Anime: GetBackers: Dakkan`ya

This was so boring I yawned three times while typing this text.

Get Backers is the linear tale of two cardboards with superpowers who find lost or stolen items / people for money… usually scraps. And it is also about generic battles with other cardboards with superpowers while making lame jokes in between… for 49 episodes. And if you think this is enough to keep you interested, then your bar is really, really low.

The thing with shounen shows is that there are interested as long as there is something going on in the show that is worth looking forward to. In this case the core premise is revealed already from the pilot episode, and so is the extend of the main duo’s powers. There is nothing else to keep you interested. The missions are short and almost always stand alone and the superpowers don’t evolve or change or need further strategy that the first simplistic time you stare at them. One makes electricity, the other makes illusions, then they yell “sneiko baito”; that’s it, nothing beyond that.

To be honest, the anime is not 49 episodes with just two dudes looking for something / someone. It is also about their daily lives in their store and a secret organization out to get them. The thing is, both these elements don’t mean much in the long run. The sinister plan of the other superpower dudes in the show is not going further that becoming the strongest and ruling the world. And their daily lives are just boring silly events with platonic relationships and goofing around aimlessly. Nothing to keep you interested for long.

This is what made Naruto so interesting in its early stages you know. It had a huge number of characters, each with a superpower and not entirely identified by it. The world was a big place full of different organizations, different goals, different secrets and different demeanors. It was practically a huge collection of shounen stereotypes and stories, all in one, making it harder to get bored right away. It also got lame when it ceased being all that and, just like Get Backers, ended up being a bunch of cardboards with superpowers having generic battles with other cardboards with superpowers while making lame jokes in between… for 500 episodes.

Anyways, Get Backers went under a lot faster than that, as the fillers and the boring stories and the un-evolving characters made their presence quite soon. To be honest, there is a part where the story gets good and it’s when the duo storms the headquarters of the secret organization. Lots of intense fighting and machoness there, almost non-stop. The thing is, the whole deal ended up being a bunch of villains standing in a line and patiently waiting for the heroes to come pick them out one by one in their own turf, while the last boss was some sort of computer of mass destruction. Nothing really wowing here but the constant battles were worthwhile.

Yet, that was actually the ending of the first half of the series. The second half returned to the lame stand alone adventures of finding something / someone, which after such an epic struggle now felt not just boring but unbearable. Don’t you just hate it when the heroes save the world and just return back to their cranny little business like nothing much happened? One would expect for the second half to end in a similar or even more epic way but naaaah, it was tad boring and even open ended. A completely disappointing conclusion for anyone having the patience to follow the show all the way to the end and expecting a redeeming finale.

Visuals and soundtracks aren’t helping either as they are both quite low-budgeted and average, becoming forgettable right away as well. The characters all have generic looks besides generic personalities and simplistic powers, the animation and the battles are stingy on motion and vividness, the dialogues are retarded shounen “I describe anything I do in the middle of the battle”, the music score is passable pop songs and generally everything screams mediocrity… in a very generic tone.

The only things I remember after all these years I originally watched it was the overused scream of “sneiko baito” and some tower full of Naruto look-alikes. Not the best thing to say about any show that aims to be more than boring and forgettable. I do not recommend it and propose One Piece or even Fairy Tail as better alternatives. Not Naruto; it also GetBackered after the fillers kicked in.

And now for some excused scorings.
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Animation: 9
The animation is pretty flawless throughout the episodes, however, as flawless as it might be age has taken a toll on it. It might've been the best back in 2002-2003 but it's nothing breathtaking right now.

P.S. The blood is also censored.

Sound: 5
The sound is both good and bad. The voice acting is done precisely as it should have, they hit the spot. However openings and endings endings SUCK.The music just doesnt seem to cut it.Getting back to voice acting, if you decide to watch the english version, it's nothing like the japaneese one, the voice acting is, let's say, a putrid, talantless horror that came out of hell to ruin the anime.Although it's better on the episodes which actually have a connection with the plot.

Story: 4
How shall I put this... Wasted potential.... Totaly wasted. there were only 3 decent storylines , and for a filler anime such as this one, that's not enough. Just when the story is getting badass interesting, the Comedic relief flies in to ruin the fun.

Character Development: 8
I do admit characters are awesomely developed. Not too much backstory, but it's just as it should've been. It's right in place and the best aspect of the anime.

Value: 2
Where was I? Oh yes. The comedic relief - Now that thing screws up all the good moments in the anime, It could've been awesome , but instead, we get Fillers and comedic relief. Seriously, the producers were high when they thought up of the comedic relief. It's bland, it doesnt make sence, it didnt even get a giggle out of me. This anime doesnt respect itself.

Enjoyment: 3
Okay , as I said this could've been a great story with an intresting plotline but It isnt, the only good stories are the long ones.

All in all, this anime is ruined by it's own style. What should've been done is Tune down the Happy Happy Joy Joy . . . . It doesnt suit the anime well. If it was dark, then this could've been a total masterpiece, But I suspect the ages they were targeting were 5-14 so... yeah... IF you like happy stories, with a bit of drama, this is for you.

A note to all reading this. Please rate reviews that you see, and also leave a helpful comment. I will do the same for you. Thankyou!

-=ANALYSIS=-

I'm going to keep this short and simple, since I'm assuming that you haven't watched this anime.

~GetBackers~

Amano Ginji and Midou Ban are two detectives for hire, who can retreive anything that's been stolen...for a cost. In the anime, this can be anything from a sowed cat bauble, to a nuclear bomb. Despite the high charges that they employ onto their clients, they always wind up broke; being cheated out of their money in some fasion. We see later (episode 11, actually) that this anime isn't just a Detective Conan 1 episode per case anime, but that it actually has a definite story (3 in fact) behind all the "fillers".

