“If it's stolen we steal it back” that's the motto of the retrieval specialists with a 100% success rate, the GetBackers. Although the name is not that impressive, the anime is definitely much more impressive then it sounds. It focuses on (as you might have guessed) the GetBackers. The GetBackers consist of two people, Mido Ban and Amano Ginji. Mido Ban is the brains of the team while Ginji is well Ginji.

The series is set in the aftermath of what they have been through in the past. It shows the viewer how they keep on living and the reasons for their mysterious actions in the past. The series has the two go through many different jobs, and each job has its own story or plot. During these jobs they meet different people and we get to know about the mysteries that surround them and their relationship to the GetBackers. Ultimately this leads us to get a
better grip on the characters of the people in the series.

Unlike other anime of its Genre this one takes place in our world and not a parallel world making use of the myths, legends and even things that exist here. At the same time, Getbackers throws in some super powers and special abilities for each character to keep things fresh, like Mido ban having the power of an "Evil Eye" which essentially lets him show anyone a life like illusion for a duration of two minutes, or how Ginji can summon powerful electrical charges from within his body.

A unique aspect of the anime is the way the story is told. The anime slowly developes on it's plot, giving you bits and peices of the various mysteries of the anime and then developing on them even more. This, in effect, gives the viewer a feeling of having solved a mystery. As you only see the story and it's events through the eyes of the main characters you can pretty much make sense of how they made their deductions at the end of a story. Another thing that that this anime is good at is balancing the amount flashbacks with respect to the ongoing present story, which is very rare in even some of the best anime around.

The thing about GetBackers is that it does not focus on an unpredictable plot most of the time, rather it's entertaining feature is how the characters react to the given situations, and "that" leads to many surprises. For example, its amazingly intriguing to see just how Mido Ban and Ginji retreive the respective item their sent to, or how they meetup with a new character. At the same time, the main plot can be quite serious, and is rather interesting as it relates to Mido Ban's life as a young man and how he seemed to have killed his best friend, or how Ginji was once the leader of the most feared gang in his region, "The Volts".

GetBackers uses action immensly, and it's to the anime's credit that the fight scenes are far from boring. Unlike InuYasha or Street Fighter II V, that use dialogue to keep their fight scenes from being overly boring, GetBackers has a lot of tactics and intellect in it's fight that just keeps on amazing you. Each character has his unique fighting style and trump card. The fighting in the anime is pretty intense and entertaining. The way the fights play out is beyond intersting, and a lot of different moves are seen. After all the moves are revealed, the character proceed to use them strategically. Ginji often uses his ability of electricity in some very unique ways, and Mido Ban being the smarter of the group, never ceases to surprise with his "Evil Eye" Ability. All in all, the action is pretty darn good.

While the emphasis of the anime is clearly action and the various elements in Mido ban and Ginji's past, GetBackers is not devoid of humour. In fact, Some of the episodes in the series are basically based on comedy (but at a downside, they feel like filler episodes and can drag on a bit). The Anime's story flows well and keeps the flow consistently. No episode is without a purpose in the plot, and even the most simplistic of episodes will introduce an important character or have an interesting bit to add to the story. The quality of the anime's episodes varies from good to very good to awesome.

A very important aspect of any anime is the characters, their development and interaction. GetBackers pulls off all these elements exceptionally well. From the very first episode, you'll easily grow to like Mido Ban for his clever moves and slyness, and Ginji for his innocence and cheerfullness. Each character sticks to his personality throughout the story, and these personalities are utilized to the full, with enemies exploiting the emmotional, physical and character based weaknesses of each other. Rarely do the characters act "out of character". The important thing about this anime that makes it all that great and enjoyable, without event thinking about the whole cast of character, are the two main characters and how appealing they are to almost everyone.

The Animation is nice and slick. Each move, scene, fighting segment and dramatic moment is animated in the way you'd expect from a high class anime. The art on the otherhand varies. While normally, the art, character designs and everything else are a sight to behold, the few "funny moments" suddenly change the art into a more "kid-like" image rather than an anime style art. This seems unneccary and may even annoy a few picky people.

The music soundtrack gives the right feel and matches each situation perfectly. However the intros and endings (other then the second one) were horrible especially the first intro song. At first galance, the anime seems revolting, especially from the nast openning intro that is best skipped.

Overall the anime is one of the best out there. It has action, comedy, suspense, a little romance if you will and above all it is very entertaining. However the last few rushed episodes and the unanswered questions deprive it of an A+. I really wish they make more of this series as it is such a waste to leave such a brilliant anime with these unanswered questions.

Reviewed By SSJ Gotu.