Mezzo

If you have some dangerous job that needs to be done, don’t worry. There is an agency that deals with hazardous tasks. People, meet the Danger Service Agency or DSA for short. Or if you haven’t, at least watch the anime Mezzo. Hehe… The tiny group of trio that consists of the combat specialist lady that shoots first and asks questions later, Mikura Suzuki, the semi-bald ex-cop and ramen lover, Kenichi Kurokawa and the point-hair android and technical Tomohisa Harada, will just do about anything if you pay the right price. No job is too big or too small as long as you pay up because after all, the higher the danger, the more money in it, right? Plus, where do you find people who loves taking on dangerous jobs and enjoy doing it? If you like your anime with violence and action, then you should check this one out. Period. Mikura is the main reason why you adrenaline junkies should see this show and easily earn a spot in the top 10 kickass girls in your list. Simply because, this hot chick kicks ass! Enough said.

Episode 1
A guy named Asano is making a deal with a group of mercenaries known as Black Scissors. Nearby, Asami Igarashi is being bullied and harassed by her friends who are extorting money from her. She resists when the wall comes collapsing and a human is sent flying through. The bullies get scared and run away. Mikura is seen busting the butts of Black Scissors. She’s firing her gun away, she’s kicking their ass away (to the point it breaks their balls! OMG! OUCH!). Man, they’re flying through the walls! Her colleague Harada is trying to get the drug in the barber pole cylinder from them when Kurokawa calls them to finish the job quick since the police are coming. So the duo not only bust their way out and down from the building, they also save Asami and leave a goodbye present for Black Scissors. An angel bomb that goes BOOM! Wow. This chick kicks butt. Awesome! Cool! Kurokawa is having a haircut at Chiyoki Mugiyama’s barber (why does a baldy need a haircut?). He realizes those Black Scissors dudes were his men and messed a transaction of some unapproved drug. Oh sh*t. Better pay for the cost of their funeral. Good for him, Mugiyama decides to let it slide. Well, perhaps Mikura asking for leniency did the trick. The trio go see their employer Kisami who tells them the drug is fake. Mikura isn’t happy she called them useless but Kisami says they need to hurry with the real drug because Asano intends to kill somebody. Flashback time. Fifteen years ago, Asano was a pathology intern along with the girl he secretly loved, Misaki. The sad part is, Misaki seems to have chosen his friend, Takizawa who already is dating another girl. Asano could put up with that and even lent him money to go on dates. But the last straw came when Misaki was murdered and all evidence points to Takizawa. However that dude went missing. The cops couldn’t find him and the statute limitation that this case will expire is closing in. So why Asano is acting now is probably he has found Takizawa who has lost memories of his past due to early age Alzheimer. Asano wants to use the drug to regain Takizawa’s memories and confess his motive before the statue expires. Kisami doesn’t want Asano to be a killer no matter his reasons. Mikura thought everything would be solved if she just kill the guy but remember, they’re no assassins. Kisami will pay double the bounty and see how the guys’ face lit up? Yeah, money makes the world go round. Now see how they rush and get the job done. Money, money, money! Time is money!

Outside Asano’s apartment, seems no one is answering. No problem. Misaki pumps a couple of shells into the door! WTF?! He isn’t in but they notice the place still warm so he must have just left. Kurokawa sees a shocking picture on the PC. Mikura and Harada see Asano leaving but he exchange gunshots instead. Enough to blow this place apart! Eventually he manages to get away. Asano sees Takizawa who is now a homeless hermit in an abandoned building. He wants him to drink the drug when Mikura shoots and destroys the tube. How did they find this place? Well, before they went up his apartment, they placed a tracker on his car. Harada tries to convince him not to be hasty but Asano says he knows Takizawa’s intentions all along and wants him to regain his memories and make him atone his sins. It will be useless if he kills him without remembering his past. He wasn’t just two-timing Misaki but embezzled research funds too. Not only that, he made Misaki an accomplice to sneak out specimens of a famous musician Paul Lennon (as in that John and Paul?!) to sell at an auction. Despite reluctant, Misaki agreed to help out seeing she loved him. At this point, Mikura just wants to kill that bastard for being the enemy of women. Unfortunately she accidentally kicks Kurokawa’s balls! I hope it’s not broken. Hopefully nothing affected too. Back to the story, Takizawa was soon discovered by his head because somebody ratted him out. He thought it was Misaki who vehemently denied it was her. He didn’t believe her and thought she wanted to protect herself and in that instant, killed her. Asano switched the specimens with someone else so all Takizawa sold was just of those of an ordinary person. Harada quips he should’ve stolen Misaki instead. Well if he did, she wouldn’t have died.

Kurosawa calls out to Misaki saying that she is the only one who can stop this now. Mikura is worried she may have kicked his balls too hard. Then Misaki pops up. She is Kisami. I should’ve guessed the reverse in their names. Kurokawa knew because of the photo he saw back on the PC. The trio couldn’t believe their eyes. Are they seeing things? Is this hypnotism? Is there an explanation? Asano is reduced to tears upon seeing her and she notes he wasted 15 years of his life just for her. They both reconcile as Misaki tells him to forget about her and love somebody else. Of course he doesn’t need to fall in love again. Now this is the unbelievable part. When the first morning rays shine in, Misaki becomes transparent and disappears. Oh sh*t! She’s really a ghost?! Well, this place is the pathology lab after all. Suddenly Asano gets shot. Takizawa is not happy everyone is trying to make a fool out of him. His memories returned or he has been playing dumb all along? The delicate structures collapse and everyone starts falling. Takizawa falls to his death while Kurokawa and Harada hang on albeit in an embarrassing position. Mikura has got Asano but she can’t hold on any longer. Asano wants her to release him so that he can go to where Misaki is. However she refuses because she doesn’t want him to make Misaki any sadder. In a big gamble, Mikura drops down and in precise accuracy, fires her gun into the gas pipe. The great impact of the explosion pushes them into the room in the opposite building. Phew. Cool! Back in their base, a sniper named Kazuto targets the trio.

Episode 2
We see Mikura facing off with Kazuto. Due to her little mistake, Kazuto gets away. Back at DSA, they’re contemplating why is he targeting Kurokawa but the baldy doesn’t want to think so much and watch his favourite idol, the weather forecast girl, Aiko Hasegawa (OMG! It’s the voice of Mamiko Noto!). Aiko is having a rough time too because her boss is telling her off to do a better job. Well, she predicted wrongly. It’s raining instead of clear skies. So much so some guy named Leon the Rain Main even notes her forecasting going off. Then he collapses and wants her to shelter him at her place. That was so uncool. And when he is recuperating in her place, he got this cheek that she got the guts to let a stranger in. Well, you didn’t want her leaving you out in the rain, right? Is the frying pan enough to defend yourself, Aiko? However he mentions he understood something when he walked into this room despite her lack of skills. Tokyo has been raining for 4 days as Kurokawa watches his idol. Mikura suddenly splashes a pail of water on him as a reminder to fix the damn leaks! He notices Mikura having a lipstick. So does she like some guy?! This dangerous woman?! Or maybe she just wants to put some on make-up. Harada then informs them Aiko is here. For real?! She is here to seek their help to find Leon. She shows him a picture and from the way things are said, he is not human. The photo is undoctored. Aiko understands why he loves the rain, dark places and always gazing at the sky. Well, Mikura thought she has one heck of an imagination. Does it come with the job? Aiko fears Leon is being chased and may have been abducted. Kurokawa gladly accepts the case. You know why lah. So why is Mikura having a haircut at Mugiyama? Well, at the edge of the photo there is a profile of Black Scissors so where else to start looking? Seems Mugiyama and his men are taking Leon under their protection (because Leon requested it) but Mugiyama isn’t going to reveal it to them. Mugiyama gets a call from one of his subordinates. Looks like they got done in by someone stronger. And in that short distraction, Mugiyama and his men got tied up by the trio who are now on their way there. Leon is being confronted by his pursuer whom we shall call Mr Magician as he wants Leon to hand that thing over. Mikura gives him a good kick that sends him clinging on to the edge of the window. As they’re about to pick up Leon and escape, Mr Magician fights back. Now Mikura has got a taste of her own medicine. How does it feel? What’s it like to get strongly kick and flying a few blocks away? Damn right he isn’t human. Plus, when she fires at him, he stops the bullets with his water. Mikura believes Kurokawa will do something and before Mr Magician could make his next move, a large refrigerator lands on his head courtesy from Kurokawa. Wow. Alien or no alien, nobody can withstand that kind of drop.

The trio bring Leon away and has him explain. He thought they wouldn’t believe him but seriously, he should try them. He explains the rain in Tokyo is being controlled by this little rock he has, which is also what Mr Magician is targeting. If they to activate this before the shooting stars come, not only Tokyo but the entire planet will be flooded. So this is a world domination tool? How do you dominate when all humans are drowned? Wait a minute. Leon was thinking of world domination? So what made him hesitate? Love? Haha. Oh. Maybe. Except Kurokawa, the rest still don’t believe this alien and thinks he’s a psycho. Leon will gladly show them their true form. Look how Mikura is looking forward to it. But we’ll never know how he looks like but we can just imagine since we hear the blokes scream in horror. That scary, huh? Aiko who is waiting for Leon, seems to have been kidnapped by Mr Magician who then busts into their car. He materializes a drop of blood and warns Leon if he doesn’t stop the bleeding, Aiko will die. So about that rock thing he wants, Mikura has it as she snatched it from Leon and dares him to get it. She leaves it to the rest to look for Aiko. They think she is nearby since she was just kidnapped and can’t be hid faraway. They find her bleeding in the warehouse and looks like only her wrist is bleeding. One handkerchief will do the job just fine. Seems she knows who Leon is because Mr Magician told her. She wants to believe the person she loves no matter what he looks like. They need to stop this rain now as the shooting star is approaching. But Leon says Mikura has it. Kurokawa notes she was just bluffing and the real one is with him. Speaking of them, though Mr Magician pins Mikura down, this was close enough for Mikura to stab her lipstick into his eye and fire a couple of point blank shots into that dude. She’s proud that Earth’s women are stronger? She maybe lah.

