Product Details

• Directors: Yasuomi Umetsu
• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English, Japanese
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Adv Films
• DVD Release Date: October 19, 2004
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002S649G
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #147,470 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The 13-episode series Mezzo (2004) is the creation of Yasuomi Umetsu, the auteur of the notorious OVA Kite. Teenage Mikura, spiky-haired blond Hamada, and lumpish, middle-aged Kurokawa make up the Dangerous Service Agency (DSA), headquartered in an old double-decker bus in Tokyo. Questionable people come to the DSA for extra-legal jobs: tracking down a suspect in an old murder, delivering contraband, tracing aliens, and finding cyborgs. The paper-thin characters and improbable plots are just vehicles for the considerable violence. Mikura kicks the ramen out of anyone who crosses her path--or shoots them with an impressive array of artillery; Hamada and Kurokawa do little more than provide transportation and back-up. Mezzo is so superficial and hokey that the violence has little impact. (Rated 15 and older but more appropriate for 17 and older: often graphic violence, violence against women, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations) --Charles Solomon

Product Description

Her name is Mikura, and she's all about service with a smile. So what if that service is cracking skulls and the smile happens to be on the other end of a loaded gun? Get ready for this chic with a killer body and vicious skills to wreak havoc and mayhem all in the name of the Danger Service Agency!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cute girl with guns, January 19, 2005

By	Zack Davisson "All Good Things" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Mezzo" is the latest entry in a rapidly growing genre, that of the cute and cutesy schoolgirl-types wielding an amazing arsenal of guns as well as some super-human action abilities. In this case, the cute young lady is Shaolin expert and Bruce Lee fan Suzuki Mikura, resplendent in her skin-tight orange jumpsuit and Colt GM.

Coming from the film "Mezzo Forte," creator Yasuomi Umetsu brings back the DSA (Danger Service Agency), an action-force for hire, supplying their services to anyone willing to pay, consisting of punk-haired techno-geek Harada Tomohisa, ageing ex-cop and leader Kurokawa Kenichi, and the aforementioned "girl with gun" Suzuki Mikura. A possible long-term new member of the cast is found in Elementary school student Asami, a shy girl who is being bullied by her classmates, but winds up in the middle of some DSA action.

"Mezzo" is long on action, and short on plot. This is clearly an action series, with dynamic fighting scenes, slow motion and reality-defying leaps and bullet dodging. Mikura has no problem throwing the hapless Asami out of the window of a five story building, sliding down the elevator shaft and then catching Asami back outside. All in a days work! This first series shows the team being hired by vengeance-seeking ghost and a sexy weather girl in basic one-shot adventures, but these are really just McGuffin cases, like transporting a stereotypical suitcase full of "something everyone wants" that serve little purpose other than to get the team in action.

The TV series "Mezzo" is much more toned down than the film "Mezzo Forte." There is no sex or nudity, very little fan service, and the violence is relatively non-graphic. Yasuomi Umetsu must have found these elements distracting and unnecessary. It is a bit of a surprise to see such a "clean" series after "Kite" and "Mezzo Forte."

Good for fans of stunning action, great character design and familiar simple plots. I liked it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you liked Kite, you will probably like Mezzo.., January 13, 2005

By	H. A Huffman "haumf" (Mt. Prospect, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Mezzo is the TV version of the OVA - "Mezzo Forte". Its not as bloody as Mezzo Forte, telling the story of the 3-person private security team called the Dangerous Service Agency, but I found myself laughing at the funny parts and the animation is well above average.

3.0 out of 5 stars Kind of toned down..and then some..., June 26, 2005

By	Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Mikura and her partners run DSA - which stands for Danger Service Agency - who do almost anything dangerous for the right amount of cash. While there is a lot of action, and fan service, the artwork seems a tad choppy or too still, like there was a low cell count during much of the episodes. Also, some of the plot lines, like the one about aliens, were lame. The last two out of the five episodes DID seem to have a better, strong, story - maybe because they used two episodes to tell the story from different points of view? The two-episode story also used Mezzo's background, from the OVA, and seemed a tad touching at times.
Extras, like the opening/closing animation, ADV previews and production sketches were nice, but even after the first five action-packed episodes the whole series already feels weak and the disc did not seem worth the money I dished out.
Get it used and only if you're already a big fan of Mezzo Forte/Kite anime. Suggested for 15 and up.