Strait Jacket

Sorcery was brought out of superstition and myth to be used in everyday life activities such as medicine, agriculture, and even the military. Society has grown quite fond of its use to the point were they have been completely dependant upon it. However, there's a penalty for constant use, which happens to be that the user would soon lose control of it, and transform into a blood thirsty monster murdering everyone in its path. Modern weapons are useless against the creatures, therefore to combat these creatures an organization named The Sorcery Management Bureau, deploys men clad in armor called Tactical Sorcerist. The armor is referred ... to as Mold, and it's equipped with heavy artillery supported by sorcery. Leiot Steinberg is a rogue sorcerist that takes up a job and finds himself working for the bureau; but his very presence aggravates another Mold user by the name of Isaac Hammond. -summary


Strait Jacket is supposedly the first part of a three episode OVA that was being released in 2007. Honestly, I don't know how true that is since things seemed pretty cleared up to me, and I haven't heard anything about a sequel or additional OVA's; but it's not like I actually care if this story continues anyway. In any case, this is pretty much another run o' the mill action anime title that is over-saturated with cliché characters, ie; main character searching for that "thing" to live for, chibi character who hardly ever strings together more than one complete sentence to maintain the mystery, all the way down to the predictable climax and the usual government conspiracies. I don't have a problem with the complete lack of originality as long as the story and plot is interesting. Unfortunately, outside of the visuals and brief action scenes, there is little to find interesting here.

We get to know quite a bit about the bland characters, and they do serve their purposes as plot devices but I really wasn't attached to any of them, and I couldn't care less where they were going either. Instead, I just couldn't wait for them to get there. I mean everyone was putting me to sleep. The plot really is very straight forward and easy to digest, but it's also predictable and badly written. It mainly follows Leiot either attempting to stop another rampage, tid bits on his past, or Isaac's development. There was a small attempt at mystery but it was completely wasted, because the writers decided to expose some of the facial hairs of the suspicious man hiding half way in the shadows, and there was only one person who looked like that. Great move.

One thing is for sure, and that is Strait Jacket is indeed pretty. There's some good attention to detail in the backgrounds concerning landscapes, and the camera work was pretty good. The animation is not as good as some fans are selling it though, but the 2D effects are very crisp with some really nice character designs of the mecha-like Mold units. There was also a few cool monster designs as well.

The demons do their fair share of slice and dice in nice detail, and they just so happen to provide the best action scenes. Sadly, the battles between them and the Mold were very boring to me. Yes, they did look nice with the pretty energy blasts that were made up of vibrant colors, but the lack of movement in a majority of the scenes, and overall poor choreography did nothing for me. I thought the soundtrack was good with a nice song at a few points, and I really didn't have a problem with the dub or sub; but I will point out Steven Blum's talents as a competent voice actor were wasted as Leiot. He completely lacked any type of range, which was obviously due to the stereotypical and bland character he was forced to handle.

Overall, this anime didn't impress me at all. I feel Strait Jacket will more than likely appeal to the very easy to please who love everything anime. After binging on so many action anime with far better fight scenes than this, I just can't recommend this to anyone serious about their anime. There are far better action titles out there to choose from.

Highs: Pretty much straight forward

Lows: Doesn't excel in any area

Straight Jacket is a short 1 hour-ish ova that is as simple and schlocky as it comes. It’s story takes place in some alternative universe where magic is used as an energy source for about everything. It doesn’t really delve into the world or the potential or ramification of using magic since most things in their world look mostly unchanged from ours, with the exception of demons pooping in now and again. It’s less interested in its world as it’s a means to set up action set pieces for the demons and the people who fight them, straight jackets.

In terms of a narrative the ... only good thing the show had going for it was that it was well structured despite being three episodes. Each episode had its own purpose with the first one setting up the world and characters, the second setting up more characters and conflict, and the final one being the resolution. The problem is that everything that is packed into it is pretty damn uninteresting. The characters of the show are as one-dimensional as they come with very little when it comes to character traits to make them interesting to watch. Some do have development and backstory, but nowhere near enough to make them anymore better. The antagonist of the show are just vapid that the person pulling the strings really has very little going for him. The plot of the show is just forgettable as its all just a means to set up more demon fights, and one of the characters finding out about who the antagonist is just comes of as too convenient.

The only thing holding this show up is the production value and even then it’s not so great. Almost everything just comes off as possible from the the character designs, the background and buildings, and even the demons. Yes the demons besides having as much body horror going for them as possible none of them are that memorable or unique despite their grotesqueness. The animation for the ova is also just ok when it comes to the battle sequences and the movement of the demons, but not that good that they bring awe to the viewer. The only part that i found worth noting in the visuals was the directing. While it wasn’t the best, it was interesting enough when it came to presenting certain scenes isally as a means so that they could animate less. In the sound department it mostly uninteresting and is the same as most shows, however the soundtrack for the show is pretty decent although it adds little to the narrative of the show.

This show is just plain as day shock. Not the best shlock to be released, but not the worst as well. It’s just a short watch for the promise of watching some demon death action because that’s what this show sets itself up to only do.

Strait Jacket is full of interesting ideas that other anime do better. There is nothing special about the series which spends most of its time fleshing out characters that bear no real relevance to the plot. The animation is dated, and while there are moments of action it is plagued by poor pacing and character development. Many of the characters have no purpose, there is no character growth, and nothing of real importance occurs during the runtime. The ending is predictable and unenjoyable. It seems like this OVA was created solely for fans of the light novel and no one ... else.

**SPOILER FREE**
As you'd expect from a three-episode ova, there isn't much story let alone character development. It has a standard plot with nothing special. The characters are bland and have almost no depth to them. The only depth we get is a sort of rivalry (?) between the protagonist and the deuteragonist that is cut extremely short at the end. Several questions are left unanswered. The action is run of the mill and often repetitive. Despite all of these factors, Strait Jacket actually has some redeeming qualities: The sound design, composing, and ending op choice is fantastic. I often found myself impressed with the sound ... effects and original music. Very jarring for such an obviously low budget OVA. So honestly, not worth the hour of your time. But worth noting the praiseworthy score by the composer Takeshi Yanagawa