Speed Grapher: Box Set
Label: MVM.
Certificate: 15
Discs: 6. (24 episodes)
Running time: 685 minutes approx
Video: 16.9 anamorphic
Sound: English 5.1, Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English. (Full dialogue or signs only)
Release date: 4th January 2010
RRP: £49.99 – Amazon – Play
Brief synopsis:
In a future not too far and not too different from now, burnt out war-zone photographer Tatsumi Saiga has resigned himself to spending the rest of his days as a photojournalist for a cheap and nasty tabloid rag in the festering rat hole that was once the proud city of Japan. In the ten years since the end of the Bubble War, the rich have just got richer and the poor, well they just get shit upon from an even greater height than before. Money really has become power and the rich can now have any desire fulfilled, any dream answered and any craving satisfied – no matter how sick, depraved or illegal it may be – but only if they have the finances to pay the price.
When Saiga uncovers a secret underground society – with it’s membership restricted to only Japan’s elite, it’s most influential figures and the super rich – his old instincts kick in and he just has to investigate. Infiltrating the club’s subterranean lair of forbidden vice and hedonistic sin, Saiga’s cover is soon blown when he witnesses a bizarre and shocking ritual in which the society’s Goddess mistakenly bestows upon him her most powerful gift in the form of a kiss. Their brief contact grants him a new and dangerous supernatural ability and with it he escapes his pursuers taking the Goddess, in reality a young girl called Kagura, with him to the outside world.
This leaves the society with two new objectives: the return of their goddess and the death of the man who would dare infiltrate their club. Having not just money and the services of the most powerful people in the country on their side, they also have at their disposal a whole host of individuals who have also received the blessing of the goddess and the supernatural powers and abilities that go with it. But more than just granting Saiga his devastating new powers, Kagura’s kiss has also set in motion events that could lead not just to the fall of Tokyo but could bring the whole country to ruin, both financially and morally.
Comments:
OK, let’s get my opinion of the animation out of the way first so we can get onto other things – like the plot which was actually quite good. Now for a series that’s very much about opulence and decadence, the flashy and fantastical, you’d think that there’d be some high quality animation to go with it. Unfortunately not here it would seem. The animation quality is -to put it bluntly – disappointingly mediocre rubbish. Produced in 2005 by Studio GONZO (just like the visually superior Solty Rei which we reviewed here) I’d like to say it was about average for the time… but it wasn’t. Just about average quality for 1995 maybe, but certainly not 2005.
I’ll also quickly mention the dub track. Honestly it was so grating I had to turn it off. It’s not that everything about it was awful as a fair number of the voice actors – Christopher Sabat as gruff anti-hero Saiga for one – were very good. It’s just that the voice actors that were either very bad or completely miscast – Clarine Harp as Ginza being worst offender – were so distractingly annoying that it soured the whole experience for me. Also it seemed that every male with even a hint of the effeminate or a whiff of homosexuality – of which this series has many, especially at the start – was pushed so far through the “screaming queen” stereotype that they came out the other side just to dive back in for another go. Unfortunately the original Japanese version wasn’t much better but it did make the bad parts easier to tune out.
So, onto the story itself, which was surprisingly decent. This series is punted as being for the “discerning” viewer, which really means that it’ll take ages to start getting anywhere and your average casual anime fan will probably get bored of it by the end of the first volume and wander off to watch something with more explosions or ninjas or something else along those lines instead. But if you like a show with a bit of depth and some delicately set-up plot-lines then it is well worth hanging around for as it’s a real slow burner of a show. It’s more like a quality slow brew coffee than a cup of Nescafe instant; i.e., it’s not to everyone’s taste and you do have to wait a while but then you’re eventually rewarded with a damn good cup of coffee… and maybe a small biscuit too. There’s quite a it of time spent on character development of both the protagonists and the antagonists. The villains and their powers are also fleshed out quite well but they’re often let down later on by a dodgy “super power” design or the rather poor animation quality leading many to devolve into more – dare I say it – basic cartoon adversaries.
