GetBackers

This is gonna be a very short review because I don't have a whole lot to say about this show. It's not bad at all, in fact I do like it and I think this show has so much potential to be really good. I like the characters and I really like the concept of this show. The story of two random friends getting things back for other people and they both have superpowers is a very fun idea. You could do a lot of creative things with that. And I think they do but at the same time I can't help but feel like ... it could've been so much more.

The best episodes in this show are the individual ones that have one storyline that start and end in that episode. For example, there was one episode that focused on the GetBackers trying to get this guy's memories back. And this episode is really great. If you ask me, I think this very episodic structure should've been the way to go. If they had cut this show down to 26 episodes and shortened the long story arcs, I think it would come out a lot better. But as it stands, I still like it. I do feel like some potential was wasted but again, I think it's pretty good even if I think it could've been better.

ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON 03/05/2023

⚡Repo Men Get It All But Paid 💭 °6.7° °Good° 💯%🔍

This get-backer agency needs better backers. While they usually get the job done, they don't usually get paid. It just never works out with them and 💰.

This is sorta like a show about avatars from the classic video game Street Fighter (all with special powers or capabilities), if they were really great guys, always hustling and always defending the needy, while scraping to eke a living with their repo service. They get things back for clients, but does the title have a double meaning? A triple meaning?

From the first episode in ... which they are hired to recover a kitty cat from a crooked cop, the series is pithy and fun. It's on a kid level that adults can enjoy, too. Based on a manga, GB is a 2002 release rated 7.58 on MAL. It is 1 season consisting of 49 24-minute English dubbed episodes. The first third of the show is mostly self-contained episodes. It branches out in the late teens to follow an extended battle which takes us through ep28 and then the ultimate story arc forms.

The GB are Midou Ban & Amano Ginji. Ban has the more “forceful” personality. His power is called Jagan. Once he makes eye with someone he can alter their perception of reality for a short period. He makes them see what he wants them to see. They never know it's happening. “Jagan can be placed inside a time-warp zone via the illusion created by the technique, meaning that to them, one minute in real life could last up to several hours,” per MAL. He comes over as surly and stingy, but the truth is that he feels deeply. He often wears a half-shirt, which is odd, but he's still 🆒.

Ginji has shocking power - he's electric. Friendly, open, and generous, he says things like: “Holy moly on a sourdough rolly.” In the Limitless Fortress Ginji is the most limitless one, because the LF amplifies is power. He was the Lightning Emperor; but he /left/ with Ban. From the back they have Ginji looking like a Midwestern farm wife. His body shape is strangely bottom heavy.

So far, every Ban I've seen in an anime is cool and extremely powerful, but haunted by a painful past. This Ban is no different. Ginji is the soul of the show. Life is hard. Survival is hard, but Ginji, who cares about others and wants to help them, has the key to /living/ as opposed to merely surviving.

Fuyuki Shido, the Beastmaster, controls animals. It's actually more like they're friends and animals are happy to do his bidding. Once The Volts of the Limitless Fortress disbanded, Shido felt betrayed by Ginji - Gingji LEFT them. Most from the LF feel the same way. Shido doesn't like that "snake b@$t@rd," Ban, either. He really hates the way Ban calls him “Monkey Boy.” So, Shido becomes the GB's professional competition and opens his own repo service.

Kudou Himiko has the eyes of “someone who spent their life being pounded by a cold hard rain,” says Ginji. Ban fills her emotions ↪ She wants to kill him. An independent contractor, she takes jobs like transporter in hopes that she'll get the opportunity to do so. Perfumes are her poison. Potions would be a better description ··· just🌬··· her potions are airborne. She can make a body burn from the inside, install trackers, shut down brain function or make puppets of people; she can do even scarier stuff. She can dose herself. Acceleration scent, for example, doubles her speed.

MakubeX is the genius hacker. Found abandoned as a baby, the pouch he was in had “Makube” written on it. He became Makube, and then adopted the title MakubeX. He was raised by Gen, (”Grandfather”), but left home to the VOLTS. After Ginji left, he took over, but he's no Gingi. His nickname was "young demon king."

Akabane, or "Dr. Jackal" is a fun character, much like Hisoka in Hunter × Hunter-10. He's a bad guy because he's moralless, but he's not mean or cruel as a goal unto itself. Everything he does is for his own enjoyment. What he enjoys is domination and winning. As a Transporter he's often in opposition to Ban and Ginji's goals. Soon he sees them as primary targets for beheading, his personal preference for disposing of enemies, which makes him feared and hated. He don't care. Always all in black, Chupalla included, he's arguably debonaire with his polite manners, but he'll as soon chop your head off as shake your hand. He feels nothing for others.

Natsumi is the first client we meet. She's Ban & Ginji's biggest devotee. That cat was hers. After the guys recover it from the rotten p, she decides to work at the Honky Tonk. Ban & Ginji are always hungry, and the Honky Tonk is the sole place that will let them run a tab. Hevn is for the b👀by brothers. A buxom blonde, she procurs work for them from prospective clients. Paul owns the Honky Tonk. He's halfway between ive and antagonistic. At least he feeds them. Most days.

