Gasariki Vol One DVD
I am rather partial to some giant robot action and no one does this better than the Japanese Anime houses. I like to browse second hand sites and online auctions too on the off chance there are some bargains to be had. Last week I chanced on Volume One of Gasariki. Gasariki is not one of the better known ‘mecha’ franchises and indeed I had only heard of it in relation to Cowboy Bebob. But priced at only 0.28GBP plus a pound postage who could refuse! Volume One contains episodes one to four and runs for about one hundred minutes including all trailers and credits.
The series centers on Yushiro Gowa who pilots a bipedal weapons system known as a TA, short for Tactical Armor. Much of the initial plot is driven by means of news reports. Set in the near-future the series is formed around political narratives that concern a fictional war between the US and the fictional Middle Eastern country of Belgistan. An influential Japanese family, the Gowa, produce a bipedal weapon, the TA. When US military forces attempt to seize the capital they are systematically wiped out by what appear to be rival TAs. The Gowa Family seizes this opportunity to demonstrate their weapon system, and civilian pilot Yuushiro Gowa and the military squad to which he is attached are deployed to Begilstan. There, he meets rival TA pilot Miharu, with whom he seems to share a deep spiritual bond. The series has a mix of futuristic and historical narratives and includes elements of Japanese culture, such as Noh and Shinto, rigid family hierarchies, corruption of government by Zaibatsu and Samurai appear throughout the series.
From a wargamers point of view (which is my interest in it at the end of the day) this anime provides a sci-fi near future possible setting with a more ‘real’ form of powered armour. I can see me using either an altered version of UM004 USE ME Modern Warfare or HOF Fire-Team to set games in Belgistan. If you like this kind of setting then look up Gasariki as I shall certainly be trying to acquire Vol 2 and so on. It”s not on a par with the excellent Appleseed franchise but for something more than ten years old it is very good.
You can see it here on Amazon and here is the Wiki link for the series too.
On the off chance you simply cannot get ahold of this title, and it is possible due to the age and lack of success it had here then enjoy the trailer for it below.
GBS
I am a huge fan of giant robots and have been in ages.
As a gamer, what always surprises me is how few quality games there are for this genre. As a miniatures gamer, I am even more surprised by how few good miniatures lines there are for such visually stimulating subject.
While it it is true that many attempts have been made, and a few well done, there always seems to be a point where they fall short of the mark. In nearly every case, even at their best, they seem to come across as well-attempted parroting of the genre that spawned them. Sometimes the settings are great, but there is then no or poor miniatures support. In others, the miniatures support is there but somehow ends up being dry and uninspired.
-Eli
Hello Eli,
Thanks for your comment.
I have plans with Sam Croes for a game featuring giant robots which will be playable in any scale with miniatures both metal, resin, plastic or paper. Keep an eye out for the Summer 2012 issue of Irregular Magazine online as it has an article in it set in the game world we will be using.
Hopefully it will meet with your approval my friend. 🙂
GBS