Fake
Reviewer: Holli [website] [email]Overall Rating: B+
Media Reviewed: DVD
Creator: Sanami Matoh
U.S. Licensed: Yes
Released by: Media Blasters
Run time: 60 minutes
BL Content: Soft (touching, kissing)
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Other media: English-licensed manga [review]
Dee Laytner and Randy "Ryo" Maclane are two New York cops taking a needed vacation in England. Dee has very strong feelings for Ryo and wants to take this chance to advance their relationship (and if he's lucky, maybe seduce Ryo). Ryo doesn't understand his own feelings for Dee, and doesn't know if he wants to (or should) acknowledge them. Their vacation and relationship is suddenly disturbed when murders and missing person reports keep surfacing around their hotel. The only common tie the cases have is that all of the victims were Japanese or Japanese descent. Dee and Ryo have to solve the case before Ryo, who is half Japanese, becomes the next victim.
Say hello to the first shounen-ai/yaoi anime I ever saw! It's a classic.
This plot is not amazing, but executed well enough. This OVA was based off one of the stories from the manga actually, but had enough difference in it that it made me cring a little. Yeah, cring. While the original story wasn't bad, and I didn't mind the two new female characters (I actually like Arisa and her friend. Arisa really brought out some cuteness in Dee and Ryo), the ending was bad. What I mean actually, is the climax of the story. This might just be me being anal (since the climax for the story was good, but unrealistic and it bugged me), but who would be up and walking around after being run over with a motorbike...I wouldn't.... To understand what I mean, watch the OVA, so not to spoil it anymore.
The ending wasn't really bad, but was just a teaser. Sure, it left things open a little, but that was just so people would go read the manga. After all, even though most things are explained well enough about the characters, this OVA was still meant for the manga readers, and it shows slightly. I can't help but wonder if thoughts about making more OVA episodes were in the works, since this OVA had a complete opening made with characters that didn't get the chance to appear in this OVA episode. However, that's been years ago now, so I'm sure that is definitely out of the question. The manga did end (in 2000).
As for the shounen-ai/yaoi element? Very tame in this OVA. A few kisses and a failed attempt to jump someone's bones, lol. This OVA at the most is only shounen-ai, which is funny, 'cause the original manga is yaoi at the very end and Sanami Matoh the original creator of FAKE also made doujinshi for her own series.
This anime shows it age somewhat. This OVA is not the best animation by any stretch of the imagination. However, it was efficiently made, and easy to look at. Good animation, not horrible, not extraordinary, just very good. I was warned before I watched this to beware the weirdly stylized eyes; it hardly bothered me and took no time for me to get use to. The character designs are just really faithful to the original manga. I enjoyed seeing the style duplicated so well.
Characters for this show are just hilarious and enduring, especially Dee and Ryo. Dee is wonderfully straight-forward, and Ryo understandably confused. And the kids Carol and Bikky (Carol's a friend and Bikky was taken in by Ryo) are great additions to the show. The continued fights between Dee and Bikky are great. And JJ is hystrical, but made me moan at his stupidity (which in the case, is good). And I don't like Berekly, but hey, you're not supposed to like the character anyway.
I've had more than one non-shounen-ai/yaoi fan watch this with me and find it enjoyable. If plot lacks any, the characters more than make up for it.
Sounds were pretty good, and about average. Some sounds were some commonly used ones, but less noticable sounds, like when Dee bumps his head, were enjoyable and adds to the humor. Good.
The music was very common and not remarkable at all. However, the opening ("Everybody! Shake It, Buddy!") can be very enjoyable, and is also the type of music I would expect for this kind of anime, since it was produced mid-90s, and the whole fashion of the show is very early to mid-90s. Fits nicely.
Voices were great! I loved Bikky and especially Ryo's. And of course I really enjoyed Dee's, being by one of my favorite voice seiyuu again, the wonderful Tomokazu Seki, who is know for his roles in Gravitation, Escaflowne, Fruits Basket, Weiss Kreuz and so on! He did so well doing this kind of voice, I didn't even recognize it was him! He's right up there with my favorite seiyuu after this role.
The dub was just okay for the most part. Ryo's voice needed acting lessons pretty badly; it was hard for me to decide if ever got better at his acting by the time it was over or not. Dee was pretty good for the most part. The rest of the cast was okay. At least no one for the most part sounded stereotypically gay.
While this anime is very enjoyable for me, some of the stupid things...like the bike thing...really bothered me. This was adapted very well from the manga, and was pretty close, though I have to admit that the original climax and ending to this story was cuter and a lot funnier. If you haven't read the manga, you might be a very tiny bit confused about who the kids in the show are (who they are and why they seem to be in Dee and Ryo's care is pretty unimportant for this anime), even though everything else is explained.
Not a marvelous anime, but good nonetheless.