L/R: Licensed by Royalty is a fictional Japanese anime television series, produced by TNK. The show is set in an alternate world where the United Kingdom and Ireland do not exist with Ishtar and Ivory taking their places with the rest of the world. It centers on Cloud 7, an intelligence organization whose mandate is to protect the Ishtarian Royal Family and their property from criminals/terrorists/assassins. The two main characters of the show are Jack Hofner and Rowe Rickenbacker, who are known in the intelligence world and by criminals, terrorists and assassins as L/R. The series focuses mainly on the protection of Noelle, a 14 year old girl from Ivory as she has links to the Ishtarian monarchy.
| L/R: Licensed by Royalty | |
DVD cover of L/R: Licensed by Royalty in North America, Volume 1 | |
| エルアール ライセンスド バイ ロイアル (Eruaru Raisensudo Bai Royaru) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Spy Thriller, Action, Adventure |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Itsuro Kawasaki |
| Written by | Kazuki Matsui |
| Studio | Pioneer |
| Original network | Fuji Television AT-X (Reruns) |
| Original run | 8 January 2003 – 26 March 2003 |
| Episodes | 13 |
The title name is changed from the original Japanese title, L/R: Licensed by Royal,[1] for North America and Europe.
Characters
Cloud 7
Cloud 7 is an intelligence agency mandated by the Ishtaran Royal Family to protect them and their property, under the control of the Royal Houseguard.[2] Because of this, they are allowed to operate locally and abroad if the cases they are working on concerns the royal family without any problems. The agency is run by Holden Pennylane, known as Mister. Among the personnel of Cloud 7 consist of Jack Hofner, Rowe Rickenbaker, Claudia Pennylane and Dez. Their headquarters is located in downtown Ishtar.
Jack Hofner
- Voiced by: Hiroaki Hirata (Japanese); Freddy Douglas (English)
Jack Hofner (ジャック・ヘフナー, Jyaku Hefunaa) is one of the protagonists of L/R. Cool, relaxed and sophisticated, he is one of the agents working for Cloud 7 and one of the members of the L/R duo. A blonde-hared man, he wears a white suit with a yellow and blue dress shirt. One of the things he enjoys to do is to smoke. Near the end of the series, he and Rowe take down Taylor for being the mastermind of the death of Prince Sparda with help from mercenary sniper Gray Stratos. Prior to working with Rowe, his old partner was Claudia Eastman.[3]
His symbol is a Roadster token when he is summoned to Cloud 7 HQ.[4]
Rowe Rickenbacker
- Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (Japanese); J.B. Blanc (English)
Rowe Rickenbacker (ロウ・リッケンヴァッカー, Rowo Riikenbackaa) is the deuteragonist of the L/R duo. He is also a secret agent working for Cloud 7 and the partner of Jack Hoffman, who speaks more of his mind than Jack. He has brown hair in a ponytail and wears a red shirt and a black trenchcoat. Like Jack, he smokes when he is not on an operation. He also enjoys cracking dirty jokes at Jack and Claire. To lure out the culprits responsible for assassinating Prince Sparda and driving Princess Ciel from the royal family, Rowe was ordered to "kill" Noelle in front of a live audience.[5][6] Near the end of the series, Rowe was stabbed in the back by a disgraced Frost after the ex-DTI Information Director secretly followed him.[6] It is unknown whether Rowe had surviving the attack.
His symbol is a Top hat token when he is needed in Cloud 7 HQ.[4]
Mister
- Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese); Bill Morgan (English)
Mister (ミスター, Misuta) is the head of Cloud 7 and a retired secret agent[4] who was appointed by Camille to run the agency. His real name is Holden Pennylane. He has a daughter named Claire Pennylane, who also works with Cloud 7. It is unknown what had happened to his wife, but it's assumed he's a widower before the show started. As part of finding out who is responsible for killing Prince Sparda, Mister was pretending to be under the friendly auspices of DTI's Chairman Taylor to avenge the prince's death by getting the chairman to confess his involvement with Duke Rand.[5][6]
Claire Pennylane
- Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi (Japanese); Siobhan Flynn (English)
Claire Pennylane (クレア・ペニーレイン, Kureia Peniirein) is the daughter of Mister and is a member of Cloud 7, running dispatches to call for Jack and Rowe to Cloud 7 HQ whenever there is a debriefing. She sometimes go on the field on missions whether either Jack or Rowe need some manpower.
