Title: Get Backers
Volume: 1 (of 39)
Creator: Rando Ayamine & Yuya Aoki
Format: Unflipped
Original Publisher: Kodansha Ltd.
US Publisher: Tokyopop
Release Date: 2/10/04
Pages: 216
ISBN: 1591826330
MSRP: $9.99
Genre: Action/Comedy
Rated: OT (Older Teen Age 16+)
Description: The job of a retriever is not a very lucrative one, at least not for Ginji Amano and Ban Mido. Unable to attract even one client, they're so down on their luck that they've ingested nothing but water for the past three days. They attempt -- unsuccessfully, we might add -- to land a date with some girls in the hopes they'll buy the starving duo some hamburgers. And having lost their last yen to a maliciously dysfunctional vending machine, death by starvation seems imminent ... until a homeless man takes pity on them and shares some of the food he's been able to scrounge.
Upon learning that Ginji and Ban are the GetBackers, he offers them all he has left to get his daughter back from the Yakuza ... and so begins our saga ...
Contains 5 Parts:
- Act I: Enter the Getbackers
- Part 1: No Such Thing as a Free Lunch Date
- Part 2: His Daughter’s Keeper
- Part 3: Undead Men Tell No Tales
- Act II: The Case of the Lucky Cat
- Part 1: Like a Bat Outta Heaven
- Part 2: A Cat Always Lands on its Face
Review:
Cover: Boy, where do I start with this piece of work. Well, let’s begin with the front. First off, Tokyopop changed cover designs. The first cover design was decent. The new cover design just hurts the eyes.
The front has a bright orange background, with a sideways slash on the top that is black. On the black background is the series title in white, which was about the only thing I was impressed with. From the G on the “Get Backers”, we have a white looking strip that goes down to the bottom of the manga, and then makes a right turn where it meets the spine, which is also white. We have a relatively . . . well, I am not going to say nice picture. I don’t like it, let me just get to it. It’s a very red pic of Ban and Ginji, the two main characters of the Get Backers series. They have some black ink on it as well, which fills in the details, but as a whole, the front cover is one of the worst covers I have seen Tokyopop release in a LONG time. We also get the mangakas gracing the bottom of the cover as well.
The Spine is half way decent. From top to bottom we have the new “Tokyopop Logo” which I don’t care for as much (it is too big in my opinion). Under that we have the series title, the mangakas, the volume number, and a picture of Ginji in red and white. The picture is from the front cover, but it looks better then the red and black pic they used on the front cover.
The back cover is the same color as the front (shudders). We have the black slash on the top with the series title. Orange background, again, with the manga volume summary. Under that we have the 100% Authentic Manga Stamp, and to the left we have a pic of one of the main characters from the first act of the manga.
As a whole, the cover could have been a lot better. For your next cover, Tokyopop, please don’t use so many bright colors. It hurts the eyes.
Artwork: The artwork of Get Backers flows rather nicely. It is very consistent in style, which makes it more enjoyable for me to read. The mangakas also put a lot of detail where it should be put (emotional and action scenes). For the most part, the art inside the cover is rather nicely done, which deserves to be noticed, since the cover may scare some people away from the series due to its brightness.
Translation: Since this is my first time reading or taking anything in from the Get Backers franchise, I can’t really say that much on the translation as of yet. The character names and Japanese honorifics are all in here though. Plus sound effects are left intact.
Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers): Not to get too much into detail with this series (it is definitely worth checking out), I will go over some of the minor aspects of this volume.
In Act I we start off with these two teens, Ginji and Ban, who are looking for work because they are flat broke. They want something to eat, so they find a vending machine with some health drinks. All they need is a lousy 10 Yen in order to purchase the drink. They see a kid who has the 10 Yen they need, but the kid has a mission for them; get back his copy of Final Fantasy IX from someone who stole it. So, Ginji and Ban decide to take up this case, so they can at least eat. In the process of getting the game back, they get beat up by the thief’s older brother.
The second mission involves a little more then just stealing back a video game. An old man wants to see his daughter, who was supposedly kidnapped by some Yakuza, before he dies. In this main part of the first Act, a lot of angst is revealed, and we also get to see a nice display of our heroes in action as Ginji uses his static powers for the first time and Ban uses his Evil Eyes.
Act II, which I don’t believe finishes in this volume, introduces a few other main characters: Hevn and Natsume. Our Get Backers get a new mission, this time to retrieve a stolen good luck neko. As our heroes retrieve the item, they manage to break it. They bring it back to their client who is thankful that they brought it back to her. However, there is a new enemy in the room with them. Hishiki, a shady character in a black suit, attacks the Get Backers. Ban uses his Evil Eyes to create an illusion that brings Hishiki to his demise. However, another black suit man appears behind them with a knife to Natsumi’s throat. He asks for the contents of the beckoning cat. . .
The manga ends rather abruptly, making the reader want more. This series so far his drawn me in, and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next volume to this series. Other then the cover, this series is almost 100% perfect in my opinion. So, go get your copy of Get Backers V.01 today!
Objectionable Content:
- Language: Yes
- Violence: Yes
- Nudity: Yes
- Sexual Situations: Yes
Overall Rating: 4/5
Where Purchased: Orbits
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