Presentation PA #55

Gasaraki and the modern world ?! -- In this issue, we are introducing you to Sunrise's new anime series Gasaraki. In fact, the world of Gasaraki is confused, confusing and downright chaotic! The nations of the world, the different organizations, and characters (individuals), all types of thought, are jumbled together! The main character, Yushiro, belongs to his family, Gowa, but he's not sure if he's doing the right thing. It is quite difficult to comprehend. But wait: Isn't that the world we live today? Our world has become so complicated, so rapidly, and things seem to change so fast, beyond our imagination. Our world has become very difficult to comprehend since the end of Cold War. I was watching CNN-TV series "Cold War", and in fact, things seemed to have been (or at least have looked) easier to understand when there WAS an enemy (for the free enterprise world, socialism & communism was the enemy then). When there was an enemy, maybe it might have been easier to set goals and without thinking much. But now, why do we really have to create an enemy (such as Saddam or Milosevic)? In Gasaraki, there is an organization "Symbol," but it's NOT an evil organized group or anything. Both sides are doing the same thing in fact, developping Tactical Armors. During 1970's in Afghanistan when former Soviet Union sent their advisers (!?) to the capital of Kaboul, they made education, health care, schooling, voting rights, land reform for all farmers available to its citizens especially woman who had to wear veils, and had no right before. Is it an evil thing to do?! Just like Gasaraki's character Yushiro, we all begin to be distressed by the misinformations or lies! Yushiro suffers greatly because he doesn't KNOW if he's doing the right thing. And he decides later to find out the "truth" by himself. Do we really want to be anybody's puppet? Of any organization, any nation, even of our own family? It's a true agony, all right. It is more difficult for all of us to learn by ourselves to do the "right" thing. Personally, I feel that the theme of Gasaraki is about doing the right thing for ourselves in this modern world, and learning to think for ourselves.

1999 is passing through quickly and the 21st Century is incredibly close! People talk about the prophecy of Michel Nostradamus or Y2K bugs, etc., these days, but I'm sure we'll all survive. When I was a child, the 21st Century (even the word itself) sounded like a dream, but now, we are all facing it! I can't even comprehend now what kind of anime shows we'll be watching in the 21st Century! Even now in Japan, due to the variety of BS channels, CS-broadcasting, etc., there are over 300 channels on TV if you have the right equipment! Some Japanese fans say that the rival of DVD will be "television" which can offer so many anime shows at a reasonable price. We'll see what will happen in this chaotic (?) modern world...

Miyako Matsuda

This is another issue absolutely packed with information and stuff. There are so many titles coming out in Japan this year (and being released here in English faster and faster -- not fast enough some might say) that it is getting difficult to keep up the pace! However, as always, we are doing our best (despite all the little problems, computer bugs and our huge load of work) to keep you up to date on what's really going on in Japanese animation.

This issue covers what we think are the best among the recent sci-fi anime series (most of them produced by Sunrise and to be released in English). The main spotlight (8 pages) is on GASARAKI, an interesting TV series that blends military thriller, mysticism and small-size mecha (not surprising since it was created by the director of Votoms, Ryosuke Takahashi, and designed by Yutaka Izubuchi, who worked on Patlabor). It should rival the success of Evangelion and will be released by A.D.Vision sometime in 2000. We've put another spotlight (7 pages) on BRAIN POWERD, the latest creation by Yoshiyuki Tomino (Gundam). It has a strange ("Gundamesque") story, weird mecha designs, but it is nice and should be released by AnimeVillage.com (Bandai) in 1999. We are also featuring two adventure/bounty hunter shows from Sunrise, OUTLAW STAR and COWBOY BEBOP (4 pages each), both being released by AnimeVillage.com in May and June. Finally, we preview two GUNDAM stories (8th MS TEAM movie and TURN A GUNDAM) and Gonzo's BLUE SUBMARINE No 6 (a 4-part computer animation OVA). This issue also offers a report on Katsucon, Anime Under Fire (Part 12) and our usual news & reviews. Enjoy!

Claude J. Pelletier