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ファイト／ステイナイト 
Tokyo in a dark future with a film-noirish setup? Struggles between powerful corporations? Conspiracies and crime? Grown-up main character? Sign me up!
That was my first reaction. The background somehow reminded me of one of my favorite series: Bubblegum Crisis and all its spinoffs. However, it didn't take long to realize that Speed Grapher is very different to BGC. Darker, much more serious, much more violent and extreme in what it depicts. One of the first scenes was so disturbing to watch that I wondered if I'd drop the series very early. I still reserve the right to do so, but I hope that the show will deliver on its promise of a good plot without exceeding my personal threshold for cruelty. It certainly has potential.
Episode Rating: +?
The first shock hit me before the anime even started. We see some spoiler frames from throughout the episode to Duran Duran's "Girls on Film". Double-u tee eff? Did some RAW provider have a little joke? No, it's even listed in the credits. Duh! Still, I hope that this doesn't become a habit. I really dislike having the episode (at least partially) spoiled in advance.
Anyway, the story begins in the past, where we see a young Saiga as a war photograph in a jungle war. Just after changing a film in his camera he runs into a very nervous partisan fighter who threatens to kill him. While helplessly watching him through the camera, the partisan is shot by government forces, and Saiga is frantically taking pictures of the man's death, and he can't stop even long after he has fallen. Passing him by, a soldier calls Saiga a pervert, since he obviously had an erection at this scene. This will become an issue later in the anime aswell.
"At that time, I captured the fate of mankind with my camera" Saiga ominously remarks in the now-present. Ten years ago some economic "bubble" wars broke out and resulted in a materialistic postmodern capitalist society controlled by big business. In Tokyo, Saiga is taking pictures of the prime minister and several diet members leaving the parliament. It seems that new pharmaceutical legislation is causing major political uproar, and several politicians opposing the new law have been murdered.
It becomes clear early on that the anime is willing to sacrifice alot of realism for "coolness factor" when Saiga is able to grab a politician at his necktie two meters away from the prime minister, and no security personnel is there to kick the living tar out of him. Alright, this is an anime, but still - I hope they don't overdo it. Saiga voices his disgust about having to take pictures of them before he is arrested.
Elsewhere, a young artist Shirogane is having his dance performance to Ravel's "Bolero". He is visibly agitated by the constraints the piece is forcing on him and his dance, and he is extremely irritated when he finds a woman and a young child in his dressing room. The woman reminds him that he had promised to examine the girl as a potential student-disciple of his, and she begins dancing. Very quickly however, Shirogane freaks out, grabs the girl's arm twisting it in a painful manner and accusing her of being way too stiff. The woman tries to help, but Shirogane actually breaks the girl's arm. Screaming for help, the woman flees with the injured and fainted child.
After this scene I wondered if this anime would become a short issue for me. Okay, they obviously want to picture Shirogane as a mental, but this was an extremely disturbing way to do it. I could really live without that.
Immediately afterwards, he receives a phone call by someone named Suitengu, who will turn out to be an important figure for a major Zaibatsu, the Tennouzo group. As we will soon learn, he asks Shirogane to murder two more people for him, which Shirogane gladly accepts to do...
Saiga leaves the custody of the police after Ginza, a female detective who obviously is very interested in Saiga's worldly goods below the beltline, paid for his release. Talking with her, Saiga is decidedly cold towards her, remarking that he didn't ask for her help. Ginza informs him that a politician called Nakano has requested more security agents for his protection, and Saiga gets the drift, heading off to do his job.
Ginza is currently threatening a Yakuza, whose hideout she seems to have beaten up. She blackmails him to extort some "extra money" from him in exchange for "overlooking" a suitcase of drugs she has happened to find. More than that, it's obvious that she is taking monthly payments from him - the police is protecting the criminals. Times sure have changed. Or have they? One of the Yakuza's thugs is trying to attack Ginza with a knife, and she immediately shoots his hand off and threatens the boss to be "self-defensed" aswell. You get the drift...
On the top of a skyscraper, Shirogane is clad in a black full body suit. To the soft tones of Beethoven's Moonshine sonata, he is stretching to the degree of the physically impossible, while he narcistically exults in his own glory. Contrary to his professional performance and to the "stiffness" of the girl he maltreated, he plays "Mr. Fantastic" and flings himself through the air, into the hotel room where the diet member Nakano meets the director of the pharmaceutical manufacturers association of Japan. Like a living piece of rubber he bounces around in the hotel suite, demonstrates his immunity to pistol shots and murders everyone around.
