Najica Blitz Tactics is an episodic action series from 2001. It's about secret agent Najica on missions to capture humaritts who are basically androids. On her spare time she drives around in her totally rad Shelby Cobra looking car while getting the yuri stare from her co-workers at her perfumer cover job. Also her partner Lila is a humaritt. Their interactions and relationship is really the X factor that kept me interested in the show. With Lila's robotic literal mindedness being fertile ground for some pretty funny scenes. I'd say the humor is kind of low key though. And I think tagging it as a comedy is a mistake. It's more of a comedic relief kind of thing. I think the show is very funny when it wants to be though. And I'm sure there's a share of the viewership who'd think the show is at times unintentionally funny. Your mileage may vary I guess. On the way there's the tried and true "learning about human emotions" and "what does it mean to be human" themes sort of sprinkled in. Like a diet Ghost in the Shell of sorts. Or if Philip K. Dick ate alot of pocky and owned a bunch of body pillows. It's not exactly super profound, although it has it's moments of surprising depth. And it elevates what would otherwise be very shlocky into what is in my mind a pretty watchable and entertaining show. Against all odds it won me over by going above and beyond the call of duty for a show of this caliber.
It has an excessive amount of fan service however. Much like Agent Aika which was also made by the same studio. You won't find any female characters wearing pants or shorts that are comfy and easy to wear here. Short skirts is what's on the menu with more panty shots than gunshots. Leaving most casual observers to dismiss the show offhand as ecchi trash like say, Queen's Blade. And it goes without saying that it attracts certain cynical viewers watching shows in bad faith. Perhaps to pad their MyAnimeList, for ironic chuckles or to leave scathing reviews on anime websites. Who can say? But since the show is pretty upfront about it you have only yourself to blame if you get upset about it. Aika was a better looking protagonist than Najica though. Since the 90's perfected the mature office lady look. Just saying.
This was made by a Studio Fantasia ( Another casualty of the travesty of a year that was 2016 when they filed for bankruptcy. RIP. ). A bunch of jobbers with a production credits list mostly reading like a who's who of ignored anime. They presumably made this with a fistful of yen and pocket lint as it's production budget. Reeking of sweatshop animation labor, cup noodles for dinner and Korean outsourcing. Something that's not helped by the fact that it was made in the early 00's. The awkward transition to digital art churning out some of the very worst looking shows in all of anime history. As a result the show looks pretty bad by default. Character designs are pretty uninspired fare mostly just distinguishable by hair color and style. ( Shoutout to Najica rocking what I'd describe as some sort of mullet. ) And when the animators get lazy, or outsourced. Seeing as how there's some suspiciously Korean sounding names in the credits, it's a truly horrific sight to behold. You're in for some occasional QUALITY in other words. But occasionally some animation slave pit overseer cracked the whip to produce closeups with actual shading and semi-decent animation in fights on special occasions. Overall though the show looks terrible. But that's par for the course in that dark age of animation. And those panties are never off-model I guess. You got to give them that. If only it was made a few years before or after though...
Oh. And the jazzy soundtrack is also pretty rad. Not once did I skip the OP or ED. The ED in particular ended up being one of my favorite of all time to be honest. A definite highlight of the series for sure.
In the end I liked it. Check your cynicism at the door and maybe you'll find that it's a pretty decent show. Who cares if people judge you online in your taste of Mongolian motion drawings. They're probably watching worse stuff than you are anyway. And pour out your 40' or Mt. Dew for ADV while you're at it. Rest in peace you guys.
