GetBackers

If you've seen a couple different Shounen, Action, Anime then this one does very little to offer anything exciting and original, except some really lame fighting methods (Lady Poison).

Getbackers is a typical shounen anime about two guys who are said to be able to get anything back, which has been taken. What helps them are their interesting special abilities Amano Ginji with the power to generate electricity and Midou Ban with a 200Kg hand grip and also possessing the evil eye.

The show pretty much starts of like a typical anime, by introducing the main characters and giving them an opportunity to wow the viewers with ... some action. Getbackers is able to capture anyone's attention but as the show goes on, this cheesy anime can easily become tiresome to watch. The fights don't help it at all, with the same fighting methods repeated over and over, without any variety, to the point when even the action sequences get boring. In between all the action are numerous comedy moments, to lighten the mood however this is poorly executed and doesn't add much to the show. Also another issue is the characters and apart from the two main characters (Ginji and Midou) the rest are poorly developed and it doesn't help that the have some pretty lame personalities and special abilities/traits. Another annoyance is when the enemies become allies and the allies become enemies so easily that it just makes it all seem pointless.

There's also the animation that can be described in one word "mediocre". It's obvious that very little effort was put into animating this show, as not even the fights seem fluid and all the chibi didn't help the comedy. Another thing that can put anyone of from watching this show is the horrendous opening and ending theme music, but at least the exciting music during the action can make up for it.

Overall this is a pretty decent anime for the simple-minded anime fan but a somewhat intelligent anime fan would be able to see Getbackers for its many faults. It does manage to incorporate all the standard shounen elements but without adding anything original to make it stand out from the rest. Even though this anime is aimed at teenagers it seems more like a kid's show, with moderate violence, no blood and sharp objects replaced by bright shining lights. So if you're over 12 years old then I don't recommend this.

I was obsessed with this anime when it came out. I made my dad get me the full season 1 box set on DVD, and I still have it. I even got the first volume of the manga, and I showed it to the other kids at school. Probably not a good idea because there was a lady jerking off in the first couple chapters.
I would rank this very low after watching many more shows since then. If you're a little teen that loves shonen & action this is going to be great. It's super cheesy, super Hammy, and very "cool". If you're an adult ... however &/or have watched better things, you are not going to find anything of value here.
The character designs stand out & most of them are likable tropes. The action is entertaining, but nothing to write home about. The plot is pretty standard & you can guess where things are going to go. At this point, if I recommend the show I always tag it with "it's so bad that it's good"
like I said pretty standard but there are a few things I will pop out and make you think "what the fuck."
when I whipped out the DVDs on my fiance, we watched it all the way through. *Spoilers* There's a part towards the end of S1 where they're fighting this guy In some illusion room. It looks like it's inside a stomach & the guy literally says "this is my womb" and then proceed with the monologue about his womb My fiance turned to me and said "wow your parents really just let you watch anything."
Do not recommend, not that great,but somewhat hilarious.

Getbackers is the most boring anime of all time!
I fell asleep while watching getbackers last night. YES, the show is THAT boring. So what about this show is so boring it actually put me to sleep? let's delve into it.

First off, THE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE FREAKING MARRY SUES!!! There catchphrase is that the getbackers recovery service has a "almost 100% success rate" So the main two characters almost never feel challenged by the plot! And that's not all thats wrong with this duo, The biggest problem comes with the main character, Ban's, power. Ban's power is known as the "Jagan eye" Witch has ... the same ability as Aiziens zanpakuto, and we all know how much of a god teir marry sue freaking aizen is! Just in case you dont know, the "Jagan eye" has the ability to make the opponent see a hallucination, the opponent becomes distracted by this hallucination and then Ban basically has the ability to beat up the opponent while the hallucination is happening! This power is not only BORING because it doesn't create any interesting choreography for the fights, the opponent just stands there dazed, being like "DURRR WHATZ GOIN' ON" So not only is it a boring fighting move, but it's also overpowered as fuck! Whenever this move is used the opponent is unaware that they are even IN a hallucination! Making this power almost unavoidable when fighting ban. On top of that ,when you're in a hallucination, you cant see any reality of whats happening, so while you're under bans power, even assuming you NOTICE you're under the power, you can't do anything to fight back! With a power like this it's no wonder the main characters always feel unchallenged! And it's not just Ban, all the good guys are strong or over powered in there own way, Ban is just the worst offender.