Leon uses the rock to stop the rain and they say their goodbyes. Leon has to go and though he doesn’t know when he’ll return, he’ll definitely return to see her. Hope it’s not a million light years later. Aiko doesn’t want to be alone so he gives her a rock that doesn’t exist on this planet. This way he’ll always be with her. Screw that. Why give a rock when he should give himself to her? Oh well, even aliens have their own reasons. I’m sure Kurokawa finds it all an emotional drama. As they look up at the shooting star, they look back to find Leon had already vanished. Well, better not tell this to anyone. Heck nobody will believe it too. Meanwhile Kazuto notes how he will kill Kurokawa next time. He remembers as he pulled the trigger, Mikura was sharp enough to kick the baldy away. Then she chased him but ran out of bullets. Aiko reports snow falling on Tokyo. No wonder it’s getting cold. Mikura brings Asami back to DSA since she was waiting for her while Mikura was doing her errands. Looks like she wants to be their disciple. Serious? And bringing to them live on their TV screen, Aiko thanks DSA for everything and that she is doing fine.

Episode 3
Asami sees a guy, Hosokawa asking his men, Hanishi to do something with this suitcase right in the middle of broad daylight in the streets.  Later Hosokawa is at DSA and wants the guys to do a simple delivery of this suitcase. Since he pays upfront 50%, they’ll accept it right away, not even asking the contents. While Mikura and Harada are delivering it (Mikura is having a blast with her karaoke microphone), Asami visits DSA looking for Mikura but only sees Kurokawa (I guess he turned her down of joining the agency last time). She decides to wait till they return (Kurokawa even quipping it might take them years to come back!). Because he looks silly talking to himself while taciturn Asami just sat and ate her ramen, he turns on the TV to see the news that someone has stolen a suitcase containing dangerous bacteria in it. Guess which suitcase is that? Asami instantly recognizes it. Kurokawa deduces the suitcase Hosokawa brought in was plastered with stickers so as not to make it recognizable. Furthermore, the scientist warns it should be kept in refrigerated places because if the bacteria spread, it will be deadly. You know that the Black Plague is, right? He is about to call Mikura when Kazuto gets ready to pull another attempt. However he backs off when Asami thought she saw something shiny opposite. Harada is driving along when a truck seemingly tries to slam them. He thought he was just changing lanes without signalling. But when the truck pulls ahead, Hanishi pops out from the back door and starts shooting at them. Now do you believe? Harada steps on the pedal to get ahead of it so Mikura could fire several shots and let the truck crash. Kurokawa finally connects with them and tells them about the bacteria they’re carrying. It isn’t long before they have to be on the run again since the truck is hot on their tail again. This time when their car comes out of the tunnel, Mikura takes advantage of the light at the end of the tunnel to blind their vision and put them out of commission. But they’re not out yet because Hosokawa comes by, disappointed at Hanishi’s failure and will come along with him this time.

At a distance, their car breaks down as Mikura shows them the news update. Seems they have been suspected of stealing the bacteria. I guess they got scared of who should carry the suitcase and before they know it, I can’t believe they didn’t even sense Hanishi sneaking up and stealing the suitcase. Mikura goes after him but to her surprise sees Hosokawa as the culprit. Hanishi grabs her as Mikura asks for the balance payment. Her life is at stake and she’s asking for money? Just like any bad guy (and as Mikura also quipped), Hosokawa reveals his plans that there is a country who wants to buy the bacteria. So making them do the delivery is just a decoy for the cops. After making them criminals, all they need to do is to ‘steal’ it back. With Harada driving his car into the picture, Mikura swiftly kicks her way out faster than the guys could pull their gun trigger! Hosokawa gets into the truck and another chase ensues. His business dealings with some foreigner on the phone have to be cut short since he needs to deal with the pesky duo. I wonder how many more shots Harada’s car can take. It’s a miracle it’s still running. The bonnet is blown up and though Harada can’t see a damn thing, Hosokawa was probably too distracted with it to notice Mikura jumping in from the top. Then she lets loose her microphone at maximum volume. Thank goodness there were no avalanches caused. Once they stop the truck driver, Hanishi shots the suitcase off Mikura’s hands. Oh no. Is the suitcase malfunctioning? Is this the end for human kind? Hanishi tries to escape himself but his truck soon crashes into the river. It’s Kurokawa in a refrigerated truck firing back at the coward and he has brought along Asami. On the way home, Kurokawa explains how he thought of it all after watching the news. Kurokawa also credits Asami for helping and that it is okay for her to come to DSA once in a while. The baddies are tied up in the truck and the malfunctioning suitcase next to them. At least this will keep them quiet and shiver in fear. Asami fawns over Mikura for being a cool heroine. She starts calling her master and thought of singing together on her microphone. She forgot to reduce the volume, didn’t she?

Episode 4
Mikura out on a date?! SERIOUS?! So the guys head over to Mugiyama to do a job (not because baldy wants a haircut). Seems there’s this guy, Taneri who is crying over his wife whom he thinks is having an affair. Yeah, she hasn’t talk to him for the last 3 days. And since Taneri has once taken good care of Mugiyama, I guess Kurokawa and Harada have to accept this case. So they are staking outside the mansion in this affair investigation and Harada is not too pleased. I guess he has to follow since he trashed the car. So Taneri’s wife comes out. Man, she’s a blonde bombshell! Totally wasted on that old geezer. They tail her to the subway but lose her since Kurokawa is an old guy who has a hard time even catching his breath and Harada getting punched by a feisty female who mistakes him as a pervert (he accidentally touched her boobs in this crowded station). The guys take a break at a pasta restaurant and it seems Kazuto is in the next table ready to poison their food. However they see the blonde and resume their tailing. Saved from another death, eh? This time they follow her to a nightclub called Stray Cat. They bump into Asami who wants to follow them since she is bored (and wants to be a heroine like Mikura). The bouncer stops Harada from entering because a minor is following him. Harada tells Asami that she can’t follow him in and explains if she dies, it’ll make Mikura sad. Inside Stray Cat, Harada sees the blonde talking to a man. Is this the guy she is supposed to be having an affair with? He snaps a shot but can’t have this feeling he has seen him somewhere. Then he got distracted when he bumps into the girl who punched him at the subway. It’s a small world, eh? The blonde and the guy leave so Harada tries to follow them but starts firing random shots! The patrons panic as they leave. Reuniting with Kurokawa and Asami, they see the duo getting into the taxi. Before it speeds off, Harada plants a tracer on it. With the police coming in, they better make a run and say their goodbye to Asami. She sees Kazuto following them as he breaks off a tree branch. He is sharpening it into a spike and gets ready to go into action when Mikura stumbles in front of him (she dropped her coin). I guess he has to abandon his plan once more. What a waste after sharpening that branch so fine.

Kurokawa and Harada disguise themselves. They already look so odd but wearing these funny clothes make them even stand out more! They follow the tracer to an abandoned factory. Oh. The taxi driver’s shot dead. Then they realized they have fallen into that guy’s trap since he knew they were following them and baited them here. Holding them up inside the building, he finds out Taneri hired them but thinks of them as mere private investigators. He is going to kill them so Harada notes how he switched it in 3 days because Taneri did mention his wife didn’t listen to what he said for 3 days. To prevent any slip ups, she didn’t talk on purpose. Then he points out the blonde is actually an android. Harada now recognizes this guy as Roid Andou. He sells robots to wealth women and makes a fortune out of it. Andou isn’t happy they know his identity is busted when Kurokawa throws his fake afro at him. The distraction allows Harada to throw a knife into his hand. Andou orders the android to kill them. Harada realizes the robot is going to self destruct (steam coming out from any hole of her head?). So the duo cooperate and pull off mind blowing stunts that only Mikura could’ve done it herself to throw the android out of the window in time before it goes boom. Harada wonders what Andou’s objective was but Kurokawa is more concerned if they made any money out of this. To their surprise, they see Andou knocked out outside and the culprit is Mikura! Well, that dude did a mistake by attacking her and got what he deserved in her reflex. She thinks he might have mistaken her for this thing. This thing? Looks like the Taneri’s real wife! And dead too. Mikura thought Andou is a baddie and asks for permission to beat him up. Funny girl. They make him spill details that Taneri’s wife was his customer and wanted her own copy so she can have all the affairs she wanted. Then he got this idea to kill her and use her android to steal secrets Taneri’s industry. The kind of information that could be sold to the highest bidder. Andou curses he was this close in pulling it off so Kurokawa tells them to blame Taneri for sending them since they are here to investigate. As for Mikura, why is she here? Seems she got into some complications (to put it in another way: A fight) with the person she’s supposed to meet and wandered here. But she couldn’t care anymore so Kurokawa suggests getting some ramen. Again?