~Recommendations~

Watch this anime! I'm telling you that it's a must! Everyone can understand this anime; it's not something that some people like, and some people don't (like The Twelve Kingdoms); it's more a combination of genres, with action to top it off. You will not be sorry by taking the time to watch this! (If you are, pm me, and I'll tell you what you're doing wrong).


-=ATRIBUTES=-

~Animation~

The quality of the animation is excellent; although not quite as good as other animes which may have been released around the 2002-2003 time period. What bumped the animation from a 7 to a 9 in my point of view, is the fact that: during fights (unlike most action animes), the character and background animation still retain their full quality. I found the animation style itself to be quite good; it wasn't downright repulsive like some other animes out there (*ahem* AIR MASTER).

~Sound~

The music in GetBackers is more of a personal thing. Some like it; some don't. I personally found that, in context with the anime, it was one of the best soundtracks written yet. The music is mostly jazz, but for more serious themes, can border on the modern 12 tone/progressional music. The sounds themselves were excellently integrated into the anime. There was never a scene where you didn't know who was speaking, or what was going on. This is made all the more awe-inspiring by the fact that GetBackers is an action animation (which is can be hard to integrate into music and sounds.)

~Story~

The story was the weakest point of GetBackers. I must say, though, that even if it may have been the weakest attribute, it certainly was astonishing given past action animes that I've watched. It deserves every point of the 7, and possibly more. Although many of the episodes could be viewed as "filler" (even though their not; this anime is meant to be filled with seperate 1-episode cases), there was a definite sub-story line which surfaces on episode 11. It deals with Ginji and Midou's past; and the greater complexity behind Infinite Castle. This, I felt, was the strongest point behind this story line: the multiple plots. You don't see this very often, but in the GetBackers, they manage to integrate 3 plots (Last Children, Gingi's Past, Infinite Castle's Creation).

~Character~

This type of anime is one where there is no "adventure", or "long journey." What you see from episode one is what you get. That's what most action animes are. Or so I thought. Despite all the seperate one episode cases, every character is developed throughout the anime. It's a small development, but evenly spread, so it isn't something you'll lose track of if you happen to skip a specific episode.

~Value~

I've never really understood this category; as I believe that it always should have fit under enjoyment. Nevertheless, I'll give it the same as the category below; read there for my analysis of it.

~Enjoyment~

Simply put: I enjoyed it. I would watch it over again. And again. And I have. This action anime is made in such a way that all the seperate 1-episode cases can be viewed over, and still not be repetative. No "new strength" is aquired by any of the characters through the anime, so it isn't a hard task to re-watch GetBackers (contrasted to this, Bleach can be ridiculously boring if you start from the beginning again).

Wow! What a thrill ride. This anime is something that puts the best elements of what defines an "action comedy". I enjoyed every single episode immensly and even the few fillers thrown in were more than hilarious. The animation is excellent especially in the fight scenes we dont see any random flashes of swords and such... we actually watch the action which is a lot of fun. Anyone who enjoys action then he wont be dissapointed because the show is so full of it that you cant get enough. The highlight of the show are the characters, each comes with his or her own background and dark secrets that make them all interesting. I havent seen such great characters since Trigun, and that is a lot to say! In fact Akabane is probably the coolest villian (if you can call him that) I've ever seen. Another aspect which was very original about this show was how the same characters would be each others friends or foes depending on the job they have they have to be so professional.

Definitely a great watch for more than once, the humour is great, lots of great action, and memorable characters. The plot could've been so much more but no one should really care if anyone wants to enjoys this show. One thing thats annoying is that it could definitely finish up some unresolved stuff especially about Ban... but even if they dont they give a lot of hints which only contributes to his mysteriousness.. oh and the same goes for Akabane!

This animation is very original and it has a nice climax.Just when you thought the 'crisis' has ended, it begins again.The narrator explain the background of the characters which helps me to understand them better.Actually,there are plenty of bishounens in this anime.The best bishounen here will be Kazuki since i thought 'he' is a girl at the beginning from the clothing and figure.The second in ranking will be Jackal.Other than that,there are plenty of cool and intimidating characters here.
The musics are nice,nothing special other than it sounds like Hacksign songs.The anime has a very addictive effect since the story goes deeper and darker towards the ending.Hopefully,they will have a second season.

I finally managed to finish watching all the episodes and I can say it was worth the time.

Animation
Generally you can say the animation is good because the whole series is drawn detailed and mainly without annoying movement repetition you will find in "low cost" animes.

Sound
To my mind this was one of the parts where they missed the spot a little. The voiceactors did well and I really enjoyed the voices of Ginji and Natsumi but the opening song seemes to be a little misplaced and here I mean all 3 of them. But this is just my opinion so everyone can work out his own one by watching the series.

Story
The Story itself is very good and the characters fit in well. But some people will say that this story has many gaps which should have been filled. I partly agree with that because not all gaps found here can be logical closed and not everyone likes it to use his/her imagination all the time. I was a bit unsatisfied by the ending which was rather abrupt leaving many questions.

Characters
I liked them a lot though I had difficutlies deciding whether Ban is really a major role or not because I kind of missed some more background infos about him. But all in all there are interesting, charismatic and funny.

Value
I would say that this anime is nothing you will remember detailed for the rest of your live but when watched once and later ask about it you won't say "I don't know".
And its really worth watching.

Enjoyment
Oh... yeah... I really enjoyed the parts when Ginji transformed into this cute little self or when he was alone with Akabane fearing for his live or when Ban and Ginji once again complete a job and end up without getting paid.
As you can see there are many parts you will definately enjoy when watching this but there are also some you won't like.

To finish this I would say just watch the first 2 or 3 episodes and then decide for yourself whether you like it or not.