Yugo The Negotiator Volume 2: Pakistan 2: Honor - Anime Frontier

• Media Source:Anime Frontier
• Reviewed By:Jared Elswick
• Review Date:08/29/05
• Read the original review click here

"...this volume in particular offers up a great deal of action..."

Audio
Having already heard a good portion of this show in Japanese, I went with the English track for my viewing here. The Japanese track is a stereo mix, while the English track is in full 5.1 surround. Overall, everything sounds pretty good here, with the English track having a good amount of directionality across both the forward and rear soundstages. The voices here suit the characters quite well and I was very impressed with the overall performance of the VAs here.

Video
Visually, Yugo the Negotiator looks pretty good all things considered. The show itself was originally released at the beginning of last year, and that?s pretty evident by the way it looks. The animation itself is rather good, nothing flashy though, as this is a real world type show, but it looks well done throughout. The problems I?ve noticed here lie in the transfer, or at least I think they do. From what I can tell, this show seems to have a slight grain to it, and I saw a litte line shimmer here and there, but this grainy look is odd because I don?t remember it looking like this, although it could be due to the dark colors used in this show.

Characters
Yugo Beppu - The main character of the show and renowned negotiator. He is said to have never failed, although that's not quite true, but as far as negotiating goes, he's the best there is.

Mayuko Iwase - Yugo's client here, her father was kidnapped by guerillas in Pakistan and she has hired Yugo to save him after the last negotiator was killed.

Yusef Ali Mesa - The leader of the guerillas and a feared man throughout all of Pakistan. He is in no mood for negotiating unless it involves him and a man he sees as a true hero, and so far no one has fit that bill.

Story
After being captured by Ali and his minions, Laila and Yugo find themselves right where they want to be, although there really isn?t room for negotiations while you?re being held captive. Making matters worse, it?s already been decided that Yugo is to be killed and that he?s unworthy of meeting with Ali. So, he?s taken out in the morning, strapped to large rock in the courtyard and he?s left to die from heat exhaustion. Of course, this is all a big event and the guards even take bets on how long he?ll live, although they all lose as Yugo lasts much longer than anyone expected. Its here that we begin to see Yugo?s ?special ability? so to speak, as he has an incredibly high tolerance for pain, and that helps him to keep his cool in this situation, so that he doesn?t die immediately.

After noon, its revealed to everyone that Yugo is indeed still alive, much to their surprise, but not only that, he?s also reciting from the Quran. Its here that things take a turn for the worse as they resort to another method to kill him by putting ants on him that will go in through his ear and eat his brain. However, things change a bit when the idea pops up that Yugo may be a divine individual, and the way he acts causes some of his captors to think of him as a Hero of sorts. This really puts a halt on their desire to kill him, leading to the inevitable meeting between Yugo and Ali that sparks the negotiations.

The negotiations here move pretty quick, but then the task of getting Ali his money as well as getting Iwase out of the country comes into play. Surprisingly enough, Yugo and Ali work together pretty well here to accomplish both of their goals as they now respect each other enough to call each other heroes. Attaining this level with Ali really helps Yugo at this stage in the game to understand more of what?s going on and more of what the bigger picture has in store. This portion of the show is what really comes across as interesting too, as its really open to interpretation as to whether or not Yugo truly understands Ali and his ways or if he?s using his so-called hero status as a way to accomplish his own goals and nothing more.

Afterthoughts
Overall, this installment of Yugo the Negotiator has once again caught my attention, as this show is incredibly unique and this volume in particular offers up a great deal of action as well as a great deal of interesting content as well. Its hard to see this show being a huge hit with fans here in the States, but even so, there's so much to enjoy with this show that I can't find a reason not to recommend this show. These first six episodes alone make up a really good story already, which gets me even more excited for what the rest of the series has in store.

Posted on Monday, August 29, 2005 (Archive on Thursday, September 29, 2005)