Get Backers Volume 2: Find the Fine Arts - Anime Advanced

• Media Source:Anime Advanced
• Reviewed By:Eric Maly
• Review Date:11/25/04
• Read the original review click here

Get Backers Vol. #2: Find the Fine Arts

by: Eric Maly

Ginji and Ban are back once again to retrieve any stolen articles that you might need back. Ah, who are we kidding? They just need the cash.

Disc Description

The Get Backers have proven themselves time and time again, so finding a rare violin should be a snap, right? Well, not if the violin's been taken by a young crime lord who's hired one of Ginji's old gang members to protect it AND has a pair of sibling assassins waiting in the wings. (And we won't even mention the Undead.) Next up: a mysterious art thief who's teamed up with Himiko to steal a priceless Van Gogh. As usual, things aren?t quite what they seem on this job, but what're a couple of down on their luck recovery guys to do? Don't miss the mayhem as the Get Backers Find The Fine Arts!

Features

Japanese 2.0 Language

English 5.1 Language

Clean open and ending animation

Behind the scene interviews

Commentaries for episodes 6 and 9 with Lowell Bartholomee (ADR director) and Dan Dietz (ADR scriptwriter)

ADV Previews

Disc Review:

Content: (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)
The Shinjuku duo known as the Get Backers are back once again and ready to take your case, for the right price, of course. In this volume, we have two story arcs that span across five episodes, so the history and present world that Ginji and Ban live in are revealed a bit more.

In the first story arc that we are presented with, the Get Backers are hired by the blind violin prodigy Madoka Otowa to retrieve her stolen violin. However, before they are hired, Ginji's past is delved into and presented to us. One of Ginji's former partners, Kazuki, shows up to keep some present members of the VOLTS to keep from getting fried by Ginji. However, Kazuki punishes his own gang members, since they were attempting to rob a blind girl for some money. When Madoka gets to the Honky Tonk and explains her case to the Get Backers, we realize that her stolen violin is no ordinary violin. It is a Stradivarius violin, one which would go for at least 20 million yen at auction. The person suspected of having the violin is another prodigy who runs an import business, but has a dark side. He also has ties to the Mafia. The name of this figure is Shunsuke Akutsu. In the picture of the man, Ginji notices another man in the background named Shido. This is also the first time that the Get Backers have had a deadline placed on a case. They have until 7 o'clock the next night to get it back. After agreeing to terms, we notice that Kazuki has been listening in with his powers. We see a string of sorts attached to Madoka's dog, Mozart, leading out to the corner of the street. The other end of the string is firmly in Kazuki's ear, allowing him to eavesdrop on the conversation. Shido is seen at the estate, under a tree. Here is where we notice full abilities of his powers. He can talk to animals. While talking to a bird friend of his, he gets information that Ginji is arriving on the estate grounds. Plans are made and we see Shunsuke getting ready as well. Shunsuke hands a violin case to a man named Mr. Hishiki, who is told to guard it carefully.

Since the entire gang of the Get Backers are posing as the quintet hired to play at Shunsuke's estate, they are quickly accosted. Shunsuke does not recognize them as the group he hired and was threatening to kick them out. However, Ban with some quick thinking, played the violin brilliantly and managed to get everyone to stay in the house until the performance at nighttime. Everyone was thinking that Ban used his Jagan, but Ban could actually play the violin which amazed everyone. Cutting back to Shunsuke's office, we see Shunsuke telling Shido to put on a show in place of the quintet. When the Get Backers' plan was about to go into action, a cage descended on them, trapping them with a lion. This is where we see Madoka looking through several rooms for instruments, however, she runs into Shido. This is where we see that Shido really isn't that bad, since he tells her to get out, since he won't harm her. With the Get Backers in a tight spot, Ban uses the Jagan to trick the lion into thinking that everyone else in the room were zebras. As everyone was running around, Ban used his Jagan the remaining two times for a 24 hour period. After this, Shido and Ban take their fight to the outside of the estate.

After Shido called his animals to attack Ban, they swarmed the area that Ban was standing in, only to hit air. Ban quickly dodged all of them and came down through the branches of the tree, grabbing Shido's shoulder. After being stunned, Shido calls on his birds to attack Ban, however, Ban is too quick yet again and grabs the back of Shido's neck with his Snake Bite. Ban is quickly thwarted by Threadmaster Kazuki. However, he doesn't take both of them on. He decides to not fight either of them, since he didn't want to have a deathmatch, he just wanted to get the violin back. Shido thought all of his animals were killed, but Ban just stunned them for a little while.

At the same time Ginji, Hevn, and Madoka are attempting to get back the violin, but they run into Hishiki, who is an agent of a protection service called the Undead. This guy has superhuman strength, which doesn't exactly fare well for Ginji. After zapping Hishiki, it only stuns him for a couple of seconds and Ginji gets knocked around. After Ginji fries the circuits in the house, Madoka runs up and kicks Hishiki right in the groin, which incidentally was his one of his weak spots.

