Strait Jacket (OVA)

by Red Tue Sep 20, 2011 8:00 pm

STRAIT JACKET

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Wiki wrote:
Strait Jacket (ストレイト・ジャケット Sutoreito Jaketto) is a series of Japanese manga and light novel series by Ichirō Sakaki with illustrations by Yō Fujishiro, published by Fujimi Shobo and since 2000 has run for ten volumes. It currently has sold over half a million copies. In 2007 a three episode original video animation based on the light novel was produced by Feel Anime Studios.

It's been a long time since I've seen anime. A really long time. Also, I didn't want to waste lot of time on something like a 56 episode series, so I picked a small 3 episode OVA called Strait Jacket. Straight out of the blue and completely random, I had never heard about this before. The only thing I checked was if it was shoujo or yaoi. To my relief it wasn't either. As an added bonus, the summary promised me a lot of gore and blood. Oh goody! ^_^

Plot:
The story takes place in the town of Tristan, a steampunk alternate reality of what looks to me like a cross between Victorian era London and a picturesque German town with cobblestone roads and friendly shopkeepers and everything's nice and everyone's happy.

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^_^

Why are they happy? Well, quite a few years ago, a scientist discovered the existence of MAGIC. Hehehehe, scientists discovered magic, LMAO! = P But it makes sense though... somehow. Anyways, this scientist dude finds practical applications for magic or "SORCERY" as they call it. From medicine to military, this new "technology" is applied everywhere and on everything. This made life a lot easier for the folks.

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A tactical sorcerist using sorcery to sorcerize things.

But this power is too much for ordinary people to handle so you have to get a license for using sorcery. BUMMER! But this doesn't bother the good people of Tristan. What bothers them is what happens when every now and then these licensed sorcerists turn into mad sadistic virtually invincible demons who go on a killing spree across the peaceful city killing anything and everything that they can get their filthy tentacles/talons/hands/claws/blob-thing on because that's what demons do best; killing things.

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He's not a bad dude. He's just chillin'

Apparently the people and the state are thoroughly pissed with it. So they bring in the TACTICAL SORCERISTS! These are guys whose only purpose in life is to butt-kick the demons back to the nothingness that they came from. They have this badass metallic armour and this huge bigass gun that they use to blow the monsters to kingdom come. Everyone loves big explosions so these guys are considered very cool. Cool like "kids look up to me and chicks dig me"-kinda cool

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Mewoth! That's right!

Some believe that the appearance of these demons are due to man's abuse of magic. They call it THE CURSE as it's seen only on sorcerists who get addicted to using sorcery. Military intelligence have gathered evidence to point out that the Curse or the demon attacks are actually the actions of the terrorist organization known as Oddoman.

The story of STRAIT JACKET revolves around the lives of a lonewolf renegade tactical sorcerist name Leiot Steinberg and a mysterious little girl called Kapel Theta who follows him around everywhere. Also, Steinberg's meeting with officer Nerin Simmons who eventually develops a romantic interest in him.

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Steinberg with officer Simmons.

We also see Isaac (another tactical sorcerist) and Rachel Hammond, a brother and sister who were involved with a tragic incident in the past. An incident in which Steinberg had an important part to play in.

Review:
First things first; this feels a lot like Fullmetal Alchemist. The setting, the sorcery, the state license to practice sorcery, the corruption of the sorcerists resulting in evil beings, and there's a lot more. But I assure you, this is NOTHING like it. Strait Jacket, while it appears at first glance to be a mediocre Fullmetal Alchemist clone, is a lot more serious that it (very little things to laugh about, virtually nothing funny)
In the 3 episodes of the action filled OVA, you (just like me) will wish deep down in your heart why there isn't more of this.
The fight sequences are well done and in the 3 episodes, the story unfolds pretty well. The characters and their backstory are pretty well done too. But what I love about the series is mainly 1 thing: The background score. Simply brilliant! It complements the series and the story extremely well.

Be warned, it's a kinda sad story. There's very little in here to be "happy" about or to bring smiles to your faces at the end of the day. But despite the occasional corniness that all anime have, this one actually has a little substance. The story's quite good for a 3 episode OVA and there are scenes of mindless violence and gallons upon gallons of blood and also huge sorcery powered guns and there were demons involved too. Those things make me happy ^_^

Rating: Almost an 8/10

An underrated/overlooked anime that deserved more attention that it ever got.
This is no Inception. But it's pretty good.
If you're like me (which you are not), you'll definitely enjoy this.
... besides, it's just 3 episodes (around the same as a movie) What harm can it do? = P

by Ampitup Thu Sep 22, 2011 9:48 am

Red is back and he posted big again. I better get back to watching anime as well. I have this one but its being saved for a rainy day much like Elfen Lied and others.

Hitskin.com

Strait Jacket (OVA)

Strait Jacket (OVA)

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