Speed Grapher

Ten years after the Bubble War, the dichotomy between the rich and the poor in the world becomes more prominent and Japan is no exception. The rich seek to satisfy their desires and derive pleasure for themselves, and Tokyo has materialized into such a city as a result. Saiga, once a war photographer, works for Hibara Ginza in the capitalist state of Tokyo. He infiltrates the Roppongi Club, a secretive base located in the red light district of the city, to collect information about them. However, he was caught in the process and brought forward to a girl called Kagura who was in the midst of a ritual. His contact with Kagura awakens his special ability: the power to make things explode when photographed. In order to unravel the mystery behind the Roppongi Club and Kagura, Saiga begins his solitary battle.

Saiga, Tatsumi Main

Takada, Yuji Japanese

Suitenguu, Chouji Main

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Tennouzu, Kagura Main

Shindou, Kei Japanese

Ginza, Hibari Supporting

Honda, Takako Japanese

Tsujidou Supporting

Yuuki, Hiro Japanese

Bob Supporting

Ishii, Kouji Japanese

Ryougoku, Genba Supporting

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Tsurumaki, Miharu Supporting

Okamoto, Maya Japanese

Niihari, Ginji Supporting

Tsuda, Kenjirou Japanese

Makabe Supporting

Egawa, Hisao Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Hashimoto, Taichi Producer

Nishiguchi, Naomi Producer

Shibata, Tomonori Producer

Reviews

Feb 22, 2023

MeanEYE

Recommended

Didn't expect to like this one but I did. While story is somewhat predictable it's refreshing that we have adult themes and cast without screaming children and tournaments in school. Animation is a bit stiff at times but serviceable. Music leaves a lot to be desired but overall it was a good show. You will get occasionally upset at stupid decisions some characters make but overall it wasn't 24 episodes of tedium.

My only disappointment was that Ginza wasn't more present in the story. Romance between her and main character only started to develop before they abandoned the idea and just made them comrades. She is ... a well rounded character, a bit weird but true to herself and strong.

Well worth the watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 7, 2021

weabooslayer69er

Mixed Feelings

This anime is okay.

I will say that the premise of this anime is quite unique. In a society of near complete corruption, our protagonist (Saiga) has to work to protect the life of the person he saves from bondage (Kagura). Kagura is known as a goddess who grants powers unknowingly to those she comes in contact with. This makes her a prime target for Japan's elites who desire her abilities in order to give them superhuman gifts.

The setting of the show provides a baseline for which the plot progresses and we can see the main characters interact. A lot of the characters are fairly ... one dimensional (at least on the villain spectrum). The exception to this is the series main antagonist Suitengu. When finishing the series, I found that I really sympathized with Suitengu and even wanted him to accomplish his goal to a certain extent. In fact, both he and saiga seem to have the same goal of wanting to expose corruption within Japanese society, however they have different ways of accomplishing this goal. This makes for an interesting conflict between the two.

The viewer is able to emphasize with both Kagura and Saiga because both strongly seek the goal of freedom. A lot of series is getting to see the two develop a bond. While this is enjoyable, the show isn't as captivating because kagura is a character archtype most are already too familiar with seeing in anime with minimal development.

The fights in the series don't add up to much. They are enjoyable, but the fights don't have much plot tied to them. They exist merely to explore Saiga's powers as he and Kagura repeatedly try to run away. I must say that the fights are enjoyable and the way the powers are implemented are unique.

Although the plot is fairly slow and not as interesting at times, the anime is very captivating near the end and it wraps up nicely, which is rare for a lot of anime. If you want a show that is enjoyable, has a unique premise and provides a complete package, then this anime is good for you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 11, 2024

petrichorbones

Not Recommended

I saw some reviews praise the character development of this show and that plus that it has such a high overall score made me want to write what I thought about it.

I saw a review use "monster of the week" to insult the way the show uses the characters that shapeshift into basically monsters and honestly I think actually giving it a real monster of the week structure would have been a positive change. I don't hate monster of the week though, so thats definitely just my opinion.

Personally, I felt the so called character development other people are praising doesn't exist. I struggled ... to really care for any of the characters, I struggled to see what their motivations even were most of the time. The main "villain" who is supposed to actually be some sort of tragic hero has an understandable desire for revenge, and technically there is nothing wrong with a character being consumed by revenge for only revenge's sake rather than wanting to prevent future tragedies or to make the world a better place but together with the bleak and devoid of personality main characters Saiga and Kagura it just fails to give you any emotional investment in anything happening.

I also don't see a ton of people talking about the show's treatment of women in general. Given the age of the show it's not surprising or special but it does hurt the show in my opinion, especially considering one of the main characters, Kagura, is extremely devoid of any personality whatsoever AND has virtually no agency at any time in the plot. The relationship between her and Saiga is vague and fails to really feel natural and I didn't feel any emotional investment. She was definitely the only main character you could truly root for throughout the show and desire to see have a happy ending but thats mostly rooted in the fact she is an abused 15 year old who doesn't really do anything wrong. But she doesn't really do anything at all either.
The only other prominant female character is some kind of police officer and her motivations and relationship to the main character are extremely vague and don't really make any sense either. I fail to see how her "happy ending" is character development. She was my least favourite character and thats saying something since most characters in this show other than Dr. Ryogoku and the main two leads are portrayed as bad people on purpose lol. There was some characters working closely with the "villain" Suitengu that had more potential for an interesting story but they weren't really given a lot of time for actual character development. I would have liked to see more of their story but it would have required a whole restructuring of the entire show. I also would have liked Suitengu better if the show was different, if maybe we were watching from his perspective instead or something maybe. Idk.

I felt like the amount of scenes showing mostly random non relevant characters being depraved was overkill and often redundant. At some point I just kept asking "and why did we need to see that?" because its not saying anything new. I say that an actual "monster of the week" structure could have helped this show because I think cutting down on redundant "lust and greed happen" scenes could have allowed them to use the monsters to portray the absurd levels of greed/lust etc better in a more interesting way, and also maybe we could have had more of a motive for Saiga to keep fighting other than "actually maybe I really did just wish I had a gun all this time". Because theoretically he wants to save Kagura but its hard to really FEEL that he does. It would have been interesting to connect in some way the other characters "euphorians" desires with Saiga's in a way that made sense. Because I never really understood what made him so different. Or why characters like the one with the strong sense of smell didn't lose their mind like many others despite also being a euphorian. If it was being purpose/goal oriented I felt like the show failed in making that evident due to Saiga's lack of personality. I think the show tried to use Suitengu and Saiga as like foils or something but it just didn't really work tbh. Also I kind of wish the show actually gave more scenes and explanation to what exactly this "virus" was. There were some details about Kagura in the beginning that never are directly explained and make no sense. It could have made the story more interesting to have more focus on that instead of just throwing it out there at the end as an "explanation".

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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