Ranked #1853

Strait Jacket

Strait Jacket is a 3 episodes OVA. Which is, no matter how you look at it, finished within a flash.
But truth be said, after seeing some of the artwork and reading a synopsis about Strait Jacket, I just had to watch it.

Good thing It wasn't disappointing. The scenes were quite well done; though you always see details that could have been better. Such as battle scenes being done too fast and the magic not being well explained. But what do you expect from 3 episodes; there wasn't any time to do so.

However, Strait Jacket did a perfectly fine job on making 3 episodes worthwhile and actually make sense. A lot of short Anime series (OVA in particular) explain nothing and/or let nothing happen due to their short time. Some even rush things through a few episodes and gives us an open ending.

Strait Jacket isn't one of them. Though you might consider it to have an open end; it is not a cliffhanger and doesn't really disappoint you. It's just what you'd expect it to be. Nothing too flasy, nothing too fancy, nothing weird, awkward or lame. It is quite enjoyable and can be watched with a coke and some popcorn. See it as watching a movie; since it in total is almost as long.

I give this series a 7 overall, though the sounds get an 8 from me. It really adds up to the series, creates suspense and isn't repeated too much. Other words, it's perfectly fine, just like the OVA is.

So really, if you have little time to kill and want to enjoy a good serie within a short amount of time; this is a pretty good choice. read more

Given three episodes, there isn't a lot that some anime series can hope to accomplish. The good thing about Strait Jacket is that it does not necessarily adhere to this; it never wears out its welcome, and provides the viewer with a decent action anime with supernatural and less blatant political and social themes. It gives us exactly what we expect from a three episode OAV, maybe gives more at points, but never less.

The story is set in a parallel universe, set somewhere in the very late 1800s or early 1900s. Technology is far more advanced, society is more developed, and magic is a dangerous, yet ever-present component of this world. It is highly interesting that this anime looked at a more detrimental use of magic--it seems to be almost metaphoric for the advances that were made in modern science; while highly useful to humanity, it could bring their destruction and downfall. To contain and control this magic, human beings must wear a Mold suit (some look like a suit of armour, not unlike the ones seen in Kenroh Densetsu or Jin-Roh). If the suit is broken or malfunctions or the human is over-exposed to magic, they lose their humanity and turn into violent, mindless, monsters. We follow three characters: Reiott, Mary Simmons and Isaac as they work on the side of the law, destroying the 'demons' as they are called.

The artwork is decent, the animation is solid. This series is focussed on action and violence. Trust me when I say it is immensely graphic, and very violent. The gore level would be given a ten, if there was a rating allowed for that. There's a lot of blood-splattering, entrails and other disturbing images. I suggest if you are particularly squeamish, that you think about it twice if not avoid this anime. Much of its intrigue lies in the violence and action, so if that's not for you, then maybe you should bypass this one and just skip the violent scenes (mind, you'll be skipping about 85% of the anime).

The sound was not particularly noticeable, honestly. But again, not doing a bad job accounts for something. There was one particular episode with ethereal singing coming from one of the demons, I don't know if it matters as sound, but it was haunting and set the tone quite nicely for the viewer to be highly perturbed by it.

Ah, and the saving point of this anime for me. While I am not exactly opposed to watching an anime just to see rampant violence, there is more to Strait Jacket than the 'BLUDNGOTTS!!'. Our main character, Reiott, is dark, haunted, and mostly aloof. Simmons is more vibrant, seems to be geared more towards 'comic appeal' and provides a softer femininity to what is a male-dominated anime (but please do not mistake me to mean 'testosterone-driven'; it is not), but it is Isaac who stole the show for me. While there isn't a lot of room for character development in a three-part series, the characters thankfully do not come across as strolling stereotypes even though they are highly archetypal. And Isaac came across as the most developed. While the other characters are driven by solely their pasts or by their sense of justice, Isaac is engulfed by both. His character undergoes the most change, the most conflict, so much so that he provides more intrigue than anyone else with more "interesting" backgrounds. He is the only character in the anime in which we see degeneration; he does a tasking job, it's bound to get to people, and it really does get to him. Interesting to see a man strive for justice and morality when everything just or moral is crumbling around him. There are two other characters who are not exactly prevalent, but they are a presence: a female Sorcerer and a young half-demon girl who follows Reiott. We never really see either character do very much, but there is a heavy cloud of intrigue surrounding them.

Now, was Strait Jacket enjoyable? To me, it was. I like violence, I like character development, even when it is minute, I enjoy the supernatural, magical, technological themes. I even enjoyed the semi-political background of the story, which seems to be set prior World War I, but all the tensions in Europe are still there. There is much talk about the 'Ottomans', which leads me to believe that the story is set in Austria-Hungary who held much contention with the Ottoman Empire at the time (that's a History lesson; I'll not go into it).

Overall, this gets a solid seven. I will not recommend it to the casual anime viewer; I will definitely not recommend it to anyone who prefers more whimsical magic anime or more science fiction-heavy technology-based anime. While there is stuff that we've seen before, maybe even countless amounts of times, Strait Jacket does the best it can with its material, with the content and with its longevity, to give us a decent action anime with, to me at least, a little bit more. read more