Gasaraki - Fires of War (Vol. 6)

Rating:
Summary: Let's clear some things up here...
Review: Here is a quote from earlier in the show:

"I would prefer to not make inquiries into affairs that are already in the past. However, I will not sit by and let the seeds of future problems take root."

Just as Daizaburou Gowa questioned Kazukiyo's intentions for sending the TA's to Belgistan, I have to question Charles Solomon's editorial review of this volume.

Yushiro and Miharu traveled to Kyoto (in the previous volume) 'following the path of the kai' in order to learn why the Kugutsu threw away their power and abandoned their kugai, but more importantly to learn about themselves and their past. They reached Kyoto and they learned, so now we no longer need to lement over this 'path of the kai'. As a result, the story moves on, not losing any track of where it is going. In this DVD all of the stuff that Nishida & company have been talking about beings to fall into place. As the back of the box says, "the seeds sowed by Symbol and Gowa begin to reap their bitter fruit. Like dominoes toppling over one by one, the barriers holding back the fires of war begin to crumble and the futures of Japan hangs in the balance."

I'll admit it, Gasaraki isn't easy to follow, but it is ment to be this way. Gasaraki is not a linear anime where episode after episode after episode is spent lementing over one goal. The fact that everything is not layed out one thing after the other and that not everything is fully explained right away is what is so wonderful about this series.

That said, if you do your best to watch this in a linear fashion, thinking that there is only one central goal (like 'Symbol is the bad guy, kill them' or 'following the path of the kai') you are going to be just as uninterested and just as lost and confused as Mr. Solomon. It seems to me that detractors are passionate about bashing this series because of this.

Rating:
Summary: Let's clear some things up here...
Review: Here is a quote from earlier in the show:

"I would prefer to not make inquiries into affairs that are already in the past. However, I will not sit by and let the seeds of future problems take root."

Just as Daizaburou Gowa questioned Kazukiyo's intentions for sending the TA's to Belgistan, I have to question Charles Solomon's editorial review of this volume.

Yushiro and Miharu traveled to Kyoto (in the previous volume) 'following the path of the kai' in order to learn why the Kugutsu threw away their power and abandoned their kugai, but more importantly to learn about themselves and their past. They reached Kyoto and they learned, so now we no longer need to lement over this 'path of the kai'. As a result, the story moves on, not losing any track of where it is going. In this DVD all of the stuff that Nishida & company have been talking about beings to fall into place. As the back of the box says, "the seeds sowed by Symbol and Gowa begin to reap their bitter fruit. Like dominoes toppling over one by one, the barriers holding back the fires of war begin to crumble and the futures of Japan hangs in the balance."

I'll admit it, Gasaraki isn't easy to follow, but it is ment to be this way. Gasaraki is not a linear anime where episode after episode after episode is spent lementing over one goal. The fact that everything is not layed out one thing after the other and that not everything is fully explained right away is what is so wonderful about this series.

That said, if you do your best to watch this in a linear fashion, thinking that there is only one central goal (like 'Symbol is the bad guy, kill them' or 'following the path of the kai') you are going to be just as uninterested and just as lost and confused as Mr. Solomon. It seems to me that detractors are passionate about bashing this series because of this.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars for the amazing show not the dvd.
Review: What can I say, volume 6 was not the quality I expect from the gasaraki series. The voice acting, sound effects, and surround quality were much worse than the preceding five volumes. I have come to expect a certain level of quality and depth of story/character in the series and this one just doesn't meet it. On the other hand, it is nice to see everything come together. The plan to rid Japan of the Chinese immigrants is now getting into swing but none of this is news. They took advantage of an interesting situation that took some intelligence to dream up (on the part of the writers) but nothing was really treated with the depth and detail that it usually is in this series. I expected more details on the grain shortage, Miharu didn't say a word, and they found refuge with some Chinese mafioso.... but the acting was piss poor. This vol. seems more like something they just had to get out of the way so the story could proceed to it's climax.

Rating:
Summary: I love the Gasaraki series but this vol. flopped
Review: What can I say, volume 6 was not the quality I expect from the gasaraki series. The voice acting, sound effects, and surround quality were much worse than the preceding five volumes. I have come to expect a certain level of quality and depth of story/character in the series and this one just doesn't meet it. On the other hand, it is nice to see everything come together. The plan to rid Japan of the Chinese immigrants is now getting into swing but none of this is news. They took advantage of an interesting situation that took some intelligence to dream up (on the part of the writers) but nothing was really treated with the depth and detail that it usually is in this series. I expected more details on the grain shortage, Miharu didn't say a word, and they found refuge with some Chinese mafioso.... but the acting was piss poor. This vol. seems more like something they just had to get out of the way so the story could proceed to it's climax.

Rating:
Summary: Gasaraki Continues to Heat Up
Review: With a rather slow start, Gasaraki is one Mecha series that continues to surprise. Coming off as part X-Files, part Gundam with a portion of Evangelion tossed in, youre bound to find something you like here. Gasaraki is an intelligent anime with a highly cerebal story and some outstanding action sequences... but if you're not into high concept sci-fi then dont bother, youll only get lost in the conspiracys and double play. ADV have been doing a magnificent job with these releases and vol6 is sure to continue the tradition. Every vol thus far has shown outstanding audio visual qualitys and has been a delight to view on DVD. One might even refer to it as reference material footage.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars for the amazing show not the dvd.
Review: You need a lot of patience to watch Gasaraki but it is well worth it. With every episode the show gets more and more mysterious. The look of the show is amazing, the animation is great, but its the compeling and complex story that keeps me coming back. There are a lot of parts where people are discussing strategy. I had to watch some parts twice to understand what was being said. Even though Symbol and the Gowa family seem to want the same thing: control of everything going on, we never shown why this control is so important to them and how the two kai, Yushiro and Micharu, fit into the equation. I'm sure by the end we'll have more questions than any answers.

Yushiro and Miharu finally make there way to Kyoto but I don't want to spoil any of the episodes so I won't discuss them. However, I do want to say that ADV tries so hard to make a good DVD yet they seem to fail so miserably. This being the 6th volume I finally had to say something.

The DVD menus are fair. They look nice but the main menu takes time to load and the menu music which is great within the context of the show gets really annoying.

The extras are great with the interviews, behind the scenes sketches, glossaries, and meccha & character explanation. HOWEVER, they are almost impossible to view in that the text is so small making it very difficult to read and I have a 25" screen.

The subtitles are hard to read at times. ADV seemed to have this great idea where when people talked over each other they'd use white for one person and yellow for the other. HOWEVER you never know which text is for whom, and the text is so lengthy that sometimes you have to pause to read it all.

Three (3) episodes on this disc. Sigh. I'm not sure which company made it common place to stick 26 episodes on 8 dvds but I know they could have easily stuck them on 4 to 6 dvds.