Summary: >

The human race has spread across the galaxy and with its terraforming technology has managed to make many planets habitable. While respective planets typically have their own government, one organization operates above and between star systems: the Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs (GOTT). They're as much bound to the whims of corporations as they are to defending the law.

Within the GOTT, operates a special unit known as Encounter Shadow Force (ES Force), where two person teams are sent on special assignments that can bend the rules. Eclair and Lumiere are two receptionists at GOTT headquarters, but also low ranking ES members on the side. Taking odd jobs on the side at least keeps it from getting boring, but the assignments keep getting deeper and deeper into holding the interests of the galaxy elite known as the Nobless. Eclair also doesn't have any memories of her earlier life, and she recalls them may find that her current line of work is out of touch with what she's always believed in.

Thoughts: >

Being in the mood for sci-fi lately, I found myself in a bind, as finding titles that don't involve giant robots is a rarity these days. Enter Kiddy Grade, a title I've had for years now on the "I should watch that some day" list. I've avoided it for many reasons, but mainly because it looks like one of those titles that's all gloss with no substance. One of the characters also appears to be perilously close to lolicon territory. Also "Kiddy Grade" is possibly the stupidest title ever, and doesn't even have anything to do with the show! Every dumb title I could think of for this anime like "Space Adventure G.O.T.T." or "Short Skirt and Loli" still sounds better than what they came up with. Ugh! Anyway I had my doubts on this one, but the more I watched the more I came to love Kiddy Grade.

When talking sci-fi, this is a show which delivers some interesting tech and ideas. And what better perspective could be gained from the future, than two individuals who's job it is to smooth things over in different star systems? One theme I can appreciate involves how corporations aren't limited by arbitrary boundaries. Looking at the modern environment of our ever globalizing world, it seems very likely international corporations will reach past stellar boundaries if mankind takes to the stars. If you like action, then Kiddy Grade delivers some cool space combat as well as impressive close quarters action at the personal level.

Where Kiddy Grade really comes together is with the story. It starts out as a caper of the week, but despite the first episodes looking like throw away stories, they do provide subtle information for later on. While I expected the typical bigger plot shift part way through with possibly a plot twist at the end, Kiddy Grade got started way too early for that kind of formula. Instead it goes from plot twist to plot twist as the story evolves and it gets fairly crazy towards the end. This approach has its drawbacks as well. If you prefer well fleshed out stories, the threads of Kiddy Grade twist way too often for things to ever straiten out. Aside from this, the story itself gets disjointed and at times simply glosses over major plot holes as it continues into the next segment. I think this causes some people to misunderstand this anime as trying to be very intelligent and failing, but if it were striving to do so it would have made the effort to patch up those plot holes. Instead I think Kiddy Grade focused on entertainment above all else, and didn't dwell on details to keep things moving. While I'm the sort who loves to complain about this sort of thing, I'll be honest and admit I found the crazy plot twists way too much fun to worry about it.

The sound track is quite good, but nothing special aside from the opening theme which I found more addictive each time I heard it (the Japanese version anyway) The dub does fairly well for itself, however I thought some parts were unconvincing. The reason seems to be under-acting which causes characters to sound emotionally flat It's still perfectly watchable, and far better than the melodramatic voices used in old school dubs, but I'd recommend the subtitled version if you're not picky.

The DVD release comes with some pretty cool extras. It has the textless opening / closing, and commercials (which vary slightly so there are a few of them), but also has the Japanese piracy / copyright messages. While that might seem really lame, the cast made them very fun to watch. On top of that there's also the Kiddy Grade promotional trailer, which is basically a music video with animation done exclusively for the trailer. If you like Kiddy Grade, then I can only describe this trailer as highly concentrated awesomeness. It'll leave you drooling in anticipation of Kiddy Grade 2.

Kiddy Grade: dumb title, awesome anime. If you want something insightful, yet linear with perfect coherency throughout then this is most likely not your title, however if you want a sci-fi anime which tries to be entertaining above all else: this is it. For that matter if your idea of entertainment involves anime girls, factoring in her outfit; Eclair is one of the best designed anime girls out there. Good stuff, worth your time.