Anime: HeatGuy J

Note: This review is based on Anime-4ever (a4e) fansubs. Both quality, considering the age, and translation are pretty good, I think. Deleted them as soon as I finished watching the show.



Heat Guy J is an almost, but not quite, episodic show telling many hunt those darn criminals like stories about Daisuke Aurora, a safety control officer, and his mechanical partner, android named J. The setting takes place in the far future, where, supposedly all life is extinct except for a few floating cities or something. Unfortunately, the setting is more or less ignored through the whole show so you wont learn much about it (even though I thought it is the aspect with most potential in Heat Guy J, heh).

Phew, a man seriously needs to do a lot of stuff, after watching this show you'll be able to create your own dictionary about what a "real" man is supposed to do (every single episode in this anime has at least one or two quotes concerning that). Directed by Akane Kazuki (Escaflowne, Noein) Heat Guy J, besides the what a real man should do lectures, has nothing, not even a single original thing to offer. There are some bad guys, there are some good guys, good guys catch bad guys and an episode ends. That applies to the first 22 or so episodes of the show. Characters, also, while original and somewhat interesting lack enough charm to keep you glued to screen through the countless fillers. There is something missing, something what makes you care for them. In the end, Heat Guy J doesn't do even a single thing any other show hasn't done before.

Animation: 7/10

Though slightly lacking in style, this show spurts pretty good animation. Especially background pictures are very well done. Some cityscapes might seriously make you go into "Hey, I want to spend my holiday there" mood. Slums and dark districts are also painted very well and make the world of Heat Guy J even more alive. Why is it that lame episodic shows always get good budgets?

Character designs by Nobuteru Yuki (think Escaflowne) suffer from the same Pinocchio disease as do his other works. I mean, long noses could be cool in a fairy tale, but in mildly serious fight the crime shows they certainly look out of place, especially when those characters walk on such picturesque backgrounds. Errr... It seems I made it sound worse than it really is. In the overall picture, everything, both characters and their backgrounds, look pretty cool, it's just a minor gripe that their noses detract from seriousness sometimes. Though some side characters certainly do look weird (in a bad sense), Daisuke Aurora and Claire Leonelli are cool (minus the noses).

As for the real animation, you know, movements and stuff, Heat Guy J does a pretty good job too. Though people don't run, fight, dance, or whatever like in those high tech anime movies, their movements are certainly realistic. Battle choreography is pretty cool, no still-frames fighting techniques so you actually see your characters punching, evading and stuff. Minor things, like hair floating in the wind, looks fine for the most part.

Sound: 7/10

Frankly, the opening theme Face by Tri Force is much too good piece of music for this show. After I heard it in the first episode for the first time I was like "Oh Yeah, let's kick some ass!!" and after the end of that episode I was like "Huh, where was the cool stuff?". Ending songs, of which are two, however, were just like the show deserved. Cool at times, but skip-able. As for background music... There certainly are some really good tracks (too bad they don't work without a cool plot). Particularly the one theme played by Kia, a musician character in the show, is very good. Unfortunately it's played only in the very few episodes he appears. Sound effects are okay, nothing interesting to comment on. Grenades explode in cool sounds, wow...

Aurora Daisuke, the main character, is voiced by Matsukaze Masaya (Death Note as Mikami Teru) and, frankly, he doesn't sound cool. I'd rather this seiyuu got more obsessive psycho roles as he suits them much better. Sugo Takayaki (Bleach as Zangetsu, Princess Tutu as The Raven) voices J and does a pretty good job. He sounds just like a machine with old man's personality would... Sakaguchi Daisuke (Baccano! as Jazuki Splott, Clannad as Youhei Sunohara) voices the coolest character in this show, Claire Leonelli, and unlike in his other roles does sound badass here.