Even though the setting is supposed to be the near future, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for the mid 80’s, with all the Power suits, recognisable sports cars, cocaine nose jobs and declarations of “greed is good” being swung around. So ingrained is the 80’s feel that during it’s original Japanese release “Girls on film” by Duran Duran was used as the opening title music, which was a inspired choice as it set the scene for the show perfectly. Unfortunately when this show was snapped up for release, both in the US and over here, licensing company FUNimation couldn’t secure (or more likely couldn’t afford) the rights to the song and it had to be replaced with a more generic piece.
In all, a half decent story coupled with characters which were better developed than most but sadly let down somewhat by sub par animation and an inconstant dub. A show that had the potential to be great if only all involved had been free to put more time and money into it.
Extras:
Spread across the six discs are plenty of Image Galleries; Dub cast auditions; Character profiles; text-less opening and closing animations and a bunch of trailers. There’s also a three part documentary over three separate discs.
Speed Grapher: Box Set will be available from most high streets and online retailers from 4th January 2010 with quite hefty discounts to be found if you shop around.
Ergo Proxy: Complete Collection
Label: MVM.
Certificate: 15
Discs: 6. (23 episodes)
Running time: 575 mins approx + extras
Video: 16:9 Anamorphic
Sound: Japanese 5.1, English 5.1, English DTS
Subtitles: English.
Release date: 4th January 2010
RRP: £39.99 – Amazon – Play
Brief synopsis:
The citizens of Romdo, one of the last enclaves of the human race, live an ideal life. Their city’s immense protective dome seals them off from the deadly and desolate word outside whilst their robotic autoreiv servants nurture them and provide them with everything they could ever imagine. Indeed, Romdo seems to be a paradise, an ideal utopia where they need not bother to think nor feel nor will they want for anything. But this perfect world is threatened from within when a virus, dubbed “Cogito”, starts to spread throughout the android population of the city making them unpredictable, dangerous and at times deadly. Inspector Re-l Mayer, a feisty young detective from the Civilian Intelligence Office is tasked with investigating any murders committed by these infected robots. As Re-l delves deeper she finds that the virus spreading thorough the city’s robots is just the tip of the iceberg and is shocked to discover that the idyllic society that she and every other inhabitant of Romdo are part of is based upon lies, conspiracy and a mysterious entity know as the “Proxy”. When an immigrant by the name of Vincent Law escapes from the city after being framed for treason, Re-l joins him, and an infected autoreiv called Pino who escaped with him, on a dangerous journey which leads her to not only explore the forbidden world outside Romdo but also to question her purpose in the grand scheme. Together they attempt to discover the true nature of the Proxies and how exactly they relate to the continued survival of the human race.
Comments:
This series was originally released as a complete box set back in April 2009 and the only discernible difference between that release and this is that where the 2009 version came as an outer rigid box with six DVD thin packs within, this release contains the same six discs as before but in a double width plastic DVD case with hinged disc trays. Plus the RRP is ten quid cheaper than before at £39.99. Incidentally, Play’s currently selling off their old stock of the 2009 release for about £15 which is an absolute bargain. EDIT: Not any more they’re not. They must have got wind of that one and put a stop to it sharpish. Our review of the 2009 release can be found here.
Extras:
As the 6 discs themselves are exactly the same as the previous box-set this means that al the extras are the same. While each of the six discs contains a pair of trailers, all of the other extras are compressed onto the first disc which contains: a “Keywords Of Ergo Proxy” featurette; Behind the scenes with the Japanese animation studio featurette; English Staff Interview (which I really recommend isn’t watched until at least the end of the second disc as it gives a lot of early plot away); Clean Openings for episodes 1 and 2; Original Japanese TV Commercials; Production art galleries.
Ergo Proxy: Complete Collection will be available from most high streets and online retailers from 4th January 2010.