Episode 5
This is Mikura’s story when the guys were playing private investigators. Seems she dolled herself up to meet a friend she hasn’t seen in a long time, Sakura Sakurada. Hey! Isn’t that the woman who punched Harada? So it wasn’t a date with a guy, huh? Excited at seeing each other when they meet, Sakura suggests going to Stray Cat. They’re taking the subway and when the train is about to arrive, Sakura gets prepared to push her into the rail when Harada bumps into her and she punches him. Mikura thought that ‘pervert’ looked a lot like Harada. At Stray Cat, they talk about the last time they saw each other. They were street kids running from the cops because they’ve just hurt one. Kurokawa who was a cop them confronted them so Mikura held him down for Sakura to escape. Sakura wants to go make a call and leaves her lighter which is actually a bomb on the chair. Of course this is where she bumps into Harada again but when she sees Mikura not at her place and some guy shooting randomly, she panics and tries to diffuse the lighter. Mikura seems to have gone to the toilet so Sakura takes her and escape this mayhem. At the park, Sakura continues her story how after they got separated, she still couldn’t do anything on her own. She was almost gang raped when a lady and her MIBs killed her rapists, saved her and took her under her care. Taking a break, Mikura decides to buy some corn but a coin slipped out of her hands, bringing her to a close encounter with Kazuto who eventually abandoned his plans. After having their fill of the corn, Mikura asks about Sakura’s caretaker. She replies they were murdered. Mikura then heads to the public toilet and Sakura following closely behind. She thought she saw Harada (in those odd outfits) but that dude flees with Kurokawa upon seeing that violent b*tch. Inside the toilet, Sakura had some intentions with her knife and Mikura but decides not to go ahead.

At the end of the day, Sakura wants Mikura to accompany her to a place: The abandoned factory. As Mikura looks around, she knows Sakura has thrown her lighter at her and kicks it away. Mikura has known she wanted to kill her ever since at Stray Cat. During the shooting incident, she saw Harada sprinting out and when she returned to Sakura, she saw her trying to diffuse her lighter. Plus, after not seeing each other for 3 odd years, Sakura has never asked anything about her which means she already knew about her when they met and pretended that everything was coincidence. She shows a picture of her caretaker, Momomi Momoi, daughter of Momokichi Momoi, the owner of Peach Twisters which has gone bankrupt. Mikura recognizes her as a psycho woman. Sakura says Mikura was the one that killed her. Flashback reveals a violent and action packed duel between both women at a bowling alley. Momomi was equally crazy as Mikura. Shots fired, blood flying, bodies everywhere. In the end Mikura bested and killed her. Sakura blames Mikura for abandoning her because she was waiting for her to show up all the time. By the time she had forgotten about her, she suddenly took away her most important person. Oh. Those 2 were dating? Sakura is going to finish her off with her knives but she is no match for Mikura’s super human strength. So much so a knife is accidentally stabbed through her chest. Mikura wants to save her but Sakura thought she wanted them both to die together. Since it has come to this, Sakura reveals something interesting. Mikura is the daughter of Momokichi and that Momomi is her sister. She did a lot of digging to find that and not even Momokichi himself knew. She thinks they both have the same eyes, probably why she was attracted to Momomi. Then she runs off to kill herself. Though Mikura chased after her, she bumped into Andou who thought she’s a detective. He attacks but she kicks him unconscious. So when the robot explosion occurred, it fell right onto where Sakura is. She thought the robot looked like Momomi and that she came for her. Then BOOM! The fragments of the explosion also bust open an oil drum that Taneri’s real wife was dumped into. Mikura is saddened at the events that has happened and that’s when she comes into Kurokawa and Harada and it ends with that ramen suggestion.

Episode 6
Harada and Mikura are browsing some shops with androids when Manon Asakura recognizes Harada. He isn’t happy to this old classmate of his (she claims she is his old girlfriend) as she learns Harada is into hardware rather than software of androids. She thought she would like to see love develop AI software but he claims he has not talent in that area and leaves with Mikura. Besides Mikura teasing him about his girlfriend, she wonders why he isn’t into software. Well, developing AI software according to him doesn’t make money. Back at DSA, Mikura sees a TV report that Manon who was inaugurated into Asakura Technics Corporation went missing the other day. She goes to see Harada to get more juicy details about his ‘girlfriend’. Then she sees a memory chip labelled with her name. Maybe there are ‘memorable pictures’ in it. However he asserts it is M-Anon and not Manon. Suspicious… Harada then goes out to buy some parts. Flashback time. He remembers Manon being an intelligent girl in school. Wait. That would even be an understatement. In short, he was secretly in love with this cool beauty but knows he is out of her league. But his friends put him up to ask her out for a date because they want to see him get rejected. Surprisingly, Manon agrees to go out with him! That easy? Yeah, his pals can’t even believe it. If it was that easy to ask her out, they should have done it themselves. Too bad losers. So Harada and Manon start their first date and it is puzzling that she only rides his bike even though she only has 4 hours to herself. The next day in school, Manon coldly ignores Harada. His buddies tease him his dream didn’t last. But later it is revealed that she wants to keep both school and private lives separated. Since she is a model student, she has a reputation to maintain. Harada understands so while the duo maintain their distance at school, they have fun together just about every day. He asks why she chose him but she too doesn’t know the answer. Do you need an answer when you’re in love? Back in reality, Mikura spots the dropped memory chip and gets this sneaky idea to view what is inside it.

Harada is outside when he sees Asami. Surprisingly she accompanies him instead of wanting to be with her heroine. Harada learns her parents are always busy and that she is always alone. He offers to record her fingerprint for some entry thingy so when she presses his cheek with her index finger, it reminded him how he and Manon often did that to each other. More nostalgic memories. So their date went a step further as they rode the Ferris wheel and they even kissed. Harada thought he saw Manon’s eyes flashing. As he sends her back, Manon becomes unresponsive. Stopping at the roadside to see what is wrong with her, suddenly he realizes Manon is an android. She is identifying herself as M-Anon 9993 from Asakura Technics Research Facility and to be returned to the nearest branch immediately. Harada did so and inside the lab he meets Manon’s father. He brings him to see the real Manon who reveals that today they’re supposed to break up and end the experiment. Still confused, they show him M-Anon’s body inside a capsule. This is the ‘Manon’ that he is seeing. Since she didn’t return within the curfew time of 4 hours, her battery ran out. Manon never expected that she would go beyond her calculations. The father and daughter are glad that their AI experiment has reached this stage whereby they could interact on an emotional level with humans. Manon’s father proceeds to boot up Manon’s personality on a monitor so she interacts with Harada like usual. It’s odd that the android has more emotions and memories than her real counterpart. She is happy of the times spent with Harada. Harada wonders if she is the real Manon but even so he has always thought her as a human. Harada gets pissed off when the father and daughter continue to talk about making androids that are just like humans. He didn’t like how his emotions were being toyed. In his rampage he starts destroying the place! I don’t know a kid like him could cause the entire place to catch fire. M-Anon couldn’t understand why he was destroying her. He too doesn’t know why as he sits alone and confused in the midst of the burning lab. He tried to save her but too late. The only thing salvaged was her memory chip. Police surround the place and Kurokawa arrested him. In present time, Mikura is disappointed that this memory chip cannot be loaded and needs to be used on a special computer. She was expecting some dirty pictures?! Kurokawa notes it’s data that gives an android its character, personality and memories. Asami catches Harada off guard when he asks if he and Mikura are dating. He denies. Of course not. She thinks they don’t look compatible. Haha. Then she asks about him building androids. It’s not that she’s interested but she says she’s somewhat scared of them. Yeah, Harada had one experience with it and knows how ‘scary’ it is.

Episode 7
Asami’s bullies force her to enter an old rundown mansion to take a photo of a ghost. Wait a minute. Take a picture of a ghost? Why don’t they get it themselves then? Poor Asami makes her way in only to see a big pro wrestler-like gangster guy beating up the elder owner, Ouya. Before Ouya collapses, he calls his wife over the failed ‘negotiations’. Asami picks up the phone and tells the wife what is happening. She thought she saw a girl in white. Creepy! Thankfully Ouya is rushed to hospital and his wife is grateful to her. She reveals her friends made her take a picture of a ghost so they mention this place is to be torn down and it’s not strange to have such rumours going around. The other residents have already relocated but a group of thugs are being stubborn and have turned this to their advantage. Asami knows a group of people who do dangerous things and can handle things in their place. Guess who? And so Kurokawa accepts this easy job to oust gangsters from an old building and heads to the hospital to talk to the pair for more details. And to of course negotiate the price. It’s all about the money. The rest survey the old mansion and Asami wonders about that girl in white. Harada starting to freak out. Even more, Mikura says she see a girl in the window. CREEPY!!!

Back at DSA, they have gathered some information about the thugs that are made up of Baba (the boss), Kira (the big pro-wrestler guy) and other members that include Sakaguchi and Ouki. Harada needs to plant a tapping bug in their place so Mikura comes up with a crazy idea. She infiltrates the place (getting gross at how messy the place it – like the inside of Kurokawa’s head. Haha!) and poses as a massage girl promoting the opening of her new store. So I guess when Baba couldn’t feel her massage, he starts feeling her butt. That’s when he got kicked. Better be careful. The wall could crumble any minute. His goons come in but they’re no match for her except for Kira. Too big and strong for her kicks to have any effect. She is swung around the place. She manages to place the bug and make her exit by jumping out from the window. While she’s falling, she thought she saw the girl in white. Then using a grappling hook to slide down to her comrades waiting below and speed away. Well, it’s amazing the building is still standing seeing Baba just went trigger happy with his machine gun. And now that this has happened, DSA can’t get close to them since they’re on high alert. But it’s Kurokawa’s turn to hatch a plan. Mikura waits outside the place as the massage girl so mad Baba sends Kira and Sakaguchi to get her. She leads them to a dead end whereby it’s a trap for the cops to corner and arrest them for whatever criminal charges. Seems Kurokawa called his ‘old buddy’ the district police chief, Senzou Omabari. Ouya thanks them for a good job. He thinks with the muscle men out of the way, they can negotiate with the rest. Him? Negotiate with gangsters? He will pay their money and complete the contract. They see Asami staring at the building. She wonders about the girl.

