GetBackers
 | It has been suggested that Pseudoscience and references in GetBackers be merged into this article. (Discuss) |
| GetBackers | |
| Genre | BL/Shōnen/Action |
|---|---|
| Anime | |
| Directed by | Kazuhiro Furuhashi, Keitaro Motonaga |
| Studio | Studio DEEN |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Yuya Aoki and Rando Ayamine |
| Published by |  Kodansha
  Tokyopop |
Get Backers (Japanese: ゲットバッカーズ だっかんや Gettobakkāzu Dakkan'ya) is a manga series written by Yuya Aoki and illustrated by Rando Ayamine. It was published by Kodansha and was serialized in Shonen Magazine. The series has lasted for 35 volumes and is still running in Japan; currently, the first 14 volumes have been released in English by TOKYOPOP, with Volume 15 scheduled for release on 8th August 2006.
In 2002, the series was adapted into an anime series, produced by Studio DEEN, which aired from 2002 to 2003 and ran for 49 episodes. The series has been licensed in North America by ADV Films and given a 10-volume DVD release.
Story
The manga tells the story of the pair known as the GetBackers, consisting of both Ban Midou and Ginji Amano, who "live" (for want of a better term since they are often broke and resort to sleeping in their car) in one of the seedier areas of Shinjuku in Tokyo. Ban and Ginji operate what may be described as a freelance repossession service or dakkanya. For a fee, they will recover any item stolen from, or lost by, a client. The two boast an "almost 100%" success rate.
Ban and Ginji are not ordinary human beings, however; they each possess mysterious abilities which they use to carry out their many recovery missions. Ban's powers include the "Snakebite", a skill which gives his hands a grip of 200 kilograms of force, and the "Jagan" (a Japanese term roughly meaning "evil eye"), an ability to induce minute-long hallucinations of Ban's choosing in whomever he makes direct eye contact with. Ginji, on the other hand, can generate enormous amounts of electric energy in his body for tasks such as attacking opponents or overloading electronic systems; this has earned him the moniker of "Raitei" (a Japanese term variously translated as "Thunder Emperor," "Lightning Lord," and the like).
Despite the simplicity of their job's description, Ban and Ginji's profession often thrusts them into bizarre and dangerous situations in order to obtain the objects they must find. Their targets range from everyday objects such as a video game a school kid has lost to a specific person who has been abducted by the yakuza or even a much more dangerous object which might just affect the safety of the nation (such as a vital part of a nuclear bomb). As such, the plot mostly revolves around the dangerous (yet sometimes silly) adventures they both go through, which is often complicated by connections to the pair's dark and twisted pasts, and a mysterious place called the Mugenjou (a Japanese term translated "Limitless Fortress" in the English-language release of anime and as "Infinite Castle" or "Infinity Fortress" in the English-language release of the manga).
There are numerous "acts" in the story. Each act, divided into a number of chapters, describes a different recovery task taken on by the GetBackers. As the story develops, new characters and their past relationships with Ban and Ginji are revealed, and details of a shadowy conspiracy involving the GetBackers slowly rise to the surface.
The plotline of the anime is initially similar to that of the manga, but diverges sharply after the 25th episode as the anime attempted to compress the ongoing story arcs into a manageable anime arc with a reasonable ending. The second Mugenjou arc is not in any way connected to the one in the Manga, though some of the characters featured have also recently appeared in the manga.
Characters and Groups
Both the manga and the anime have large casts of characters, spanning the original GetBackers (Mido Ban and Amano Ginji), their friends and enemies (Fuchouin Kazuki, Kudo Himiko and Akabane Kurodou, to name a few.), and a large array of secondary characters. Most characters in the anime adaptation can be divided into one of three categories: the manga arcs, the second Mugenjou arc and fillers. All characters in the first two appear in the manga, although their circumstances, personalities and roles are somewhat changed or otherwise different in the anime, whereas the characters in the third may or may not appear in the manga.
For a comprehensive list, please see the article Characters of GetBackers.
The GetBackers
The main protagonists of the series. At first glance, Mido Ban and Amano Ginji are the last pair of people for anyone to imagine them teaming up. One is a sly and cunning teen who excels at fighting, whereas the other is gentle and kind-hearted. But as the series progresses, more events from their pasts are revealed and it seems that they do have some things in common after all.
