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Even from childhood Kantaro Ichinomiya has dreamt of meeting
the Demon Eating Goblin, who is stronger than any living demon.
Years later as an impoverished folklore writer and part time
exorcist, he lives together with his pet demon Yoko, still
dreaming of meeting the Goblin. For all his research, it is
an accident which finally brings Kantaro to the shrine of
the Goblin. He names the demon Haruka and the two of the start
a journey of demon slaying...
This
is the second DVD release for the anime show Tactics,
which rarely moves away from its formulaic 'Monster of the
Week' storylines. I rarely mention the menu screens in reviews
because, for the most part, they are similar enough not to
warrant it. However Tactics stands apart from the crowd
by employing such an awful font for the episode titles that
it makes them all but unreadable. So, if it looks like I'm
making up the episode titles its fairer to say that they are
my best guess.
On a more positive note, you can't complain about the amount
of episodes on offer. The three disc set covers episodes fourteen
to twenty-five (That's twelve, if you ran out of fingers -
and if you did you obviously don't come from the Isle of Wight).
Regardless of what you think of the content, each show is
given a very nice, clean widescreen presentation with either
a stereo or 5.1 audio track in either English or Japanese.
As for the content, well it really is horses for courses.
If you enjoy its mildly humorous stories, which weave in a
mystery of the week, then it may well be your sort of thing.
To be honest I found the stories a little too repetitive to
watch in such bulk without thinking 'seen it, seen it'. Sorry,
the penny just dropped. This is Japanese adolescent Scooby
Doo, with Haruka standing in for Scooby. It has pretty
much the same structure. Each week a new character is introduced,
with precious little time to provide any depth, then straight
into the inevitable fight and a quick wrap up scene.
Disc one contains episodes fourteen to seventeen and includes
The Woman who Loved Books; With the Summer's End
Cicada Comes the Rain; The Lament of the Newlyweds;
and British Beauty. No extras here.
Disc two wades in with episodes eighteen to twenty-one with
The Mystery Society; Maple-Coloured Love; Daughters
Ballad: Oni's racket; and Gateway to Memory. The
extras on the disc consist of an okay, if a little pointless,
photo gallery and two original music videos: Embrace the
Sun and the Moon and Premonition Infinity - neither
of which use the original recording artists, plumping for
shots from the series instead.
Disc three completes the set with episodes twenty-two to twenty-five
including Blue Eyes; Snow Scene of Glass; Hearts
in the Distance and Strength that cannot be Seen.
This disc only has six trailers, the funniest of which is
for Ghost in the Shell which is titled GITS: Stand
Alone Complex which sounds more akin to a psychological
condition suffered by unpleasant people.
Ultimately, the repetition of plot is this shows weakness,
that's not to say it isn't well animated or that the vocal
talents aren't up to scratch. But I'd make a suggestion, if
you're going to watch the show, watch it as it was intended
- with a couple of episodes a week.
Charles
Packer
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