NoaIzumiAnime Review: Heat Guy J
November 1st 2008 16:08
J and Daisuke
Heat Guy J (J for short) is an android in the future city of Judoh, and he and his human partner Daisuke (Dice for short) are part of the Special Crimes Unit, protecting the citizens from hi-tech criminals and the Judoh mafia. But the true enemy lies in the shadows.
Put simply, Heat Guy J is the best anime you’re not watching. I found it about a year ago, quite by accident. It was on sale ($5 per DVD), it was sci fi, I figured I could take the chance. When I got around to seeing it, I was amazed. Then I found out how few people knew about it, and I was even more amazed.
Heat Guy J is basically a sci-fi cop series. With any series of this genre, there are the inevitable comparisons to Cowboy Bebop, and I’m happy to say that Heat Guy comes out pretty well. The fight scenes are as good as in CB, and Dice is something of a Spike Spiegel-type character. Apparent happy-go-lucky attitude, tragic past, good fighting skills, and even weird looking hair. The musical element of the show is fairly strong too. There are CB influences in the plot and other characters, as well, but rather than being a knock-off, Heat Guy J is a very worthy successor.
Anime has had its share of intelligent machines, but the robot J is pretty unique. He appears as a heavily built middle-aged man, but has a strong philosophical side, and has a very strong opinion on the proper attitudes of a true man, making him almost a father figure for Daisuke. One episode reveals that he’s also a blues music fan.
DVD Cover with the Main and Supporting Characters
A good variety of other characters assist (or clash with) J and Dice in their efforts to keep the streets safe. There’s the cute administrative assistant for the unit who frequently clashes with Dice, J’s brilliant creator whom Dice has a little crush on at first, the boss of the Special Crimes unit who has his own agenda and happens to be Dice’s older brother, the older police detective who works with Dice and J on occasion, the cute little photographer girl who’s a ruthless capitalist, the ex-con who is hired to kill J but winds up as an ally (and is the series’ resident samurai character), and the young mafia don who’s trying live up to his father’s legacy and is just a little nuts. In a series with this large of a supporting cast, there’s usually not that much room for character development. One of the things that really impressed me about Heat Guy J is that that's not the case here. There are some people, such as the corrupt senator and the three girls constantly hanging around Dice, who aren’t particularly fleshed out, but it is rare for a show to put so much effort into developing so many diverse characters. The series seamlessly weaves their stories and by the climax, each one of them is fully dimensional, with a backstory, motivations, etc.
The story is set in the future, when some humans have left the planet to live in space. The residents of Judoh and the other cities call them “Heavenly Beings” and depend on them for many of their resources. There is a two-part episode that deals with them and Dice’s relationship with them (turns out his mother was a Heavenly Being who left his father to return to her people), but my one complaint about the series is that I would have liked to have learned more about them and what caused them to leave, and more history in general. The series does a great job of developing the characters and the story; I wanted more development of the world. Besides the Heavenly Beings, there are hints of how the world got to be the way it is, but hints are all you really get. But it’s a minor complaint, and doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the series.
Great moments: Kyoko (the assistant) goes commando to try and save Dice; Boma’s backstory.
Summary: Good story, wonderful characters, plenty of action. A must-see. Grade: A
First image: Heat Guy J Promotional Material
Second image: Heat Guy J DVD cover
| 51 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