Now with Madoka, Ginji and Hevn in one group and Ban, Paul and Natsumi in the other, the strategy of divide and conquer becomes more and more evident. Shunsuke is approached by Ginji, but Shunsuke gives the Stradivarius back to Madoka without a fight. This is where Shunsuke's real intentions come out. He wants to kill Madoka and destroy the Stradivarius comepletely.

After revealing this, Ban and Ginji literally run into one another. After jumping through a second story window to safety, Ban and Ginji use a curtain as a trampoline. Madoka's publicist and guardian of sorts pulls up in his car while they are running. After dropping Ban and Ginji off, Sugawara gets a call and is told by his bigger brother to dispose of Madoka and the Stradivarius. Shido soon learns of this plan and runs after the car. Sugawara, who is now known as Tsuguma Kurobe, parks the car on a cliff and pushes it over. At the bottom, Mozart and Madoka get out, but Mozart is dealt with by Tsuguma's centipede nunchakus. Before he can completely pull off his mission, hundreds of centipedes swarm his body and his nunchakus turn into a giant centipede. Seems a bit off, right? Of course it is. Ban used his Jagan when he left the car and locked eyes with Tsuguma. Ban used his deduction skills of how Tsuguma showed up in the right place at just the right time twice to come up with the conclusion that Tsuguma was just a bit dirty. Shido comes up at that moment to learn that Ban used the Jagan, but he thought that Ban used it three times. We learn that Ban used the Jagan on Shido to create an illusion where he used it two more times.

This is where Shunsuke's butler, who doubles as an assassin comes into the picture. Kazuma Kurobe is this man and he feels that Shido should be killed for his treachery. Shido turns to go home, but Ginji stops him and asks him if he would stay and help them out. He agrees, but this moment of kindness is shattered by Kazuma trying to slash Shido. After jumping sky-high, Shido turns into some sort of beast and starts to attack Kazuma. Ginji starts to explain what exactly is going on, but that is stopped by Hishiki returning on the scene. Taking refuge by a tree, Ginji just dodges a punch that hits the tree. However the whole plot of land that the tree was planted in splits off from the rest of it and Ginji tumbles down the cliff. After recovering, Ginji notices that it starts to rain, thus making a great environment for the Lightning Emperor to make his move. Back up top, Ban is quickly accosted by Tsuguma, who wraps Ban in his Centipede Nunchakus. However, this is reversed quickly and Ban uses his Snake Bite to rip the hair off of his head, flinging him aside and making the hooks tear him to shreds.

The fists continue to fly with Ginji facing off with Hishiki and Shido with Kazuma. Ginji makes short work of Hishiki by harnessing the lightning in the storm and channeling it through himself while Hishiki was choking Ginji. With Ginji recovering he apologizes for Shido targeting Ban. Shido was one of Ginji's gang, so when Ginji dissolved the VOLTS, Shido had nowhere to go. That's why he became what he did. As Ginji explains this, the fighting with Kazuma continues. After a bit, Hevn shows up with Madoka and they are lead to the fight with Shido and Kazuma. Shido defeats Kazuma when he uses his powers to transform into animals to trick Kazuma and finish him with a final strike. Shido leaves and whistles at the same time, leaving Ban and Ginji to wonder what the whistle meant.

Paul and Natsumi deliver the information that the violin was stolen by Mozart when Shido whistled. Later, we see Madoka sitting, while Ban and Ginji keep telling her that they can get the violin back. At this point, Shido walks in with Mozart and the violin. Shido gives Madoka back the violin and gives Shido and all of his friends a private concert with Ban on the back-up violin in an alleyway. Madoka's teacher hears this while traveling in a car and realizes that it is Madoka's sound. After this, we realize that Madoka put extra care into this performance, since her teacher blurted out that she was in love. At the concert hall, Ban ruined Akutsu's career by giving him the Jagan while he was on stage, making him flip out. The story ends with Shido and Madoka at Madoka's house, with Madoka playing the violin for Shido.

The second story arc deals with the recovery of Vincent Van Gogh's painting 'Sunflowers'. Ginji and Ban are seen making flyers since they have been out of work since Madoka's job. Shido walks into the cafe and is quickly accosted by Ban. After a few words are exchanged, Hevn walks in and informs Ban and Ginji that Shido formed his own recovery service. Apparently, he's rather good too. The client this time are two members of the Takaoka Department Store, who wants back 'Sunflowers'. This 'Sunflowers' is recognized by Ban to not be part of the original 12, but in fact, a 13th of the series. The price of this masterpiece would be in excess of 10 billion yen. The person responsible for stealing the painting has the name of 'Clayman'.

After this bit of information is revealed, we see Clayman in her lair, talking to someone. Whenever the recovery service is mentioned, this person perks up. It is none other than Himiko Kudou, A.K.A. Lady Poison. It seems that Himiko's services have been employed by Clayman to transport 'Sunflowers' to Clayman's gallery.

