Customer Reviews

Heat Guy J - Super Android (With Series Box)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't be put off by the awkward title, "Heat Guy J." This is an enjoyable futuristic crime caper with lots of action, some good technological effects, expertly rendered digitally animated backgrounds and a flavorful urban crime thriller ambience that we don't see much in anime these days. It follows the exploits of Daisuke, a callow young cop working for the City Safety Management Agency as part of a special three-person unit whose rather vague assignment is to look for "signs" of impending crimes. Daisuke would be dead meat if it weren't for his bulky "super android" partner, J, who's constantly taking bullets and bombs to protect Daisuke. The third person in the unit is Kyoko, an attractive redhead and put-upon office manager who has to issue Daisuke a gun and ration of bullets before every job. Support is provided by the sultry Dr. Bellucci (who has more than a passing resemblance to a certain Italian actress), who tends to J after every mishap and restores him to working strength.

Being a TV series, it lacks the hard edge and gritty, bloody violence of an earlier wave of OAV sci-fi crime thrillers that included "Midnight Eye Goku," "Cyber City Oedo 808" and "A.D. Police Files." Also, the design of the young hero seems more inspired by boy band pop idols than by crime-fighting anime predecessors like Goku in "Midnight Eye Goku" and Taki in "Wicked City." The plots, at least on the basis of the first four episodes, are not as intricate or compelling as those of the series cited above and are probably this series' weak points. Daisuke's chief problem appears to be the Leonelli crime family, the stewardship of which has been newly inherited by Clair, the young, body-pierced, somewhat unhinged son of the family's previous Don or "Vampire," as the position is inexplicably called here. Perhaps the true nature of their threat to the heroes will become clearer as the series progresses.

The series is set in a sprawling metropolis (in which police cars are marked by both English and Japanese lettering) that's an amalgam of future urban centers, resembling San Francisco in some shots, and Tokyo and Hong Kong in others. There's a nice sense of the city's back alley flavor, as manifested in its immigrant cultural mix, open air markets and red light district.

I originally saw this anime at Anime Expo '03, and I really enjoyed it! I like the 'strong, silent type', and J is all that! The 'villain', snarky little punk Clair Leonelli, is really creepy, and he reminds me a lot of unhinged villans like Gary Oldham's character in "The Professional" or Jack Nicholson's Joker in "Batman".

I gave this anime four stars because the plot in the beginning is a bit hard to follow--Daisuke Aurora, J's human partner, is investigating an entity known as "The Shop", which is smuggling illegal goods and allowing illegal immigrants (not to mention an android, which except for J, are forbidden) into the city. There are mob-style hits on whoever seems to be connected with this smuggling activity, but eventually I just give up on trying to figure it out and watch the show. The visuals are really compelling (nice mix of CGI and cel-style animation) and the action is well done. Looking forward to the next disc!

It is an action anime and it follows the adventures of daisuke aurora who is a lazy cop and the mob run by the insane clair leonelli. I found that the cg was cool and so was the animation. It was amusing.

Finally there's a new police anime, I've been waiting since 8-Man, Angel Cop and Tank Police for a good series. And suffice to say, Heat Guy fits the bill very nicely, the first episode had me hooked, and the other 3 on the 1st DVD just kept getting better and better.The animation is the best I've seen thus far, and trust me I've seen a lot of anime in my time.Also, the action scenes are friggin' amazing, especially when J fights. So if you like cyborgs and police-inspired anime, look no further than Heat Guy J, it's a fantastic new series that I'm sure will keep getting better and better.Buy this ASAP.

Just the way I like my Anime!

Filled with eye-catching visuals, Heat Guy J centers around a cop and his android partner in the near future called "J". Of course J is super-strong, can jump farther than the Hulk and has more electronic scanning equipment than an FBI surveillance van; very cool. Also, J and his partner have to contend with a crazy 19 year old mob boss and his enhanced henchmen.

Some critics have compared this to the great "Cowboy Beebop" but I think that is like comparing apples and oranges. Heat Guy J is an original series well worth your time and cash.

In the futuristic city of Judoh, androids are forbidden -- all except Heat Guy J, a police android belonging to the special unit that tries to prevent crimes.

"Heat Guy J, Vol. 1: Super Android" introduces a world that is mostly like ours, but just a bit more advanced (gasoline is a thing of the past) and populated by boyish cops, deranged teenage dons, macho androids and convicted werewolves. The first four episodes skimp a little on the character development, but they're an elaborate, action-packed string of procedural mysteries.

On an ordinary day in Judoh, Daisuke Aurora observes the funeral of the Vampire (Mafia don), disrupted only by the don's son and heir, Clair Leonelli, throwing a grenade into the works. Literally.

Then it's business as usual when Daisuke and his robotic partner J investigate a gang of illegal immigrants who have an illicit robot who is gunning for J. Unfortunately, they've also left a dead body in their wake. And when the crazed Clair starts a mob war between the Leonelli and Wei families, Daisuke has to figure out how the Mafia are going to settle this -- and stop Clair's plan before part of the city goes kaboom. And what does the mob war have to do with this funny smell?

