Customer Reviews

Kiddy Grade - The Peacekeeper (Vol. 1)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Despite its strange name and the initial fluffiness of the first few episodes, Kiddy Grade is a show worth taking a look at. While, like most Gonzo shows (e.g., Vandread, Full Metal Panic), it is nothing revolutionary, it is well-executed, with generally high quality animation and wonderful character designs. For those watching the English dub, a great performance by the actress for the heroine, Eclair, really carries the show through these first episodes.

The setting is simple enough: two young elite agents try to maintain order in a galactic federation. There is a lot of silliness in these first episodes--Eclair likes to wear disguises, and the camera seems enamored of her underwear as she's fighting; her partner is the seemingly-demure Lumiere, but she doesn't wear much in the way of clothes either. This silliness is part of the show, but there's something deeper here, and the payoff is worth some of the problems in the setup.

This first disc, and to some extent the next, are really an investment in something better. Fortunately, Eclair is really a likeable heroine, and carries Kiddy Grade through a bit of fumbling in these first episodes. If you want an immediate payoff, Kiddy Grade is not going to give it to you, but if you can enjoy a bit of fluff to start with the knowledge that it becomes much more than fluff, Kiddy Grade is worth getting into.

For this first DVD, you will just have to sit back and enjoy the battles, humor, and fan service. The plot does not pick up until the next disk. But dont dismiss this anime because of its slow start!!!! I PROMISE you that it will totally blow you away as you get into it! Just when you think there will never be a plot, it hits you in the face. AND IT IS GREAT! Eclair and her partner and their friends make this anime incredible both for its action and its artwork. I def reccomend it!

***just wanted to edit this to say that I originally thought this release was 7 disks of 4 eps or so...since then I have found this disk only has 3 eps on it. So, basically I have to correct myself and say that the plot will pick up on the 3rd disk. But dont be discouraged!! Its awesome, plus, the eps in the beginning introduce characters and situations that will become very important at the end!

I'm just in the beginning stages of watching Kiddy Grade. I've only seen up to episode 6 and I'm VERY pleased with it. It mixes a "Charlie's Angels" mentality with an outer space theme. Many people have said that they didn't really care for the show all that much until episode 8. I'm guessing 1-7 are just individual episodes and the main storyline kicks in at 8. Regardless, I'm having a blast watching it! The English voice acting really brings home the whole essence and feel of the show. It's serious but it doesn't take itself seriously. The whole show at this point is very "tongue-in-cheek" and the English voice actors pulled off the amazing task of doing a better job than their Japanese predecessors. If you don't speak or understand Japanese, you'll probably have a VERY hard time picking up on sarcasm and voice inflections in order to understand if something is humorous or not. Thank goodness the English version hits a home run with this part.

The animation is stellar. It is all done digitally by one of the world's top animation studios - Gonzo - located in Japan. There is a seamless blend of regular animated effects and CG effects. All of the music is orchestrated and sounds just spectacular. It's cinematic and pulls you right into the show. It's very James Bond-ish with a little bit of the grandeur of John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, & Jurassic Park).

All in all, it's a fantastic show and almost everyone will like it. I made my friends sit down and watch it. Even though they hate Anime like it killed their family, they were begging me to try to find the next episodes because they couldn't wait.

Episodes one through three don't seem to be related at all, however, the story and the characters are engaging. The story sounds simple enough, a group or organization called the GOTT is used to combat and eliminate all terroristic threats to world peace. The two members in which the story mainly revolves around are both Eclair and Lumiere. Eclair is a hands-on-combat-fighter, whereas Lumiere uses her technological powers to take complete control over any type of machinery. Yes, there is fan service for something that is titled "Kiddy Grade," however the artwork rivals that of Full Metal Alchemist (another great anime). The humor, the action, and the story-telling promises us a great series far into the near future. I would highly recommend giving this product a shot!

Kiddy Grade is one of my favourite series/movies/TV shows of all time.

Lumiere and Eclair are special "ES" members of the Galactic Organisation of Taxes and Tariffs (G.O.T.T), which is part of the Global Union (G.U.) - a body of planetary governments who work together. A bit like the Jedi in Star Wars, the ES members work in pairs to resolve trade crisis' that affect the galactic members of the Global Union.

In the first 6 or so episodes, Lumiere and Eclair are sent out on various missions across the galaxy to resolve trade crisis and restore order to the galaxy. However, it soon becomes clear that a certain elite human body, refered to as the Nobelis, are causing havoc for the galaxy. Things begin to happen when Eclair begins to doubt the intentions of the G.O.T.T. on one of the planets she is suppose to be working for.

