Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Lampington
What if you had a gun? The entire premise and synopsis of this series is about a photographer who anything he takes a picture of dies... but this isn't quite accurate. Garnering several comparisons to Death Note regarding "supernatural object that kills people efficiently and powerfully from a distance" one may think they are in for another analytical thriller where the protagonist can carry out undetectable assassinations, or perhaps some sort of monkey paw-esque cursed object scenario where a photo is taken of a large group of people and they all start dropping dead 1 by 1 and he has to find a way to undo the curse before it reaches his loved one who was in the picture. This series is nothing like those scenarios that may have been brought to mind.
The titular camera upon interacting wi…
Read at the sourceDoodlebugFour
Speed Grapher, An anime series I 1st caught on IFC Channel Late at Night over a decade ago, along with Witchblade and Hell Girl. I am compelled to write my own review of it, so hop on board everyone! Series Composition done by Shin Yoshida, who has involved himself in some of the Yugioh series.
Story:
Speed Grapher is about a Former War Photographer turned Photojournalist with an odd photography fetish named Tatsumi Saiga, who gets involved in investigating an underground fetish club where he witness all the lewd and illegal activities going on, eventually stumbling upon a ritual where he ends up gaining to power to blow people up through a Camera, the show is then about him trying to free the Club's "Goddess" Kagura from the Club. It's follow a monster of the week style format in the ear…
Read at the sourceDarkRavie
The story follows the exploits of former war photographer Tatsumi Saiga, who is on the trail a secret fetish club for the ultra-wealthy called the Roppongi Club where politicians, media moguls and industry CEOs meet to indulge in primal and deprived fantasies and everything from sexual fulfillment to torturing someone to death is possible. He tries to photograph the club's "goddess," a 15-year-old exploited girl named Kagura, but is discovered. But instead of killing him, she kisses him, and the photographer gains a strange new power from that kiss: everything he takes a photo of explodes…
My thoughts:
This is an interesting series that contains a lot of nudity and sexual references so I don’t recommend it for those under the age of 16. It depicts the greed in human nature; what people w…
Read at the sourcethemegamancave
Oh the 2000’s… It was a growing period for anime, but produced some of the most gripping series in the history of the medium (Monster, Full Metal Alchemist, Ergo Proxy etc.). It was also a period of time when directors tried new things, for better or for worse and major risks were taken to produce that next “big” original series. Produced by the once giant Gonzo studios (Kaze no Stigma, Welcome to the NHK), Speed Grapher tries to push the envelope of an adult anime while making every effort to establish itself as a standalone success. Unfortunately, lofty expectations mixed with inconsistent animation and a sporadic use of themes cause the anime to meander to the point where it loses itself. Simply put, Speed Grapher is what happens when an anime tries to do “too” much.
For story’s sake,…
Read at the sourceT3hSource
Want a taste of 80s inspired action, that also manages to hold itself together and have earnest character drama and development? Well, look no further, for this wild ride of a series will satisfy your entertainment needs in every aspect you can ask for. As a Gonzo show, it has sexual themes, romantic themes, revenge, justice, tragedy, conviction, conspiracy, thrill, adventure, sci-fi and all the like. It's a lot for a show to handle but the way it weaves its narrative, along with episodic villains to spice things up, it comes out with some very good pacing, making for an enjoyable binge experience, once you get past its exploitation film aspirations that is. Thus, a true action series with an earnest heart of gold underneath! Oh, and WATCH THE DUB, it's very good and takes great advantage…
Read at the sourceXaronAngel
As 22 yr old uni student, its a core anime to watch in my top ten list. This show is mean for adult audience with action, blood, nudity and truely great to sit back and enjoy. Nowadays, there is no more fine piece like this and monster, Steingate anime anymore. Truely recommand for mature audience, not for kids. Suitengu starts up this society, then the photographer guy, Saiga, crashes the party, gets kissed by the girl with the power-giving powers, Kagura, gets his powers to kill/explode things through his camera lens, and then kidnaps the girl and kills a bunch of richies as he makes his break for freedom. Then the chase begins. This is a multi-angled chase too. Suitengu's boys are after Saiga and Kagara; Saiga and Kagara are after relics of both their pasts; and Saiga's domineering S&M…
Read at the sourceratchet573
In all my years of watching anime I’ve encountered some really strange shows that left me scratching my head. But in all this time, despite the Boku no Pico‘s and the Kodomo no Jikan‘s, and even the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, I’ve never encountered anything quite as strange as Speed Grapher, a Gonzo anime from 2005. And this isn’t a strange anime in that it’s inherently difficult to understand or presents itself as wacky comedy, it’s strange because it’s just really fucking weird.
