Gasaraki - Betrayal (Vol. 3)

Rating:
Summary: The truth is revealed
Review: After some complications, the TA team returns to Japan. The TA staff are put into quarentine while Gowa is held at another building. Meanwhile, Kazukiyo meets with a man who wants to change Japan in three years. While Captain Ataka sneaks out of quarentine, Symbol attempts to get back the TA sample with two Fakes. One is piloted by Miharu. The other TA pilot steels the sample while Miharu checks the data files on Yushiro. Two names come up. One is Yushiro's current status, alive and well, while the other says that Yushiro died 8 years ago. Miharu runs into Yushiro and tells him this. Filled with mixed feelings, Yushiro runs to the shrine to meet his master and find out the truth while Captain Ataka helps Misuzu (Yushiro's little sister) find him. While at the shrine, Yushiro finds bodies of those who tried to summon Gasaraki a while back and Yushiro discovers the fabled Kugai warrior. The two TA's from Symbol show up at the shrine to find more info. Miharu finds Yushiro next to the Kugai and tells him to get away. But before he can, his mind goes warped, he does the dance of Gasarak and gets inside the Kugai. An Evangelion style battle ensues and I must say that the Kugai is very impressive. It has a massive sword and even though it never gets to use it, the Kugai is still pretty cool. It rips apart the two Fakes like they're nothing. The last episode ends with the TA team trying out a new drug which drove one of the four pilots who are testing it to go insane. This volume doesn't have a lot of action, but the last episode should please everyone. If you don't understand some of the topics, the DVD includes a glossary and episode sheets to help you understand. The director interview was pretty good with discussing mecha anime, but the real treat is the behind the scenes feature. We get a 6 minute video of the dub voice actress who plays Miharu working on the show. Its very fun to watch and I hope ADV can put other voice actors on in more volumes to come. One little thing that I think is odd is that the Fakes get the spotlight on this volume and everyone calls them Beligstanian TAs. Anyway, an extremely well done DVD that will aplease any fan of the series. Get it and be amazed at its glory.

Rating:
Summary: Another amazing volume of Gasaraki
Review: Gasaraki is truly one of the most quickly captivating "mecha" anime I have ever had the opportunity to watch, and by volume three it has not yet let me down. In volume three, the war against Belgistan has finally come to an end, and Yushiro and Miharu have been seperated from one another, for what seems like the last time.

Peace doesn't last long as Belgistanian forces infiltrate the Gowa complex and uncover a shocking secret about Yushiro's past. Yushiro must now contemplate his very identity as he goes on a journey to discover answers to questions shrouded in mystery and obscured by history. As a result of this revelation, Miharu's new mission is to capture Yushiro and bring him back to Belgistan, but will she be able to do so before he awakens a hellish monster sleeping deep within the Gowa shrine? Meanwhile, the Japanese forces start testing a new drug that will enhance fighting ability inside the TA's, but its results can be disastrous...

Volume three of Gasaraki keeps you constantly on your toes as more and more secrets are revealed. The video and audio quality is superb, and what you can nomally come to expect from ADVision's releases on DVD. Another thing you can expect from ADV is the sheer amount of extras that will be put on their releases. Everything from character sketches to an interview with the director of Gasaraki, and even a recording session with a voice actor. There's even a glossary of terms used in Gasaraki to help you sort out what means what. The DVD menus are also very pleasant to look at and look like they were very professionaly done, unlike the DVDs released by most anime companies.

If I had to find a single down side to this DVD would be the small amount of episodes on it. While 3 episodes may still be customary for a VHS release, 3 episodes on DVD is almost nothing. With companies like Bandai releasing 5 or more episodes of their shows on a single DVD, a mere 3 is quite pathetic.

Overall, Gasaraki Volume 3 on DVD is almost perfect, with a few tiny flaws. ADV is one company that knows what it's doing with a new great technology like DVD, and Gasaraki proves that.

Rating:
Summary: Okay, I'm officially addicted now!
Review: I bought the first tape of that series on a whim, because I loved the desing. The characters look good and the mechas have a realistic, gritty edge to them. I was a bit dispointed by the slow pace and the cold characters but I felt the series had potential, so I kept following it.

And boy was I right! The second tape had a great story, a blend of Tom Clancy and Shinto mysticism, realistic and tension inducing. The good guys and the bad guys were not what they seemed, and the world was in constant flux.

The third tape becomes more mystical as Yoshiro, the main character, discovers that most of what he knows are lies. Faction continue to pop up and jockey for power, and you get the impression the world's going to hell. The show is very creative, you'll see TAs do things you'd never think about, and the plot moves so quickly you'll probably have to see it twice to get the nuances.

So all in all, it's great! You also get to see one of the creepiest mecha of all time...

Rating:
Summary: 3rd volume, 3rd 5 stars...
Review: Impressive... As always. However i must warn you that this dvd is different from the previous ones. It has very little action ( no action scene at all in episode 9), and is more focused on the story developement. Some secrets are revealed but only to be followed by other questions, making it extremely interesting to watch, although frustrating at some points (episode 11 looks amazing but we'll have to wait 2 months...). If you' re seeking action, you definitely shoudn't buy this dvd (by the way YOU MUST watch all of the previous 7 episodes in order to fully apreciate this masterpiece), but if you like evangelion, extremely well done and interesting plot, beautifull drawing, well... then Gasaraki will be the best anime you'll ever see (the plot is even more interesting and surprising then evangelion's...). For me, best anime of the year 2000 and probably 2001. (When it came out in USA that is.)

Rating:
Summary: This might be telling!
Review: The show begins to make sense and what sense!Yushiro sees why his family is weird and how weird cannot be described here in just one review.The KUGAI rocks and there are more from what is shown and the whole imperial angle promises to be a shocker in later episodes.It makes sense from my angle anyway,the mechs look beliavable now knowing the facts.Just WATCH the show, draw your own conclusions!!

Rating:
Summary: The story continues...
Review: This DVD has some extras like a cut scene from an actual dubbing booth of one of the female leads which is interesting to see how they do it. The menus are really cool as usual and this DVD contains 3 episodes. These 3 episodes contain little in the way of mech combat but we get to find out what the Gasaraki is! Let me just say that it rules. The story for this series is really starting to take shape and I think this series is going to be a classic. If you liked the first 2 DVDs or if your looking into a new series to get into after Macross and Gundam W, this is a great choice. I love this infinitely more than the Gundam series, it uses the same art house, and the guy who writes the story is the guy who wrote Patlabor, another classic anime. This DVD is superb in quality, great digital transfer and one of the few good Dub jobs out there if you want it dubbed, both are available on each DVD of course.

Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: This is the best one yet. I can't really tell you anything about it or I would ruin it, and I am not that type of person to do that. But all I can say is wow! It takes a big turn from here in the series. Hopefully some of the fans out there will be as lucky as me to find the third one this early also. This series is great. Can't wait for the rest of the episodes.

Rating:
Summary: A extremly happy anime fan
Review: This isn't really a reveiw, but a story of how I got 3. I went to the store to go and get 2 and found 3. Don't know how they got it, and I don't care. Because now I have it, and it isn't messed up or anything. Only problem is I am not going to watch it until I get 2. In which I am ordering tommorow. :) So when I get 2, I will come back and tell you if 3 is good. It will be anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Stop dancing or you will unleash the terror
Review: This series has the odd effect of not making any sense but yet still compelling to watch. Although some interesting things are answered on this DVD it asks far more than it answers. But the characters are starting to get deeper and not so wooden. The conspiracies are thick and nothing is what it appears. A healthy dose of mystery wraped in a large metal skin.