Then someone starts distributing illegal "beauty cards" with photos of gorgeous women on them, which causes Daisuke's inspector/receptionist Kyoko to become obsessed with turning up on one. Daisuke is more concerned about the possible connection between beauty cards and a series of bizarre bombings. And at a casino where Russian roulette is the main gamble, Clair recruits a mysterious, wolf-faced man to destroy Daisuke...

"Heat Guy J, Vol. 1: Super Android" doesn't waste any of its time on introductions -- it leaps straight into the action-packed stories in a slightly grimy urban sci-fi setting, and does the introductions on the fly. This leads to some painfully clunky moments ("I'm an inspector; that's my job" -- why not just paint it on her head if you're gonna be that obvious?), but I have to admit it's nice to have no long introductions to Akane Kazuki's world.

And Kazuki comes up with a fairly interesting world -- futuristic but still familiar, glossy and seedy, with a wildly multicultural population (we have Japanese, Russian, Italian, Hispanic...), and ruled by a precariously-balanced set of mobs. And each episode is a tightly-crafted mystery that takes Daisuke from Judoh's underworld to the higher echelons of the police force. Lots of explosions, elaborate gun/knife fights, and a really cool supersized motorcycle that adds to the wild action factor.

If there's a problem with this first volume, it's that the character development is rather skimpy here -- the characters are interesting, but there isn't much clue what makes them tick. Daisuke is a smart, somewhat cynical young cop with boyish looks and a rather tragic past. J has the stiffness you expect from an android, but he's got just enough human warmth to make him seem like more than that -- he's conscientious, very determined, and has iron-clad ideas about how a man should act ("You're such a cute angel," he solemnly informs Kyoko).

The supporting characters are less defined -- Kyoko is the required uptight servant-of-the-government who tries to keep Daisuke from using more than three bullets at a time, and Clair is just a mad brat in a position of power (though Johnny Yong Bosch's mad cackles are brilliant). Boma the werewolf is the best-defined side character -- a convicted felon who carves his way through the city, chillingly asking "Where's my Bunny?" You end up pitying the guy.

"Heat Guy J, Vol. 1: Super Android" suffers from underfleshed characterization, but Akane Kazuki's intricate city and solid police procedurals are worth watching. And maybe the problems will be ironed out later.

The series is like most of the android sci-fi animes in that it involves a city, a human partner who dislikes for some reason his/her robotic partner, and an underground plot by some faction or other to take over said city. Actually I would say there are two factions because in this series you have a united mafia family that is run by the main leader or called "Vampire" for some reason or other. Than you have the android main character and his/her creator/caregiver who seems to have an unhealthy attachment to said machine. For me I truly preferred the series Solty Rei to this one. The characters with the Solty Rei series seemed to have a more emotional and loving camaraderie with Solty than these characters due with the android "J". The human characters themselves for me were also unappealing as with some other series I've watched, the main thing that makes a great anime/movie/cartoon is that you empathize with the characters and want to cheer them on to fulfill what they're trying to achieve. Sadly this series didn't have any of that for me you really just don't care what happens to any of them really which after a while watching a few episodes just seems a waste of time. Now the story concept is good an itself but they could have made the story design for the characters better, also the animation while nice and clear just wasn't that great for me while some like this kind of animation making most of the main characters so skinny it was idiotic was also unappealing to me. The voice actors for the English cast and Japanese cast did an excellent job for their characters, but again if the series writers for the characters make them to apathetic to care for no amount of great voice actors will save them. So in the end if you're looking for a unique sci-fi anime this a probably a decent choice. But if you're like me and like rooting and empathizing with the characters to achieve their goals than pass this one over....

The stylishness of this box is almost as stylish as the show itself. A great series that I would recommend to any anime fan.

Heat guy j is a cross between ROBOCOP and COWBOY BEBOP with elements of T2 thrown in for good measure.J is part machine,part man and all philosipher, i love the interatction between j and daisuke, even clair leonetti AKA Vampire is likable as the main villian. (check out the epidsode where he has his accountant read poetry while guns are pointed at him lol.) each epidsoe is slightly different form the other.
and the music is the best since bebop's especially the opening intro theme FACE sung by TRYFORCE. Vampire's theme is cool also..methinks i will get the soundtrack. anyway i highly recommend this series for sci-fi action otakus. it's no ghost in the shell, but it stands on it's own. "you don't be afriad" to give this series a try.

You can get the first 3 dvds for the price of one individual, but for some reason on Amazon you can't. I'm not sure how or why they decided to distribute it this way at Walmart and Best buy, but I am very happy they did. These are the exact same dvds, in the same cases. The only difference is that they are bundled into one clear holding case.

You can find it at Wal-mart, Best Buy or sometimes Sams' Club.