Our hero is named Saiga, a famed war photographer. Working for a newspaper in Tokyo, he gets caught up in a club where Japan’s richest and most powerful go to have sex, eat, drink; indulging in depravity. Saiga winds up being captured by these people and is going to be executed when a young girl falls from the s…
Read at the sourceObscureObsidian
speed grapher it's good because it shows you the world we're living now, and criticice the capitalism. Some scenes, like the desesperate ones who can't pay the menbership of the tennouzu group, are a good example of the well-construct critic. Despite it was released in 2005, the economical themes are just what happened in the last years. Unfortunately, some stuff bring the quality of this series down: the animation is mediocre and looks old, but it wouldn't be a excuse to don't give a try to this series. The characters give me different impressions: Saiga is a good main character, but Kagura, despite she started fine, lacks in character development. The best characters, along Ginza, the cool police woman, are the villains, Suitengu, Tsujido, Makabe and Ginji, they're cool, and it the end o…
Read at the source-ShadowClaw-
Speed Grapher
This Series has a lot of Adult Subjects such as: Corruption, Greed, Power, Action, Sexploitation, Blood and Gore. So before u even give this series a try u should be careful as to what u are in for.
General Thoughts: This is a relatively old Series exactly a decade old by the time of this review. However it does necessarily mean u should not give this show a try. As it has a lot to offer if u stick around to watching it till the end.
Story: 7.5 ,The Story is about this Former War photographer who is now making a living as a freelance photographer journalist named Tatsumi Saiga who has found himself investigating a secret fetish club for the Ultra wealthy called Roppongi Club. He tries to photograph the club's "goddess," a 15-year-old, exploited girl named Kagura, but is di…
Read at the sourceTemere
First and foremost, don't try and think too much while watching this anime. You'll damage your brain in how much it goes up and down with the characters ever changing views of each other. It doesn't do a horrible job conveying a villainous plot, but it doesn't do a good job either.
Speed Grapher has a very abstract story line. It sometimes gets confusing and changes pace quite often but it doesn't entirely make it a bad anime. While throughout the most of it's slow paced moments, it leaves you wanting so many answers for things and it takes its sweet time to answer them, sometimes not answering them all. at about two, thirds through, It gets to the point where it seems like the writers didn't know what else to do. So they just made up new, odd powers and gave them random people. But none…
Read at the sourceDarkmoq
Story 5: We have a pretty standard storyline with a few spurts of originality. Basically the male protagonist and the female protagonist are on the run from an evil organization. Oh and some people have super powers. As you can imagine the protagonists have to hide from/kill a whole horde of henchmen while learning about the organization and how they fit into it. Around the halfway mark things just fizzle out. It’s not even like they start up a lame new story arc…they continue the first one with no new ideas. This series could have been 12 episodes long. This anime is watchable ONLY if you’ve seen everything else in this genre already.
Story pros:
-Some of the characters have pretty cool super powers. The main bad guy’s power is awesome.
-There are some really twisted themes in here that…
Read at the sourceMouse2010
Speed Grapher initially seems to have a lot going for it. The plot is semi-episodic, with an overall story arc that binds the individual episodes together. While some people complain about the art, I had no objections there: it is a grim, gritty setting, and the art has a film noir look that fits that setting. Likewise with the sound: while I don't have much to praise about the series's music, I don't have anything to complain about.
Where it really failed for me was in the category of character. To give the show credit, both the heroes and the villains have well-developed back stories. These are people who have suffered, and it seems like we ought to care about them when they are fail or triumph, as the case may be. And I have to say that the story arcs for all significant characters ha…
Read at the sourceYuffira
Here's my first review...
Speed Grapher, an anime mostly about money, abuse of power and more money. Overall it's very darktoned and dramatic. Not my kind of thing but I decided to watch it anyway.
Story: 7
A girl, Kagura, is drugged and used to pleasure rich politicians. Then a famous photographer, Saiga, gets caught up in it and decides he wants to save the girl.
The main story is that of Kagura and Saiga. Infected with a virus (at least I think it is a virus) they try to save themselves while escaping from the aristocrats who try to capture them.
Behind this there is a deeper story which centers on the "dirty politicians" and messed up society we live in. Though showing their good face to the citizens, these politicians abuse their power to achieve money and sexual pleasure.