Despite their involvement is over, Harada continues to tap the place since he feels something is wrong. Baba is upset his men got arrested so he accidentally breaks the wall and discovers something horrifying. Somebody (looks like Ouya) destroys the tap and Harada thought his machine was spoiled. Asami is by herself at the place when she picks up the girl’s stuffed bunny and follows her. Mikura wonders when will that girl’s family move so Kurokawa mentions the building is deserted and the thugs are only occupying it. Then it hit Mikura. There’s something wrong about that girl. She didn’t look alive. Yeah, took you long enough. She’s got a bad feeling about this and rushes there. Asami bumps into Ouya and his wife. When she says she wants to return this bunny to the girl, the couple turn into their true colours. They are going to kill her for knowing. Know what? They think she’s threatening them. Threat what? Asami runs and hides inside the gangsters’ room. She is shocked to see their dead body. Ouya reveals his plan to kill the thugs and tried to find a way since that big guy posed a big problem. Mikura arrives just in time to kick that old guy off his balance. Then everybody saw another horrifying thing. The decomposed body of that girl in white behind the broken wall. The couple went crazy, accusing her for coming out and that she’s a bad child. In the aftermath as they pay their respects to the dead girl on the site, Kurokawa explains that the room the thugs were residing used to be Ouya and his wife’s room. Before tearing it down, they wanted to dispose the body but the gangsters settled in. So when the wall crumbled, she was discovered. Asami feels sad for the girl and thought she could do something for her like being her friend. Wondering why she was killed, Kurokawa mentions the couple was very strict and tend to apply harsh punishments. Then it went awry and by accident they killed her. Harada is relieved that he can’t see the girl though he still can’t believe everything. And Kurokawa notes that humans are still scarier than ghosts. So true.

Episode 8
At Makura Research Laboratories, scientist Makura is being persuaded to do some research on antibody reaction to a new type of deadly virus. How? He’ll get paid more. Yeah, find a suitable person and he’ll start the experiments immediately. Asami’s bullies mock and push her down for her failure to get the picture. Mikura saw everything and Asami is happy upon seeing her. However Mikura tells her what is the point if she doesn’t get up on her own. She leaves without lending a hand. On her way back, she gets a ticket for some virtual experience. She tells it to the DSA guys about wanting to be a volunteer but I guess Kurokawa was just mouthing his mouth off before he realizes he has hurt Asami’s feelings. Mikura on her way home from an errand sees the guys consoling Asami at a park. Then back at DSA, she sees the ticket and decides to take up the volunteer job. Makura is more than happy to have her as a volunteer as she is put to sleep in some machine. The other scientists start the dream experiment. Because Makura saw some awesome data, he thought of doing some alterations giving excuses that they need some data to counter if dreams become nightmares. So Mikura is having a weird dream. Harada in a suit late for work and Kurokawa obsessed about bread instead of ramen. Definitely strange. Then she finds herself running away from ninjas, wolves that turn into ninjas. This is not the elegant castle life she wanted. Then Kazuto (now a samurai) tries to slash her with his sword. She got scratched and in real life, she also bleeds. That’s when the system goes out of control and becomes unresponsive. Now the scientists are panicking. Harada, Kurokawa and Asami are at the gates of the lab when Harada mentions he forgot to bring the ticket along. So how? Sneak in! They are baffled to see the ticket on the table. Did it teleport itself here? Haha. Nice one. Then they see the commotion in the next room and Mikura being plugged to a machine. Makura explains about his experiment system thingy. Well, there was nothing wrong when they advertised for volunteers. Note: Was. Though she isn’t in any form of danger, it seems she can’t come back to reality. Asami decides to bring her back by diving into her dream. I don’t understand the explanation about switching this and that and must adhere to some settings or else Mikura will be exposed to additional danger, thus why Asami is the only one who could go in.

Mikura finds herself tied up S&M style while the police chief turns into a tentacle monster to tentacle rape her! Then comes her saviour… Warrior Princess Asami! Huh? She thought she saw Harada the knight in shining armour but it’s just a decoy to tentacle rape her too! Seems Harada is trying to hijack the system. The guys aren’t happy when they learn Makura has turned a deadly virus into an enemy and made defenceless Mikura fight it as a guinea pig. She volunteered? They’re not going to buy that crap. And since Asami’s consciousness is tied with Mikura, they can’t bring her back now. Yeah, all you can do is watch. Kurokawa remembers consoling Asami since she wanted to be strong like Mikura. He suggested holding a good luck charm. A gun?! Asami and Mikura are running towards the exit but stumble upon Mugiyama and his Black Scissors underlings. Mikura couldn’t kick her way out and Mugiyama is going to give her a barber haircut. Sorry man, she prefers the beauty salon. Haha! Asami couldn’t believe she got separated from Mikura and is hiding in fear. Then she sees Kurokawa and Harada opposite and sees his hand gesture. Then a real gun is in her hands as she sums up her courage to fire a couple of shots before Mugiyama could seal Mikura’s fate. In the aftermath, Kurokawa and co are seen walking out of the ruined lab. He mentions giving Asami a loaded gun and when she started firing, it destroyed the system. Well, I guess it’s okay since Mikura and Asami came back alive. That Makura guy may have a hard time losing his livelihood but he deserves it for trying to make a profit by running experiments with live subjects. Mikura and Asami could not remember a single thing from the dream so Mikura notes this virtual experience is meaningless if she can’t remember a thing. She doesn’t even remember the panic the lab was in since she was too dazed. But she did note she wants to take a peek into Kurokawa’s dream. Asami cautions her she better not because she’ll regret it. I have a feeling she’s right!

Episode 9
A serial murderer in a clown suit just killed his victim as he watches Mikura takes down a target. Kurokawa sees Omabari to get some bullets and the chief doesn’t seem to like him but has to oblige because I guess Kurokawa may have saved his ass once too often. News are rife that this serial killer named Mahito is going around killing his victim and leaving a message of what number they are. The police are getting hammered due to their inefficiency and Omabari is having a hard time handling the press. Asami learns that Kurokawa and Omabari are ex-colleagues and the helped them out in all sorts of areas. Seems Kurokawa isn’t part of the force as he was fired due to some misconduct. At least that’s how Mikura puts it. Then they receive a client. He is Hiroshi Otokawa and shows a message he got. He is going to be another one of Mahito’s victims. Though he thinks it’s just a bad joke, he wants to play safe and hires them to be his bodyguard for a week. So as Mikura accompanies him, she is appalled he has no plans whatsoever and wherever they go it seems like a date. So when her time is up, she just goes. Meanwhile Harada gets a call from Asami. She wants him to come to her place. Seems Asami has got a message from Mahito too and is quite scared. However Harada laughs it off as a prank. I don’t think she’s joking. She wants to hire him as her bodyguard! Just to sooth her anxiety, he hacks the phone to discover where the message was sent. Though, Asami would’ve preferred him to be her bodyguard. It’s much easier that way, right? They trace it to an abandoned building and as Harada notes if the police can’t catch him and he can, it means this is just an imposter, right? However they see a dead body inside the room. Asami sees Mahito’s message on the door and this really isn’t a prank. Harada wants her to get home because if the police get here, it’ll be messy. Harada somehow got caught and was released by Omabari since he knows Kurokawa. However the chief relays a message through him to warn Kurokawa not to be sneaky behind his back. So the trio sit down and talk about what just happened. They notice something strange about that message. Instead of the usual “You are victim number five”, it was written “He was number five”. It’s like as though they are leaving a message to others. It can’t be Asami since she is unable to do hacking. So this could mean the message was intended for DSA? But since they’re not defenders of justice nor is there any money in it, Kurokawa has no reason to oblige. But for Mikura, she just wants to kick somebody’s ass.

Mikura goes do her bodyguard job and tells Otokawa she wants to end this job right now. He is shocked because he thought the deal was for a week as he planned to seduce her for that period. Oops. Harada and Kurokawa continue to discuss about the recent murder. They note all the victims were scumbags. Maybe this Mahito guy is some dark crusader of justice? Then Kurokawa realizes something odd. If that guy who just got killed is number five and Otokawa is number six, shouldn’t Otokawa get killed first since he got the message earlier than the fifth guy? Plus, the handphone that was sent to Asami, it was never on scene of the dead guy. Mikura calls the guys to tell them she has turned down the bodyguard job. When she returns to Otokawa, he drops dead! How can somebody just got killed in the middle of the crowd just like that?! Mikura sees a shady character and goes after him. Harada and Kurokawa rush on site and from witnesses’ information, they have an idea where Mikura went. The clown figure leads Mikura into the building and she almost got sliced by a giant axe. Inside a room, pictures of the victims distracted her and the clown tied a noose around her neck. She takes out her gun and he dares her to shoot. Unfortunately, it’s a dud. However he is upset she can’t execute him and will have to kill her and find some other who can kill him. Meanwhile Harada notes that the dead Otokawa is actually a robot and that the real one is… Yup, you guessed it. That clown = Otokawa = Mahito. Seems Otokawa is playing a game to see who can execute who first. He got bored with this world but suicide seemed boring and would like to die by somebody’s hands. He laments that death penalty in this country has become illegal and all those he executed were just scums. He wanted to be executed by a cute girl like her and saw her the other night. He’s talking about wanting to get killed by others. I’m sure if he lets Mikura down, she’ll kill him. So what’s he talking about? Kurokawa fires a shot to snap the noose while Harada pins that psycho down. Otokawa dares her to kill him but all she did was punched him in the face (and lost a few teeth). Even if it kills her, she won’t kill him and wants him to rot in prison for the rest of his life. Is she sure about that? Later Kurokawa confronts Omabari about the duds and the latter is quite apologetic. To make things up, he gives him more bullets so I guess Kurokawa lets him off the hook. Pleasure doing business with ‘ya.

