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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Monday, 12 June 2006 00:00 |
 Another 2 discs of Heat Guy J courtesy of Manga UK - I have to admit, I'm loving this release format. There's plenty of action for the mechanical guy here, along with the appearance of the ultimate tech geeks, a lead for Daisuke in the hunter for his father's murderer, and a small problem for Vampire to get his teeth into - and as with all good series, not everything goes to plan for the good guys...
9 - Trust
Daisuke's following up on rumours of a passport scam - if his information is right, the ringleaders are getting hold of legitimate passports by 'disposing' of the rightful owners & selling them on. Seems Monica's mother, Christina, may be involved in some way too - as a potential victim - so it's time for Dai to take a little more than a professional interest in the case...
10 - Guns
There have been repeated threats to blow up one of Judoh's major towers, but as yet they've all been hoaxes - so as a 'crime yet to be committed', it falls to Daisuke to investigate. Trying to get an insight into the motivations behind the threats, Dai turns to an old miltary reservist & his group of washed-up men. Valter misses the old days when Judoh's army actually had things to do, and his words give Dai a flash of inspiration as to who - or what - has been making the threats...
11 - Mirage
There's a pretty woman going around killing mob bosses - three in the past few days - and Edmundo's investigating. The culprit seems to be something of a superwoman, too - even a hail of bullets fails to stop her. Edmundo's got other things on his mind, as well - new love Elisa Ryan. Elisa seems to be having memory problems, and her blank spots coincide nicely with the timings of the murders. Not willing to accept that his new girl may be connected to the killings, Edmundo's suspended from the case, and decides to call in Daisuke's help in proving her innocence...
12 - Visitor
The Celestials are in town for a rare visit, and the city's residents are out celebrating in force. It's more than just a festival, though - the Celestials are the only people able to maintain a lot of Judoh's high-end technical systems, such as the air & water purification plants. So when 12 Celestials are killed while in the city, their support for Judoh's systems is withdrawn, unless their future safety can be guaranteed. With less than 24 hours before Judoh's systems begin to shut down, Daisuke is called in to work on the case - with his first priority being to find the one Celestial still in Judoh, living as an ordinary citizen. The search becomes more complicated when Bomba & Vampire become involved...
13 - Encounter
Daisuke & J return to the Underground after a 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...
17 - Survival
Daisuke's away to Offshore again, and Boma's showing a curious interest in his movements. Away from the city, Daisuke's showing great disdain for strange things like 'grass' and the smell of 'fresh air' - the man's got no appreciation for the finer things in life. When he finally reaches Siberbia, he finds the local culture quite strange - an overhyped desire for personal independence has turned helping someone into an insult. He's able to get help from one resident, though - a former city-dweller, who is able to give him some useful information. He's also the man who created the machine that killed Daisuke's father - and J soon has to deal with an attack from another machine...
Heat Guy J continue its run of standalone episodes up to #11. Visitor is a particularly interesting episode, as it gives a lot more detail into the setting of the show & the vulverabilities of Judoh than we've been shown so far, and helps to point out that the world of Heat Guy J is somewhat different from our modern world, despite the obvious similarities.
Some of the episodes are the usual J routine, with J & Daisuke acting on a variety of subtle hints to solve the mystery-of-the-week. Trust is probably the best of these, and there's a fair amount of fleshing out done on the minor characters (particularly Monica & Edmondo), which is nice to see - one of my initial worries about the show was the large cast & the small amount of time given to them. Seems that's being corrected now.
Angel is another real highlight, with Kyoko doing her best Trinity (Matrix) impression. It's unashamedly a comedy episode, but you shouldn't miss it. Encounter finishes off the Celestials story (neatly avoiding the annoying cliffhanger problem from the R1 & R4 releases - this two-parter was split over two releases for them), and includes a few revelations about Daisuke's past, but sadly the ending is very weak. This story had a very good build-up, so the lack of a decent ending is a real disappointment.
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?
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