After this incident, the series becomes complex and satisfyingly intense. It is one revelation after another, but not too many in which you feel that you need to give up. The role of the G.O.T.T., G.U and the truth about Lumiere and Ecalir begins to surface and the fate of the galaxy's peace is threatened.

I cannot recommend this series highly enough. It is a series that you will watch, then want to watch again, simply to catch up on everything you missed on the first viewing.

Kiddy Grade is an anime with epic amibitions and has space opera written all over it. If you like lots of action, intelligence, suspense, science fiction, intrigue, and great characters then you will definately want to check this series out.

In the science fiction world of Kiddy Grade the planets of the galaxy have joined together into the Global Union. To mediate between these disparate cultures and worlds, an organization called G.O.T.T. (Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs) is formed at the same time. While it mostly is involved in economic disputes it also has ES members who carry out covert missions of all types, not all of which would be considered legal. The two main characters of Kiddy Grade are the ES members Eclair and Lumiere. Yes, let me just warn you, this series has goofy names that even Charles Dickens wouldn't come up with.

Eclair and Lumiere are not just normal ladies. All ES memebers have special abilities, what we in America would call super-powers. Eclair has superstrength and is close to invulnerable to most weapons but in terms of morality, she's a sixteen year old. I don't think she recognizes evil as such and sees her job as a type of adventure, as evidenced when she boards a hostile ship and bashes down the door to the bridge and
says she's just delivering pizza. She can also use her tube of lipstick which can also double as a whiplike energy weapon.

Lumiere, on the other hand is the picture of elegance and looks like an elementary age girl but behind that appearance she has the power to control machines with her thoughts. She can also hack into computers with just her mind and take them over. It comes in handy when you're surrounded by an enemy fleet and she hacks into their computers and makes them destroy each other. She also has an affinity for drinking wine and champagne and then using the bottles as bombs.

While all this might seem a tad over the top, it's not. This dvd was great. In the first episode, Depth/Space, Eclair and Lumiere are instructed to escort a man named Armblast to the planet of Medeia. There he will try to settle a dispute between that world and another, Planet Faunus. Armblast seems to have a history with Eclair and she never seems to trust him. It seems that Armblast has his own private agenda and has been known to make shady deals in the past. The other problem is that certain elements on both planets would rather have war than peace and will try to stop the their peace mission from arriving.

The second episode, Tight/Bind, involves a lost shipment of Hi-G, a gravitational element that could be used to benefit humanity but could also be used to create deadly weapons. Two other women ES agents are sent along with Eclair and Lumiere, Alv and Dverger. There is no love lost between them and our main characters. In fact, if they were killed in action, it probably wouldn't bother Alv and Dverger at all. They travel to a prison satellite to question the inmates who had originally tried to smuggle the Hi-G.

Prisoner/Escort is the last episode on the dvd. Eclair and Lumiere have captured the notorious crimnal Drake Han, a man who wears a bulky mechanical apparatus for life support. Now they have to escort him to the proper authorities so he can be put on trial. They can't even put him on their normal ship because he won't fit. So instead they have to take a more public mode of transportation. They have a police escort, whose chief officer seems to especially dislike Eclair. In addition there are those who will try to free their prisoner because Drake has paid good money over the years to a sorta criminal insurance fund. If you pay into this fund, you are guaranteed to be broken out of prison if you ever get arrested.

This first volume of Kiddy Grade is mostly just an introduction to the settings and characters of the series. It had some cheapskate scenes where instead of showing the action, they just show a person's reaction. I guess they didn't want to spend the money on that. Trust me, there is plenty of explicit and visible action in later volumes. The music is great, composed mostly of orchestral movements interspersed with more pop-like group music. You get the sense that there is a lot of depth here that is just barely being hinted at in this first volume. For instance, what is the real motivation for G.O.T.T and the Global Union. You sense that there are immoral choices being made behind the scenes. Eclair and Lumiere seem to be like the Jedi Knights in the Star Wars prequels. I mean in the sense that they are trying to do their job honestly the best they can within a corrupt system. I highly recommend this series. At the time of this writing, there are 4 volumes out, with the 5th soon to be.

In addition to this series, I would also recommend the animes Last Exile, and also Full Metal Panic.

I got this dvd with some birthday money, and I am glad I chose it over some of the other titles I was looking at. This show is great! The animation could not be brighter, clearer, or prettier if it tried, the voice tracks for both Japanese and English are incredible (as a matter of fact I PREFER the English track to the original Japanese), and the characters are wonderful!