Story: 4/10

This show has so many fillers that you'd think it's episodic, but it actually isn't! For example there are many reappearing characters who, hmm, are doing something what "might" impact the future episodes. Many episodes, however, are certainly useless, and those fillers, or stand alone episodes, or whatever you prefer to call them, aren't too interesting. I was tempted to skip them altogether quite a few times. And even when the main plot kicks in, things become barely more interesting. It's like a watered down version of Cowboy Bebop minus the leetness.

But there are some good things in Heat Guy's story, for example, the setting as a whole is really exciting. Who are celestials? What's wrong with their water? What kind of war was there in the past? Unfortunately, even these interesting things are overwhelmed by the tremendous amount of fillers.

Character: 5/10

Daisuke is that usual smartypants hero, who casually appears in live action movies. In anime, however, characters like him are kind of rare. Well, you know, he is the type who is always right when others think otherwise and his intuitions always save the day, etc. etc.. Despite that, he is not really self centered and cares for others. Man, was he boring.

The Vampires' (mafia clan in the setting of Heat Guy J) successor, Claire Leonelli, is completely insane in a really spectacular way. I mean, who else would think of throwing a grenade in his own father's grave during his funeral? But he liked fireworks - Damn, I like him. If not for his insane stunts I wonder if I would have had enough patience to sit through the show.

Other characters, however, aren't really worth mentioning. J himself is a machine and he behaves like one. Program him like this, program him like that. Not really a deep, if at all, character.

Myers-Briggs personality type indicator:



Value: 3/10

Bleeeeh, I'm not watching this episodic thing ever again. There were so many boring episodes that.. oh man, I don't even want to remember. It doesn't have enough value to be watched the first time around, hence, the second one.

1. Conclusion[/u]: Basically, only casual viewers who prefer episodic structure will enjoy this show. Hardcore ones - beware. I made my mistake, so don't repeat it. It's like Cowboy Bebop, just not as stylish. And I didn't even like Cowboy Bebop.

[/ol]

Heat Guy J is about a detective named Dai-suke whom has been assigned to a special unit and given an android by the name of Heat Guy as a partner. They are a part of the crime prevention unit, and it's their Job to try and (obviously) prevent big crimes before they happen. Daisuke has a very cocky careless attitude but is pretty quick on the uptake, he doesn't seem too interested in anyone's opinion of him, and pretty much just does his own thing.

The City is run by a clan called the Vampire clan whose leader has been buried and whose son has taken over. The son of the old vampire causes a great stir among the crime boss subordinates and stirs up an uprising within the crim syndicates which Daisuke and Heat Guy have to try and quell.

The series essentially revolves around the relationship between Daisuke and Heat Guy, Heat Guy is the only Android allowed to reside in the city and has been programmed to make his own decicions and create his own relationships.

Animation:
I truly loved the animation in this series, it had a nice crisp clean feel to it, and was incredibly fluid. All the characters were pretty wirey and skinny so there wasn't much diversity, but very beautifully animated on the whole. There was also a bit of 3D Cell-Shaded animation thrown in for good measure, on the whole nicely animated series.

Sound:
Good music, good soundtrack, I got tired of hearing the SAME song over and over again when Heat Guy came around but at least it wasn't a bad song. There was a good deal American soul / r&b music mixed with some Japanese pop here and there.

Story:

I enjoyed a lot of the episode storylines, some of the episodes in the middle kind of dragged along with no substance, but in the end it was worthwhile. The story comes together quite nicely, the first couple of episodes are pretty much your standard detective episodes, but the background of the main characters and the crime bosses slowly comes together and reveals a pretty good ending that will leave you shocked, surprised and entertained.

Character:
Unfortuanately, I never really got a feel for any of the characters aside from Daisuke and maybe the photo vendor (one of Daisukes friends), they briefly explained each character and his/her history, but after that it just went straight back to daisuke.

Value:
I enjoyed it the first time around, but I wouldn't watch it again, not much lasting appeal really...no characters to really fall in love with, or anything that needs to be seen a second time.

Enjoyment:
I did enjoy the show, some funny moments, good battles, interesting characters and interactions. Great Animation.

Overall not a bad Anime, nothing epic or memorable, but not bad.