Episode 10
The famous Diamond Eyes mummy is being exhibit in Japan. With jewels eyes and teeth, you know it’s going to be a target of thieves, right? However there is this curse going around that all those involved with the mummy died in mysterious ways. Harada and Mikura don’t really believe about the curse but it seems Kurokawa has taken up the job to transfer the mummy. Have they learnt anything from that escort job with the virus last time? Seems the sheikh, Furahre Nabacola hired Kurokawa for the job. He doesn’t deny about the rumours of the curse that people had died mysteriously. But all transports in Japan have rejected them and DSA is his only hope left. So to say, they are going to shoulder the curse too? Furahre mentions their country is poor and makes their income via exhibits around the world. Japan is the first of many stops and if this fails, you can see where this is going. Since other treasures are being transported through normal channels, DSA will take a different route so if anything happens to them, the media won’t get a lead on them and that anything could be erased. Blunt, but that’s the truth. Kurokawa is going to reject the job, mentioning the things he is not good dealing with (including blonde, tight bodied pheromone wives!). However Furahre gives him a cheque. Wow! How many zeroes are there?! I guess even Mikura is hyped up to challenge the mummy’s curse. Meanwhile Kazuto gets a haircut at Mugiyama. Seems the barber wants him to finish the job within this week as there’s no turning back now. As DSA discuss the routes to take, suddenly Kurokawa gets intense stomach pain. Must be the ramen. Wait! Is this the mummy’s curse? Don’t say it is! After being wheeled off into the ambulance, Harada drives there to visit him but a black cat crosses his path. He swerves to avoid and the brakes are not working. Into the river! See, that’s what you get for rubbishing curses. Mikura and Asami are walking along when the metal signboard almost fell on them! What was it again about transporting that dried potato, girl? Once the gang are back together, Kurokawa mentions something strange about the ramen he ate that gave him the crams. It seems it was from the store that was promoting its ramen and when he went back to file a complaint, the store never existed. Is this the curse working? This only pumps up Mikura to challenge that mummy.

On the day they are transporting the mummy, because the crate is heavy (the mummy is loaded with jewels. What do you expect?) Kurokawa and Harada lost balance. Thank goodness the mummy is alright. Could’ve been cursed by the Pharaoh, eh? But Mikura is showing no respect and kicks the coffin! Moments later, the truck they’re supposed to transport the mummy blows up! OMG! If they were slightly faster or that incident didn’t happen, they could’ve been roasted. The curse is heating up. But it seems a few baddies aren’t happy things didn’t go their way. Transporting it in another truck, Kurokawa seems to be praying real hard to God. Was he a believer? His fear gets even worse upon thinking Mikura who is at the back with the mummy, giving that dried potato a lecture! Dead people don’t talk back, right? Suddenly several cars pull up alongside and they fire at them. The chase is so intense that the coffin broke from its strap. Though Mikura is not amused, she says she’ll still protect it since it’s her job. Harada tries to out manoeuvre the cars but eventually the truck crashes on his side. The guys are being held up as the baddies transport the mummy to their own truck. They are glad Mikura is hiding pretty well but are baffled because usually at this point, she’ll just kick ass. The baddie reveals that the curse was fake and they used it to their advantage to warn people to lay off the mummy as they plan to steal it. So every ‘curse’ that has happened to far was done by them but they were so lucky that it had to come down to this. Oh sh*t! Come to think of it, they weren’t bad luck, they were lucky to escape by the skin of their teeth! Now he’s going to kill them. Before anything else could happen, Mikura busts out of the coffin and does some serious kick ass! She’s wearing the Pharaoh’s garb! OMG! Your saviour Goddess has arrived! Mikura mentions the mummy ‘told’ her that someone was targeting them. The mummy what? That’s why they trade places and she wore his garb. The baddie still hasn’t given up yet and is about to pull the trigger on them. However the gun backfired and exploded in his hands! It’s curse for him but luck for our trio. The mummy is safely transported and Omabari (whose force was in charge of transporting the other treasures) isn’t pleased Furahre had hired DSA secretly to transport that mummy. But Kurokawa puts it, all is well and ends well since they both completed their job. Before DSA parts with the mummy, Mikura mentions how it was the mummy who saved them. If Harada and Kurokawa had not dropped the mummy then, Mikura could’ve been blown up as she was in the truck. And then when the gun backfired on the baddie, can’t say it’s all coincidence, no? She apologizes for calling it a dried potato. Well, at least she’s showing some respect. As DSA head back, Kazuto prepares to make his move on them.

Episode 11
Kazuto charges towards Kurokawa but Harada pushes the old guy out of the way because he saw a body falling off a building. Woah! Somebody just committed suicide and almost took Kurokawa with him. Kazuto withdraws but Mikura spots him and goes after him. She wants to know why Kurokawa is being targeted but he ignores her. She got distracted by the phone ring and the next thing she knows, he is gone. Next day, Asami sends a video because she was worried about them. Mikura teases Harada that Asami likes him. Meanwhile Kurokawa sees the young boss of a yakuza clan. Seems there is this serial killer called Phantom who has been going around those who received his mail. Doesn’t this sound familiar? Four of the five have already been killed and the last one is the young’s boss father. And all those killed seems to be quite important people. It is mentioned that the killer is so skilled no one has ever seen his face with the exception of some girlfriend of one of the victims. She was with him when he was killed by couldn’t take the trauma and killed herself. So what the young boss wants isn’t a bodyguard. Heck, yakuzas needing bodyguard? They want him to die in their boss’ place. Oh sh*t! Or at least be a decoy so that he can catch this Phantom killer. What about using a robot as a dummy. No good. Tried before but the real one got killed instead. Mikura happily wants to go with this case because if they fail, their reputation will be tarnished. So… Who is the one who is going to be ‘killed’? Looks like Kurokawa got the honour. So screwed. Kurokawa disguises as the yakuza boss while the hospital is heavily guarded with his men. Mikura is the nurse while Harada sets up cameras everywhere. The real boss is at the top floor but it seems the killer knows about it and makes his move. An unregistered presence is detected so everyone goes on alert. However a gunshot is heard and it seems the real one got killed. Harada suspects something amiss. If the killer is on the roof, then who is this one right on this floor? Turns out to be Kazuto as he strangles Kurokawa with a wire. Harada saves him in time while Mikura goes after him. They fight but he clearly overwhelms her. However he doesn’t kill her and leaves. Mikura has most of her energy drained and collapses. The guys run up to the rooftop to see the yakuza cornering another one of their men (he was the one by the boss’ side). Is he the culprit? However he goes crazy and blows himself up with the grenade.

The young boss holds a funeral but it is a mock one because the real one is somewhere else. The one who died was just a body double. So a decoy to fool a decoy? Well, DSA got compensated anyway. Harada and Kurokawa talk about the victims of Phantom. Kurokawa mentions about the development of LCD screens and those who were killed were involved in its making. The person whom this was stolen from is Yuuichirou Ozuma. Harada thinks he has heard his name before and does a search. It turns out to be the guy who jumped down the building. He was a famous programmer and was also the client. Harada is baffled why Phantom wasn’t detected on the cameras. Then he realized something. Learning the circumstances the victims were killed, the victims didn’t take precautions and the location of someone close is unknown, Harada goes on a massive internet search and finds Phantom. It is some sort of virus that applies hypnotism to whoever looks at the screen of the handphone. Ozuma was the one who made the vaccine which destroyed it but with his level of skills, making a stronger version for handphone video isn’t a problem. Even if the person is dead, the order execution programme is still activated. Since mail is sent indiscriminately to anyone close to the target and a personal judgement is made, if the person is dead, the order is forgotten. But if the person is alive, then the order is to kill. Thus there is no person named Phantom. The murderers are those who saw the mail and got controlled. This makes the controlled person believe he is Phantom and after mission accomplish, he will kill himself to leave no traces of evidence. So that’s why when the bodyguard killed the fake yakuza boss, he killed himself as he didn’t know it was just a body double and thought he had accomplished his mission. Kurokawa calls the young boss to inform him not to let anyone close to the real boss answer his handphone. However it fell on deaf ears as he doesn’t give a damn. Soon, the yakuza who was guarding the real boss fell victim to this Phantom programme and kills him before jumping out of the window to commit suicide. And the young boss couldn’t believe it. For DSA, they’ve got no obligations to continue since the yakuza got what they deserved. Mugiyama and his men surround Kazuto over his failure. However he beats the goons up and gets close enough to threaten him. He assures he will settle this.

Episode 12
A short flashback sees Kazuto killing his father for killing his mother. With nowhere to go and out in the streets, he is picked up by Mugiyama who likes his cold emotionless eyes. Mikura gives Asami some basic martial arts lessons. She seems fine doing the basic punches. Mikura accompanies Kurokawa to the ramen shop since she is worried about him as the events have become more dangerous. True enough, her sixth sense kicks in and she pushes Kurokawa down as Kazuto fires randomly into the shop. The duo run out the back and they thought they got the better of Kazuto but it’s the opposite. Kazuto seems to have the advantage but something is making him hesitate. This allows Kurokawa to fire a shot to wound his arm and make their escape. Mugiyama’s henchman has observed everything and reports back that Kazuto was hesitant in firing not only to Kurokawa but Mikura as well. Since it is obvious Kurokawa is being targeted, Mikura goes out to do errands for him (what else? Ramen). However several tough guys approach her and want her to come along. Like hell she’s going to listen. Don’t think their big and tough looks are enough to intimidate her. She knocks them out instead! It took Mugiyama’s henchman to stun her out with a taser. The others realize Mikura is late and feel something is wrong. She is in fact being tied up in a strait jacket at Mugiyama’s place. He’s going to give her a nice shave and he’s just letting her sit here till somebody gets the job done. Mugiyama’s henchman calls Kazuto to say he has made his job easier and to finish it. Kazuto makes a move and he doesn’t like his work to be interfered. That guy is suspicious that for a skilled assassin to drag a job this long, has he fallen for that DSA girl? Kazuto shoots and kills him! Omabari seems to be having an affair with his daughter’s friend, Aya. Suddenly Kurokawa barges his way through all those policemen stopping him. It’s no use trying to hide Aya since Kurokawa’s a sharp old dude. So that chief has to order his men to stand back. Kurokawa is here to collect some cool ammo from him. After concluding their business, it seems Omabari’s business with Aya has also concluded because the girl has lost her mood. He is furious and can’t leave it to that barber anymore. Kurokawa and Harada are driving along. The old guy has a feeling Mikura was target so it would be easier to kill him. It’s obvious when the bodyguard is out of the way, right? In that case, they will have to strike first.

