The premise of a private investigator with some kind of mysterious past stumbling into some big conspiracy why trying to save a stranger from some evil thugs certainly isn't anything new, but with slick character designs and a bad-ass hot chick (Rin Asogi) as the PI the whole things comes across as more old-skool fun than tritely unoriginal. The hook is that Rin's apparently immortal, opening up the door for incredibly bloody scenes. Unfortunately, that might also be the show's downfall as it skirts a close edge with near-fetishisation of pain.
While I'm all for brutal combat and I loved the tempura-frying scene in Ichi the Killer, torture for torture's sake gets old real fast. Add in a dominating lesbian with a piercing fetish and it gets mildly uncomfortable as well. It's not particularly explicit or disturbing, but it feels like the pain is being showcased as fanservice, and that's very disconcerting.
The plot's also rather weak as well: something about clones and implanted memories that somehow ends up resulting in an army of attack zombies. This is only the first episode of an OVA, though, so it can very easily develop into something better. I'm willing to give it a chance to develop so long as it doesn't dip into Saw/Hostel pain-porn.
While I'm all for brutal combat and I loved the tempura-frying scene in Ichi the Killer, torture for torture's sake gets old real fast. Add in a dominating lesbian with a piercing fetish and it gets mildly uncomfortable as well. It's not particularly explicit or disturbing, but it feels like the pain is being showcased as fanservice, and that's very disconcerting.
The plot's also rather weak as well: something about clones and implanted memories that somehow ends up resulting in an army of attack zombies. This is only the first episode of an OVA, though, so it can very easily develop into something better. I'm willing to give it a chance to develop so long as it doesn't dip into Saw/Hostel pain-porn.
based on episode 1 : ANN : Wikipedia
1 comment:
The pain porn aspect is definitely the breaking point; the story wasn't good enough to make me ignore that. I ended up wishing they had been MORE explicit; gone full on insane like Ichi the Killer. Then it could have been a gleefully gory guilty pleasure, but as it was, it failed to shock and failed to entertain. I really wish we had a good English phrase for 中途半端, but I guess half-assed will have to do.
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