Next off, the pacing for this show puts one piece to shame! With one piece I always feel like something is going on, but for getbackers, I feel as if every scene is incredibly drawn out and it takes FOREVER for any action to happen half the episodes are just them talking about the situation they are in! And even then, They aren't even strategising about how to fix that situation they are in, and instead just talk about a lot of pointless details. Nothing happening combined with the boring one sided fights when stuff actually DOES happen IS the reason to why almost every moment of this show is so damn boring!!!

Probably the biggest problem with this show is it's underwhelming cast, other than akabane who is a sexier version of hisoka from hunter x hunter. Every character in this cast is BLAND AS SANDPAPER!!!! First off theres the main character Ban, he's introduced with an interesting backstory, but his past never comes to haunt him or he never has to deal with it, they do absolutely NOTHING interesting with Ban's character and just throw in the backstory for no reason, and I feel the same way about his partner Ginji. The funny thing is, a lot of these characters have interesting personalities, Ban is a really chill cool dude and ginji is his energetic, upbeat and comedic partner. The only time these characters are ever good is during the comedy scenes, and thats the problem. Getbackers tries TOO HARD to be a dark and serious. Because we dont get a lot of comedy scenes we hardly ever get to enjoy Ban and Ginji, and even though both these characters have decent backstories the story NEVER decides to do anything interesting with it or try and develop these characters. The characters in getbackers never change, they are the same from episode 1 to the end! So, the show takes itself too seriously so there arent enough comedy scenes to make this duo seem funny, and even though this show takes itself seriously they do NOTHING INTERESTING WITH THEM AND DONT DEVELOP THEM! I can say the same for most of the getbackers cast, but the rest minus Akabane are too boring to be even worth mentioning. Believe it or not, but Ban and Ginji despite being boring are some of the more INTERESTING characters in this cast....

The structure of this show is very similar to "black cat" or "cowboy bebop" where these guys are kinda like bounty hunters that struggle with constantly being poor and go on a bunch of random missions to make money. All of these random missions create a bunch of "one off characters" that you only see during the mission they are featured in...and just like the main cast, the one off characters are BORING AS SANDPAPER!!!! And this is a major problem, considering these missions require HELPING people and you find the people they are helping to be so boring that you dont sympathize with them, THAT IS A MAJOR FLAW! If I cant sympathize with the people the getbackers are trying to help then that makes the whole mission seem BORING, POINTLESS AND YOU FEEL AS IF NOTHING IMPORTANT IS AT STEAK!!! and thats another problem with this series, The characters are never challenged, and what they are fighting FOR always feels "unimportant" or you never feel like anything is at steak!

This post was taken from my anime blog witch can be viewed here http://mightypie9001.blogspot.com/2015/10/getbackers-is-most-boring-anime-of-all.html

I was eyeing this anime for a long time and when I finally got around to watching it, I was severely disappointed.

My reasoning behind wanting to watch it was that I felt disappointed with some new animes like One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100 which both had amazing first seasons and utterly disastrous and disappointing second seasons.

I figured watching an anime from the 2000-2007 era will be more to my liking, but I was wrong about Getbackers.

The characters are really cringy - one is very dumb and gullible and the other is edgy and brooding, acting like a badass all the time. The jokes ... have aged poorly and the supporting characters are even worse.

The girl who uses perfumes to attack is the most idiotic character I've seen in a long, long time. The way she holds her perfume bottles between her fingers in order to make it cool and badass is the cringiest thing of all.

And just when I thought she is the biggest joke of a character, comes along a character that fights with a bell and a thread... come on... I don't even have an idea how to rip on this...

If the creator was trying to create characters with very unique weapons and fighting styles, he failed. If he was out of ideas what to create new characters that he looked at objects around his desk for ideas, like:

- Oh, look! A perfume bottle, OK a character that fights with perfumes, done!
- Oh, look! A thread, OK a character that fights with threads, done!
- Oh, look! A flower pot, OK a character that fights with flower pots, done!
- Oh, look! A pencil eraser, OK a character that fights with pencil erasers, done!
- Oh, look! A sheet of paper, OK a character that fights with sheets of paper, done!


