Master Keaton

[shooraijin]

As part of my raid of GameStop's remaindered anime section, I picked up Master Keaton vol 1 -- a series I remember reading bits of in Mangajin and liked, and since they had it half off, I bought it to try.

Well, it's very good. For those who don't know the basic idea, it's about a half-British, half-Japanese professor of antiquities (with a British military past) who also moonlights for Lloyd's of London, the insurance underwriters, as an agent and fixer. The stories are a little brisk because it's in a half-hour format, but the animation (finally Madhouse does a series that isn't oozing with megaviolence or megasex) is quality; Keaton is very well traveled and so the stories take place in lots of different settings; the plots so far are well-paced given the compressed nature; and most of all, Ocean Group -- the same ones who did Inu-Yasha, Ranma 1/2 and Maison Ikkoku for Viz -- did the dubbing. Yes, Keaton has the voice of Tatewaki Kuno (Ted Cole)! And he's *great*!

Notes on content so far (based on the first 2 1/2 or so episodes). Minimal language, no sex. A fair bit of violence, including a moderately bloody fall from a mountaintop. The box rating of 13+ is probably about right.

More as I watch more! But I can't find a box set. I really hope I don't have to buy volumes individually ... -_-

[Mr. SmartyPants]

ah, it soudns interesting! Maybe i will look it up some

[Rogie]

Actually, shoo, you will, unless Geneon comes out with a box later on. I'm a Keaton fan myself, and I'm on Volume 5. I bought all 8 volumes from Right Stuf when they had them on sale for about $8 a disc. It is a great series, and the series is very clean overall. The worst thing is the presence of alcohol in nearly every episode, and on volume 5, the first 2 episdoes dedicated to alcohol entirely.

It's definitely a sleeper hit that every anime fan should try!

[shooraijin]

I should just go get them, then. Can you post the names of each DVD? There was some confusion over which was which when I looked on Amazon. I want to make sure I'm buying the right thing ^^

[Rev. Doc]

This is a title I have wondered about. I have been hoping that since the entire series is now out and it was somewhat of a sleeper that they would come out with a box set of it. I think I may stop off at our own Game Stop tomorrow to see what they have.

The titles I found for the series are:

Volume 1 Excavation 1
Volume 2 Excavation 2
Volume 3 Killer Conscience
Volume 4 Blood and Bullets
Volume 5 Blood and Dust
Volume 6 Fakers and Friends
Volume 7 Life and Death
Volume 8 Passion Games

[Mr. SmartyPants]

im curious about the 8th volume... passion games... whats it about? Is there anything "passoniate" about it?

[Rogie]

I don't think it's anything to worry about, but I don't want to read the back of the box until I get to that point in the series. It might ruin the story! But since it's been clean halfway through, I'm sure it will be clean to the end, too.

Oh, and those are indeed the correct titles, Rev. Doc.

[shooraijin]

Thanks, Rev. I'm going to use them to, ahem, make an investment. Going broke saving money!

[Rogie]

Btw (and not to be too off-topic), when does this Gamestop anime sale end? Our closest one is an hour away, but I'm heading that way this weekend, so I could drop in to one of the stores.

[shooraijin]

Good question ... no idea, though when I went in on 12/31, there was still a reasonable amount of new and used stuff up on the shelves at my local branch.

[Arnobius]

Arrgh. Stupid double post again!!! I hate it when this site hangs when sending a reply

[Arnobius]

Good question ... no idea, though when I went in on 12/31, there was still a reasonable amount of new and used stuff up on the shelves at my local branch.

My thinking is that if GameStop is getting out of the anime business, then it'll be until they're out of stock-- which could vary on a store to store basis...

I don't think it's anything to worry about, but I don't want to read the back of the box until I get to that point in the series. It might ruin the story! But since it's been clean halfway through, I'm sure it will be clean to the end, too.

Maybe but be careful. You never know if or when a seemingly good series will suddenly turn bad (I'm remembering His and Her Circumstances). I never show an anime DVD to my kid brother unless I had already seen it.

[Rogie]

Maybe but be careful. You never know if or when a seemingly good series will suddenly turn bad (I'm remembering His and Her Circumstances). I never show an anime DVD to my kid brother unless I had already seen it.

A very good point. I loved His and Her Circumstances until that fateful point in the series when "you-know-what" happens. I had to quit watching because the turn of events bothered me so much.

But since Keaton has no overarching story (yet), I doubt that the creators would want to let it fall into lewd content all of a sudden, as there would be no real cause for it in looking at the episodes I've seen thus far. It's just a collection of individual stories connected only by Keaton's presence (sort of like Law and Order in a certain way). Still, caution should always be taken with this series or any series for that matter.

I'm going to try and finish the series soon, though, so that I can maybe write a review and just settle the whole thing. (Unless someone else does it first! )

[Rev. Doc]

I went to our Game Stop yesterday and was greatly disappointed. The only DVDs they had were trade ins and those were priced so high that they came close to what I could purchase on line new. Maybe I'll try ebay for some individual volumes of Master Keaton.

[Rogie]

Oh, that's not good. I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up then about going this weekend and finding anything worthwhile. But I'll try anyway.

Btw, Rev., you should check out animeonestop.com -- it's where I buy nearly all of my anime, since their prices are usually lower than other stores, they have good coupons each month, and $1 media mail shipping (it's actually free above a certain amount). There, you can get Keaton DVDs for about $22 (which might be considered somewhat high compared to most other series sold there).

Of course, you could also wait for who knows how long until Right Stuf puts it on sale again.

[shooraijin]

Funny you should mention that -- Right Stuf has a "buy 4, get 2 free" deal on Geneon DVDs, including Master Keaton, through 1/31. I just completed my Keaton set right hen and there (well, between that and burning an Amazon gift certificate) for about the cost of a regular box set of anything else.

Going broke saving money! Yeah! x 4000 or so ...

[Rogie]

Hey, I had actually seen that, but it never clicked with me about Master Keaton. I was just wondering if Gate Keepers was worthy of that sale or not.

Oh, well, congrats on finishing the collection! I'm about to ground myself from visiting Right Stuf. They have some really great buys sometimes, and I don't have the money to keep looking at those Weekly Specials each Thursday!

[shooraijin]

Yeah, I have to stay away from that too. I have a problem resisting a great deal, even on something I don't want *that* much. I've pretty much banned myself from swap meets because I always see some neat old computer there that I want to play with, although nowadays the old computers are mostly boring old 486s and Pentiums (no more interesting old Ataris, Commodores or Apples, not even that many consoles, and very few Macs either).

But I would imagine that Gate Keepers, if Geneon or Pioneer publishes it, is covered. That won't be more temptation than you can resist, will it? ^_^

[Rogie]

I think I'll be able to hold out, even though Gate Keepers is now on the Signature Series, making each disc much, MUCH cheaper...

ARGHHH! The forbidden fruit is getting to me!

[youngWilliam]

I saw the first Master Keaton disk at my library and checked it out. I liked it, but I don't know if they have the others or not