Heat Guy-J
(2003)
review by Head Cheeze

Heat Guy-J is one of the best OVA series I've ever seen. There. I gave away my review in the first sentence, but that's just to give you more time to go out and grab this one because it really is that good. Usually OVA's leave me cold, especially when compared to their feature length counterparts. For the most part, the OVA's run much too short or are just incomprehensible as they try to introduce new characters and throw them into different situations from episode to episode without ever establishing who they are. I've also noticed a tremendous (if not expected) difference in animation quality, with OVA's often opting for ultra cheap looking CGI enhancements to make the low budget cel animation look slightly better than average.

That is why Heat Guy-J comes as such a welcome surprise. From the very first scene in the episode "GUY", I was hooked in by some truly fantastic and atmospheric animation, and the depth of story, sense of humour, and overall polish of the series kept me around and wanting more.

J is an android detective for the Special Unit. Teamed up with the cocky teen agent Daisuke, J serves as both a protector and something of a literate and mannered father figure to the orphaned Dais. The two covertly work together to protect the massive city-nation known as Judoh, and their good deeds go unnoticed by virtually everyone but the Leonelli's, the mafia family that controls the Judoh underworld and is headed by the young (and psychotic) vampire Claire. The DVD from Pioneer features four episodes from the series, including:

Episode 1-Guy: The introduction of J and Daisuke, and a bit of an origin tale that shows how Claire Leonelli inherits his father's position as head of the crime family (even though the elders find him irrational and far to fragile to handle the job). This episode sets up the backstory and introduces most of the serie's major players.

Episode 2-War: The Leonelli family is challenged by another after Claire humiliates it's leader at a dinner celebrating his appointment as "head vampire". While a gang war brews on the surface, J and Daisuke uncover Claire's plan to napalm the enemy gang's district.

Episode 3-Bomb: This episode introduces J's creator, the lovely Dr. Belluci, who Dais has a bit of a crush on. While J's sent in for repairs (after the havoc in episode 2), Dais is on the track of a serial bomber.

Episode 4-Chaos: When a heartbroken werewolf named Boma begins a vigilante killing spree to avenge the death of his lost love, Bunny, he attracts the attention of Claire Leonelli. Claire offers Boma a challenge to kill J and Daisuke.

Each episode runs just shy of twenty minutes, culminating in a solid feature length bit of entertainment with feature length production values. There's not a bad thing I can say about the series save for the fact that the episodes seem brutally short and the time constraints get in the way of establishing much by way of tension or suspense. Still, the series packs a visual whallop, and the characters are fantastically realised and quite likeable. The soundtrack is also extremely cool stuff, combining elements of techno, eastern folk, and good ol' fashioned rock.

The DVD is sadly devoid of extras, but does feature several trailers for other Pioneer titles. These fill up some time, but I'd have loved to have seen some character bios or previews for upcoming J adventures (of which I hope there are many!)

Heat Guy-J is a jaw-droppingly gorgeous, fun, and instantly addictive anime classic in the making.