention throughout the course of the story. The thing with Gasaraki is that the nature of the Kugai isn't really made clear till the last episode, and even then it just seemed to be "bald naked space dudes out of nowhere." Additionally, you could only sort of surmise that Yushiro and Miharu were reincarnations of people from Japan's medieval era. If you want to blend ideas like Gasaraki did, make sure you explain the plot or the connections between the elements before the end of the story, and try to make the reveal of the mystery as clear as possible when you do choose to unveil it.

>>14273702

Thanks

Also, sorry to go off-topic again, but I found your wordpress page, and I myself have one for my stories, so I have this to ask: How to advertise said page?

Now then, for something on-topic: While in Belgistan, the Tactical Armors had Armored Trooper-esque roller skates. Any reason why they were ditched throughout the show?

>>14274305
That, I don't know. My wordpress gets more traffic than I'd expect, but it's still pretty obscure. Most folks find it either through search terms ("yang wen-li quotes" gets me a lot of hits) or from my comments on other blogs or /m/subs (people find me through Dragonar or other stuff I help with for /m/subs). Try commenting on other people's blogs and people will click on your name and come to yours. I've also heard Wordpress has some signal-boosting/"featured page" things, but I've never used them and can't say anything about that.

I had noh idea what was going on

>>14274364

Thanks

What about my question about the TAs and roller skates?

>>14274585
It's been a while since I watched the series,but I'm pretty sure the roller skates show up in later episodes too. Like, wasn't there one where Yushiro has to rescue another TA pilot who went berserk, and he uses the stake things in his legs to make a trench to defend them from an artillery bombardment or something? But if they don't show up as much I figure it's a result of leaving the desert and thus fighting in more confined environments (Japanese cities, bases, etc.)

>>14272634
He also did Macross Zero, and I shit you not he straight up rehashed one of his own tracks from Gasaraki for Zero.

>>14274305
Actually the only thing remotely close to skates any of the TAs have are the Ishtar's wheel things for zip zooping around efficiently in large hallways, fitting the design angle of "walking vehicle." Those weren't seen in Begilstan as far as I recall.

The Raidens and Shindens both have a pair of pile bunkers per leg, one in the knee and one on the thigh, in addition to some form of thruster mounted on the thigh for doing tactical spins, fitting the design angle of "giant humanoid soldier." The thrusters were a Begilstan feature what with the iconic TACTICAL SPINNING scene seen in the opening.

>>14274671
No fuckin way. Which one? I never noticed.

>>14274681
Armaments from Gasaraki is remixed into Ground Operation from Macross Zero.

http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/gasaraki-original-soundtrack/12-armaments.mp3

http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/macross-zero-original-soundtrack-2/02-ground-operation.mp3

To be fair, they deviate from one another, but the driving riff of each song is the same damn one.

>>14274594
>>14274674

Thanks

>>14274368
Damn it anon

>>14272664
>video is blocked in your country
What were the comments about?

>>14276028
Something about tanks should've won, mecha are unrealistic, etc.

>>14276062
Well it's pretty true in that scene at the rate the Ishtars were moving at and if the tanks had been properly deployed that the Ishtars would have been pounded into the ground.

But it's an anime so I don't get mad at that shit.

>>14276028
>Mechs in this show are mary sues
This one takes the cake,

Nishida and Kazukiyo are seriously two great characters.

I may be forgetting, but what exactly is the power source for the TAs anyways?

>>14278052
The TAs are just powered by batteries, IIRC, but the "muscles" that allow them to move are "Mile One," which is based off of the Kugai's muscles or something.

>>14278237

Thanks

Any reason why for an organization mostly Western-oriented, SYMBOL named one of their highly-valued agents with a Japanese name (Miharu)?

>>14281876
It's a spoiler, so watch out: Miharu is a reincarnation or something of a medieval Japanese girl, so I don't think they had much choice.

Fuck USA, the Anime.

>>14281974
It's been a while since I've watched it, but doesn't the main villain's evil plan ultimately fail because the US Government solves everything with a reasonable compromise?

>>14281883

I know about who Miharu really is, but if that be the case, then how did the rest of SYMBOL aside from it's leader, Phantom, know?

>>14282065
Because of its leader.
I think.
Maybe.


It probably makes more sense the third time through when you start focusing on that plot thread.

>>14282047
Yes but Nishida wasn't the villain, Kazukiyu was

>>14281974
To be expected when you're directed by a Imperialist

>>14265428
Top 5 Best Fucking Mechas.

Not just my opinion. This is universal fact.
Music: A+
Mecha: A Wish there were a bit more shonen aspects or more variety.
Battles: A+ Shows every aspect of a realistic battle from cockpits to gui to environmental mobility. This is real art.
Characters: B+ Sister kinda retarded but would bang. Wish they developed the side characters way more. They are all very unique and organic, but I put B because I want to see more of them.
Story/Pacing: A Very reminiscent of GITS pacing.
Setting: A+ Japanese Corporations involved in the Gulf War.

>>14272621
>>14272634
Berry nice senk you.