I was kinda relieved here, regardless of all gore. After watching the preview I was kinda expecting that this black-clad rubber freak would turn out to be the male lead - but thankfully he is no such murderous psycho. That should give the series a more lasting appeal for me, since it's making some form of identification possible. Not sure if I could have done it otherwise. Oh, and it should be noted: The most drastic gore was blackfogged. It looks like TV Asahi will censor the most drastic excesses.
Saiga arrives at the scene (little logical hole: How did he know where this "secret meeting" should have taken place? Ginza didn't tell him) and shoots lots of pictures of the carnage. Ginza arrives at the scene and corners him in the men's bathroom. Reaching out to Saiga's hard-on and licking his chest, she remarks that he still gets "excited" when shooting pictures. It's obvious that she wants Saiga as her lover when she offers to take care of him financially so that he doesn't have to work, but he refuses. So Ginza confiscates his camera and points a gun at him. She reminds him that Saiga can't get a passport and is at her mercy - and if he should try to run away, she would kill him. If he wants his camera back, he should come to her bedroom tonight.
Returning home, Saiga runs into Bob, a gay hooker who has been thrown out by his former boyfriend. He laments his misfortune and tries to get Saiga to take him in, but Saiga refuses. Walking into his darkroom, Saiga passes by a dried plant, from Bob with love. Seems that everybody wants our little reporter. Saiga pulls out the film he has hidden in his pocket and starts to develop the photos.
Meeting with what seems to be his editor (I assume that Saiga is working for a newspaper), they discuss the case. We learn that 5 people opposing the new pharmaceutical law have been murdered recently, and Saiga believes that big shots are pulling the strings in the background. The editor makes the link to a rumored secret club which is open only to select few of the wealthiest and most powerful, which satisfies every desire for money. He remarks that the rumored leader of this society is Suitengu (the guy who ordered the murder of the two latest victims when calling up Shirogane-sensei earlier), who happens to be the right-hand man of Shinsen Tennozou, the leader of the Tennouzo group zaibatsu. Saiga recognizes the badge from the picture of Suitengu, it was the same that a politician from the earlier photo shoot was wearing. The connection is made.
Following this lead, Saiga decides to trail the politician wearing the other badge of the same kind. From a bar in front of the Diet member's hotel room he is watching him, and ultimately following him to an underground garage. From a distance he sees how the badge is used as some kind of ID, and when he sees the car disappear through the checkpoint, he wonders what to do.
Now, things get a bit painful. OF COURSE, in order to follow him, all Saiga has to do is to take the underground route through the trapdor in the bar. Ugh. This one was REALLY stupid, and it hurt. But alright, let's live with it for the time being. Finding the politician in the garage still sitting in his car (what was he doing there? Waiting for christmas?), Saiga knocks him unconscious, steals his mask and cape and sets off in his stead.
Indeed, an underground subway train arrives. Saiga even has his own luxurious cabin there with everything including iced champagne, while he prepares his camera for whatever he may encounter. Arriving at the destination, he leaves with the other guests and stands in line to be checked by what looks like the human equivalent of ogres - huge muscle-laden dorks with naked chests and swords. Goodness ^_^
The ogres check the badge of the masked guests, and Saiga manages to pass through undetected. Looking around, he is awed by the vastness of the underground complex. The other guests are obviously all politicians, celebrities and corporation officials - a very exclusive group he has successfully infiltrated. Soon, he manages to spot and identify Suitengu from a balcony. Following him, he reaches a place where a strange ceremony is being prepared. Two ogres lead a disgusting fat freak to a platform, and Suitengu as master of ceremonies begins a ritual calling down the "goddess" to either bless the volunteer or to condemn him to a cruel death. And from the glowing dome above them, a goddess descends...
A beautiful young girl clad in skimpy white gear slowly descends down. Saiga watches in awe and whispers "In a place like this... found her! My photo subject!" and shoots a picture of her with his camera, with a loud "click". Alright. Now this is the first time in the anime where I couldn't blame him for getting a hard-on taking pictures. But seriously, this was a Darwin-award class idiocy. Fortunately, so think the others, and Suitengu orders the ogre to nab Saiga and drag him before the goddess for violating the sanctity of her place.
It doesn't seem that Saiga really knows the girl. So I assume that contrary to the other subjects of his photos, which he complained about quite a bit before, this is the one he really cares about and that he WANTS to take pictures of.
The goddess surprises everyone by stepping close to him while the crowd around her chants "Kill!", but instead she kneels down to give Saiga a french kiss with alot of tongue - and some surprising tears running down her cheek. The reactions are manyfold: The volunteer freaks out to have his ceremony ruined. Saiga's eyes turn blood-red and something seems to be happening to his body, we see his facial skin change while he is writhing in pain. Suitengu watches all this with the ominous self-comment "Why, Kagura... there's no way that he should have the Euphoria Factor". You want to know what the Euphoria Factor is? Me too. But we can take home that the goddess is named Kagura and that her saliva seems to have some chemical properties which are fairly peculiar.