GB is oddly religious at times. The bad guys at the top are motivated by religion, which isn't the least bit unrealistic. They operate out of the LF. Consequently, the Limitless (or Infinite) Fortress, where Gingi once ruled, is its own character in the show. Religion is a belief system, and we all have a belief system - atheism included. Religion certainly doesn't fix everything, but those who haven't given their belief-system much thought tend to unconsciously end up with beliefs that revolve around themselves ~ we're talking replete self-absorption, which is the worst. That's at the seat of most of society's ills. It's at the seat of many problems the GBs face in the show. The depraved villains of the LF ‘temple’ don't hesitate to trample the weak to advance their plans. The LF also reeks of evil government or master-villian programs (which aren't mutually exclusive w/ religion). They answer most of the questions before the end. They roll it out slowly, but the LF is a major player.

The author must be an art lover because there's a few episodes that revolve around works of art. Their discussion of Van Gogh in ep9 is fantastic. In the way of animation art, GB is from the transition years when styles were moving from the late 20th century to the more polished (digital) look of today. People have medium heavy outlining, basic features and a wide variety of coloring, shapes and bigness: big b👀bs, big eyes, big muscles, big colorful hair, big color-palette of skin tones & old-style round eyes, etc. Some characters aren't as big as they are long and lean, like Dr. Jackal. Backgrounds are simplified lines with minimal detail. The opening song ROX. Naomi Tamura wails with guitar gitting-it-on in the background.

They get into other fun subjects, not just art. They need to recover rare blood that was stolen in order to save a young girl's life. She has “Bombay blood,” which per Wiki, “is a rare blood type… first discovered in Bombay… a blood type that reacted to other blood types in a way never seen before. The serum contained antibodies that attacked all red blood cells of normal ABO phenotypes. The red blood cells appeared to lack all of the ABO blood group antigens and to have an additional antigen that was previously unknown.” That's truly fascinating. Then, its: "Watch out, Ban. His hair is made of an alloy created in zero gravity… in zero gravity, metals that have completely different densities, like lead & aluminum, can be blended together." Cooooool. Right?

That's sciensy. The LF is an imposing and mysterious place with phenomenal phenomena beyond scientific description. In the LF, Ginji reigns supreme, and some seem to have forgotten how powerful the affable goof is in there. Why did he leave? The show explains things in due time. Why did he return? To clean house and set things right⚡. Eps39 & 40 are mostly for fun. There's a hot tub scene with 🐒🐵 🐒 that seems borrowed from Blue Seed 2 - in a fun way. Before we get to the hot tub 🐵 🐒 🙉 , though, things are going to get really rowdy.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣6.8 📝7 🎭7.5 🌞6 🎨7 ⚡6.7 🎵/🔊7 😅3.3 😭3 😱4 😯3.3 😖3 🤔4 💤3 🔚? The manga Goes on. As the show closes, the true villains have just been revealed.

Age 12+ GB is actually most suitable for kids. There's a simplicity to the plot, dialogue and relationships. Please note the following cautions: Language b@$+ard he!! There's a creepy dude that does creepy human experiments and there's an attempted human sacrifice. In one episode they have a day with the B's: Beach, bods, bosoms, butts, bikinis, bimbos and finally, bros watching the sun to close out the day. They had a ball. Rated PG-13: Parental Cautioned.

Re-📺? Why mixed feelings? GB is marginal for adults - in the good-to--the-time category, but I may never this way again. I would only recommend it to a young teen.


Recs:
Solo Leveling-9.5
Tokyo Revengers-8.2,
Akame ga Kill! 8.6,
Assassination Classroom-9,
Chaika The Coffin Princess 8.4,
Reincarnated as a Sword 8,
Hunter × Hunter-10,
Invincible-8.5,
Jujutsu Kaisen-9.5,
Made in Abyss 9,
The Eminence in Shadow 8.8,

I was obsessed with this anime when it came out. I made my dad get me the full season 1 box set on DVD, and I still have it. I even got the first volume of the manga, and I showed it to the other kids at school. Probably not a good idea because there was a lady jerking off in the first couple chapters.
I would rank this very low after watching many more shows since then. If you're a little teen that loves shonen & action this is going to be great. It's super cheesy, super Hammy, and very "cool". If you're an adult ... however &/or have watched better things, you are not going to find anything of value here.
The character designs stand out & most of them are likable tropes. The action is entertaining, but nothing to write home about. The plot is pretty standard & you can guess where things are going to go. At this point, if I recommend the show I always tag it with "it's so bad that it's good"
like I said pretty standard but there are a few things I will pop out and make you think "what the fuck."
when I whipped out the DVDs on my fiance, we watched it all the way through. *Spoilers* There's a part towards the end of S1 where they're fighting this guy In some illusion room. It looks like it's inside a stomach & the guy literally says "this is my womb" and then proceed with the monologue about his womb My fiance turned to me and said "wow your parents really just let you watch anything."
Do not recommend, not that great,but somewhat hilarious.