Jump to content

GetBackers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Miss Ethereal (talk | contribs) at 17:14, 15 June 2006 (Further template seemed to be broken so changed it to a different one). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
GetBackers
GenreBL/Shōnen/Action
Anime
Directed byKazuhiro Furuhashi, Keitaro Motonaga
StudioStudio DEEN
Manga
Written byYuya Aoki and Rando Ayamine
Published byJapan Kodansha

Singapore ChuangYi (Chinese)

United States Canada 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 is published by Kodansha in Japan and 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. It is also published by Chuangyi (in simplified Chinese) in Singapore and by Tongli (in traditional Chinese) in Taiwan. As of June 2006, 34 volumes have been published in Taiwan and Singapore.

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

Template:Spoiler

See also: GetBackers Story Arcs

The manga tells the story of a pair known as the GetBackers, consisting of Ban Mido and Ginji Amano. The duo reside in one of the seedier areas of Shinjuku in Tokyo, and are often broke and resort to sleeping in their car. Ban and Ginji operate a freelance repossession service or dakkanya (奪還屋). For a fee, they will recover any lost or stolen item for a client. The two boast an "almost 100% success rate". Their motto is: "We get back what shouldn't be gone"., 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.

However, Ban and Ginji are not ordinary human beings. 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 "Evil Eye" ("Jagan", 邪眼, 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. However, this ability cannot be used on the same person twice in a 24-hour period, and he has to rest between uses. The Evil Eye can also only be used three times in one day. 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" (雷帝, a Japanese term variously translated as "Thunder Emperor", or "Lightning Lord").

Despite the simplicity of their job's description, Ban and Ginji's profession often places 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 even 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 (無限城, 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.

Template:Endspoiler

Characters and Groups

Main article: Characters of GetBackers

Both the anime and the manga have large casts of characters, spanning the original GetBackers (Ban Mido and Ginji Amano), their friends and enemies, and a large array of secondary characters. Most of the characters appear in the manga, although their circumstances, personalities and roles are different than that of the anime.

Pseudoscience

The series refers to many actual persons, events and pseduoscience, albeit with a fictional twist. Although they don't have a direct impact on the main story, the background information they provide gives the series more depth than the average "action" series. Template:Spoiler

  • In the "Get Back the Magical Sunflower!" arc, the titular sunflower is supposed to be the "13th Sunflower" drawn by Vincent van Gogh. In reality, he only drew 12 at once on a canvas (or 15, depending on the actual painting; see Sunflowers (paintings)).
  • In the Venus de Milo arc, besides the the arms of the statue, the nose of the Sphinx is also on auction. In real life, both artifacts are considered lost.
  • The Kami no Kijitsu arc has many references to Christanity and the Bible.
  • The Marlin Red arc has references to World War II, along with the Axis powers' alleged research in germ warfare/the occult (a virus which turns humans into vampires is used in the manga). It's also mentioned that Romania, being on the same latitude as the Bordeaux region of France, could in theory produce good wine. On the other hand, Captain Brandon became a vampire as he wanted to assassinate Adolf Hitler himself for Hitler's ravages on Romania during the war.
  • The IL (implosion lens) mentioned in the IL arc is an actual component in implosion-typed atomic weapons (e.g. Fat Man, used during Wold War II) . See High energy weapon design and Implosion for more details.
  • The environment within Mugenjou is said to be a mixture of real objects and virtual reality, resulting in a "half VR dimension".

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).

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 characteristics and personalities of the characters, and are sung by the characters' seiyu. They can be found on the Get Backers Target G or Target B CDs.

Target B
  • Ban: Evil eyes
  • Kazuki: 花鈴 (Karin; "Flower Bells")
  • Macubex: 核 -Core-
Taget G
  • Ginji : Born again
  • Akabane: 死の純度 (The Purity of Death)
  • Shido: Beast master

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

  • Yoshino Hiroyuki was the only seiyu who voiced different characters in the anime and in the drama CDs (though both of his characters appear in the manga as well). (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 forth ending sequence in the anime (song used: Changin' by NONA REEVES featuring YOU THE ROCK), Kazuki's picture was put at the back of the women's portraits. Later on, in the paper doll dancing portion of the same ending sequence, his doll was dancing together with the women. This is part of the running gag that he's often mistaken for a woman.
  • 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.
  • 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"[citation needed], 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).
  • The members of Fuuga also voiced characters in Samurai Deeper Kyo, with Soichiro (Kazuki) as Akira, Takehito (Jubei) as Hattori Hanzo and Katsuyuki (Toshiki) as Kyoshiro/Kyo. In Kyo, Akira is a follower of Kyo.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=GetBackers&oldid=58791491"