Also, Kagura's tears are worth noting. Either it's part of the ceremony (which I don't believe), or it's an indicator that she doesn't like what she has to do (that's where I put my money). I guess the next episode will tell.
Suitengu has seen enough and orders the execution of Saiga. And the final scene shows the ogres drawing their scimitars and raising them above their heads, ready to strike...
Conclusion
Since this is the first 16:9 aspect video series I cover, I want to remind everyone that for my entries you can click on any thumbnail to get the full frame. Since many pics are slightly difficult to make out, you may want to use this feature.
If we skip the logical glitches and the unpleasant cruelty (breaking the girl's arm really freaked me out), what remains was quite a solid start. I want to know what's going on here right after the first episode, and that's a good sign. I also like the gloomy-dark atmosphere of the plot. There's certainly potential in this show.
One more thing I liked till the end was that the main character was just a normal guy till the end. Shrewd and fit, but no superhero. Somehow that was a nice change of pace. However, I suspect that the scene in the end will awaken something "special" inside of him which will set him apart from the normal humans. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted.
The ED and preview seems to indicate that Saiga will take Kagura under his wings somehow (don't ask me how he's gonna survive his current predicament though), and that the storyline from there on might become a bit like "Leon, the professional". I wouldn't mind that at all, to be honest.
All things considered, a good start. Let's hope that the show keeps it up without soiling itself too much in freakish gore and fetish overload.
Nice review which I agree to on all accounts. I really could have done without the bit with the little girl. I think there would have been various other ways to show his mental instability without this type of shock effect. If future episodes continue to rely on this style of thrill creation, I'll need to rethink whether I want to continue the series or not. I also shook my head in disbelief when I saw the protagonist crawling into the "convenient trapdoor into the secret hideout (tm)". Adding in that he seemed to know exactly which turns to take to reach the hideout plus being there fast enough to overtake the politician, my suspension of disbelieve needed to be stretched a bit beyond it's limits (unless there's an in-story explanation for this, that I have missed, like Saiga having memorized the complete underground air vents of the city for some reason or another). Other than that it seems rather interesting so far and I'll follow it for the time being. At least until we actually know what's going on and we finally learn what type of story Speed Grapher wants to be.
Excellent review -- the 'Lina Inverse' caption had me cracking up to no end :)
The point raised about gore is an extremely pertinent one, especially given the context of this series -- I really hope that gore doesn't end up to be an end in itself, instead of a means to convey the plot -- I'm sure that we've all seen titles whchstart out with a passable plot, but devolve into sensationalist rubbish.
I'll definately be watching this, since I'm a total sucker for the cyber-punk post-cataclysm Gonzo motif -- I'm glad you're watching this as well ^_^
I disagree about the scene with the little girl. Having watched the promotion, I thought that the scene was a good foreshadow that Shirogane was the rubber-arms guy.
I've watched the episode twice now, and the moments that keep grabbing my attention are the little animated details, such as Saiga changing the film in a manual SLR. The motion sequence is exactly right...not skipping anything for speed.
But the "convenient" underground ventilation shaft thing bothered me, too. Especially when the bartender warned him about falling down a hole, when there was a trapdoor --- which we learned later led to a storage basement where the real "hole" was covered with a tarp. Maybe that was a sub problem? That and then when Saiga enters the "club" and loses his way in the maze made me doubletake. Why would he lose his way in a maze of hallways when he came in with the crowd?
Did anyone else get the "Eyes Wide Shut" (Stanley Kubrick movie) references?
God this anime is freakin weird and kinda creepy, but I'm drawn to it in a way. It's not really my style of anime, but I'm going to give it a chance. That guy in the beginning is a damned psycho, tryna break..actually he broke that girl's arm. I'm suprised he didnt pull it completly off, gift wrap it, and have it delivered to her house o_O or maybe I'm the one with the disturbed mind to think that up, lol..okay ill go now hehe ^_^U
There should be a few notes about the camera angles. It seems the director specifically wanted shots that showed potential entrances and exits. In the little train bar before Saiga exits, there's a quick shot of the panel on the floor and that kind of gives some of it away. Then when Saiga is in the underground area, there was a shot of a air duct (actually, through an air duct of something of the sort) on the ceiling with ladder rungs on one side. So, I'm assuming that's where he'll get out.
On the other side, I think the girl that kissed Saiga has the ability to read memories. Maybe psychometry, which could explain the tears as Saiga has seemingly gone through quite alot of scary and near death situations.
This might be a spoiler, so don't read...
