L/R: Licensed by Royal

Imagine that you’re driving a car on one endless strip of pavement. It’s your favorite car, the one you’ve always dreamed of, and you’re cruising slowly with the beach’s beautiful waves glittering in the background. A silky-smooth jazz track eases into your ears from your speakers and you can feel the breeze, lulling yet slightly chilly, lazily slithering across your body. It’s in the middle of June and the sun, normally the personification of heat, reserves its fiery warmth for another day, leaving you to consume yourself in overwhelming bliss. I want you to forget the fear, stress, anger, or doubt you might be experiencing ... and envision the picture I laid out for you. I’ll give you a second to immerse yourself in the moment.

(Twiddling my thumbs)

Are you finished? Well, what if I told you that the ride on the beach is the feeling you’ll experience while watching this particular spy series?

Now you might be asking, “Wait, there’s a way to make a show about spies relaxing?” and if you did ask that, I wouldn’t blame you. Stylish, over-the-top fight scenes interposed by panty flashes from bombshell beauties is the modus operandi for anything related to spies in entertainment. As a devotee to the James Bond franchise, I know that immortal one-liners, uberviolent stories with egotistical despots, and eccentric gadgets are the name of the game for spy films. Thanks to Bond, Jason Bourne, the Mission Impossible franchise, and others of their ilk, it’s natural to assume that any TV series or movie centered on spies will be like the others.

However, there is one show, an anime as a matter of fact, that abandons the conventional elements of spydom and its name is Licensed by Royalty (better known as “L/R”).

“Go where no one’s gone before”, sung by soul legend Billy Preston, is the opening theme for L/R. Chill and even-tempered with spontaneous bursts of energy, the OP exemplifies the tone of the series… at least for the first half of the series. L/R is the one student in class that forgets about assignments, constantly daydreams, and often asks for bathroom breaks, all with an exceedingly goofy grin on his face. Rarely in Licensed by Royalty is anything taken seriously. When the protagonists have to recover a valuable artifact, they screw around until the last minute. When a gaggle of obnoxious reporters clamor at the door of the spies’ headquarters, sculptured cherubs douse them in water emitting from their penises. When the protagonists are caught by one of the series’ villains, they stare into the camera and simultaneously declare, “We’ll be right back after this!” It’s such a shame that L/R’s quixotic dreams of originality were tarnished by the later episodes.

From the beginning, L/R is grounded in reality, the central storyline perpetuating the spy stereotypes, its fate pre-destined. Ishtar is a dead ringer for England while Cloud 7 might as well by MI6. The purpose for the agents of Cloud 7 is to protect Ishtar’s royalty at all cost. Where this series lacks in structural novelty, it more than compensates with its authenticity. The story is set in the 1960s, a time when England finished recovering from the aftermath of World War II and was progressing into a cultural powerhouse. In L/R, you can see the excesses of success England possessed for years, and yet this series never fails in depicting the country as one that still needs to exert its power and showcase its status more than ever. WWII is never mentioned but its effects on L/R loom large. What really deserves a round of applause is how the characters in L/R actually sound British. Anime, both subs and dubs, is notorious for having people in different countries sound exactly the same (The closest this medium gets to vocal diversity is an Osaka dialect) so for L/R’s cast to speak like they’re from England is truly amazing.

Unfortunately, the aunthenticity of L/R’s English dub is among the cast’s only saving graces, Practically every character has the same body type, tall and slim, and their facial features scream low-budget. Sometimes the noses look realistic and sometimes they only consist of two nostrils plastered onto a face. Blinking apparently is difficult to animate for eyes that look exactly the same for virtually every character. Even if Studio TNK had bothered applying effort on its character designs, L/R’s cast still wouldn’t have been noteworthy. Dez, this show’s token mad scientist, has an average of 1.5 lines per episode while Claire, Cloud 7’s female “agent”, literally exists as a romantic interest that cooks and cleans, and Noelle, the red-headed town darling, is arguably the most forgettable of them all (her singing sucks, by the way). Perhaps L/R’s characterization flaws are due to focusing too much on the protagonists.

The eponymous L/R, a team of two with great prestige and their own fanboys, they are Jack Hofner and Rowe Rickenbacker. Jack is a clean-cut diplomat, the by-the-book professional that excels in the art of disguises. He by far receives the most depth in the series, what with his hidden past and tragic love affair and all, but he comes across too much as a poor man’s Bond instead of his own person. Personally, I feel that Rowe is the more interesting of the two. Whereas Jack is meticulous and stiff but feigns nonchalance, Rowe is completely relaxed, preferring to let everything hang out in the open. Jovial and loquacious yet highly perceptive, he often concedes the spotlight to Jack but is more than capable of being the man in charge if necessary. Actor JB Blanc, who did such an excellent job as Monster’s Roberto, once again delivers his laid-back, even-keel voice, along with adding a carefree charm in his faux-British accent, and he absolutely nails it as Rowe.

