Posted by OP Sequence
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「来た、見た、買った」 (Kita, mita, katta)
“I Came, I Saw, I Bought”
To be honest I’m still not quite sure what to make of Fugou Keiji Balance: Unlimited. I don’t even know whether I liked it, but I would definitely say it sticks with you. Nothing about that premiere was conventional for anime, which alone is a feather in its cap. And I suppose its fitting since detective novels from the 70’s aren’t exactly the most common source material for anime adaptation. The was a lot of talent and distinctiveness on display here, though I don’t know yet what it all added up to.
Tsutsui Yasutaka isn’t a name new to anime by any means, it must be said. In addition to the 1978 novel this show is based on two of his other works have been adapted into classic films – Paprika and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Tsutsui-sensei, 85, also had a cameo in the premiere). Neither having read the novel or seen the gender-swapped live-action drama it inspired, I have no idea how much this version is faithful to the source material, but it’s clearly been updated – if nothing else the premiere didn’t come off as anachronistic or dated.
In addition to Tsutsui the other names attached to this project caught my interest – director Ito Tomohiko and writer Kishimoto Taku both have an excellent track record. And the casting for the titular billionaire detective Kanbe Daisuke was also interesting – Oonuki Yuusuke is apparently better known as a dancer than actor, and has never appeared in anime before to my knowledge. It’s funny how you can almost always tell immediately when that’s the case – it makes you realize the extent to which seiyuu are delivering standardized performances designed to meet a specific set of expectations.
For a while, Fugou Keiji was looking like a pretty traditional cop story. Katou (Miyano Mamoru) works in the Tokyo “Modern Crimes” division – apparently a dumping ground for the police department’s problem detectives. He used to work in the prestigious First Division but was seemingly blackballed, presumably for being too gung-ho and inflexible about justice as he sees it. His colleagues are a group of oddballs and misfits including Kamei Shinnosuke (Kumagai Kentarou), who gets paired off with Katou on security duty for a classic car show (I noticed the crowd was animated wearing masks – a late addition?) in Ginza.
The first case involves a Middle Eastern prince in town for the show, a plan to assassinate him with a bomb, and a young couple trying to hold up a jewelery store so he can pay back money he stole from the Yakuza. These two are beyond incompetent as armed robbers (he’s not into it at all, really), and end up robbing a chocolate shop by mistake before stealing and fleeing in the van with the ticking time bomb inside. That’s where Kanbe Daisuke comes in – and when he comes in, he really comes in.
Kanbe is an extremely rich dude who like to play detective as best I can tell. Except he had some sort of “special training in England”, whatever that means. He buys his way into the department, specifically requesting the Modern Crimes unit for reasons not yet clear, and proceeds to literally bulldoze his way onto the bomber case. His deal? He takes what he needs and destroys everything in his way, paying double the incurred cost via some serious e-checking and his butler. The bill for the first episode is about ¥1,370,000,000 (roughly $130 million).
All in all this was sometimes funny, generally preposterous, and altogether weird. There’s some nice style to the piece to be sure, Oonuki-san’s performance is indisputably unconventional (I’m kind of undecided there too), and the whole thing is kind of memorable for lack of a better word. But Kanbe is a lot to take – he seems to be a pretty despicable person based on first impressions – and for me at least the balance (pun intended) tipped a little too heavily into the absurd. Still, Kanbe and Katou have the potential to be an interesting buddy cop tandem and we’re certainly in no risk of lapsing into something generic. I want to like Fugou Keiji more than I do at the moment, but I see the potential just the same.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「Welcome My Friend」 by (OKAMOTO’S)
I loved this series. It was just so off the wall and yet so cool all at the same time.
Characters like Daisuke are some of my absolute favorites. The extremely rich and yet very intelligent prick who will do whatever he needs to get stuff done, and to Hell with the consequences. (he probably has contingency plans for that too).
Him playing off the straight-laced, bit of a stick-in-the-mud Kato will be interesting, as well as seeing how they play off each other and teach each other different lessons.
I find it interesting that both are loners but for different reasons. Kato is so determined and stubborn that it seems that for him work is all there is, and he seems rather stubbornly aimless even in that. He’s the only one in his department treating the job seriously, and feeling left out of loop where he could really make a difference.
His own stubbornness in sticking to his strict ideals, is actually stopping him from making the difference that he wants to make.
On the other hand you have Daisuke, who can have anything, do anything, there is nothing out of his reach…except real human connections it seems. He’s bored and probably lonely and is searching for a purpose. However, the life he’s been born into and cultivated over the years has put a barrier between him and most of mankind. He’s trained people to see the money before they see him, so it will be interesting to dig under all that and see the real him.
I’m guessing Kato will become a real companion to Daisuke, and Daisuke will help Kato to loosen up.
Money is indeed the answer to everything, but there are other things besides money to appreciate in life.
Well, that’s the hope – that these two have a good odd-couple chemistry. It’s the heart of any good buddy cop story. The distinctiveness is definitely there, and there’s a very good staff working on this show. It’s really just a question of whether or not the character element comes together, and only time can answer that.
Does anyone know who sang the opening theme song? Sounds + Looks Bond-like and surprisingly one of the best I’ve ever heard for a detective anime series.
Also is Kanbe a Sherlock type? Since he didn’t lift a hand to help Katou up from te bridge? o_o
Ah now, that is a bit of an interesting mystery.
The ED was used in one of the PVs, but the OP never was. As well, the credits for the opening episode had no mention of the OP. That in itself is extremely unusual – I don’t know whether it was an oversight of the staff is intentionally playing some sort of game, but it’s been the subject of much speculation on the Japanese side. I had initially thought it was Miyano Mamoru but it’s not – I don’t know and it isn’t obviously someone famous enough that the Japanese fans can agree on who it is, either.
From what I have seen, the OP is by a Japanese idol boy band called the SixTONES.
Well there you go. I haven’t seen that linked anywhere but I’ll take your word for it.
What does the modern crimes department do? Is it IT and modern technology related? I think the others were investigating race horses rigging and suspicious websites. If so, it might be Daisuke’s forte. Glasses mounted HUD and an ear mounted communicator connected to a server makes it look like he has the resources for that particular department. Strangely doesn’t match the opening though.
Went into this without knowing what I was getting myself into (after reading this review). By the end of the credits, I still don’t know what I got myself into. XD
It really does leave an impression.
Oh yeah, don’t think the latter episodes will have such high costs as this one. Most of that was for the princes’ AC Cobra.
It’s kind of like Ironman without the Ironman suit., His butler is obviously some computer program. I see potential and i love this art style.