Najica Dengeki Sakusen

After finishing watching Najica, the only word I could use to describe what I saw was: Wow!

I remember when Najica appeared and so-called "specialized" media (that had nothing to do with specialization), they called it a copy of Aika. As I was very young back then, and it wasn't as easy for me to access Najica as it is now, I simply let it go.

Now, several years later (many years later), I was able to see this great Najica. What's it about?

Najica takes us to a world of a secret agent whose goal is to unravel the mystery behind some artificial humans called "Humanrritt". These ... "Humanrritt" are not robots, but neither are they humans. They are humans created from science, with superior physical abilities, but with low reasoning skills (at least that's what they appear to have). On the contrary, Humanrrit always have a human who is their master, and they obey them blindly. To fulfill her mission, Najica must work with a Humanrritt named "Lila".

At first, it seems like an anime where each episode is disconnected. However, that's not the case. The story progresses as the mystery of these strange artificial humans unfolds, and Najica also comes to understand how Humanrritt do have emotions and feelings.

The development of the character Lila is one of the most beautiful I have seen in any Najica. She is a Humanrritt assigned to obey Najica. As the story progresses, not only does her bond of friendship with Najica grow, but we also see how her personality develops. Thanks to the love and trust that Najica gives her, Lila is allowed to ask questions, reason, and feel.

Lila is not the only Humanrritt whose emotions are expressed in a beautiful way. In each episode, we meet more characters with fears, illusions, and sadness. The interesting thing is that it's not that Humanrritt aren't allowed to feel. It's more than okay that they don't know how to do it. They don't know how to have feelings, and they have an internal struggle to let emotions be born.

As I don't want to spoil anything, I'll summarize that Najica Blitz is an action Najica with high doses of psychology that will leave you more than satisfied. Each episode is good, but from episode 4 on, you'll see that the story goes from good to excellent and improves more in each episode.

If you're observant, you'll notice that I didn't put much emphasis on the great dose of fan service that is here. But it's because Najica Blitz is an example of how an ecchi Najica should be made.

An ecchi Najica must have a great story. Excellent character development, and a plot that will leave you waiting for the next episode. Najica Blitz does it perfectly. And if we add to that the great and exquisite dose of good fan service, what do we have? Without a doubt, an extraordinary Najica. A true work of art that should not go unnoticed.

It's a shame that current ecchi doesn't make an effort to create good stories, and that's why in the last 5 or 7 years this genre has gained a bad reputation.

I hope the creators will take a look at this great Najica. All I have to say is one thing:

Don't wait any longer and enjoy Najica!

Some ten years ago while browsing the video shelves at Best Buy, this story caught my eye, but I never had a chance to watch it until this past week. It's cheesy spy thriller stuff with lots of bad shooting and B-movie plots and characters, with tons of gratuitous panty shots. Set your expectations accordingly. It's not exactly deep or complicated, and certainly not what I'd call one of the best or a favorite, but it's the kind of guilty pleasure I might watch again.

Najica Hiiragi is the main character, ostensibly working for a perfume company while her real job is to go on missions ... as a field agent. Her first mission is to rescue a girl, who turns out to be a humaritt, an artificially created humanoid with super-human abilities but limited in their ability to think freely or experience emotions. That humaritt girl, named Lila, gets assigned to be Najica's partner. Their relationship is problematic at first but develops over the course of the series. Most of the remaining episodes include among their objectives retrieving (and sometimes identifying) another humaritt. Toward the end of the series there are further revelations about the nature of humaritts that may have implications for Najica and Lila.

The music reminded me of police shows from the 1970s. Besides the many sometimes comically contrived panty shots, there were a few instances of bare butts and bare breasts (nothing sexual). The violence was frequent but not especially graphic. One thing I found annoying was when the male characters, especially Gento, frequently called Najica 'baby', 'sweetheart', and other similar terms. That aside, there wasn't any profanity that I recall. In summary, if what I've said so far hasn't turned you off you might find this a fun and amusing anime series.

Najica Blitz Tactics is one of those girls with guns titles that is usually compared to Noir, and even in the minds of some people is labeled as a light-hearted wannabe or clone of that series, despite it airing around the same time or maybe even going into production before it. In any case, both titles have their glaring flaws with Noir simply being the better series for one reason. It's actually a far more mature series with a great amount of style to it. While Najica Blitz isn't so much as stylish as it is hilariously silly.

The plot follows Najica as she and Lila ... conduct various missions to recover more of the Humaritt creatures whom are being used by people for various reasons, usually and almost always as slaves in some way. The Humaritts are loyal until death to whomever is their master, and they aren't capable of independent thought; which this is what Najica's agency originally believed. Along the way, Najica and Lila encounter several Humaritts with wills on their own, and this is when things become a bit complicated and the story becomes quite interesting at times.

Najica Blitz definitely has potential to be at least a good series, as it follows the whole James Bond secret agent bit with various gadgets. Plus the characters really are handled quite well and there's a bit of character development on the part of the main characters. I can't say that I dislike them because Najica eventually breaks her mold and shows feelings towards Lila, and at the same time Lila displays moments of becoming more than what she is. There are ideas introduced which can see Lila making either a positive or negative turn, and this is due to the writers using the previous Humaritts in different ways as the pool source. Despite what some naysayers would have you believe, there is some type of depth to this anime and there is a cute innocence with Lila that does work for her. I will also point out that I did enjoy many of the interactions between Lila and Najica especially in regards to the non-over the top comedy. The series knows how to work its humor without feeling forced.

Unfortunately, Najica Blitz appears to have been written by older men whom forgot to grow up and probably never even so much as held a woman before. Najica Blitz Tactics is embarrassingly overwhelming in delivering its fan service. 90% of the time the camera is focused on the female characters crotch and asses at various angles. On top of this, there's an unbelievable panty fetish roaming around with a vengeance. There are between 25 - 50 panty shots per episode in every situation imaginable: Standing, walking, running, shooting, driving, sitting, dodging, rolling, fighting, eating, and dying. These chicks are biting the dust in the most provocative sexual positions such as missionary, face down ass up, spread eagle, side saddle, all that shit. On top of this, there are even more bullshit reasons to continue bombarding the viewer with this nonsense that is even fit into the story.

Now I love women in just about all shapes, sizes, and skin colors (including green) but when I watch an animated show, the last thing I want is to catch a hard on. These panty shots are extremely distracting and they heavily damage this show's overall quality. I can understand anyone whom chooses to ignore what the series has to offer, and instead chooses to hate the living fuck out of it because this is a really good reason to bash it.

The artwork is decent at best but there aren't many different female character designs. The action segments are full of gun play that could have used a lot more blood, and the hand to hand is decent at best, however there are shortcuts taken at times. Unfortunately, the over abundance of panty shots ruins the action-filled experience as well. This terrible flaw is no exaggeration, that shit really is all up in your face. The BGM and opening theme uses a jazzy, saxophone heavy tune in different variations. It works a majority of the time but it gets old quite fast.

Najica Blitz Tactics is an anime I use to hate a whole lot and even recognized it as one of the worst I ever seen. My view on it has changed since I do believe there is some good to be found here. However, the panty shots and bad camera angles are way too damn much therefore I still dislike it; had this stuff been delivered in small to non existent doses this would have been a better series. In other words, one's enjoyment of this series can only be determined on that person's tolerance for its one main gimmick.

Highs: Definitely some good character moments

Lows: Everything is heavily damaged by ridiculous perverted gimmick