Speed Grapher: Vol. 2 (Review)
Sunday, 25th October 2009, 13:52

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Introduction
Tatsumi Saiga was an acclaimed war photographer back in the Economic Bubble War. It was a war that further deepened the divide between the haves and have nots, the rich got richer, and the poor became doormats. Tokyo is the city where the rich walk over the poor with impunity, and it’s Tokyo where Saiga now practices his trade, no longer able to leave the country. But he’s suited to this decadent capital, a man who can only be aroused when he has his camera in hand. He works as a freelance photographer, when he isn’t being the plaything of Detective Ginza, a woman who needs a gun in her hand to get sexual pleasure. You’d think that they would be perfectly suited to each other, but Saiga wants more, and his pursuit of a killer story leads him into the depraved underworld, a secret club under Roppongi. It’s here where he encounters a teenaged goddess named Kagura; it’s here where he obtains an amazing new power. Now when he looks through the lens of his camera and clicks the shutter, whatever he snaps explodes.

Four more debauched episodes are here on this MVM disc.

5. Whore of Diamonds
Shinsen isn’t best pleased with Suitengu after he let Kagura escape with Saiga. In fact she has a punishment in mind involving sex and violence, although not necessarily in that order. Suitengu’s right hand man Tsujido’s on the case however, sniffing out Kagura, although a man who can blow things up with a camera isn’t to be faced lightly. They have an ace up their sleeve though. Koganei is a woman used to the finer things in life, especially diamonds. She loves diamonds, she devours diamonds, she’s the kind of woman who would tear a diamond ring off someone’s finger with her teeth. She exhausted her rich husband, and then cashed in his life insurance policy, and when that wasn’t enough, she turned to Suitengu’s secret club, and received Kagura’s blessing. Now she owes the Tennozu group, and they’re calling in her marker. She will be the one to recover Kagura. When it comes to Saiga’s ability, she has a neat trick. She literally turns into a diamond woman.

6. Out of Focus
Kagura and Saiga had sneaked away from danger despite the Tennozu group throwing up a search net that blocked all the roads. They found refuge in a transsexual themed pub, where Saiga got a job behind the bar, and Kagura joined the girls on stage. But then the diamond woman walked in, and it all fell apart. The Tennozu group had their goddess back, and Saiga was about to be erased, but then Koganei changed the terms of the agreement. Now she’s going to ransom Kagura back to her mother, in exchange for all the diamonds she could ever need. Rather than face her themselves, Tsujido and his men decide to let Saiga do it for them. No matter the outcome, they’ll get rid of at least one of their problems.

7. The Big Picture
Suitengu’s men are back to square one in their hunt for Kagura, and it transpires that they have a deadline looming over them. Tsujido knows of another Euphorian, gifted with power by Kagura who owes them a favour. Dr Mizunoguchi is a dentist with a passion for drilling teeth, whether his patients want him to or not. His tendency to leave corpses in his chair means that Tennozu group have a lot of cleaning up to do, which is why he owes them a big favour, and which is why he is now recruited to deal with Saiga and rescue Kagura. Kagura and Saiga have found a new place outside the city to lie low. Dr Ryogoku owes Saiga a favour or two, although not for so grisly a reason, and Saiga calls in that favour to find out just what happened to him, and what Kagura has to do with it. What he learns isn’t the answer he’s looking for, but it chills his blood nevertheless.

8. Dentophobia
Suitengu undergoes some strange sort of electroshock therapy, and then departs for a meeting on a ship moored outside the city. This ship is full of tanks like the one he was just being treated in, and the tanks are filled with ‘patients’. Meanwhile Tsujido and the psychotic dentist catch up to Kagura and Saiga at the clinic and begin to wreak havoc in their attempt to recapture Kagura. As the smoke fills the building, Saiga finds his abilities are curtailed. His camera can’t focus when there is smoke in the way, and it looks like the demon dentist will have no problem in removing Saiga from the equation.

Picture
Speed Grapher gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer, and it’s par for the course for anime on DVD. You have your NTSC-PAL conversion issues, although not too many of them, the image is clear and sharp throughout, and the animation is smooth and detailed. It’s a Gonzo product, so expect smart looking characters, a blending of traditional 2D and 3D CGI, and plenty of bang for your buck. In fact the characters in Speed Grapher are a little more edgy than usual for Gonzo, certainly suiting the decadent nature of the story, and it seems the animators went to dominatrix school for some of the get ups.

Sound
Audio-wise, you have the option of DD 5.1 English, and DD 2.0 Japanese, along with translated subtitles and a signs only track. I sampled the English, and it’s pretty much like every other Funimation dub, and yes, Monica Rial is in it. You can expect a little added profanity if you want to partake of that surround sound option, but as usual I opted for the Japanese audio, and had no complaints, apart from a couple of dubious English accents, and the clichéd effeminate guy. The biggest annoyance is the absence of the original Duran Duran theme tune.

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