After Ban and Ginji show up to Clayman's hideout, they start to scope it out. After that, they start to smell something nice. Ban realizes too late that it is Himiko's regression perfume and Ginji yet again goes bananas. They just about get ran over by a Jeep driven by Himiko. After making the Jeep crash, they try to get Himiko out of it, but they realize that it isn't Himiko. They later see Himiko driving off in a motorcycle with Clayman in the passenger side. With this, Ban realizes that they were just had by a Jagan, or something like it. As they follow Himiko and Clayman, they are lead into a fun house and their reflections start to attack them. Ban realizes yet again this is a Jagan-like move. After Ban gets hit by Himiko's puppet perfume, Ban is just about to kill Ginji, until he tells Ginji to shock him as hard as he could.

Waking up, both of them are captured and tied together. After coming in contact with Himiko and Clayman, they exchange a few words and realize that Clayman steals forgeries that are heavily insured and collect the money. Ban and Ginji then lay eyes on the stolen Van Gogh. They realize that it can't be the fake that they thought it was. After this, the two men from the Department Store are seen talking to several members from a disposal service and are telling them to get rid of the people and paintings. However, they want to comb the paintings to see if there are any real paintings in the lot of forgeries.

Next, we see Ban and Ginji in Clayman's private gallery which has paintings from Renoir, Gauguin, Cezanne, Picasso, and Matisse to name a few. In talking with Clayman, Ban and Ginji learn that the men from the Department Store are the true villains and Clayman wants to hire the Get Backers for their service. Clayman tells Ban and Ginji that Hachisu buys paintings for hardly anything, insuring them for huge amounts and then getting rid of the paintings, cashing in on the major insurance. At this point in time, Himiko decides she should take her leave and ditches Ban.

After this, the disposal service lead by Hachisu busts into the place. Hachisu then tells Clayman that all of the paintings that were stolen were fakes. At that time, the disposal service attempts to take out the Get Backers, but that meets failure rather quickly, due to Ban and Ginji's powers. Since the disposal service is gone, Hachisu tries to get the hell out of dodge, but backpedals onto the flamethrower that was dropped. This is where he starts to torch the entire building, with the paintings and the Get Backers in it.

In the next scene, Hachisu is talking to the insurance company and they are putting on a front to keep them. While talking to the insurance company about how inconvenient it was, Ban and Ginji burst in with the 13th 'Sunflowers' recovered along with the rest of the paintings that Clayman had stolen. It is at this point in time that Hachisu let the truth slip that he burned all of those paintings with his own two hands. Next, we see Abukawa wheeling the paintings around in a basement, until he gets shocked by Ginji. It wasn't enough of a shock to really hurt, but it was enough to get the mask to fall off, revealing Clayman's true face. After talking a bit with Clayman, we learn that all of the paintings were real, in a certain sense. Clayman's gallery is shown again, but this time it is legally in the Department Store. The Get Backers learn that all Clayman wanted was to have these paintings displayed so everyone could see them for their true worth. At the end of the episode, we learn that Clayman's mother channeled the spirits of the departed artists to paint all of those 'fake' paintings.

Video:
The animation is once again crisp and clear. Once again, you can easily tell that the animation is heavily influenced by Lupin III by the angular characters and the overall body build. No flaws were detected throughout the five episodes.

Audio:
Once again, the audio is wonderful in this disc of Get Backers. Everything is transported well onto the DVD medium. No flaws in the sound were detected at all and the surround sound is a real treat.

Menus:
Once again, the main menu is adorned with Ginji on the left and Ban on the right, along with a snippet of the opening theme playing. Even though they are in different poses, everything is the same, including the ease of navigation.

Extras:
After the first DVD being loaded with extras, the second does not disappoint. The same commentaries and behind-the-scene looks are present and are as good as the first, if not better. I have a feeling that extras are not something that we really have to worry about in the future volumes of this series.

Dialogue:
Keeping in tune with the 'buddy series', the second volume still has the great dialogue of playing on words and playful insults. It also has dialogue that dictates the action later in the episodes that is so pivotal to any series. Both tracks of voice actors are once again excellent and represent the characters to their full potential.

The Bottom Line:
With such a great start in the first DVD, I was looking very hard for some sort of stumble that the series could have shown. I looked high, low, inside, outside, topside, lowside and everyside and found nothing. This is one masterpiece of a series that STILL has the potential of growth.

In comparison to the first DVD, the second volume outshines it. The story arcs are very well controlled and the background information is regulated very well and given in perfect timing.

Even though there are still many places for this series to fail, it will take something major for it to completely fall off the radar. Get Backers is quickly becoming one of the best animes of 2004 and will continue to hold a high spot well into 2005.

Content Better story arcs with a more involved plot. Easy transition between arcs with great character interaction. 9.3
Video Once again, flawless presentation of the series. The animation is crisp, clear and a treat for the eyes. 9.4
Audio The audio is presented wonderfully, making full use of any surround sound that you might have. The music, once again, fits the series perfectly. 9.2
Menus The same menu presentation is back. Easy transitions, quick selection of options and great artwork are the strengths. I'm not even missing the animated menus now. 9.0
Extras Even though it is the same batch of extras, they are better than the first volume in my opinion. Extras should not be a problem at all in the future for this series. 9.2
Dialog Once again, the dialogue between characters and just in general is exceptional at helping you understand things and at moving the story along. Wonderful language tracks make this series easy to watch in both languages. 9.1
Verdict