*possible spoiler*
According to the main site, there is a group of people called Euphoria who have superhuman like qualities. They are part of the Tennouzu group and manage to do all their weird stuff. Their powers are actually a manifestation of their fetish. (Roppongi Club is all about fetishes.) Their powers get realized (they must be having the potential first I think) when they get kissed by Tennouzu Kagura (that is the name of the girl. She is 15, and the only taughter of Tennouzu Shinsen. Note the first kanji of both their given names is the same - "god")
One existing member of Euphoria who we know of is Shirogane. His fetish is rubber because it's so elastic. So he gets to wear a special suit and everything that lets him do those things.
What will happen to Saiga is that as the promos and synopses have said, Kagura begs him to take him with her, and he does, but since Kagura has "blessed" Saiga his fetish has materialized - and now, just like those old wives' tales about cameras back when they were just invented, Saiga has the ability to suck souls out of people with his camera...
I do want to see more of Saiga's character and see Kagura grow, but do note Saiga's only 5 years younger than Kagura's mom....
end of spoiler
Ya.
And also, actually, I haven't watched Shinsen-subs' sub because frankly I don't have much faith in their level of subbing, but didn't Ginza actually indirectly tip Saiga off as to the meeting in the building?
She told him specially so that he can go and take photos of those dead people first, before the police comes in. She is part of the police so that's why later she comes in and tells him to buzz off and then does sexy things in the toilet.
I really don't know how one can get... sexually aroused by photographing dead people, but if that works for him then whatever...
I'm eagerly waiting for A-E's release of this. And a sub of Emma. x_x
I hated the spoilers at the beginning of the anime. It ruins the mood for the entire series when it's in the beginning. It really ticked me off that they did that for the first episode. Let's hope it only happens to this episode.
The scene where he broke the girl's arm made me go WTF?! I seriously did not think he was going to break her arm. But wow on his character. I do love how they animated him all wobbly in the fight.
A person can get off from taking photos? Now I can understand if he was excited because of his profession but to get an erection is... bizarre. o_o But I did like the fact that Bob is all dramatic and all to Saiga. And yes everyone wants a piece of Saiga. May I have my helping now? xD
I did not like the scene where the girl was obviously masturbating, my brain died at that scene. Just the entire sexual fetish stuff in the anime was a big turn off for me. I would like it if they toned it down a little for the next couple episodes because I do find the story interesting. I just don't want to see that kind of stuff in the anime.
thanks for reviewing this series!! your detailed summary of the episode n screenshots were really helpful. i watched the first ep n i thought it was great. the violence doesn't bug me much though - wonder why...
Well written review. It's true about some plot holes in even the first episode, but it was interesting enough for me to ignore them.
Saiga somehow knew that the hole under the bar would lead him to the underground halls.. he worked this out from the direction the car went down to the guarded entrance. He must have pretty good spatial awareness to have got that one ;P
And I thought the whole rubber thing tied together nicely. Shirogane's criticism of the young girl, the way he went about the assassination job, it was all along the same rubber fetish idea.. none of the violence really got to me either.
The series surprised me as well, it was completely different from what I had expected. It's kind of gross that the guy has an erection when he takes pictures of death, but I dunno, can't justify it not being odd. Oh well, I look forwad to more of this series.
Great review!!* One thing that really bothered me in this episode was when Saiga was at the ceremony and he took out his camera and decided to take pictures?? Hello?? Can I say stupid??? I guess I can rationalize his action by saying he has uncontrollable 'urges' to take photographs? whatever. :P
This animes okay but when that crazy dancer guy did to the little girl that was f#$%k uped. Well evangelion has gore in it and people still like it.
Hopefully the dancer guy will get whats coming for him.
Well it gets a 4.5 out of 5 from me because of some the messed up stuff in it.
If your of the weak of heart don't watch if you can't handle the messed up scenes.
This is anime is kinda messed up but I mean a lot of stuff in other animes that are good have a lot of errors too.
In reliaty are society is more warped and messed people are killing and little rapeing kids , not to mention a whole lot of other messed up stuff I don't want to mention.
Anyways I want to want to watch it depsite the violence and gore to see where it's going.
I watched the Shinshen sub and a-e episode.
Frankly the difference between fansubbing wasn't wasn't any diffent, basicly they both explain the what's going on in the first episode. Episode 2 and raw episode 3 are out.
Shik not to be a pain in the ass but no one wants to see messed up stuff.
But its true are society is pretty much corrupted the poor get poor and the richer get richer but that depends on how a person wants to live their life.
The only thing I can say about this anime is, well, As*-kicking!!! This is some real good anime if you want something modern. Just read the review, pretty well made! Well that's what I had to say. Immediate downloa hum, buying if you want my opinion... Go and get it, you'll love it !
Does any one know the song which comes from the music box?
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