I read people saying that later on it gets better, but I pushed myself to watch 14 episodes... that's easily a short anime (12 episodes format) and I still hated it, so I can't imagine what I have to push myself through in order to get to the good part... and then people say it ends abruptly just as it gets really good...

Nah, thanks, keep your Getbackers, I have more valuable things to use my time for than watch this dumpster fire of a "story".

I have regretfully come to the conclusion that Get Backers is not worth the frustration that continuing to watch it would invoke. If you simply watch a show, but you don't sit there asking questions to yourself like why? and how?, then I can see how you might be able to enjoy this, but every episode I found myself loathing it more and more until I said no more. I don't typically write reviews on anime I haven’t finished, but this is definitely one I have quite a few things to say about despite the fact that I have no desire to continue watching it. ... There are so many various issues with this anime, I almost don't know where to start, but you see, just before I dropped Get Backers, I had a realization, and that realization is the perfect place to start...

During my time in college studying creative writing, there was a professor whose teachings I took very much to heart, and perhaps the most important thing he ever taught me is the most basic and primal thing to keep in mind in any story, and it's the author’s job to convey this clearly to the reader. What is it? Well, In any given scene, for a reader to truly have interest in the scene they have to know what the character wants, and this doesn’t just apply to standalone scenes; we also need to know what that character wants on a grand scale within the story. The reason there are so many shonen leads who shout “Im gonna be king of the _____(pirates, ninjas, heroes, wizards, shamans, etc.)” is because it gives the readers a point in which to understand that all of the MC's motivations in any scene are ultimately going to boil down to how well that can relate to what the characters goal is. It gives you expectations, but also a point from which a reader can grow attached to a character.

However, this isn't simply important because of the above mentioned reasons, it is also important because it is the first of three very important questions, all of them together being; “What do they want?” “What happens if they don’t get it?” And “What now?”. The first tells you what the characters goal is and gives you a point of attachment, the second shows you the stakes and gets you invested, and the last tells where we go from here, giving you something to look forward to. Ultimately, without answering that first question, you can’t answer the two after, because if we don’t know what the character wants, then we don’t understand what is at stake if they don’t get it, and we have no idea where the story will go next, because there is no clear goal.

This is where Get Backers goes terribly astray. 27 episodes in and I can’t tell you what either of the main characters want on a grand scale. Basically they want to complete whatever job they have so they can get paid, and why do they want money? Because they need to eat. I know, it sounds so terribly interesting, doesn’t it? Joking aside, let’s use Naruto as an example of how you make it actually interesting. You see, Naruto isn’t interesting because Naruto wants to become the hokage, but because what Naruto wants isn’t really to be hokage. What Naruto actually wants is to be respected, and the most respected person he knows of is the hokage, so that becomes his goal. A goal should say something about the person whose goal it is. The goal of making money so you can fill your belly isn’t at all interesting, if it were, we would be more focused on doing that in our own lives than watching anime. Since they suck at making money, this “goal” could technically work within a comedy, but the comedy is lackluster at best, and given the general narrative--comedy definitely doesn’t seem to be the focus. No, the focus seems to be on weirdly attempting to force all the character to tie something about the current situation back to christianity, but I’ll hold off on that til later. The truth is that this story simply lacks focus, and its why I never felt rooted in the main characters; Get Backers never gave me a reason to get attached. Unfortunately, despite the fact that this entire truth is a massive tragedy in its own right, it truly is just the tip of the iceberg.

