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The future has gone awry, as it has a habit of doing. In a
future where robotic technology has been banned new Mafia
organisations have sprung up to exploit the prohibition. Governments
can no longer contain the situation so they create their own
legal android Heat Guy J. Together with his human partner,
Daisuke Aurora, they do what they can to turn back the tide
of crime...
The
box set contains twenty six episodes spread across six discs
in three volumes. It represents great value and is easily
the best way to buy the show, if you like it. As I have previously
reviewed Volume
Two, I don't propose to repeat myself here,
just follow the link and you shall be rewarded, other than
that, off we go with volume one.
Episode
one, Guy, and the show opens on a Mafia funeral. The
city is initially shown as pristine and wealthy, but as the
camera swings around we can see that the city also contains
deprivation, a breeding ground for crime. This being the first
one, we can all join in a rousing chorus of 'getting to know
you' and in this it does its job adequately.
Episode
two, War, and with the power vacuum left following
the death of the old don, the heads of the families must work
out who is going to become the new Mafia chief. Bound by an
oath of blood the families swear fealty to Claire (it's a
guy, honest).
Episode three, Bomb, is a two parter, whilst Daisuke
is off tracking down purveyors of girly pictures, Edmundo,
meanwhile, is off doing something a little more important,
tracking down a random bomber (obviously the bombs are random
and not the nutter). The episode has some nice nuances, we
already know that Dai's father was killed by an android -
in fact their ability to be programmed to kill is the reason
that they are banned from the city, so the makers have nicely
highlighted Dai's initial ambivalence towards J's well being.
Episode
four, Chaos, and were bizarrely into werewolf territory,
one who is looking for his sister. Claire recruits Boma, the
forlorn werewolf, to wipe out J which he has a good go at,
but then this is only the fourth episode so we kinda know
that it's not going to work
Episode five, Doll, is another Bladerunner type
story, with Dai and Kyoko, his backroom support, being concerned
that J isn't functioning correctly, it looks like the a shutdown
for the big fella until he acquits himself well against an
android that Dai is tracking.
Episode
six, Money, and Claire has decided to make some easy
money by fixing the price of Tomato's and getting Dai to take
the fall for it (wasn't that the plot of Trading Places?).
Well, as nefarious plots go, it's a little tame and of course
our hero can see straight though it.
Episode seven, Circulation, and Dai is attacked by
one of the beastmen who have appeared in a previous episode
and he looses the lucky bullet pendant that his father gave
him. In order to retrieve it he journeys to the underground
city where Boma saves the boys. Could this be the start of
a beautiful friendship?
Episode
eight, Brother, Dai and his brother Shun get into an
argument, as Shun doesn't think that Dai is taking his job
seriously enough. The rift between the brothers is healed
after Dai meets Kia, the suicidal son of a musician who hates
his father, only the intervention of Kia's brother stops him
from killing himself. This allows (in a heavy handed way)
Dai to re-examine his relationship with his own brother.
So
quickly skipping over volume two, which has previously been
reviewed, we find ourselves delving into the last disc in
the set which contains episodes eighteen to twenty-six.
So,
we rejoin the story with episode eighteen, Independence,
Daisuki is out of a job and J is inactive. The knowledge that
he gained about his father doesn't seem to be getting him
anywhere, in fact Shun fires him. To make matters worse Claire
is still missing and the heads of the families want him back,
well not all of him, just his eye as it holds the key to releasing
his families' wealth.
Now
here's a nice addition to the series as episode nineteen,
Truth, was apparently never show as part of the original
run in the States. Boma is finally offered a job at the Special
Unit, but life is never that easy.
Episode
twenty, Fake, and Antonia isn't having a good day either.
SECT, the company which created J, is closed due to lack of
finance, well they did only make one robot, so not the greatest
product line that you can think of. Problem is there is another
android that looks just like J bumping off Mafia bosses; can
Edmundo and Diasuki find the loopy bot and clear their friends'
name?
Episode
twenty one, Tears,
and the show continues to plunge the depths of darkness. Romeo,
Edmundo's partner, is killed whilst on a case, problem is
the department views his death as an accident as he was killed
doing surveillance which was not officially sanctioned Edmundo
ad Dai set off to clear their friends name and discover what
he was working on.
Episode twenty two, Fortress, and the guys get a chance
to get outside of Judoh when a strange red eyed woman appear
out of the sea and starts attacking people with a spear. The
team take to the sea to discover if the woman is real or an
urban myth.
Twenty
three and not content with making everyone else lives a misery,
in Play, poor Monica, a ten year old photographer and
reoccurring character, has her shop burnt to the ground by
the mob. Tomato scams and picking on little girls are not
good for your street cred I wouldn't have thought. The episode
decides to hit the twilight zone at this point with Monica
firstly deciding to turn to crime until Diasuki offers her
a job at the Special Forces headquarters. It's not very believable
at the best of times, but as a bit of fluffy nonsense it's
ok.
Episode twenty four and we're into the final few stories.
Alteration and it's starting to hit the fan in a big
way. There's a big plot reveal to do with Shun, but I won't
spoil it for you.
So
the penultimate episode, Revolution, and the fate of
Judoh is in the balance. Tanks have taken to the streets and
Claire and Diasuke join forces to try and save both J and
the city.
So
we come to the end of this excellent series with the ultimate
episode Guys. A coup is in full swing in the city and
it looks like only Daisuki can save J, Shun and the city.
The discs come with a comprehensive set of audio options;
you get the show in English/Japanese stereo, 5.1 and DTS with
optional English subtitles. There's not much to choose from
the Japanese or dubbed version, with each set of vocal actors
providing some solid character work. The picture cannot be
faulted and special mention should be made of the consistent
high level of animation. There is some excellent work on display
here, both cell animation and CGI, a real treat for the eyes.
Each of the discs comes with a rather nice booklet which as
well as giving a little synopsis of each episode also has
character information and what looks to be test drawings.
Overall
this is an intelligent and well written series, which collected
together in the box set, is a steal at this price. My only
reservation is the total lack of any extras apart for some
trailers on volume three.
Charles
Packer
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