From the very first moment this DVD opens you get a feel for the show and how it will be for the entirety. It’s easy enough to say in hindsight and having viewed the whole thing, but even from the start I recognised a simple action that dictated the series’ mood. I’m not gonna ruin that for you, but needless to say, you’ll know when you see/hear it.
| "I hate the way naked humans look… " |
King of Bandit Jing is about thieves living in a land of fantasy. Everywhere strange creatures wander the landscape, fantastical beasts and some stuff just too weird to even describe. This is the kind of show where the producers say to the writers and animators, "Go nuts" and all manner of whimsy comes frothing out of them.
Yes, this is definitely an animator’s dreamscape.
However, they haven’t gone totally nuts. Herein they are obviously still working on a budget and so heavier time-consuming action scenes and the like have been effectively removed. This gets a little annoying I gotta say. I want to see swordfights and gunplay and stuff!
Alas, not often. The weaponry used here is in organic weapons. Jing has a talking albatross named Kir as his sidekick who mysteriously turns into a killer gun clamped to Jing’s arm whenever he requires firepower. He then fires big balls of green flame out to the repetitive cry of, ‘Gimme a Kir Royale!’ like he’s been watching Pulp Fiction too much.
It’s a bit of a pet hate of mine, the Japanese studio cheap re-use animation, and has been ever since Prince Adam used to hold aloft his sword and say, ‘By the Power of Grayskull!’ (However, when faced with complicated scenes in my own animation career, I was entirely welcoming of them… ). The point remains that there is a fair use of recycled animation here, which leads me to think it’s aimed at a younger, less-caring audience. There are still swags of gags for the growed-ups though with nudity jokes, stealing and ramshackle architecture falling heavily on people and things.
The overall emphasis is on fun for a change and here there’s a practically unlimited world of ideas to plunder at will. Set in some fantastic world of crime and medieval-inspired fanciful creations, the adventures are inspired fun with some quite stern hidden social comment. Our lead protagonist of Jing is the fabled Bandit King, being that he can and has stolen everything he’s ever taken a fancy to without so much as a whiff of effort. The fact he’s a 12 year old boy may even be saying something about the world in which we live, but who knows? His partner Kir is the aforementioned albatross (according to the case), although I saw him more as a hybrid between a vulture and a crow. And for some reason he fancies himself with the human ladies. What’s up with that?
The first four episodes are presented on this disc, which is the first in a series of four discs. It’s a lot of fun with plenty of bright, lurid colours, crazy characters and silly stories, but even though aimed at a younger market, there’s enough here for adult animé fans to enjoy themselves.
The episodes run thus:
- The Capital of Thieves
We are introduced to Jing and Kir as they enter into the Capital, stunning all with the revelation that the fabled Bandit King is a 12 year old boy. Here Jing pursues the ‘unstealable’ Double Mermaids, even as the current holder tries to kill him. And that’s when all learn that the prize isn’t quite what it’s cracked up to be…
- The Ghost Ship of Blue Hawaii
Jing and Kir turn up in Blue Hawaii, where a ghost ship is terrorising the locals of this sleepy harbour town. Finding themselves in jail, they enlist the help of Rose, a town deputy, and set about uncovering the secret of the ghost ship.
- The Adonis Capital of Time (Pts 1+2)
Jings greatest wish is to steal the Grapes of Time (or at least taste them!) but they are hidden away in a citadel set in the mountains. Master Gear has his townspeople so afraid of Time and being late that even a five second breach of punctuality is punishable by death! Jing and Kir must use every ounce of their criminal minds to save the town from tyranny and get the grapes!
Made for television in 2003, the picture quality is truly superb with high class colour and saturation in sharp resolution in every frame. While only delivered in 4:3, the layouts are well attuned to that ratio giving us some very nicely balanced shots throughout. The animation fluctuates between very good to reasonable to stock re-use, but for the most part is quite entertaining. Sometimes dodgy 3D filters have been used to give a dragonish monster’s hide scales or whatever, but this hasn’t been accomplished very well and is all too evident in this clean image. This being said, sometimes the filters used look pretty bloody good too, but these are more in the effects shots than simple renderings.
A choice of Dolby Digital 5.1 surround for the English track or Dolby Digital stereo for the Japanese. While the surrounds get employed mostly for the music, they do sometimes break away and shoot some crumbling buildings or clanging fight scenes at us. The subwoofer gets to stay awake a lot of the time, filling the music with a nice resonance that adds serious impact to the dramatic scoring. This is the aural highlight without question here as – I guess - a Japanese techno band give it their all to bring the strange moods of the show to vivid life. Called Scudelia Electro, they go from hard edge rock to comical to orchestral to angelic chorus whenever required and this suits the show straight down to the ground. Top stuff.
Dialogue is also better in English than usual here, spoken with dry wit or calculated friendly support. No overbaked hams among this voice talent, thankfully, and this too lends itself to the whimsical nature of the DVD.