Asami didn’t like sitting and waiting around the office and do nothing despite being assured by Harada. Thinking she needs to help out, she rushes out. She sees Mikura’s handphone lying outside Mugiyama’s barber. Wait a minute. It was lying there all day right under their noses and nobody notices it or picks it up?! Asami peeks through the door gaps and to her horror sees Mikura tied up in the seat. Mikura is asking if Mugiyama has a grudge against Kurokawa. I’m sure he does but he just says it’s his job. Asami needs to save her now and barges in with a beautiful flying kick. Mugiyama thought this cute little girl is harmless and I suppose let his guard down but she lands him a kick in his crotch! Ouch! She remembered those kicking lessons well, eh? So the tables are turned and Mugiyama now gets tied up while the girls rush off. At an abandoned building, Kurokawa and Kazuto play cat and mouse. Kazuto thought he had fired his bullets into him when it turns out to be an inflatable decoy. The guys corner him and want him to spill the details but his mouth his zipped. Kazuto drops his submachine gun but wounds Harada with his hidden knife. Then he chases Kurokawa to the rooftop. He thought he got shot but it seems it is Mikura who shot Kazuto’s shoulder. Since he couldn’t sit quietly, a struggle ensues as both Mikura and Kazuto fall off the ledge. If not for the grappling hook, they could have plunged to their deaths. However the hook isn’t going to hold on so Kazuto kicks Mikura into a storey floor before he plummets down. Kurokawa gets a call from Asami. I’m sure she’s not just calling to see if he is alright. Well, there’s something big happening on the news. Seems the police have moved in on a country-wide arrest on Black Scissors and DSA which is a part of its group that has been responsible for contract assassinations. Hey, those are the mugs of the DSA trio. Why is only Mikura has her eyes blacked out? The police have raided Mugiyama’s place and detain that barber. So the real crook behind it all is of course Omabari, who relishes at this great opportunity.

Episode 13
Thanks to the tarpaulin, Kazuto got some soft landing. Since the police has surrounded DSA, Kurokawa needs to head back to check on things while Harada stays back to find Mikura. Well, Harada says he’ll be fine and this little injury is nothing. Yeah, he just doesn’t want to worry others and once he enters the lift, he collapses due to loss of blood. Asami is hiding in Harada’s robot workshop when he police and Omabari comes in to search. The chief gets a call that Mugiyama has escaped from transit and orders a hunt for that barber while leaving minimal men to guard the place. Omabari has also hired a pair of dirty and crooked cops who would do anything (even if it’s illegal) as long as there is money. They are Akudou and Kose and Omabari wants Kurokawa dead before he spreads any scandals about him. Kurokawa is a few blocks away from DSA but Akudou confronts him. Prior to that, he told Asami to find some button and press it. The entire office exploded! Boom! The explosion distracts Akudou and gives Kurokawa enough time to speed off to fetch Asami sliding down the garbage chute. So why was there a bomb in the place? Well, they fixed it as part of a joke if the building was ever surrounded and never thought of using it this way. Besides, the office is supposed to be rocked a little and not come collapsing down! Tells you about the materials of the structure, eh? Old… Mikura sees Kazuto lying unconscious and notes how lucky he is. Maybe she shouldn’t have said that because the metal pipes start falling. Mikura uses her own body to shield Kazuto. Once Kazuto is awake, she borrows his handphone to call an ambulance. Though she can’t forgive him for targeting Kurokawa, he did save her and needs to repay that. Kazuto suddenly throws his knife. But this is to lure out Kose who is here not to arrest them. Kose fires his gun at Mikura but this time Kazuto uses his body to shield her. Mikura pump some bullets into Kose’s guts. The last word Kazuto said to Mikura was his name. Kose still had enough strength to pick up his gun and target Mikura but is shot dead by Kurokawa who came back in time. Then they hear Asami’s scream. She has found Harada’s body in the elevator. Thankfully, he’s not dead. Since Asami’s parents are away overseas for the month, she allows them to take refuge at her home since she considers them her friends. As for their arrest warrants, Kurokawa says they’ll have to get to the root of this and show who among them is the true crook.

Omabari isn’t thrilled that Kose is dead after paying so much and wants Akudou to kill that baldy. No need to repeat because Akudou will do it for revenge. Omabari gets a call from Aya. Seems she is an idol and in a meet-the-fans session. She received a bomb threat on this place so Omabari decides to show off his power by putting his entire force on standby at her session (among them is Mugiyama in disguise). Halfway through suddenly the big screens display Aya and Omabari’s steamy private affair. All the fan boys must be shocked! Aya slaps Omabari because she’s screwed. Omabari isn’t pleased to learn Kurokawa and Mikura are the ones who put up that video and orders his men to arrest them. However the otakus are not going to let the chief get away since he sullied their Aya. Police chief or not, they beat him up! Feel the power of the otakus! Kurokawa and Mikura run into Akudou. The duo put their hands up despite knowing he is not here to arrest them. In a blink of an eye, Mikura swiftly pushes Kurokawa away (Akudou’s shot barely just scraped past him), picks up her gun and fire back to disarm Akudou and do some cool kung fu kicks before getting thrown into the lamp post. Kurokawa has got his gun so Akudou can do nothing but let them escape. However the police have cordoned the area off to isolate them and Akudou relishes hunting them down. The duo tease Akudou by hiding in the Ferris wheel carriage. Akudou fires away when the carriage comes down. It’s amazing Kurokawa didn’t hit when he busts out of the carriage just like that (the carriage was made of steel, I guess). The distraction was supposed to trap him inside but Akudou pulled Mikura with her and she’s hanging on the ledge of the carriage as it continues to rise. Kurokawa races to the control room to reverse the Ferris wheel’s direction. The jerk has Mikura fall off. At this point both sides pull the trigger but Mikura is faster and more accurate and nails it right in his forehead. She is hanging by a wire. Omabari wakes up after all that beating and wonders why all his men are out cold. Then he realizes Mugiyama behind and the barber is going to make this seal face return to the cold freezing ocean. Safe to say, he got what’s coming.

In the aftermath, Asami’s bullies continue to extort her for money. However this time she isn’t going to quietly give in. This time she could say no and fight back! Oh yeah! Show those bullies where they stand! Maybe she’s the new Mikura in the making because she’s saying her trademark lines of not living long enough to eat dinner if you’re like this or like that. Mugiyama’s business is back but the customers will have to make do with the decimated building. Fancy an open air haircut? As for DSA, their new ‘office’ is temporarily based at the park. It’s getting cold… I wonder how they salvaged the large “DSA” neon lights signboard. Then Mikura has a vision that they’ll be having a dangerous job soon. That’s what they do, right?

Mezzo Forte

Prior to the TV series, a double episode OVA called Mezzo Forte was released back in 2001 and is actually a prequel. Maybe I should have seen this first but heck, it never hurts to see the TV series sequel and then go back for a little retro. This OVA tells the story of DSA and their run in with the mob boss of Momokichi who owns a professional baseball team and her psycho daughter, Momomi. No wonder there were some clips in that episode with Sakura that looked like as though there was another episode made (and the drawing seemed slightly different too). And here it was. So what happens when you’re a danger service agent and get yourself into even more danger with the mob? Furthermore, things go very much awry. Hell yeah, not even God can help you. That’s why you’ve got to rely on yourself.

Episode 1
Momokichi and Momomi watch a game of baseball since he is the owner of the Peach Twisters baseball team. Later at the car park, Momokichi beats up the ineffective pitcher till the bat breaks while his daughter finishes him off with several gun shots. Game over. The DSA trio are delivering a life-like female robot to some shady guys (they’re going to use ‘her’ for prostitution of course). While checking the goods, Harada and Mikura get body searched and one of the guys searches Mikura too far by having his hands all over her body and gets a super slap. Meanwhile Kurokawa who has his car parked outside meets an ex-colleague. Seems he is not happy about his book that has revealed about the corruption in the force. Although the police and Kurokawa are no saint, he did this since he got fired and well, it’s making lots of money. Be prepared for volume 2! The shady guys are not going to live up to the deal to pay up so they’re going to kill the duo. Good thing they never trusted them so they started backtracking and countdown. Eh? Nothing happens? Actually it’s supposed to be Kurokawa’s cue but he’s currently being harassed by the officer. Eventually he manages to push the button and this sends the robot bloating before exploding the entire room. Harada and Mikura jump out the window and into Kurokawa’s car. The baddies also jump down and are going to give their piece of sh*t to them. There are holes in the car now. Mikura takes out her gun and starts firing. Now there are even more holes in the car. Kurokawa steps on the pedal to make their escape.