The duo liken their tasks to jigsaw puzzles, and as such, the full picture will not be revealed until they had put in the last piece of the puzzle. They are therefore not hasty in jumping to conclusions after seeing certain events.
The Friends... and Enemies
Being involved in the underworld since their younger days, Ban and Ginji have many friends (in Ban's case, mostly enemies) from their earlier days. Ginji, being formerly Raitei(雷帝) of Mugenjou, counts his former subordinates as his dearest friends.
Yaoi and Yuri Fanservice
There has been controversy over whether the GetBackers anime is BL (See yaoi). The most popular pairings are Ban X Ginji, Akabane X Ginji and Juubei X Kazuki. Many fans of those pairings consider this to be canon, as much of the official art for the show has Ban and Ginji in provocative situations. Due to this marketing, the series has a large following among yaoi fangirls, who also compare Akabane's twisted interest in Ginji to Yami no Matsuei and interpret his actions as Muraki-style flirting.
This point of view is subjective, and largely unsupported by canon. Subliminal hints of homosexuality/boy love are frequently ascribed to characters in anime and manga who display an affection that is "a little more than friendly," though the same could be said for friendships of opposite-gender characters. There is a long-standing cultural precedent for this: many samurai in feudal Japan expressed something that was often mistaken for homosexuality for their respect and admiration of each other on the battlefield, such as with Ban and Shido.
The manga, however, has less yaoi fanservice and includes many more incidences of heterosexual interest. Ban is seen grabbing Hevn's breasts many times through the series, and makes many lewd and often perverted comments to her and other women. On top of this, Ginji is seen numerous times being a "hopeless romantic" for the women of the Get Backers universe, often showing jealousy when other characters succeed with the women he had failed to obtain. The vast majority of yaoi in the manga is centered around Kazuki, who is frequently illustrated crossdressing, and about whom there is more than one discussion wherein another male character admits to being attracted to him or fantasizing about him as a woman. The most famous example is the hot springs incident, where the GB duo mentioned that if you used the first finger and thumb to form a C covering Kazuki's chest and crotch, he could pass for a beautiful lady. Nevertheless, infamous scenes such as Ban's mouth-to-mouth transfusion of blood into Uryuu Toshiki to save his life (Vol. 18), and a hug between Ban and Ginji (while in 12-year old Raitei form) at the finale of their second battle with each other, are used to serve as fodder to feed yaoi fans' GetBackers BL claims.
The male audience is also given their fair share of fanservice. Most of the female character designs are highly provocative, and women are often depicted in various states of undress. Some of the official art even tends to border on yuri, especially in the manga, although these are not assumed to be actual romantic pairings.
The extraneous art for the Get Backers is not to be regarded as canonical evidence, as it is fanservice intended to create appeal with a specific audience. There are very few confirmed romantic relationships in the series - het or yaoi - with the only one notable being Shido and Madoka. Many het fans, however, will also claim there are hints of potential pairings between Ban and Himiko (despite canon indicating that the two are related to each other by blood through the Witch Queen); Kagami and Himiko (Himiko's "Mirror" half is, in fact, Kagami's lover); Ginji and Natsumi (they frequently flirt in the manga, with even one instance of a nose-bleeding Ginji fantasizing about Natsumi giving him a naked massage); MakubeX and Sakura, and Kazuki and Ren (the pairing subtexts arising from their "kiss" early in the IL arc).
Manga
The Getbackers manga is published by Kodansha Shoten in Japan, by TOKYOPOP in the US, by Chuangyi (in simplified Chinese) in Singapore and by Tongli (in traditional Chinese) in Taiwan. As of June 2006, 35 volumes have been published in Japan, with 34 in Taiwan and Singapore and 14 in the US.
Story Arcs
Please see the article GetBackers Story Arcs.
