From Teachers to Retrievers

Well, it seems like my plan in getting the GTO manga series is off.

But that's only because three of my former high-school classmates (Bob, Philip, and Jigs) and I are planning to get the complete DVD collection, which is supposedly available in that video pirates' haven, Greenhills (or so sayeth Jigs).

For only 1/8th of the total price of the manga series, we can get the whole anime series for P1,800++ (around US$40 or so?) so that's not a bad deal, right? Personally, that's a relief as spreading more than 1,000 bucks is easier between four people than 8,000 bucks is between two.

Personally, I want to check out Greenhills to see if they have other Animax shows on cable TV available on DVD there. These include shows like Getbackers, Chobits, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Saber Marionette J.

Moreover, I really want to finish the Getbackers TV series.



Getbackers, composed of Ban Mido and Ginji Amano, is one of the most successful repossessing teams in the business with an (almost) 100% sucess rate and a motto of "If it's stolen, we can steal it back". With the promise to get back whatever their clients have 'lost', these two recover (or try to) whatever they've been hired to find with lots of laughs, pathos and hard-hitting action thrown in as they go up against professionals almost as deadly as the two of them.

Oh, did I forget that the duo of retrieval specialists have some aces up their sleeves to help them in their work? Ginji is a human 'electric eel', able to generate electricity from his body whereas Ban has the 'Evil Eye' or the power to create one-minute illusions for his victims.

Before, I wasn't all that interested in the series, thinking it was another one of those one-on-one fighting matches anime like Dragonball Z or Ghostfighter. However, dropping into the middle of one of their episodes one night, I found the show appealing with the right mixture of intelligence, mystery, comedy, drama, and hand-to-hand combat. Furthermore, the art is well-made with light doses of cartoonish drawings at all the right places.

Together with a great soundtrack (almost as great as GTO), this series is another money-drainer for my wallet...

...Ah well, I can't stand not finishing a story anyway.