Gasaraki #3:
Betrayal
ADV 75 minutes
English/Japanese
English Subtitles
Released: 11/28/2000
Reviewed: 04/11/2006
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Gasaraki #3:
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The third disc of Gasaraki holds a special place in my heart. Not because of any special events in the episodes itself (though the introduction of crazy samurai robot's is always nice), but because I never actually wrote a review for it. Not even one of the crappy ones I used to think passed for a review three years ago. I had a single line about Joel loving Robo-samurais with huge arms and I left it at that. I don't know why, but I just think it's funny that I went on to write about three more discs in this show without giving a second thought to the third. Much like my screw ups with the sixth disc of 2040's pictures (go ahead! Try to find the messed up one!), it's the kind of thing that I would hope to become a sort of cult legend among my fans. Only... I don't have any fans. Which is okay, I know it's because Gasaraki is siphoning them away from me. I won't complain, because this show deserves them a heck of a lot more than I do, so if it wants the breadth and width of anime fandom to toy with as it pleases, I won't give it the nay-no. Look at my competition here: Gasaraki has robots, crazy army colonels with cool "Mike Reynolds"-style gruff voice actors, and samurai robots. I don't have any of those things. We have Andrew, but I don't think that's the same, because he only looks like a samurai robot every other Wednesday. |
| The story is as follows: Yuushiro, our all too standard disaffected and unemotional main character, goes home to find out that he's one of about sixty thousand clones. Big shocker, I forgot his name was REI AYANAMI. Then a whole bunch of stuff that reminds me of the genre-fusing Fatal Frame video game happens. Some of the lines are taken almost verbatim from the game (which, I suppose, is to say that some of the game's lines were taken almost verbatim from this. But, really, it's all kind of moot anyway, they're not actually alike at all), lines such as: Don't bring back the terror! No, wait, that was in Fatal Frame, but the results are the same in Gasaraki. I guess the Japanese just don't know how to do scary stuff without involving a ghost that lives underground. I learned that from Ringu! The green haired chick says something about "the horror" and the false god and then a whole bunch of explosions happen. Once explosions start it's sort of a slippery slope for me. Which is sort of the curious part of about Gasaraki in general. How someone like me, an avowed sufferer (probably) of ADHD, can sit through this is a testament to its quality. |
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Gasaraki is the show that was created specifically with me in mind. I'm convinced that, late at night, Ryosuke Takahashi bored a hole into my brain and applied just the right amount of suction to ease out the sweet ideas of youth. In the silence of the midnight hour he placed his small ear delicately close to my oozing head-hole and listened to the ever-so-soft whispers that escaped the perforation. 'Robots', came the fragile phrases, 'and... exposition... and... explosions'. Takahashi-san clenched his fist to the sky, realizing he had the recipe for the perfect show. If only he had stayed to hear the final utterance 'and also... ice cream...' then we would've had a show so magnificent the world could never even hope to understand even one tenth of its perfection. Explosions it does have, though. And WHAT explosions they are! Big explosions, little explosions. Gasaraki doesn't have just one type of explosion, it has like TEN. Drug induced explosions, super robot self-destruct explosions, Robo-samurai beating on your cockpit explosions. Explosions, which sounds remarkably similar to exposition, are one thing that Gasaraki has no trouble throwing around all willy-nilly. The fighting might not come around much, but when it does, it's the kind of fighting you write home to mom about. |
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Or YOU might, ya weirdo. I'm just as happy watching the show and not telling mi madre about it, but whether you're crazy and share your 'anime adventures' with your family or not, Gasaraki is still something we're blessed to receive. If every episode was fifteen seconds long and comprised only of sheets of paper with pencil sketches held in front of a camera, I think I'd still be pretty happy with it. That's a lie, but it's not too far from the truth. With the perfect blend of action, exposition, and creepy blind old men, Gasaraki knows exactly what it needs to do to make everything work out in the end. If you find yourself desiring a show that doesn't make you question your faith in mankind then look no further than Gasaraki. It might not be the best animated, it might not have the most sensible plot (and lord help you if you're going to try to watch it with the subtitles on), but Gasaraki somehow manages to pull it out in the stretch every time. Any show with Robo-samurais couldn't be all that bad, now could it? |
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