It has been apparent from the beginning but the later episodes reveal a long-standing classism feud between Ishtar and Ivory Island (the Ireland to Ishtar’s England), and the bombings from a terrorist known as “Angel” forces the issue to surge to the forefront. Much can be criticized about L/R’s second half, from its frustrating open ending to how the identity of the show is completely dismissed, but what I enjoy about it is how L/R provides multiple perspectives on the issue. An Ishtar tycoon makes it his duty to let the citizens of Ivory Island know their place while the father of a famous baseball player spreads the word on Ishtar’s downward spiral into corruption; while some of Ivory Island’s denizens have become accustomed to their harsh treatment, others are beyond pissed at the entire dynamic. The bubbling tension reaches a boiling point in a climatic speech by Noelle, where she integrates everyone’s individual opinions into one and, with sweeping dramatic flair, reveals the mastermind behind it all. The speech does a brilliant job of tying everything together and it even causes L/R’s second half to be worthwhile.

Licensed by Royalty, in the end, follows the example of spy films that preceded it. However, I refuse to hold that against this hidden gem. L/R is one of the most relaxing journeys I’ve ever experienced and, even when it adopts a serious streak, it never fails to be watchable. Among other works with overblown expectations, L/R manages to simultaneously be ambitious yet realistic; it doesn’t attempt reaching the heavens but, at the same time, L/R never settles for less either. Really, that’s all you can ask for in what you watch.

"This anime might be another hidden gem!"
Such thoughts were bothering me while watching first episode of Licensed by Royal. It had all the elements that is necessary for a popular series. Unfortunately L/R didn't make any use of them and turned into something that is nonsensical.

Story: The biggest flaw of this anime is its plot. Starting episode 2 there are lots of plot-holes left. Story doesn't help characters to develop. There's hardly any intense in it. Only final episodes get a bit serious and dramatic, though it leaves an open ending which definitely was not an appropriate solution. Having said that, action scenes still ... looked entertaining and the jokes were quite hilarious.

Characters: It's true that we hardly get to know the main characters Rowe and Jack. There is not much talk about their past, but still they were memorable and the things that made them stood out from such generic, laid-back characters were the dialogues, which really worked between two of them. However directors didn't make a good use of this and ended up with a half-developed cast. The question is: was it really necessary for such a mediocore, entertaining series to flash out all the characters? Wouldn't it be just a waste of time ? It's up to the watcher.

Art/Sound: Another problem with this show is the pale looking designs. The faces are undetailed, They barely show any emotions. On the opposite note the music is marvelous. The opening theme, sung by Billy Preston, is catchy. It's probably one of the best anime theme songs from the past few years. Almost all of the songs used in each episode have lyrics, and it's a very refreshing change from the generic synth incidentals we get in other series.

Overall Licensed Royal could have been equalized with Cowboy bebop or even The Big O if the directors had put more thoughts into writing the script. It is a nice thing to sit through if you need to kill some time. There are plenty of fun moments and the two main characters are extremely likeable, but that's really all it has.

I randomed Licensed by Royal in a game to watch a series with some friends. I watched it in full and this is the review of my experience.

The story was bland. Plot didn't develop until around episode 7 if I remember correctly. It is as if the series started off with episodes written randomly which were then turned into some haphazard story line. Towards the end of the series the plot started to get more interesting, a lot of twists and turns were introduced but there was definitely nothing to write home about in this series as far as story goes.

The art was typical for ... anime of its time. Nothing incredible but it wasn't the worst I've seen.

Apart from the repetitive sound stages for fight or getaway scenes, the sound was pretty well done. The opening and closing songs were fairly decent and the general use of the music in the series fit the story well.

Characters didn't have depth, bottom line. We don't get much of character back stories nor do we learn anything about newly introduce characters other than their minor affect on the plot. Rowe and Jack were pretty funny at some parts and were portrayed well as the "cool" guys.

I didn't find much enjoyment in this anime. Overall I wish I didn't random it in my game, I could have done without watching. However, it wasn't the worst thing I have watched and could have been a lot better with a more solid and linear plot.

A lot of the art, music, and characters reminded me of Cowboy Bebop, save the time and watch it instead.