Speed Grapher: Vol. 6

Introduction

Tatsumi Saiga was an acclaimed war photographer back in the Economic Bubble War. It was a war that further deepened the divide between the haves and have nots, the rich got richer, and the poor became doormats. Tokyo is the city where the rich walk over the poor with impunity, and it's Tokyo where Saiga now practices his trade, no longer able to leave the country. But he's suited to this decadent capital, a man who can only be aroused when he has his camera in hand. He works as a freelance photographer, when he isn't being the plaything of Detective Ginza, a woman who needs a gun in her hand to get sexual pleasure. You'd think that they would be perfectly suited to each other, but Saiga wants more, and his pursuit of a killer story leads him into the depraved underworld, a secret club under Roppongi. It's here where he encounters a teenaged goddess named Kagura; it's here where he obtains an amazing new power. Now when he looks through the lens of his camera and clicks the shutter, whatever he snaps explodes.

The final four perverted episodes are here on this MVM disc.

21. All Hail The Glutton
Kagura and Ryogoku are being held at the Prime Minister's residence, although Kagura doesn't care about her privileged surroundings, she just wants out. Ryogoku advises patience, especially as he's found Nishiya's notebook, and there are some promising ideas written within. The Prime Minister Kamiya wants the Goddess as his personal guest. He's about to nationalise the Roppongi Club, and before he returns Kagura to her rightful place, he's going to give her the time of her life, with a rather special meal. His plans are about to fall apart though, as Suitengu's not the easy target that Kamiya thinks he is. Meanwhile, Ginza has a lascivious Commissioner to deal with, while Saiga's vision is going, even as his makes his way back to his friends.


22. Money, Money, Money
There's not enough time for Saiga to heal, he heads straight for the PM's residence to rescue Kagura, only he gets there in time for Suitengu's coup to take place. With all of the Cabinet trapped in the Club, and the Prime Minister distracted by Kagura. Suitengu takes advantage to remove the toad-in-chief. Saiga gets there in time to see Suitengu make off with Kagura.

23. Tender Grave
With Japan effectively a leaderless state, the US takes it upon itself to intervene, and as usual that means cruise missiles. They're targeted on the Tennozu building and its environs, which means the evacuation order goes out. Except Saiga and Ginza are heading straight into the target area, determined to rescue Kagura. Ginza has her own plans though, and Saiga's been warned that if he uses his ability any more, he will go blind. As for Suitengu, he's decided that his final, ultimate, grand statement will be made with his and Kagura's deaths.


24. The Roppongi Crisis
The conclusion.

Picture

Speed Grapher gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer, and it's par for the course for anime on DVD. You have your NTSC-PAL conversion issues, although not too many of them, the image is clear and sharp throughout, and the animation is smooth and detailed. It's a Gonzo product, so expect smart looking characters, a blending of traditional 2D and 3D CGI, and plenty of bang for your buck. In fact the characters in Speed Grapher are a little more edgy than usual for Gonzo, certainly suiting the decadent nature of the story, and it seems the animators went to dominatrix school for some of the get ups.

Sound

Audio-wise, you have the option of DD 5.1 English, and DD 2.0 Japanese, along with translated subtitles and a signs only track. I sampled the English, and it's pretty much like every other Funimation dub, and yes, Monica Rial is in it. You can expect a little added profanity if you want to partake of that surround sound option, but as usual I opted for the Japanese audio, and had no complaints, apart from a couple of dubious English accents, and the clichéd effeminate guy. The biggest annoyance is the absence of the original Duran Duran theme tune.

Extras

We have the usual anime presentation, animated menus, jacket picture, but this time there are no multi-angle credits, which means you only have the English episode titles to worry about.

On the disc, you'll find the textless credits and trailers for Ah My Goddess The TV Series and Basilisk.

One final time, you will find the Character Cast Auditions, 5 minutes worth looking at Suitengu's henchpersons. There is a minute long Art Gallery slideshow, but the big extra is the third part of the Saito Documentary. This lasts 45 minutes, and it sees our young wannabe starlet complete the transformation to full on voice actress pop idol, with Internet Radio appearances, hosting her own show, and to the release of her debut CD single. It's like one of those caterpillar to butterfly transformations.

Conclusion

One more anime series comes to a close, and once more, I find that I'm reticent to share all the juicy bits from the ending. Speed Grapher does get a good ending though, which is something of a turn up for the books when it comes to Gonzo anime. Usually they end in a blaze of eye-candy glory, but with a damp narrative squib. Speed Grapher manages the eye-candy, but it also gives the story the ending that it deserves. It's also an ending that unfolds naturally and with clarity over the final four episodes, rather than being crammed into the last couple, or even left until the epilogue. Speed Grapher gets an ending where all the character arcs are satisfactorily resolved, where the narrative gets a logical and emotionally gratifying conclusion, and no loose ends are left dangling. It's also an ending that is actually exceeds the promise of the series. You don't get a lot of those in anime.


Speed Grapher is an entertaining series, edgy most certainly, even occasionally veering toward the mature in its outlook, despite playing mostly to juvenile and adolescent audiences. Though it tackled the seedy side of human nature, the greedy, the venal and the lecherous, it rarely went beneath the surface to look at why people were driven in such directions, beyond simple power and money. Of course, this wasn't its remit, and the perversities of the Roppongi Club were really gloss and titillation for the viewer. Not that there is anything wrong with that, as it certainly gave Speed Grapher a unique flavour. But I did find that the gloss did conceal a rather more mundane story than I expected. People turning into demonic super-powered monsters have been an anime trope for as far back as I can remember. Speed Grapher just gave it a sci-fi genetic engineering spin. It was still a monster of the week show for many of its episodes. Kagura as the young girl looking for freedom, and Saiga her knight in tarnished armour also seemed to follow a rather comfortable and familiar story. Kagura was the innocent Snow White, and Shinsen the evil Queen. However, the characters in this show were interesting, and most thankfully Suitengu in particular evolved into far more than just the usual moustache twirling villain. The story had more than a little thought put into it, and it all seemed to slot together like a jigsaw.


The final four episodes seemed to transcend even that, and gave a good series an excellent conclusion. Everything that we had learned about these characters, all their back stories, their hopes and dreams, their loyalties and grievances, were all put to use in creating a character-centric conclusion that not only satisfied visually and intellectually, but emotionally and viscerally as well. Speed Grapher most certainly goes out on a high note, and rare are the anime that can boast that accomplishment.


I'm definitely glad that I invested in this series. It's not the pinnacle of the medium, but it's a solid, well-written and entertaining story. The DVDs come packed with extras beyond what you would normally expect from anime discs, and are currently available from bargain buckets all over. However, if you wish to wait, you'll be able to pick up a nice shiny Speed Grapher boxset come January 2010.