| Heat Guy J #4: Hidden Fangs |
|
|
| Thursday, 30 September 2004 | |
 This latest volume of Heat Guy J continues with its move away
from one-off episodes & towards building an ongoing story of sorts.
They just take their time about it...13 - Encounter Daisuke & J return to the Underground after fire breaks out - one that appears to have be deliberately set. There's also the matter of a missing Celestial to track down - and Claire seems to have gotten to him first. Vampire has issues with the Celestials' control of technology, and intends to teach him another way of controlling people. Meanwhile, the Celestials are still witholding their technical knowledge until their comrade is returned to them - Daisuke needs to find him, and quickly, as the city's critical systems are already beginning to fail... 14 - Arrow Offshore - somewhere people from Judoh don't often get to go, but Daisuke gets the opportunity when he uncovers a lead on an unsolved case - the murder of his father. On his way there, though, he meets a young Offshore girl, Princess, and somehow manages to get caught up in her search for her grandfather... 15 - Angel 'Pissed' doesn't even begin to describe Claire's mood after his last run-in with Daisuke - he feels he's been made a fool of, and he's determined to get his revenge. Step one: the destruction of J. Step two: Daisuke's capture. Taking a few leaves from the Evil Genius' Handbook, Vampire's determined to make sure Daisuke learns from his 'mistakes'. With the two stars of the show sidelined, it's up to Judoh's latest heroine to save the day - Kyoko Milchan... 16 - Target Someone's taking potshots at Daisuke's brother, Shun, although for some reason Daisuke doesn't seem too concerned about tracking down the perpetrator. Edmundo and J pick up the investigation (initially suspecting Claire, who for once wasn't to blame), while Daisuke mopes in the hospital. Meanwhile, Claire has some problems of his own to deal with... Angel is the highlight of this disc by a long shot, with Kyoko doing her best Trinity (Matrix) impression. It's unashamedly a comedy episode, but you shouldn't miss it. As for the rest of the disc - Encounter finishes off the Celestials story, and includes a few revelations about Daisuke's past, but sadly the ending is very weak. Spoils things somewhat after such a good build-up. Throughout episodes 14-16, there's constant reference to on Offshore informer who may have information about the murder of Daisuke's father - but for a variety of reasons Diasuke never quite gets out there to investigate, and it's not just his brother that finds this annoying. It's possibly the longest I've seen a plot thread drawn out, with so little done with it. That said, the other events in these episodes make them worth watching, you just find yourself screaming at Daisuke to get on with it... Overall, then, I still say Heat Guy J is one of the better recent series. A well-realised world, and large cast with a variety of personalities and motivations, and it seems now we're even getting a proper plot. Who could ask for more? |