Media
Music
The opening sequence of the L/R, "Go where no ones gone before" by Billy Preston, was released on a CD single on February 3, 2003 under the JVC Victor label[7] with the cost of 1,155 Yen.[8] The ending sequence of L/R, "Negai no Toki" by Mikako Takahashi, was released on January 22, 2003 under the same label[9] for 1,155 Yen.[8]
Two OSTs were released on the show, consisting of VOCAL SIDE and INST SIDE. VOCAL SIDE was released on February 21, 2003 with 13 tracks under JVC Victor[10][11] for 3,045 Yen.[8] INST SIDE was released on the same date with 18 tracks under the same label[12][13] for 2,100 Yen.[8]
Drama CD
Two Drama CDs were released consisting of L SIDE and the R SIDE. The L SIDE was released on March 21, 2003 under JVC Victor[14] for 2,520 Yen.[8] The R SIDE was released on the same day[15] for 2,520 Yen.[8] The premise centers on some missions from Jack and Rowe's perspectives. Both of these CDs have the TV version of "Go where no ones gone before" while the VOCAL SIDE has the full version.
TV
L/R had originally aired on Fuji Television from January 8, 2003 to March 26, 2003 without the fourth episode, making it a 12 episode run. Another run was placed on AT-X from July 17, 2006 to October 9, 2006 with the full run of 13 episodes including the DVD-only episode "Sweet enemies in the same desert".[16][17] Production of the series was done under TNK.[18]
DVD
Reception
Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network commented that it was an "undercooked" show, but had a good dubbing while it had trouble with episode structure and plot progression.[1] He also said that the opening theme song by Billy Preston was catchy because it's "probably one of the best anime theme songs from the past five years, mostly because it doesn't sound like an anime theme song".[1]
References
- ^ a b c Zac Bertschy (2003-11-25). "ANN Licensed by Royalty DVD 1 Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ^ Director: Itsuro Kawasaki (February 19, 2003). "Ivory". L/R: Licensed by Royalty. Episode 7. Fuji Television.
- ^ Director: Itsuro Kawasaki (February 12, 2003). "Lost Recognition". L/R: Licensed by Royalty. Episode 6. Fuji Television.
- ^ a b c Director: Itsuro Kawasaki (January 15, 2003). "A Taste of Secret". L/R: Licensed by Royalty. Episode 2. Fuji Television.
- ^ a b Director: Itsuro Kawasaki (March 26, 2003). "A Day in the Life". L/R: Licensed by Royalty. Episode 12. Fuji Television.
- ^ a b c Director: Itsuro Kawasaki (March 26, 2003). "Two of Us". L/R: Licensed by Royalty. Episode 13. Fuji Television.
- ^ "Go Where No Ones Gone Before (Single, Import)". Amazon USA. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ^ a b c d e f "MISSION CD" (in Japanese). Geneon. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ^ "L/R - 願いのとき (Single, Maxi)" (in Japanese). Amazon Japan. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ^ "L/R オリジナルサウンドトラック VOCAL SIDE" (in Japanese). Amazon Japan. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ^ "Ｌ／Ｒ オリジナルサウンドトラック ＶＯＣＡＬ ＳＩＤＥ" (in Japanese). Fuji Television. Retrieved 2011-06-04.
- ^ "L/R サウンドトラック INST SIDE" (in Japanese). Amazon Japan. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ^ "Ｌ／Ｒ オリジナルサウンドトラック ＩＮＳＴ ＳＩＤＥ" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-06-04.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|publisehr=ignored (help) - ^ "L/R CDドラマ L SIDE-Down by Row" (in Japanese). Amazon Japan. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ^ "L/R CDドラマ R SIDE-Jack in the Box" (in Japanese). Amazon Japan. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ^ "L/R Licensed by Royal" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ^ "cloud002" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ^ "Official L/R page" (in Japanese). TNK. Retrieved 2011-06-04.