Speed Grapher Review |
The rich, the utra-wealthy, the powerful. The more like that, the more corrupt, or so Speed Grapher goes to show us. Each one of them attend a secret club where their most secret obsessions and fetishes get fulfilled. From cutting off legs, to killing. In exchange for this pleasure, the rich, the powerful pay obeisance to the Tennouzu Group, making it ever more powerful and ruthless than imaginable. Japan is controlled by the Tennouzu Group, there is nothing that can’t be bought with money.
Speed Grapher follows the exploits of former war photographer Tatsumi Saiga, who investigates a secret fetish club for the ultra-wealthy. He tries to photograph the club’s “goddess”, a 15-year-old girl named Kagura, but is discovered. As he is about to be killed, Kagura kisses him, granting him the ability to destroy anything he photographs. Kagura’s body fluids can give people bizarre abilities related to their fetishes or obsessions. The story develops as Saiga aims to grant Kagura’s desire (her freedom), while on the run from the Secret club and the Tennouzu Group mega-corporation that operates it.
Later, the secrets behind the Euphoria virus which gives Saiga his ability is revealed. However Speed Grapher is a dark and bloody anime about the sins of the modern world. This series is a portrayal of the capitalism and materialism of Japanese society. Kagura is the daughter of the wealthiest woman in the world, but she is kept prisoner and nearly starved. Her mother bribes any person who tries to help Kagura. The main antagonist, Suitengu, as a display of his own vast wealth and power, smokes cigarettes rolled with 10,000 yen bills. In a stark juxtaposition, the male protagonist of the series is a photographer whose lifestyle and beliefs contrast greatly with those of the antagonists. Saiga lives in a rundown apartment and uses just enough money for survival. His self-sacrifice and personal indictment of greed is what ultimately separates the good from the evil.
Speed Grapher is a dark anime, an anime which portrays the vices of society to an extreme, just to show us what might happen. Fighting, blood, personal sin; its all here. It’s just a wonder why so many bad things still exist today.
- Review by Poparteeb
