GET BACKERS
Reviewed by Dan Peterson |
| Synopsis |
| Mido Ban and Amano Ginji make up the retrieval specialist team known as the Get Backers. They cruise around Tokyo in their cool white VW bug and find those things that have been lost. The show picks up with them recovering a cat for a school girl named Natsumi. She ends up working at the restaurant where the two hang out and working for Paul, the man who runs the restaurant and may or may not have a sordid past. The final member of the regular team is Hevn, a large-breasted blonde who finds customers for Ban and Ginji. Through the course of the show, numerous new characters emerge, powers are discovered, plots are uncovered, and Ginji turns into this little tiny chibi thing about a million times. All in all, darn good fun. |
| PLOT: 80% |
| The story gets better as time goes on. There are lots of filler and “antics” episodes, as can be expected in a show where the plot is not strictly linear, but they don’t detract too greatly from the main story. The plot works best when we’re taken to Mugenjou, the place where Ginji’s power is greatest due to his crazy past there. The plotlines are engaging, the fights spectacular, and the twist, on occasion, unpredictable. All the time the tongue is kept firmly planted in the cheek, which allows for a great deal more enjoyment than a show with a simple premise like this would seem to suggest. |
| CHARACTERS: 90% |
| Once again, when anime character development is good, you won’t find better character development anywhere else. Ban is unbelievably cool, Ginji is sweet, Shido is dark, Dr. Jackal is crazy, and Himiko is lovely. The characters are multi-faceted and, surprisingly, usually recurring. You never get the feeling that any of the villains are truly THAT bad, and a lot of the fun in the series comes from just letting the characters run wild in the world. One of the best shows for character development around. |
| ART: 85% |
| Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like most anime seem to have trouble with drawing people. I mean, giant mechas and robots, no problem, but people sometimes come out looking far too cutesy, or too vague, or too boring. Get Backers, however, has none of these problems. The artwork truly fits the story, and all of the characters are drawn beautifully and distinctively. Everyone seems human, and the world is drawn perfectly to fit the move. All in all, very impressive. |
| SOUNDTRACK: 80% |
| The first intro is okay, but I really love the second one. The music inside the show itself adds to the mood well, and the ending themes are sweet and fun. The best anime music ever? Probably not. But it is pretty darn good. |
| CONCLUSION: 83% Overall |
| Definitely worth your time. |
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