It's…
Read at the sourceracerx2105
Speed Grapher is about a man named Saiga. Saiga is a photojournalist who's seen it all. He is well known for being a war photographer. He now lives in Tokyo doing regular photo work and is completely disappointed with his work, until one night he stumbles into a secret club where he finds some of the darkest most disturbing truths about the world around him. But amongst the grim he find's the beautiful girl which to him instantly becomes the perfect subject for his camera. All hell breaks loose and Saiga now finds himself with a new disturbing power which he can't explain and the young female who doesn't understand what's going on either. They end up running for their lives while trying to solve the mystery behind Saiga's powers and the girls connection to the club and what it all means fo…
Read at the sourcethecandyman328
Story: 8. Pretty interesting story. Kept me on my toes to know what happens next and for that I give it an eight. It didn't give me any chills down my spine that would deserve a 10 but connecting all the stories of Suitengu Saiga and the other characters so well served as a good point.
Art: 8. I love the realistic animation style Gonzo and Asahi used for this series. The action scenes are also pretty good. Could have used more visible wounds though for an R rated anime.
Sound: 9. If there is one thing that irritates me about using English in anime it is when the English is bad. What stopped this show from getting a 10 (the opening by Duran Duran was sick) was their voicing for the occasional parts in English. I don't know why anime producers can't just get someone actually ENGLISH to do…
Read at the sourceTakeMeFarAway
First things first: This anime was absolutely awesome.
The story was amazing. It was original and captivating. It kept you enjoyed throughout the whole story. It had a great flow and was easy to follow. Every episode was great and every episode was unique. Absolutely a ten, hands down.
The art was pretty good. There were some very beautiful scenic or sky backrounds that took my breath away, but there wasn't anything especially brilliant.
The sound was also pretty good, I think. I really enjoyed the opening theme song.
The characters were outstanding. Every villian was great with their own different power. I was always amazed at the powers they came up with and couldn't wait to see what the next villian could do. The main characters were also outstanding, all with their own personalitie…
Read at the sourcemard80
I was on the lookout for as mature anime series - mature in the sense of gritty and adult themed plot - and following some surfing I found this gem - Speed Grapher.
Once the I saw the opening with Duran Duran's Girls on Film, I knew I would like this. The idea of the main character using his camera as a weapon was an interesting concept, kind of reminded me of the horror PS2 game Project Zero (Fatal Frame), and although this series has slight horror by the way of various monsters making their entrance in the show, I felt this series to be more of a action drama.
The relationship between Saiga and Kagura was sweet and core to the series. It was his teachings to Kagura about the reality of the world which was interesting to watch and you can really see their affinity for each other grow a…
Read at the sourceBishounen_Hunter
Main
No matter which site or forum I go to I see very mixed reviews for this show, Speed Grapher. And it's usually because the show looks good and dark and gritty but then it's disliked because it's not as action packed as___ “insert your favorite anime here.” So based on that I think a good review should point this out. It should also state that if you want an anime that's good and dark and gritty but is also character driven and therefore will dedicate a few episodes to building and defining the characters' personalities, then you will like this show....if you want a show that's gritty and dark but has low character development and more shootings and bigger explosions then watch, Black Lagoon.
Art-Style
The animation is very good....it's by Gonzo [I'm actually starting to…
Read at the sourcefr0z3nshad3
Story (7.7) - It starts when Saiga, who was a war photogapher, started investigating an special underground group controlled by Suitengu, a survivor from an attack to an island in an attempt to erase some kind of weird experience. Only 2 people survived that day, suitengu and saiga. Thats where they got some kind of virus that allows them to have "superpowers".
After finding out what the group was all about, Saiga decided to fight against them using his special ability, killing everyhing he photographs.
Its a fine story, it started very well indeed, then by episode 12 it gets a bit worse, but still very nice.
Art (7.2) - Art...Although not bad, i think it lacks in some characters design, also is not an aspect that got my attention. But its not that terrible,so 7.
Sound (7.3) - Sometime…
Read at the sourceDj_Frog
Ok this anime is meant for adults...So nudity, secks(yes lotsa) ,violence. Shinsen sub did a good job on subbing this anime so My thanks to them. Despite being supernatural mysterious genre, it's more towards the reality and things happening around us..so dont expect any super heroes in it as they're, previously were humans due to some sort of...
The story itself has many good turnouts and each time, it will make the viewers to think about the moral behind the story. The characters(including villiains) have different personalities from the gross to ones should respect.
I cant say i am totally enjoy this anime so far from the episodes i watched 'cause some scenes are quite disturbing..yet it digs out my curiousty to find out more. My advice is - dont rush and watch it slowly.
Read at the source