Other media
Theme songs
Opening Theme:
1: "Yuragu Koto Nai Ai (揺らぐことない愛; Unshaken Love)" by Tamura Naomi (Episodes 1-25)
- Lyrics: Tamura Naomi
- Music: Tamura Naomi, Kawamoto Morifumi
- Arrangement: Kawamoto Morifumi
2: "Barairo no Sekai (薔薇色の世界; The Rose-Colored World)" by PIERROT (Episodes 26-49)
- Lyrics: Kirito
- Music: Aiji
- Arrangement: PIERROT & MASAHIDE SAKUMA
Ending Theme:
1: "Ichibyo No Refrain (一秒のリフレイン; One Second of Refrainment)" by Otoha (Episodes 1-13)
- Lyrics: Otoha, Doujima Kouhei
- Music: Doujima Kouhei
2: "Namida no Hurricane (涙のハリケーン; Hurricane of Tears)" by Bon-Bon Blanco (Episodes 14-25)
3: "Mr. Deja vu" by naja (Episodes 26-37)
4: "Changin' by Nona Reeves featuring YOU THE ROCK (Episodes 38-48)
5: "Yuragu Koto Nai Ai" by Tamura Naomi (Episode 49)
Besides these songs, there's an "image" song for some of the main characters. These songs are based on the personalities and other characteristics of the characters and are sung by the characters' seiyu. They can be found on the Get Backers Target G or Target B CDs.
- Ban: Evil eyes (B)
- Ginji : Born again (G)
- Kazuki: 花鈴 (Karin; "Flower Bells") (B)
- Macubex: 核-Core- (B)
- Akabane: 死の純度 (The Purity of Death) (G)
- Shido: Beast master (G)
Drama CDs
MARINE ENTERTAINMENT has done a series of drama CDs for the story arcs in the manga which are not found in the anime. Currently, the series has covered the Kami no Kijitsu, Marlin Red and the Kiryuudo arcs. Seiyuus who voiced characters in the anime return to voice their characters in the narrations. A note of interest are some of the seiyuus who voiced characters found in the manga but not in the anime. They include Tanaka Rie (Gundam Seed's Lacus Clyne), Neya Michiko (Full Metal Alchemist's Riza Hawkeye and Last Exile's Maestro Delphine) and Saito Chiwa (Last Exile's Lavie Head). Even more interestingly, in the Kiryuudo arc, 3 of the Kiryuudo are voiced by seiyu who have voiced characters in Godannar: Honda Takako, Kaida Yuko and Kosugi Juurouta.
Trivia
Seiyu who voiced the main characters in the Gundam Seed series also voiced characters in GB.
- Shindou Naomi (Cagalli and young Ban)
- Hoshi Soichiro (Kira Yamato and Fuchouin Kazuki)
- Koyasu Takehito (Mu La Flaga and Kakei Jubei)
- Tomokazu Seki (Yzak Jule and Miroku Natsuhiko)
- Hori Hideyuki (Lord Djibril and Kurusu Masaki)
Also, there is only 1 seiyu who voiced different characters in the anime and in the drama CDs (though both of his characters appear in the manga as well).
- Yoshino Hiroyuki (Shuu in the anime and Natsuki Amon in the drama CDs)
In the drama CDs, the fight between Himiko and Rena is an insider joke; Himiko is voiced by Kuwatani Natsuko while Rena is voiced by Saito Chiwa, her friend and "coopee" partner.
In the 4th ending MV sequence in the anime (song used: Changin' by NONA REEVES feat. YOU THE ROCK), if you noticed, Kazuki's picture was put at the back of the ladies' portraits; later on, in the paper doll dancing part, his doll was dancing together with the ladies'. This, of course, is part of the running gag that he's often mistaken for a lady.
The characters featured on the spines of the manga volumes have always been either Ban or Ginji, until volume 30, when Kazuki was featured instead. Also, the English version published by Tokyopop has entirely different cover art from the original Japanese version.
While the manga had a mostly male following, the anime was more popular with girls. Some even claim that the anime is "a shoujo version of the same story" and that the episodes emphasized the manga's few instances of BL. Supporting this, all female nudity was removed; both Hevn's (lack of) fashion sense and Ban's hentai tendencies were heavily toned down; the dramatic elements and bonds of friendship were hyped up; and the very popular "hot springs episode" implied more BL (between Kazuki and Juubei).