Back at DSA, the trio are having a nice nabe courtesy of Kurokawa’s royalties. They are being visited by a client Emoto who called yesterday. Momokichi’s bodyguard, Hirooka tells Momomi that her herbal doctor is here. However he wants to know why the dead bodies of the team’s baseball coaches are floating in her pool. Seems they tried to sell her to a gossip magazine and she killed them. Like father, like daughter. She’s not even fazed! She thinks it’s hell of a normal since papa does this all the time. Heck, he’s got about 17 women and he’s interested with someone else’s wife. Humans… Soon Momomi and her dad are having a bowling game of their own at their own alley. Harada and Mikura are close by as their target is Momokichi. They try to drug his drink via mechanical ladybug with laxative but it’s not going too well. Hirooka spots the ‘bug’ and swats it away. Though it is destroyed, the laxative fortunately fell into Momokichi’s drink. Soon that guy is running to the toilets to take a dump. This is where Mikura and Harada jump in from the ceiling to put that guy to sleep and drag him out through the ceiling. Man, how heavy is this dude? So as they drag him, his ring fell off and well, down the air wells and all, it had to land directly to where his bodyguards are standing guard outside the toilet. They know something is wrong. One of them confronts the duo (still dragging the fat guy) and wants him back. Okay. Okay? Yeah, throw it back to him. Hah! He can’t even carry! So blam! Mikura fights him and in the struggle to put him to sleep, Harada accidentally injects himself. Goodnight. This is no time to catch 40 winks! The bodyguard dares Mikura to steal the boss away and guess what? She just shoots through him! Shoot first, don’t talk. But when he falls, he crashes down through the ceiling, right in the middle of Momomi’s game. It’s either he is heavy or the ceiling’s structure is too weak. Oh, the fat daddy comes following too.

Momomi and Mikura’s eyes met and it’s as though they’ve got a feeling they’ve seen each other before through their visions. Then the cool action starts with Mikura fighting and pounding all the bodyguards, breaking their necks, limbs and balls with her twists, turns and kicks. Momomi uses her shotgun to fire away and doesn’t care if she hits her own men. Hirooka stops her since he doesn’t want her to kill the boss. Since Mikura is out of bullets and options, she starts getting panicky and wonders where the hell that old baldy is. Oh look. Here he comes. Crashing his car into the alley! They got enough time to put Momokichi’s body in the boot and Mikura time to do bowling with the bomb bowling ball. Strike! But she’s not doing it for fun. Remember when the ball goes to the end and back of the lane, where would it resurface? That’s right. Since the bodyguards are too busy firing away at the car, they didn’t see it come back up. Then BOOM! Our DSA trio must have one hell of a ride. From inside the alley to outside the sewers. Hey, the car is still running! Mikura wakes up in a hotel and it seems she likes Kurokawa?! Then they proceed to make love and once he is done, it’s Harada’s turn but she’s not too happy doing it with this guy. Turns out it is just a ‘nightmare’. Kurokawa and Harada are confronting Emoto about the lack of information that put them in danger. Well, they specialize in dangerous jobs, right? Well yeah, they’d prefer to stay out of danger too. Emoto wants to see Momokichi and imagine Kurokawa and Harada’s surprise when they learn who their target is. I see they know him by name and not by looks, eh? But Emoto can’t pay the other half of the deal. Because Momokichi’s dead. Crap.

Episode 2
Momomi isn’t happy the bodyguards were useless and failed to stop the kidnapping. She borrows a gun and shoots them all! And if any of them is still breathing, the other men will shoot him dead! Harada and Kurokawa know they are in big sh*t as they bury Momokichi’s body. They know about Momomi’s reputation as a psycho b*tch and have to do something about it quick since she uses her crimes to cover up her big businesses. Mikura has an idea since they don’t know Momokichi is dead and can use that to their advantage. However the guys aren’t too fond about it even if Mikura ‘threatens’ she’ll quit. Though Emoto was tied up, he manages to free himself and hold up the trio with a gun. He says he is a hit man hired by Momokichi a while ago. After burying in a sure place nobody will ever find Momokichi’s body, they talk it out at a diner. Emoto mentions about the cases whereby baseball players were murdered. Kurokawa remembers that unsolved case when he was still in the police force (and have long flowing hair!) and pursued it with a passion. Emoto admits he was the one who killed them all. About a year ago he retired as a hit man and Momokichi gave him lots of parting gifts as appreciation. The problem is Momomi. Due to her suspicious nature, she thought he would betray the organization and wanted to kill him. That’s why he asked their help to kidnap her father. At least as insurance till he escapes overseas. But that doesn’t seem to be happening now. He wants them to go along with Mikura’s plan. Otherwise he’ll kill them and only leave Mikura alive (because she shares his same view). Got your backs against the wall, eh? Suddenly the shady perverted duo show up. Fate to meet them here? They throw Emoto out of the place. First thing Mikura asks is about the payment. Maybe they’ll pay for their funeral. But being perverts they are, Mikura distracts them with a naked woman call. The oldest trick in the book and they fell for it. They stick the knives into their hands! OMG! Bloody! When the trio get out, they Emoto’s is nowhere to be found.

Momomi dreams about her father telling her to be nice to Mikura because they’re both ‘the same’. They get a ransom letter that wants Momomi to do the exchange herself in 3 days. Millions of dollars in exchange for her father’s life. Looking at the disc that comes with the letter, it shows Momokichi telling them to do what they are being told. A tough guy like him getting subordinated? DSA must be truly fearsome or his age is showing. However Momomi isn’t going to give in yet and will use this time to stall and run background checks on the kidnapper. Mikura goes out of the office in pretence to buy food (she’s sick of ramen and they have orders to stay in since they might be targeted). But this is a ploy to meet Emoto at his place. Meanwhile Kurokawa and that ex-colleague are watching a movie together. Heck, Kurokawa is blackmailing him for some information in exchange he won’t put into his next book about his gay relationship with the chief! Outside, Kurokawa is being attacked by a couple of Momomi’s men. They pry his fingernails to make him talk! Ouch! They let down their guard since they think he is injured and willing to talk but Kurokawa shows why he is a hard-bitten cop and puts the bullets back in them. No mercy! Kurokawa rushes back and calls Harada what happened and thinks if Momomi plans to double cross them, she’ll have to think again. Emoto gives the other half of the money to Mikura. He thought holding it back after Momokichi’s death was childish but if he gave them then, he is afraid the guys will take and run. Mikura says she believes they will not betray her. But nevertheless she’ll put it in her personal account. Sneaky, sneaky. As she leaves, Momomi and her men just came up the elevator. It’s time for some super human action with Mikura’s punch sending a guy blasting through the wall!!! Momomi however shocks her out with a taser. Kurokawa returns to see his office bombed. Luckily Harada was hiding in his workshop which the baddies didn’t find and is safe.

Momomi beats up Mikura but she’s not getting an answer. Mikura can’t fight back due to still being groggy after the taser attack. Momomi is about to carve her face when she gets a call from Kurokawa. He wants an exchange for Mikura with Momokichi. Of course. And they’ll meet at the baseball stadium. The reason why Momomi was able to find details about them was thanks to the perverted duo. They reported them to her after their meeting at the diner. Since they have 8 hours to go, Momomi allows them to use the balance of their time to ‘efficiently’ do whatever they want with Mikura. Oh sh*t! It can’t be! They rape her! At the stadium, both sides meet and race opposite to retrieve what they want. Momomi of course has dirty tricks up their sleeve as she has Hirooka arrange some hit men to take them out. However Hirooka kills the hit men! When Momomi is reunited with her dad, he is acting strange. I mean, he says he doesn’t like violence. Of course he is actually a robot and Momomi is still unaware. Harada is supposed to push to button to detonate but I guess some programming somewhere was off so Momokichi starts running instead. The DSA trio bump into the perverted duo with Momomi and her dad. Momomi wastes no time in letting a few bullets fly into Mikura. Wait a minute. She went down that easily and the guys aren’t worried? Suddenly the car comes barging onto the scene and out comes Mikura! The one who was shot was just an android. Kurokawa mentions due to an ex-member of theirs helping them to get in, they substituted Mikura with a double before her interrogation. This means the perverted duo raped the android! Felt so real, eh? So the final showdown as both ladies fire at each other. The shots accidentally hit Momokichi and in the end Momomi got shot. Momomi realizes her dad is an android and that she lost to this trash girl. She swears she will kill her in the next world. For now, sleep tight. Good riddance for that psycho woman.

Emoto appears and shows his true identity: Hirooka. The gang know it was him since when he entered their office, they did a body scan and the result was his bones didn’t match of those of an old man. Hirooka is going to kill them but Mikura expected this. Seems he needed to use them as a third party to kill them and after that he’ll take over the business with his own strategies. Momokichi doesn’t know how to run a baseball business and those DSA guys don’t know about him. Easy, right? Well, Harada says he doesn’t know about them too. Momokichi’s malfunction indicates his self-destruction mode is activating. The body explodes and sends Hirooka flying up into the air. Man on fire! Then he lands right in the middle of the baseball field and probably his own grave. Is that where they buried Momokichi’s real body?! Damn! The trio are still alive. Lamenting they didn’t get the ransom. Lamenting the car will be scraped. Lamenting if the authorities will find Momokichi’s body. Well, even if they do, they were careful not to leave behind any clues. The perverted duo are fed up they’ve always get the short end of the stick. They are going to put the trio out of commission and are confident since they don’t have guns or weapons. Suddenly the car comes crashing down on them. Splat and flat! In the aftermath, looks like their office will cost a lot to be repaired. They might be out of business for a while when Mikura sees another vision that will have them rake in big bucks. Well guys. Should you take up the offer?