The second biggest issue in Get Backers is repetition. The second biggest issue in Get Backers is repetition. Sorry, I promise I'll only do that once, but that is an accurate example of how stupidly repetitive this show is. Basically every character has some clearly supernatural, heavily unexplained ability, and when they fight someone they will always reveal some “super cool” ultimate technique that everyone will talk about like its the most powerful thing ever only for it to be defeated 0.2 seconds later. 90% of the villains are “friends from the past” (a past that we are never shown, and simply hear about it random snippets, so we have no real attachment to any of it). These “villains" then get their asses kicked by the MCs, so then they decide to be good guys again, and the main characters are just fine with that even though one of them built an atomic bomb and threatened to kill a ton of people. Also, if someone’s trying to count the uses of Ban’s Jagon (I think that’s how you spell it, don't know, don't care) they’re always going to get the count wrong, and don’t get me started on how stupid it is that every character not only seems to know about his ability, but the inner-workings of his ability, information that you would think you would only share with your closest of acquaintances.

Get Backers is just an endless parade of the most cliche methods of trying to hype up a scene, hell, there’s literally a fight that gets put on hold for a bunch of dialogue, and then out of nowhere, one of the characters thinks to himself “he’s gonna use his ultimate attack now” and then the other guy was like, “I'm gonna use my ultimate attack now!”. I wish this was a one time thing, but its really not. All the fights have the exact same flow, and they use the same tricks again and again to try to make everything seem a lot more impressive than it is. There was literally a guy who went on and on about how he mutated his body to be unbreakable, and then literally got broken a whopping 5 seconds later, and the examples just go on and on. And as much as I would love to sit here and continue to list them, I'm thinking its about time to wrap this up, so ill leave you my scores and short breakdown for each:

Story: 2, Why a two? I mean, I made it pretty clear that there is no overarching narrative to be invested in, so how did it get more than a single point? Well, while the overarching plot was nonexistent, there were a few almost decently written scenes. Also, to finish the mini-tangent I tried to start earlier, Get Backers likes to think its super symbolic, so it constantly has characters attempt to relate things back to christianity. My “favorite” example of this is every time they talk about there being a traitor, they refer to the traitor as a “Judas” (the apostle who betrayed Jesus), and if that’s how we are supposed to do symbolism, then I clearly need to go back to college.

Art: 5, The art is nothing to write home about, but I'm pretty sure you could've figured that out by looking at the cover image for Get Backers. Ginji is also randomly drawn chibi and I wanted to die every time not just because how his chibi-self is drawn, but also because he becomes 10x cringier in this state.

Sound: 3, The dub is bad; there’s really not a better word for it. There wasn’t a single voice that I thought was good, and the sound quality wasn’t very good either. The first OP is the worst OP of all time, but the second one was actually kind of decent. EDs were fine, but OSTs weren’t memorable at all.

Characters: 2, You know the difference between flat and dynamic characters? Well, Get Backers doesn’t, and in case you don’t either, a flat character doesn’t change, but a dynamic character does. A flat character might sound worse, but it's not inherently worse, the two types are just used differently. In most stories, the less screen time a character has, the more likely they are to be a flat character, and the more screen time they have the more likely they are to be a dynamic character. In Get Backers its flipped. All the the MCs are flat as hell, and the closest thing we have to dynamic characters, tend to have little to no screen time. Ultimately no one has any real character development in this anime, but as mentioned before, most villains are “friends from the past” so we have “character development” because they were bad guys, but now they aren’t…. (If you think that’s character development, then idk why you’re reading an anime review, you’ll clearly be happy with anything). Also, there was actually a kind of interesting moment where a character realized she wasn’t a real person, but ya know, she was so unimportant that we really had no reason to care.

Enjoyment: 3, You’re probably surprised this isn’t a 1, but believe it or not, Get Backers had a few decent moments amongst the several hours of filth I watched. Not good enough to recollect, but hey, it took me 27 episodes to get to the point that I decided it was an unrecoverable dumpster fire, so it clearly wasn’t all bad.

Overall: 3, I went into Get Backers with mild expectations at best. With a score of 7.6 I thought, heck this might be kind of decent, and boy was I wrong. I have a weird habit of thinking about how i'll rate an anime while im still watching it, and the further I got into Get Backers the lower and lower this score kept getting. I was originally thinking about a 7 based on the first episode, but by the time I started writing this review, it had already dropped to a score of 4, but as I reflected more heavily throughout the course of writing this review, I realized even that was too generous. I should really hire the Get Backers so I can get back all the time I wasted on this anime.