Yushiro, scion of the famous Gowa family, has a special talent - by performing the special Gasara dance he can bring down great energies from the sky and has the potential to release them to devastating effect. Yushiro comes from a rich family that controls the Gowa Corporate Consortium, an arms manufacturing company responsible for creating the high-tech Tactical Armored System bipedal armaments platform. While the Consortium struggles to master the power that only Yushiro can unleash, Yushiro yearns to communicate with the voice he hears during his spiritual dancing.

When the renegade republic of Belgistan ostensibly tests a fierce weapon of mass destruction, the multinational forces gathered to fight them call on Japan and the Gowa Company to provide its signature robot forces to assist in the ground assault. Yushiro is sent to assist, but he senses the call from beyond, originating with Miharu, a woman with a similar power controlled by the mysterious force behind Belgistan's apparent aggression.

Yushiro's movements, as part of a Gowa experiment, bring into existence a singularity sought by the Gowa Consortium. Suddenly, another dancer cries out from elsewhere pleading, "Don't bring back the terror!" Sensing the chilling voice, Yushiro falls out of his trance and the experiment fails.

As the Gowa Consortium evaluates the failure of their experiment with Yushiro, the United Nations responds to what seems to be a weapons test in the renegade post-Soviet Republic of Belgistan. After a successful air attack, the allied ground forces suffer a startling defeat, leading the Japanese company to reveal the secret of the Tactical Armor systems. It seems these units may have been responsible for the U.N. defeat at the hands of the Belgistanians.

The Gowa Consortium clears the way for the deployment of the Tactical Armored System to Belgistan, enlisting Yushiro to come along. In the meantime, an American tank battalion faces staggering losses on their incursion into Belgistanian territory, confirming that Belgistan does possess bipedal weapons with formidable attack abilities.

The TA units arrived in Belgistan whereupon they are ordered to capture Shrine Hill, the location where the Belgistanians allegedly detonated their weapon of mass destruction. Surprising both the multinational forces and the TA unit, researchers from the Gowa Corporation arrive and confirm that Shrine Hill is virtually identical to Stage of Stone on which Yushiro performed his initial dance. This fact is confirmed when Yushiro enters a trance mode, leaves his TA and begins to perform the Gasara dance on Shrine Hill. Undeniably, a connection exists between Belgistan's release of power and the Gasara dance.

Robotic war machinery, a ruthless corporation, and apocalyptic war - it's all been done before by many of the same talents who created "Gasaraki." Under the stewardship of director Ryosuke Takahashi, the creative staff faces a major challenge in making this latest project engaging. And this team succeeds in shaking up the clichés by making two seminal decisions. First, they turn back the clocks (at least in terms of the oft-used futuristic time setting of most robotic epics) and set their story in a world that could very well mirror our own time. And second, they mine Japanese traditional arts to create the Gasara dance, setting this anime apart from previous projects in its merging of Japan's rich cultural heritage, its modern preoccupation with mechanical innovation, and a fascination with mysticism. In its final form, "Gasaraki" is a mystery tale that unfolds to reveal an epic story about the introduction of robot combat into our contemporary world.

To establish "Gasaraki" as a war story set in today's world, Takahashi turns to the most visually memorable war of modern times, the Gulf War of 1991. Fictional Belgistan resembles the Iraq of Saddam Hussein in major ways, the most notable being having a leader who spouts anti-American vitriol and attempts to create a weapon of mass destruction. Takahashi successfully extends on this familiarity with modern, high-tech warfare by mimicking the CNN footage of night vision anti-aircraft fire and computer-directed smart bombs. However, when the multi-national forces of "Gasaraki" begin their ground assault, all parallels to the familiar Gulf War evaporate in a bloody haze. The forces of Belgistan mysteriously hold off allied ground forces, necessitating the use of robotic warriors to save the day.

Adding spice to the familiar world of robot combat anime is the subplot of the Gasara dance that somehow allows its performers to summon massive amounts of energy. Though the Gowa family believed Yushiro to be unique in his possession of this ability, the Belgistan debacle reveals that he is not in fact alone. But, the discovery of Miharu, working for the nefarious secret organization called Symbol, fills Yushiro with yearning. Set apart from his family and the world by his unique talent, he finds hope that there is someone else out there that shares the same alienation that he feels. Now Yushiro need only find a way to contact her.

The series opening leaves little space for petty exposition, however helpful such exposition would be. Instead, it leaps right into a simulation battle fought by the TAs, and from there, into the esotericism of the Gasara dance, replete with oblique talk of "singularities" and "invitators." Topping off the strangeness is Miharu's chilling cry for help that sparks intrigue about why "the terror" is so horrifying. Yet, driving the story is the steadily unfolding mystery behind these events; each successive episode reveals a little more of the story, dropping the pieces into place.