Master Keaton

###Master Keaton

[quote]Genres: mystery, slice of life
Themes: crime, detective
Objectionable content: Significant
Plot Summary: Taichi Keaton is a man of many talents: father, historian, frequent traveler, negotiator, archaeologist, former survival instructor, and all while working as an insurance investigator for Lloyd’s of London. While his methods may seem a bit unorthodox, he gets the job done when needed, but not without a little something to learn or teach in the process. Through all of his adventures, some people call him a quack. Those who know him well call him a master of life…
Number of Episodes: 24
Vintage: 1998-10-06 to 1999-03-29[/quote]
ANN Info Page

###Master Keaton (OAV)

[quote]Genres: adventure, drama, mystery
Themes: military, police
Objectionable content: Significant
Plot Summary: Taichi Keaton is a man of many talents: father, historian, frequent traveler, negotiator, archaeologist, former survival instructor, and all while working as an insurance investigator for Lloyd’s of London. While his methods may seem a bit unorthodox, he gets the job done when needed, but not without a little something to learn or teach in the process. Through all of his adventures, some people call him a quack. Those who know him well call him a master of life…
Number of episodes: 15
Vintage: 2004-02-10[/quote]
ANN Info Page

So anyone see this great anime yet? I bought it on a whim last June and I’ve been watching it slowly ever since. 39 episodes is a lot for me, but I’m getting through it, 3 more to go! So far this is an excellent series! Of course I have a Madhouse bias, I seem to love most of their stuff. But still this is one of my new favorites. It’s very smart, very interesting, and very different. It’s a mature series too, one I don’t think many anime fans would enjoy, but there is definitely a fan base out there who will eat this up. And I think I’m part of it lol :stuck_out_tongue: . Also it’s a pretty laid back series at times, slowly paced, but very rewording. So keep that in mind. It’s a down to earth series too, very grounded in reality, which is nice and refreshing, and although it’s episodic in each episode you learn a little more about the amazing guy known as Taichi Hiraga-Keaton. He has become a new favorite character of mine, he’s such a great, original character. Very cool too! There are a few recurring characters like Keaton’s friends and family, but the story is mostly about him and his adventures, investigations and daily life. It’s a little like MacGyver meets Indiana Jones and Sherlock Holmes, but it works surprisingly enough. At first I thought Keaton was a little “too much” being so good at everything, but you learn he has problems, just like the rest of us. He’s a very human character. His daughter is a real character, and his father is exocentric, but they are very good people too.

The stories vary in quality, and I find that the first 7 or so episodes are very poor when compared to the rest of the show. Which is a real shame. I think the reason for this may have something to do with the beginning of the manga being written by someone else, and then later being written by Urasawa (Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto, Yawara). My favorite episode so far is Episode 27 “The Red Wind". But for the most part Episodes 10-36 (the episode I’m on) are all great. Some episodes are incredibly suspenseful. Other episodes have some great slice of life scenes, and others still have a great mystery, crime or something for Keaton to investigate. Some episodes deal with Keaton having to survive or beat out the odds when they’re against him (and pull something out of nowhere and beat the villain in a very unorthodox way), and others can be as simple as talking to an old women on a train, or researching the history of a wine bottle. Each and every episode is very different, so that’s a plus. And I do think there are a few episodes for everyone in this show though, so give it a chance.

The artwork is very simple for it’s time, but it all looks very nice. Background are realistic, and portray Europe and Japan very beautifully (that’s another thing, this is a very worldly series, each episode can take place anywhere around the world). I love the character designs, they look great. Very realistic and different looking, although if your watching Monster you’ll be used to them. The only problem with the artwork is it’s very simple for it’s time, 1998/1999, and the color pallet is not perfect (waaaay to light at times, although it does have it’s own charm). But it does look great overall, so that’s all that really matters.

The background music is pretty good, although very laid back. But opening theme song is a favorite of mine, although the endings are forgettable in my opinion. But the dub is really where this series shines! Ocean gave this an amazing dub! Keaton is played by Ted Cole, who nails it! Really the man is amazing! His voice, his acting, the way he talks, all of it is perfect for Keaton. The other characters are all well cast, and many have accents. Most of the characters are actually played by people who come from the same countries their characters come from, which is a plus in my book. And although not every accent sounds perfect, most of it is great. My only problem with it is it’s VERY laid back at times, some actors needed to put a bit more emotion into it. But it’s not that big of a problem, seeing how the show is like that anyway most of the time. But like I said before, Ted Cole makes the dub 100 times over. If all the other actors were terrible (which they’re not) this would still be an amazing dub, because the guy is really something else!

I think this would appeal to fans of mature episodic series like Kino’s Journey, Human Crossing and the Black Jack OVA’s. In fact Keaton and Dr. Black Jack have a lot in common. They are both epic, almost superhuman characters, that still seem like real people. They have their own problems and worries, but when it comes down to it, they can do what needs to be done (amazingly I may add). They pull off the almost-impossible (without stretching/braking the bounds of reality most of the time) and make you smile when they’re done. Both the Black Jack OVA’s and this are very alike, they go perfect together in my opinion. Also fans of episodic series like Case Closed and Lupin III might like this as well.

Well hope I didn’t write too much lol. Anyway give the show a shot if you haven’t already. Any fans of it? Please comment!

I see after 3 or so years of them being in the Bargain Bin and several abundance sales RSI finally ran out of stock on most of it. Also see Robert’s has done the usual price hike on one of the volumes now that they are harder to come by. Not as bad as some of the ones I have seen him do. Wonder if he bought stock from Rightstuf for cheap like he did with other stuff.

Anyway this and Hajime No Ippo/Fighting Spirit are still in my huge backlog.

Yeah I noticed he did a price hike too. I bought all the volumes off of rightstuf, and was surprised to see most of the series is sold out already. Anyway it is a great show, push it up in the backlog a little lol…

No one else has commented on this, even though Monster is currently airing? O.O Be sure to see this if you get the chance. Dragoon I think you would really like this, it’s a lot like Black Jack. Keaton is one of the best anime characters out there IMO.