L/R
Licensed by Royalty
(2003)
review by Big McLargehuge

L/R) Licenced by Royalty borrows from lots and lots of good source material then squanders it on silly (transparent) plots and annoying character quirks. L/R follows the adventures of Jack Hofner and Rowe Rickenbacker, two agents in service to the royal family of Ishtar (think British Royal Family without so much inbreeding and you get the idea). Both Jack and Rowe resemble the main character in the Master Keaton series, only they are nowhere near as interesting.

Sort of like Lupin the third, L/R’s Jack and Rowe are universally one dimensional. Jack is unflappable, Rowe is unpredictable (like we’ve NEVER seen that before). What separates them from their equivalents in the Lupin series is fun. Lupin never, and I mean NEVER, takes itself seriously while L/R does.

Hindering my ability to warm up to the show in only four scant episodes is the fact that the first one uses a mystery plot so amazingly simplistic my cat had it figured out by the first “eye candy”, and villan in the second episode was an idiot. Worse, it sets up a fight sequence between Rowe and the knife-wielding villan and never delivers.

I hate that.

L/R follows an episodic format, so you can pretty much watch in any order and you won’t get lost in plot. There is little to nothing that carries over from one episode to the next.

The DVD presents four episodes, the first where the agents retreive a stolen artifact and arrest the thief, the second where they uncover a mole in their organization, the third where we learn about the royal family’s missing daughter, and the fourth where they participate in an interagency contest.

Taking style cues from Cowboy Bebop helps elevate the show above the usual action/adventure anime, but it doesn’t help much. And what is it with Japanese animated characters that smoke? Cowboy Bebop used smoking sparingly, and usually to good effect, like illustrating Faye Valentine’s guilty concscience, or Spike Spiegel dealing with the stress of his past. L/R apes Bebop’s smoking without thought to the emotions that Bebop aimed for, so it’s just silly and weirdly out of place. For all intents and purposes Jack and Rowe could have been portrayed as compulsive nose pickers and it wouldn’t have impacted the show. Since the DVD is labeled as 16 and up I’m probably complaining for nothing, but it bugged me enough to write about it.

The animation varies between very good and fluid to friggin awful, and I mean Speed Racer awful, but more often then not TNK does an acceptable job. The character design borrows from Bebop too with realism ruling the day and very little chibi to break the somber mood of the four episodes here. Masaharo Sato of “Mahromatic” fame handles the character design. I like his work and tend to enjoy the realistic approach so L/R wins some points there.

The soundtrack contains several original compositions steeped in American blues (think Chabo Riechi’s excellent Lain score) and some more traditional rock and roll type j-pop numbers. One track of special mention is “Always”, a total plaigarism of The Beatles “Because” from the Abbey Road album. The producers better hope Paul McCartney never hears it because he’s liable to attack them with his wife’s wooden leg.

Pioneer’s L/R: Mission one “Deceptions” DVD contains both Japanese and English language tracks (in 5.1 surround), anamorphic widescreen, creditless or credited intros, and some previews for other Pioneer titles.

L/R is a pleasant enough diversion, but for real fun and drama search out the source material.