[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Speed Grapher episodes 9-12
These episodes take an interesting and very welcome journey into exploring the origins of Kagura, in addition to pushing the plot forwards with some shocking surprises along the way. Unfortunately my criticisms of the show’s visual style still stands and it’s not the most deftly-directed of series by any means.
Kagura’s character is constantly in danger of becoming an annoying, helpless ‘damsel in distress’ type but the dreadful way in which she is being treated by, well, pretty much everyone apart from Saiga, keeps the viewer on her side. After seeing her slapped around, used as a human guinea pig yet never being seen as a real person by those around her, I couldn’t help but sympathise with her: she’s the ultimate victim of Speed Grapher’s sick and twisted world and I haven’t even mentioned the fact that she’s terminally ill yet (sorry if that’s a spoiler, but I’m assuming you’ve watched disc #2 already if you’re reading this far). To a lesser degree Saiga is also a victim but at least he had a small chance of turning his back on it and living on his own terms; I think there is some potential for a relationship between the two of them but they are merely two people thrown together under dreadful circustances, rather than soulmates or some similar thing. The affection Kagura feels towards Saiga is probably gratitude that she has finally met someone who respects her and takes good care of her, as much as any special ‘bond’ or ‘connection’ that she speaks about.
Speaking of Saiga’s romantic issues, Ginza gets a bit more attention in this volume and as a result it makes it a little easier to relate to her. Her obsessive drive to get Saiga back is at the expense of - you’ve guessed it - poor little Kagura, but Ginza is another character who is ‘out of the flow’ of the world in which she lives. That is to say, she wants her lover back; she couldn’t care less about the money that the Tennozu group values so highly. She and Saiga have a lot in common after all.
In terms of the bigger picture there appears to be a power struggle in the corridors of the Tennuzu building, as Suitengu is trying to get closer to Shinsen and push for whatever agenda he has up his sleeve. Before the volume is over the series takes a sharp turn plot-wise, turning away from the ‘monster of the week’ format with only one major confrontation: that of Suitengu and Saiga.
It is at times like this where the series’ shortcomings show through. For a series of this age Speed Grapher is quite disappointing visually. It relies heavily on its art style and pretty much any other sort of style that would keep viewers entertained, which makes the corner-cutting all the more baffling and detrimental to the series’ enjoyment. Last Exile is three years older yet is downright beautiful to watch; Speed Grapher in contrast looks rushed and cheap. The somewhat clumsy direction isn’t so much of an issue though fortunately since, after all, the moral messages and social commentary are more of afterthoughts than major themes: you don’t need the sharp eye of Satoshi Kon to hammer home the fact that materialism is A Bad Thing.
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