Anime Review
Genre: Action/Espionage (13 episodes)
By Knafice-Man
No matter how many animes you saw you have never seen anything quite like L/R. The anime is extravagantly stylish and brilliantly plotted. L/R is a contemporary fiction of espionage and intriguing adventures with so many ravishing twists and turns that it is bound to keep the audience begging for more.
The story is substantially unique and secular. Set in the context of a fictional country named Ishtar, which closely resembles modern England only except geographically. A great feud regarding the royal family of Ishtar is about to erupt after being concealed for about fifteen years. The protagonists are the agents of the Royal House Guards titled L/R. Though everyone’s presumption of their code name being derived from their real names is always proven wrong, since one is Rowe Rickenbacker and the other Jack Hofner. L/R is a part of Cloud 7, the secret service of Ishtar. In the beginning they embark on some very interesting missions like catching smugglers for stealing artifacts that belong to the Royal Museum and taking down a criminal syndicate that threatens to attack the royal family. Then a random occurrence of bombings sends the two agents on a wild goose chase to track down the terrorist known as Angel. And along the way a young girl named Noelle who is just about to turn fifteen brings tons of surprises with her. Just after the middle of the series an astounding revelation takes place and the story hastily traverses to the climax with lots of astonishing twists and action in between. To say any more would certainly mar the plot.
The characters slightly deviate from your regular faces in any espionage story. For starters the agents themselves are anything but trite. Rowe is the rather laid back nonetheless maven agent and Jack is the perfect gentleman whose cast is only exceeded by his expertise. And like all agents they share the luxury of using and abusing hi-end state-of-the-art gadgets and cars. You can’t run an agency without a scientist. Cloud 7 has Desmond who shows us the many ways to cram handy gizmos into a pack of cigarettes. Mister Pennylane is the boss of L/R, who always maintains a certain level of anonymity especially about his past. And his daughter Claire keeps L/R going and tidies their house all the time. Character development is sublime and in course of events different and rather fascinating psyches of their minds are unveiled, which only makes the plot more feasible.
The animation is fluent and the action sequences are justly executed. The animation boasts stylish choreography. Albeit it lacks in drawing accuracy, the character and background details and riveting conversations more than makes up for it. The character design is less Manga and body parts are more realistically proportioned. The intro has an excellent video and the ending experiments with a little silhouette animation. The tracks are really good and rather catchy. With the exception of one JPop they are all in English and they fit in perfectly.
In a nutshell, L/R is an absolute masterpiece given that it stays true to its genre. The story is stunning and captivating from beginning to end. It’s serious with a bit of comic situations here and there. It’s guaranteed that it will leave an impression on your mind that will prevail for many days to come.
[Note: Queries, comments and rational criticism can be sent to the author at the following e-mail address: voldemort2099@yahoo.com.]
posted by Knafice-Man @ 4:30 AM
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