First off, the auditor (investigator) that travels with Eclair and Lumiere is totally cool! Armblast is handsome, funny, has a wicked cool suitcase, and a great sense of humor. And in the English version, he has the sexiest voice!

Eclair loves her job and shows it, almost with a childlike fervor that belies her sixteen years of age. Her 10-year-old partner however, is more adult than many of the adults in the show, and is always after Eclair to be more ladylike and serious. Eclair's special ability is her superhuman strength, called simply "Power", and she uses special tubes of lipstick that not only enhance her own natural abilities but can be used as a whip. Lumiere has the ability to integrate herself into any machine and control it. While not mean to the other teams, they certainly don't have any love lost either. They are lower in rank, so I think jealousy plays into it too.

Alv and Dverger were apparently never told that the 1980's are over, as evidenced by their choice in clothing. These two are royal pains in the butt to everyone, especially the other teams. They are higher than Eclair and Lumiere in rank, but appear either just equal to or slightly lower than Tweedledee and Tweedledum. I am unsure as to what their powers are.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum are fraternal twins with several psychic abilities, as well as the power to create and manipulate magnetic fields. They also have the coolest outfits. And they appear to be some of the highest in rank. From what I have seen of them they don't get invited to many parties.

We have yet to see any of the other teams, so I will not comment on them yet.

This series has a lot going for it, and I look forward to seeing the rest of it. So, watch this! I think almost everyone will find something they like about it!

This series is simply amazing. Although the first disc or two can be a little slow and confusing, the whole thing ties together beautifully. This series has an amazingly inventive storyline, absolutely stunning art, and seems to have the same few reviews putting it down on every single site- note the three low reviews. Cut and pasted (and many with false information) and in the exact same order on at least a dozen websites I've found.

But this story centers around Éclair and Lumière, and takes place in the far future. The two girls are C-Class ES members of the GOTT (Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs). The main undercurrent throughout the series is Éclair's lack of memories, and that really takes center stage later on.

You also get to meet many other characters- S-Class members Sinistra and Dextera (a common fan Yaoi pairing) S-Class members A-ou and Un-ou (the same, although not as common) S-Class Alv and Dverger (who saying much about would spoil the whole series) S-Class Tweedledee and Tweedledum (twin brother and sister, the brother is quite obviously in love with his sister, although she rather likes Lumière), C-Class Viola and Cesario (call it Lolita ^_~ Cesario never speaks, and they have a very strong power, but must be touching to use it.) You also meet Armbrust/Armblast, who has a very confusing position, Eclipse (Head of the GOTT), and Eclipse's Secretary Mercredi.

Confused yet? ^_^ Don't worry, you don't meet everyone right away. I'd advise buying the first few discs used, but for safety's sake getting at least 7 and 8 new, as they are by far the best discs in the series- and truly stand out among the best of anime.

When I first saw this show, and watched Eclair in action with the robots, I thought 'Oh, it's THAT kind of show.' But I was wrong. Kiddy Grade is simply awesome. The characters are very interesting,ranging from "abilities" controlled and decided by that person's heredity. The storyline is different,too. In star century 0165, the Global Union was born,and to provide impartial mediator's to the various planetary governments of the Global Union, the GOTT (Galactic Organization of Trades and Tariffs) was formed to settle economic disputes amongst the members planets. Existing in the GOTT's shadows are E.S. (Encounter of Shadow) members that serves as the GOTT's primary law enforcement organization. E.S. members are grouped into pairs, usually having different abilities. ES member's Eclair and Lumiere are on the front line, pursuing all manner of criminals and bringing them to justice. For 16-year-old Eclair and 10-year-old Lumiere, Eclair has the "Power" ability,which is used as superhuman speed and strength, while Lumiere's "Puppet" controls over any electrical device. I have not watched the whole series, but this series looks very interesting, and for the extra-lovers fans, there is an image gallery, japanese promotional video (sadly, no subtitles) and original commercials, character profiles and funimation trailers. A must-see for scifi fans.

Before I ordered this DVD I looked up information on it, read reviews,etc. The general rating was four or five stars. I found it diffrent. To start with, the episodes seemed slow moving as I watched them, but when I though back about them after, they seemed short and simple. The first three episodes didn't have so much fighting as the other episodes probably do but they are still not too bad. Included in the special features is the promo that ran on tv and it suggests that the series has some good fight scenes, and interesting things. The problem with this is that a lot of the things it showed are nothing like what I saw in the first three episodes.