Why do I love Heat Guy J?

Anime watched: Heat Guy J
TMIA rating: b


Well, first there are the bagpipes.  I quite like this soundtrack (I own it) because how often do you hear bagpipes in anime?  It's also a pretty good sountrack, but the bagpipes are such a unique and manly instrument that their presence alone says certain things about the show.

Then there's the dub.  It's a good dub.  I think Steve Cannon is an under-appreciated voice actor.  Edmundo's VA wasn't too shabby.  Johnny Yong Bosch was perfectly insane as Claire Leonelli.  There  were a lot of good performances in this series.  If it hadn't been a few years since I saw the show, I could remember more, but I lent it to someone, and it has disappeared.  That's why I'm glad Funimation snagged the license and is releasing it again!  Some day, when I have money, I hope to be able to get it again.  Or I'll send J after whoever didn't return it to me . . .

I remember that sometimes the unexpected would happen.  Your mileage may very here because I don't anticipate things when I watch a show, so I'm not trying to figure out what will happen next.  I notice if what happens next isn't totally predictable because of genre conventions/tropes.  In this show, the characters had somewhat realistic depths to them, and sometimes the happy endings didn't work out at all.  It takes guts to do that.

And we know I like Nobuteru Yuki.    He can be distinctive (and his noses in those distinctive shows drive people like ST completely crazy), but he can also be almost invisible as a character designer adapting other people's designs, and that takes skill.  (Just so you know, this is one of the distinctive shows but with slightly less crazy noses than Escaflowne.)

So anyway, it looks and sounds good, has good characters and surprising plot twists, and has good production values.  (I remember the extras being nice, too.)  I enjoyed it a lot.  I look forward to re-watching it soon, thanks to Funimation.


Anybody else a fan of J and Daisuke and co.?  Anything you'd like to add?


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