Eat-Man
After a period of stagnation in which publishers have limited themselves to presenting new releases of ongoing series, at the beginning of the 2000 we started to see new faces. Along with "GTO" comes "Eat-Man," based on the anime book of the same name by Akihito Yoshitomi: those who have started reading manga decades ago may remember this title. The series is a Bandai Visual production made by Studio Deen, whose TV series "Maison Ikkoku" we were able to appreciate in Italy, but to whom we also owe more recent series such as the animated version of "Fruits Basket."
The main protagonist is Bolt Crank, a professional adventurer, who would not differ much from the many lone Japanese gunmen (the Vash of "Trigun" in primis). In this anime Bolt eats metal (screws are his favorite dish) and drinks mostly gasoline, which is much tastier when consumed cold, according to him. If the dish of the day is bland, his favorite spice, gunpowder, is enough to make it more palatable. A strange diet of course is not enough to make an adventurer. In fact, Bolt's real power is something else. He is able to recreate from a small gem placed in the palm of his right hand all the metal objects he eats. For example, by eating a gun, Bolt can recreate it literally from nothing at any time, even long after the "meal".
There are no fixed co-characters in "Eat-Man", nor is there a long-term plot development, considering that the entire series is only 12 episodes. Each episode tells a self-contained story, always centered on a beautiful maiden. Bolt lives in a futuristic world in which both the state and private individuals can call upon professional "Adventurers", mercenaries capable of performing any task.
In the first episode, "Walls of Glass", Bolt meet the mischievous adventuress Kyurene, who try to involve him in her task: the murder of a powerful mobster. The second episode, "Endangered Creatures", sees Bolt assisting scientist Alesa on a dangerous mission to figure out whether some genetically manipulated creatures can be used as biological weapons by the military forces. The third episode, "The Dating Room", will see the protagonist attempt to retrieve a painting from the mysterious hotel of the beautiful Anina, in an affair with a veiled supernatural component.
I don't want to spoil the rest of the anime.
All the events have rather simple (but not boring, the narrative is well written) plots, and some hints would spoil the vision. The direction is for the most part rather conventional: only a few gimmicks in the action scenes are notable, often narrated with an approach that shows us only "flashes" of the most eventful scenes. A suggestive and impressive choice, but one wonders whether this was a narrative choice or rather a necessity imposed by the tight budget, since the animations are without infamy or praise.
There are no lapses in tone, but neither are there any sequences that calls for a miracle; however, one must always keep in mind that the series is not exactly very recent. The character design is the classic one of late 90s productions; Bolt will not fail to call to mind the more famous Vash The Stampede, if only for his distinctive sunglasses.
The backgrounds and music are very evocative: apart from a couple of cacophonous and uninspired pieces, the soundtrack is always maintained at more than good levels, perfectly accompanying the story. Note of merit also for the theme songs, adrenaline-fueled the opening one, melodic the closing one. The only drawback is that for some reasons the musics are not accompanied by any images, merely presenting the credits... and we all know how a good montage can enhance a good theme song.
The Italian edition features excellent dubbing. Especially the female figures shine in their interpretations, one among them the very good Stella Musy (Madoka from "Orange Road," Misato in "Evangelion," and many others) who voices Kyurene. Bolt's voice (voiced by Stefano Belli) does not stand out that much, but this is certainly not a lack of the voice actor as much as a choice of characterization: Bolt is not very talkative, and always appears detached.
As extras in the DVD version of Eat-man there are the usual Dynamic trailers, the trailer for "Eat-Man" itself, and character presentation sheets: one feels the lack of something more, perhaps even just a small gallery of images. The video quality, on the other hand, disappoints: the image is normally sharp and defined, but several times there are major compression problems, which turn the image into a confusing tangle of pixels for a few seconds and interrupt the sound commentary.
In conclusion, "Eat-Man" is a not particularly innovative but enjoyable anime, enhanced by excellent voice acting. In the field of science fiction, without bothering sacred monsters such as "Cowboy Bebop," series such as "Trigun" are certainly more inspired, but a fan of the genre can fearlessly try Eat-Man.
