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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Thursday, 02 March 2006 00:00 |
Welcome to the city-state of Judoh, where androids are strictly
illegal - except for J, an android assigned to the Special Unit of the
city's Safety Management Agency, an under-funded office with the
thankless task of preventing crimes before they start. Along with his
human partner Daisuke Aurora, J's gained a name for himself in the
criminal underworld, where he's known as the Heat Guy. From the director of Escaflowne (and the same character designer as well, judging by the noses), Heat Guy J takes us to a future setting, although it's a 'crime fighting superhero' story at heart...
1 - Guy
The Don of the Leonelli family, also known as Vampire, has died,
leaving his position to his 19-year-old son Claire - who is a few
sticks short of a bundle, if we're being generous. Meanwhile, Daisuke
& J are assigned to look into some illegal immigrants - turns out
they may have smuggled an android in with them...
2 - War
The new Vampire consolidates his position by taking on a rival faction
- Daisuke & J become involved when they discover a plan to produce
napalm bombs, to be used by Vampire against his rivals. The things you
can track down based on a few 'what's that smell?' complaints.
3 - Bomb
A serial bomber is at work - having started with a few small targets
like postboxes and billboards, he's moved on to bigger things, and is
now demolishing buildings. Meanwhile, the latest craze around Judoh is
the Beauty Card - collector's cards of the city's most attractive
women, the photos having been taken in true stalker fashion. Ryoko's
getting quite upset that she hasn't featured on one yet, despite her
best efforts to be seen...
4 - Chaos
There's a werewolf, answering to the name of Boma, who's looking for
his Usagi, and killing anyone who won't help him find her. Realising
his strength, Vampire hires him to take down J, using calls to Daisuke
as bait to lure J to where Boma can attack him.
5 - Doll
Claire Leonelli's schemeing again - this plan begins with the seizure
of a child belonging to one of his debtors. Seems the child is really a
machine, and with the help of some reprogramming Claire plans to use
him to discredit J - after all, a machine seen attacking a child would
have to be deactivated, right? Meanwhile, J doesn't seem to be quite
himself, and a decree from his political masters that he shouldn't be
used doesn't help matters...
6 - Money
Trading scam time, and Claire's behind it - natch. By playing on the
natural desire of people to make as much money as possible, he's
hoping to make a killing. Meanwhile, there's a rumour around about an
impending delivery of explosives, and Daisuke's on the case - but is
the rumour all it seems to be?
7 - Circulation
Down into the sewers for Daisuke as he goes in search of his lost
pendant. While there he discovers that there's a whole other world
Underground. Shame some of his Overground enemies seem to be hanging
out down there, along with an unexpected new friend...
8 - Brother
In case you missed it, Daisuke's boss is also his brother - and quite
the bishonen, too. However, he & Daisuke really don't seem to get
along... Daisuke sees some uncomfortable comparisons when he meets Kia,
a young blues guitar player who has family problems of his own - and
drastic plans to solve them...
The stories in Heat Guy J are simplistic enough that it's
easy to write a synopsis for them, at least. :) That's not simplistic
in a bad way, either - on the basis of this first disc, it would seem
that this show falls into the low-maintenance eye-candy department -
you can have fun watching it without taking your brain.
The characters are likeable - there's some nice interplay between
Daisuke and Ryoko, and J seems to have quite a philosophical outlook on
life that can't all be the result of his programming. Claire Leonelli
seems to be Dilandau from Escaflowne
reincarnated - he has similar
looks & flipped personality - and looks set to be the show's
recurring bad guy, although more in a scheme-of-the-week way than
through any over-arching plot. I can't say I found him particularly
likeable to watch, but with the benefit of having seen the series
before I have to say he's definitely a character to watch. Add in a
fairly large supporting cast,
including street-urchin photographer Monica and the shadowy Shogun,
and there's plenty here to build stories on.
As far as production values go - in general it's very good. Judoh's
a bright city, so most of the scenes are very colourful & well
presented. There are some problems with iffy CGI & stock footage,
but nothing
too serious. And I love the soundtrack (it's the bagpipe fan in
me...). There's enough variety in the stories to make sure that the
show doesn't get stuck in an early rut, and with the added bonus of
getting 8 epiosdes / 2 discs for the price of a standard 4 episode / 1
disc release (£19.99 retail), it's an easy recommendation. I thought Heat Guy J was worth the money for a full-price release - at this price, it's definitely worth picking up.
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