HEAT GUY J

Hello again everyone. Maguro back with another anime that you'd better like, or else... german santa claus will cease to be surprised while reading your mail. (see below) I actually have a few titles I want to write about but HGJ is fresh in my mind so I won't have to make anything up.

Cyberpunk titles have traditionally provided some good storytelling but not always to most optimistic of futures. Heat Guy bucks this trend, as well as a few others. For one, our heartless automaton is not a diminutive high school girl, and our heartless automaton isn't actually heartless. J is an awesome dude, the kind of guy you'd want looking after the people you cared about. Actually the whole title is filled with a visual warmth and well meaning folks. Of course, there are some really terrible people about, but J and his human partner Daisuke usually beat the living hell out of them by the end of the episode with a few exceptions.

At the center of the story is a mob/revenge plot that you might have heard before, but the story really tries hard to stay away from cliche moments. There are a few things that you can see coming, but it really doesn't detract from the whole. And another thing you can really appreciate is the expert pacing in the storyline. The bones of the plot really start showing in eps. 8-9, earlier than in most shows. They never seem to rush through anything and every character and plot seems to get tied up nicely in the end.

I didn't always appreciate the character design, as the main characters seem to be suffering from 'Escaflownase', but most of the time it was very good. The English dub is serviceable, if not great. The best among the cast is easily J, who's deep rumble conveys a fatherly tone. I couldn't detect a victor in the english vs. japanese dub battle in this title. My one major complaint is that the episodes depend heavily on certain metaphors, which are reinforced a little too much for my liking. Clearly the creators knew that mashing up cyberpunk with a mob/noir plot was going to yield new avenues for the story, but perhaps western audiences are more schooled in these genres making the clues a bit overbearing.

And lastly I want to rail against the comparisons to Cowboy Bebop that were made in a lot of the media coverage and back-of-the-box quotes. Seriously, this is a different show altogether. Yes, Daisuke has some of Spike in his swagger, actually the police detective Ken Edmundo gets a little too, but that is really where the comparisons have to end. I understand trying to sell the show, and boy did they try, but Cowboy Bebop deserves better than to be dragged out in such a lame comparison.

If you know Ghost in the Shell, you should probably consider Heat Guy J it's maternal brother series. Shirow creates a world that is confusing and dangerous, where what we become out of our love of technology actually allows the human race to rise to the challenge of the future. In Heat Guy J, the technological beings themselves that arise from that progress are able to not only save us, but in a way display a caring for us that other people cannot. The message in both stories is that mankind can create a world that is sustainable and understandable, and that our creations will be good, because we are good. These ideas are therapeutic to a human race that lived through the horrors of potential (so far) nuclear war, and has the knowledge that science and human evil can combine to devastating effect. In a future where we are challenged in such a way again, I hope that beings like J are around to give us a hand.

My suggestion: Probably not for everyone, but I enjoyed it immensely. Buy this if you like androids and guys who have problems with their parents.