If You Aren’t Kickass Enough, You Won’t Be Alive To Eat Dinner…
Okay… So it was pretty much an enjoyable affair. Firstly, the action did not disappoint. I would rate them four stars out of five. However I wish I could say this for all the action and choreographed bits but some action sequences felt like they were poorly done. When I saw the first cool action scene in which Mikura was busting the balls of those Black Scissors guys, I knew I was going to love the intense action that the series has to offer. However in some subsequent episodes like the one that involves the alien and the car chase for the escort mission (for both escorts), it feels ‘weak’ and not convincing to make me feel the excitement that Mikura gives whenever she goes into fighting mode. Yeah, in terms of addiction, action here is like sex. Oops. More on this dirty topic later. The OVA it seems as compared to the TV series is grittier, violent, bloodier and much gorier. It’s what you expect from an OVA production that can’t be shown on normal television. Heck, this show isn’t for kids in the first place. So be warned. Get ready to see holes through body parts and blood flying all over the place. It’s a dog eat dog world and a dangerous place so the violence here reflects the kind of hostility that the characters will have to go through in their jobs and daily lives. Negotiation isn’t part of this world’s vocabulary. If you want to get something done, you have got to get down and dirty. I guess with this show having lots of violence, there are lots of deaths too but they are mostly on other minor characters for that episode and it’s a good thing that our DSA ‘heroes’ time isn’t up yet although they have stared many times at the face of death (and got out of it). That’s what you call survival if you have got what it takes to continue breathing in this dangerous place.

The DSA trio could take on any kind of jobs no matter how absurd it is so much so I thought they were really pushing it when they put in the first few couple of episodes a job that involves a ghost and an alien! Unbelievable! I mean, I thought it would be just the most dangerous and precarious tasks that no other humans would even want to take on (not even Gintama’s Yorozuya would) but putting in ghosts, an alien and eventually androids into the case? Really out of this world. And with DSA coming out tops in the end (or at least they succeeded in their mission one way or another – but whether getting paid or not is a different story), I thought, man, what is next for these guys to conquer? How about monsters like vampires or werewolves? Then they can even move on to God! Yeah, at this rate, I still think Mikura can face up to God or any kind of demigods and kick their ass without feeling repentant. Well, that Pharaoh’s case was the closest one to a God but it didn’t count since they weren’t fighting against it. Yeah, nothing can stop them if they put their mind and skills to it. Of course with lots of luck. But the worst kind of creatures that DSA has to put up with is of course humans. They come in all sorts of bad, psychotic attitude and crazy personality so that’s why when the baddies bite the dust, you don’t feel for them and in fact, root for DSA to beat the crap out of them.

The second amusing thing is the interaction between the DSA trio. You should also pay attention to the lines they say as some of them are witty. They might seem like a bunch of ragtags put together but they have this deep trust and bond, the reason why they work well together and get to pull off their dangerous jobs. Mikura the action woman is the kind of strong and tough girl you don’t want to mess with because she rather beat you up rather than listen to reasoning. Though she may seem more brawn than brains, she isn’t exactly stupid and as I put it, rather naive from the workings of society and the world. But I guess that is okay since nobody can best her when she is in top form as she does it her way. Just give her a gun and she’ll be a mean lean machine. If not gun, then her kicks will do. But better to have a gun lah. Something about the team leader Kurokawa that I find amusing. It’s the way he talks. How should I put it, it’s like in his speech he likes to make puns of certain words and some words he says it too fast like as though there is no full stop in between. If he wasn’t a policeman, I bet he could make a good comedian. If not, a good ramen tester. He knows the best ramen in the world. Wait, no. Hell, every ramen is good to him! I don’t know how this guy gets his information but once he has some dirt on you, you’re going to be at his mercy for the rest of your life. For Harada, he’s got his good points and funny parts too. To me, he may the least interesting out of the DSA trio, but without this blonde, the team won’t feel complete. Asami may not be part of DSA but her motivation to be as strong as Mikura and her little help outs do save the skin of the DSA trio at crucial times. Whether it is official or not, Asami is a valuable asset to DSA. Maybe she’ll have a chance of joining after she graduates from school? I mean, DSA is already made up of weirdoes, what is an elementary school girl into the mix? Right, don’t want to make it weirder, eh? Besides, it’s not like Asami doesn’t know the danger she is getting into when she gets involves with DSA, right? So it’s a good thing she learns a few life lessons or two and in the end, doesn’t let her bullies walk all over her. This Mugiyama is a strange guy too. The way he acts makes you wonder if he is an ally or enemy. Maybe it’s just his obsession that he likes to ‘trim’ people especially if they fail or upset him. Omabari when he first appeared, I knew there was more to him than meets the eye and that he would be hiding something. I was right when he turned out to be the biggest crook. Heck, a lot of people here are villains. Even the DSA trio aren’t angels either, you know? With a face that looks like a bad guy and strands of moustache that resembles whiskers, don’t you think that’s enough a giveaway to consider this guy as the villain?

There were a few things from this series that I didn’t comprehend. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention (because all I am interested in was Mikura busting people’s ass). For instance, about Kazuto. So we’ve got this mysterious killer who is targeting Kurokawa. His presence is like a teaser to us, making us wonder why he is out for that baldy. I’m sure Kurokawa has stepped on a lot of feet during his time at DSA and in the police force but that’s another story. The odd thing is that Kazuto hesitates in killing his target. It’s like everything must go well if he is to execute his target. And if there is a slight interruption to his plan, he abandons it. In this case, how can he ever get the job done? That’s why he’s stalling to kill Kurokawa right till the very end. So what is the cause of his hesitation? Does he really have a heart for Mikura? It may not be obvious but it’s the only possible reason why he couldn’t get his job done after so long. No wonder Mugiyama ran out of patience since I guess the big time crook police chief hired him to get rid of Kurokawa and he contracted his prized hunter to do the job. Well, don’t take it so personal. After all, it’s only business. So when Kazuto kicked the bucket, it was like nothing. He’s just gone. Don’t feel any major impact whatsoever. Like as though if they had put in an unnamed and unimportant assassin character, the flow of the story will still progress. Another thing that remained unsolved is Mikura’s link with Momomi as sisters. Is it true what Sakura said? Even in the OVA there is this small but not obvious hint why they are both ‘the same’. I thought it was worth exploring like how they dedicated an episode to Harada’s past but I guess we won’t see any focused episodes of how Mikura really ended up in DSA or Kurokawa’s time at the force. So what happened to Manon’s case? I thought that girl popped back up in Harada’s life? Unless it was just a cue for his flashback story. I also thought there would be some explanation about Mikura’s odd ability to see short visions of the future. Perhaps this little sixth sense is working like a double edged sword. It gets her out of trouble and it drags her into it too (because we all know Mikura’s kickass character).

I think they try to put in a little romance factor but it’s not something overwhelming. Heck, who has time for romance in this action flick? Anyway we’re not too sure if Mikura likes Kurokawa. Because it is hinted vaguely in the OVA but it might just be a dream of hers. Though she doesn’t display any affection that a young teenage girl would when she is in love with a guy, perhaps the reason if she ever shows them (which she did not) is probably she looks up to him as a father figure. But I too can be mistaken about that since Mikura calls Kurokawa, “Ossan” which loosely translate as “Pops”. But you call most old guys by this name too, right? It is more obviously hinted that Harada has a crush on Mikura but it was never really pursued. During the time when he played private investigator with Kurokawa, Harada just got depressed whenever Mikura’s name is brought up or thoughts that connected to her. As for Asami, maybe Mikura is right that the little girl does like Harada since there are a couple of hints to indicate this. Unless she just looks up to him just like how she looks up to Mikura as her model to be stronger. Hope she doesn’t take after her attitude too.

Now on to the fanservice part. Since the TV series was produced in 2003, I wouldn’t really say that fanservice would be a very questionable subject. Unless you get real turned on with a dangerous girl in tight orange body hugging outfit with a gun in hand. I don’t even actually notice if there is any except for the scene between Omabari and Aya. Even so, it is nothing I would consider explicit. That short tentacle rape scene actually didn’t go anywhere so you can’t really consider it as one. The opening credits animation with certain scenes of Mikura and Asami in different outfits has more fanservice elements but like I said, it’s nothing explicit. However as for the OVA, now I understand why it was classified as hentai. For the version that I watched, in addition to frontal nudity, there are actually hentai and sex scenes towards the end of the episode! Unfortunately I regret to say that now those explicit scenes have been burnt into my cranium and it would take years before forget about it. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise because it reinforces my preferences that I still do not like hentai animes. Ecchi fanservice in the name of comedy, okay. But hardcore hentai? That’s a big no.

As for the drawing and art, no doubt it is in the fashion of the early year 2000’s, being the cyberpunk theme, I acknowledge that some of the characters do look weird. I mean, Harada himself is already looking weird due to his ‘armadillo hairstyle’, but some of the other characters I think they just look non-human. For example, Momokichi I thought he looked like a big fat Chinese vampire! Heck, his skin tone is grey so I thought he must be made of metal! Then there’s the father of that young yakuza boss, I thought he was a green toad! Well, his face definitely looked like one. As for Mugiyama, I thought he looked like a cross between a zombie, vampire and Captain Jack Sparrow! Serious! Then for the ladies, there is something odd about their looks. Maybe it’s just me or do they have a broad jawbone? Because of that whenever the ladies, even Mikura and Asami look at a certain angle, it makes them look weird. Oh, and with their big anime eyes, it makes them look odder. The TV series’ art is more polished compared to the OVA and in the former, Mikura has tied up her hair into twintails which in a way makes her look less ‘green’ despite she’s still the tough kickass chick in both. Her twintails may make her look more kiddie-like but I feel her short hair length in the OVA makes her look like a rookie. Both the opening and ending themes (Suki Mami Mai Tai and Mitsu respectively) are sung by Barnabys and they are hard rock. Very much suiting the pace of this action genre.

So my overall verdict for this show is that you just watch it for the pure fast paced and physics defying action. Not for the storyline, plot or character development. Since the episodes’ story serve as standalone, I don’t think you’d be missing important anything if you don’t watch it in chronological order. Safe to say (oh, the irony), as long as danger keeps knocking on the door, DSA will do what is necessary to see their way out. If danger was a beautiful woman, would you marry her? Well, if you dare take the risk to dice with death, maybe you’ll be able to stick around long enough to eat dinner. By the way, I’ve got this feeling that I’m going to hurl if I see somebody eating ramen…