To all underage girls out there, if you see someone staring at you like this, run to the nearest police station immediately. The main male protagonist may be looking at you!
Speed Grapher is the second straight Gonzo anime being reviewed here after Blassreiter, and boy the former is so much better than the latter. Has Gonzo regressed between the space of 3 years between the productions of these two anime titles? Speed Grapher is a 2005 anime, so there will be no change of guard for the title holders for now.
THIS IS WHAT HE WILL DO TO YOU IF YOU DID NOT HEED MY ADVICE!!!
Story:-
Our main male protagonist Tatsumi ‘Middle-aged Bastard Lolicon’ Saiga who works as a cameraman, infiltrates a rumored secret club that was attended by who’s who in Japan. There, during a ceremony, he meets with Tennouzu ‘Easily Exploitable Underage Girl’ Kagura, who gives him a mysterious power of blowing things up with his camera. Unmasked during the ceremony, Saiga and Kagura has to do a Will Smith (Enemy of the State) and runs across Japan as the Prime Minister himself wants them dead.
If you like fast-paced action-packed story, you will get it here. The story is so much better than the one in Blassreiter, it flows thick and fast, Euphoria battles comes and goes, plot twists appears here and then, all the way to the end. The ending is admittedly predictable, but it is still a decent one. There are a couple of flashback/recap episodes too, but they are much better executed than the ones in Blassreiter. Plus, many of the necessary flashbacks are slipped into normal episodes too, which helped spread the wealth instead of cramming them into specific episodes.
Character developments are done very well too, with the main male protagonist and the main antagonist being the best of the bunch. My only complaint is the minimal developments for the main female protagonist though. Plus there are some holes in the story character-wise, for example, where is the Euphoria priest gone after Saiga snatched Kagura from the wedding ceremony. He didn’t die, but he didn’t appear after that incident either.
The unique method that this anime used for the recap episode.
Character Design:-
Character design in this anime is excellent, with main antagonist, Shinsen Tennouzu and Hibari Ginza being outstanding. For all the attention that the main female protagonist has within the context of the storyline, her design is surprisingly ordinary. Her mother Shinsen Tennouzu is an ex-model and this fact shows in her character design, but you cannot say the same thing for the main female protagonist who is supposed to be a Goddess for a super-secret exclusive club. This is the only flaw on an otherwise excellent overall character design, but still a positive point of this anime.
One the the best-designed Euphoria monster.
Voice Acting:-
The voice acting in this anime are done well too, with the main male protagonist, main antagonist, Shinsen Tennouzu and Hibari Ginza doing well over the others. This is also a positive point of the anime.
A scene very common in a tentacle-rape hentai video.
Music:-
This anime has done much better in this section compared to Blassreiter, although not perfectly. The OST is excellent, but from the themes, only the 1st ED theme is worth listening to.
A picture that you will see frequently in this anime.
Animation/Direction:-
The animation in this anime is decent, but sometimes suffers from stuttering (I wonder if those are intentional) and get worse sometimes in fast-paced scenes. Choreography is average though despite plenty of action and Euphoria vs. Euphoria duels. The directing is done very well, managing to keep the anime good from start to the end.
In the anime, usually it was the hero's right eye that will be bulging like above, not the left as shown above. An oversight by the director?
Conclusion:-
9 out of 10. This is a very well-done shounen anime with plenty of action. My anime marathon continues with another title that you will not expect me of watching!
There are many perverts in this anime, inclusive of the main male protagonist. Here is another one of them, in a scene that will not be alien in hentai videos.
