[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Gasaraki episodes 8-10
The task force returns from Belgistan as the dust from the conflict begins to settle. If the plans of the Gowas and Symbol are anything to go by though, this is just the beginning…meanwhile, Yoshiro begins to look for answers to his own questions after his encounter with Miharu. This is where the series begins to get really interesting!
While the previous volume featured plenty of mecha action, this outing seems to shift focus towards the bigger picture as it delves deeper into the mystery aspects of the story. It becomes clear very early on that the military detachment who Yoshiro has fought alongside are in the dark about why they fought in Belgistan; at the very least they are starting to realise that it was more than a military operation to test out their new TAs. There is a great scene in which Yoshiro, being a civilian and therefore excluded from the quarantine that his comrades are under upon their return, says goodbye and shakes hands with them before he leaves; it really hit home how much their attitude towards him had changed, no doubt because his skills as a soldier had earned their respect. I really hope we get to meet them again before the series finishes - I get the feeling they are the first real friends Yoshiro has had.
That is to say, our hero finds out some details concerning his identity and as a result begins to feel isolated and confused. After a raid on Gowa’s HQ on the part of Symbol to retrieve the test samples that had been taken from Belgistan, Yoshiro meets Miharu again and learns that he died eight years ago! Quite a bombshell by anyone’s standards, that. It only highlights how strange the Gowas are as a family - I suspect that Yoshiro is not a son or brother but a disposable tool of some sort.
The best is yet to come though when his search takes him to the Stage of Stone, where his old master tells him to go to the family’s old storehouse. This is where Gasaraki goes all Evangelion on us, but in a good way. Without giving too much away the first encounter with the contents of the storehouse, particularly the the Kugai, is terrifying and exhilerating at the same time. This is the only combat in this volume but the animators really pull out the stops.
The volume ends on a rather strange note with the Gowa corporation testing newer TAs with performance-enhancing drugs being administered to the pilots. How it ties in with Yoshiro’s soul-searching and the Gowas’s plans I don’t know but it leaves things on a nice cliffhanger. Overall Gasaraki is going from strength to strength in weaving an intelligent and complex tale.
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