Gasaraki - Fires of War (Vol. 6)

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The filmmakers seem to lose track of the story line as this supernatural mecha saga lurches toward its climax. The all-important "path of the kai" that Yushiro and Miharu were following to Kyoto to escape their pasts and probable futures is forgotten as they take refuge in a slum inhabited by illegal Chinese immigrants. The sight of a lily of the valley triggers memories that may explain who Yushiro really is. This revelation has surprisingly little effect on him, but Miharu lapses into near-catatonia. Symbol continues its all-out search for her, but the mighty Gowa family isn't pursuing Yushiro as aggressively. Its leaders are busy working with the right-wing fanatic Nishida, whose plot to restore Japan's ancient purity is tied to unrest triggered by the United States ending grain exports. Fans will delight in these newest complications; detractors will dismiss them as muddying an already opaque narrative. Rated 12+: Violence, tobacco use. --Charles Solomon
Average customer rating:
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Gasaraki - Fires of War (Vol. 6)
Starring: Chris Patton , Nobuyuki Hiyama , Mami Kingetsu , Monica Rial , and Takehiro Koyama Director: Ryôsuke Takahashi Manufacturer: Adv Films ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00005KHJ4 Release Date: 2001-09-25 |
Amazon.com
The filmmakers seem to lose track of the story line as this supernatural mecha saga lurches toward its climax. The all-important "path of the kai" that Yushiro and Miharu were following to Kyoto to escape their pasts and probable futures is forgotten as they take refuge in a slum inhabited by illegal Chinese immigrants. The sight of a lily of the valley triggers memories that may explain who Yushiro really is. This revelation has surprisingly little effect on him, but Miharu lapses into near-catatonia. Symbol continues its all-out search for her, but the mighty Gowa family isn't pursuing Yushiro as aggressively. Its leaders are busy working with the right-wing fanatic Nishida, whose plot to restore Japan's ancient purity is tied to unrest triggered by the United States ending grain exports. Fans will delight in these newest complications; detractors will dismiss them as muddying an already opaque narrative. Rated 12+: Violence, tobacco use. --Charles SolomonCustomer Reviews:
Let's clear some things up here..........2001-12-22
"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.
5 stars for the amazing show not the dvd........2001-10-01
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.
I love the Gasaraki series but this vol. flopped.......2001-09-26
Gasaraki Continues to Heat Up.......2001-08-26
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