Kiddy Grade-Volume 4
(MVM PAL Region 2 DVD)
review by Blackgloves

Ahh ... the joys of what anime fans like to call "fanservice"! You might think that giving a series whose main characters are two rather scantily clad, doe-eyed young girls, the title "Kiddy Grade" might be in rather dubious taste? I mean... Kiddy Grade?! Who is this series aimed at for goodness sake? Well, if you're not used to the conventions of anime, you might well ask; both of the show's animated heroines (one of whom is meant to be sixteen, the other slightly younger) appear in the occasional (and mercifully brief) nude scene over the course of the series and the animators are certainly not averse to a panty shot or two either! Amid all the peek-a-boo slobbering over lead character Éclair's sixteen-year-old zeppelin-like animated breasts though, there is also a peculiarly frivolous, politically based science fiction series to contend with as well!

It's the future -- that means interplanetary travel, laser guns and peculiar costumes! In this particular version, it also means trade between the planets (which are now connected by worm holes) under the Global Union -- a kind of interstellar EU (except I get the impression that it's really meant to be a culturally dominant US) which negotiates solutions to the inevitable disputes between the planets concerning unfair trade restrictions via a regulatory body called the Galactic Organisation of Trade and Tariffs (GOTT for short). When talks break down or when trade rules are violated, GOTT calls in its enforcement division: an intergalactic police squad called the ES force! This is where our two heroines come in; it turns out that Éclair, a sixteen year old flame-haired teenager, and Lumiere, a younger lilac haired, large-eye youngster, are two of the ES force's best agents! They are given their orders by the mysterious and cold-hearted Eclipse and accompanied on their missions by an auditor called Armblast. One might think that two mercurial kids are rather an odd choice for intergalactic law enforcement officers but this is the future as visualised by Japan's top animation producers GONZO, so it seems entirely reasonable in the glossy pink neon universe they've created here.

"Kiddy Grade" has come in for criticism in its opening eight episodes for being rather limp and frivolous: Éclair uses special lipstick as a weapon and the girls do battle against rival crime gangs dressed in a variety of skimpy outfits. Starting with this volume though things take a decidedly darker turn. The skimpy outfits are still there, but so is a new emphasis on the political morality of Éclair and Lumiere's position. With the first of the three episodes included on this disc Éclair finds herself tortured by previously repressed memories of past lives in which she and her ES Force colleagues were involved in the deaths of many people and the destruction of a planet. It seems that they have all been reincarnated many times and Éclair's past self returns to haunt and taunt her over the crimes of her previouse lives. This episode is concerned with Éclair's efforts to accept herself and her past and is somewhat downbeat and reflective when compared to previous episodes.

The next episode sees Éclair and Lumiere sent by Eclipse to suppress a worker rebellion on a distant planet that is part of the Global Union and so must adhere to GOTT rules. It turns out that the planet has a rather strict caste system in which the worker class are ruthlessly exploited by an elite caste. Although she disapproves of this, Éclair is forbidden to take sides: GOTT are not concerned with the local customs of individual planets -- the workers' strike is simply a violation of GOTT rules and so the ES force are ordered to assist the elite caste to break up the rebellion. GOTT are naturally seen by the workers as agents of the suppression because of this. Éclair manages to peacefully disperse an anti-globalisation march by the workers but begins to feel increasingly uncomfortable with her position. When she and Lumiere are ordered to use extreme force to break up the rebellion completely, Éclair's memories of her past lives return to haunt her and she feels her past beginning to repeat itself. She disobeys a direct order from Eclipse and along with Lumiere is sacked from the ES force. Both girls are now fugitives!

This episode is where the series really hits its stride. Japan's ambivalent attitude to the West can be no better demonstrated than with this scenario: two bright Caucasian girls are the show's heroines -- and virtually worshipped by the luminous GONZO animation -- but they're also agents of the evil, dominating, capitalist colonialists! The last episode on this disc features the two girls on the run from their former colleagues and a crack team of troops sent to terminate them! By this episode we are about halfway into the series and it is finally beginning to look worthwhile now that a bit of darkness and grit has been introduced into the previously light-hearted mix. GONZO's animation is, as always, a delight and has the same vivid lustre as screwball anime such as "Love Hina". The title music features some outrageously catchy J-pop (which a "Hit Factory" era Kylie Minogue would've killed for!), while the incidental music is pompously grand: a full-sized orchestra is used to bring a ridiculously inflated sense of importance to the series which it is, only now, beginning to live up to. The end of the last episode on the disc leaves the girls in a precarious position and that unusually graphic full frontal nude scene makes its outrageous appearance -- going well beyond the usual fanservice titillation.

MVM bring this three episode volume to DVD in the series' original 4:3 aspect ratio. As usual we get the original Japanese dub with subtitles or an English dub. Both tracks are worthwhile and the English one is very listenable and very well done by Funimation. Extras consist of character bios, credit-less title and end sequences, and trailers.

"Kiddy Grade" is an oddity, but looks like it could well develop into a cult favourite if the promise of these three episodes continues to play out.