Similar to "Solty Rei", "Kiddy Grade" is a 2000s science-fiction anime produced by the rather unpopular anime studio Gonzo, one that you are unlikely to have heard of unless you're a big fan of sci-fi or Gonzo, with me just happening to come across the series by complete coincidence. While it does ultimately suffer from many of the same problems as most other anime from the studio, "Kiddy Grade" nevertheless has enough originality and strengths that make it a likeable anime, and I am not ashamed to admit that I enjoyed the series quite a bit.
Story (6.5/10):
Set in a distant future where humanity has colonized many planets across the galaxy (as if any of us haven't heard THAT a thousand times before), "Kiddy Grade" revolves primarily around the Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs (or GOTT, for short), a universal police force created to fight back against the crime rate that has grown just as much as the technology used by humanity has. Within this organization, there is a special (and secret) branch known as the ES Force (ES standing for "Encounter of Shadow-work"), consisting of twelve physically young people who each possess some kind of special power and operate in teams of two. Two such agents are our main characters, Éclair and Lumiere, whom the story follows as they go on various missions for the GOTT, and gradually learn that there is more to the organization they're working for than meets the eye.
Gonzo anime tend to be very slow-paced in their first half before picking up in the second, and "Kiddy Grade" is no exception to this, with the first half of the series following a largely episodic format that doesn't really provide anything apart from character introductions (which tend to happen one after another without the show taking the time to develop the characters) and some world-building. Notably, Éclair has lost the majority of her memories, but this isn't even revealed until the fourth episode, and it doesn't even become truly relevant until the midway point of the series. In general, the series has a lot of plot points that, while fairly interesting on their own, don't really go all that well together, with many of the connections between them being superficial at best and non-existent at worst.
As for the individual episodes of the series, they tend to range between good, decent and just plain bad. Most of the good episodes are near the end of the series, while most of the bad episodes are towards the start, so the series has a definite "gets better as you go" vibe to it. Unfortunately, this is a double-edged sword, as it's highly unlikely that you'll be able to get into the series if you're someone who judges a show by its first few episodes, but you will be rewarded if you're somebody with lots of patience. One more thing I should mention is that the ending, while bad by any means, didn't really leave me satisfied, with all of the events of the series ultimately not changing that much in the grand scheme of things, though of course I won't spoil anything.
Art & Animation (7.5/10);
"Kiddy Grade"'s visuals are about the same level as I have come to expect from Gonzo, which is to say they are pretty average. The character models and environments are decently drawn, but there are plenty of rough edges to be found as well as plenty of conspicuous CG effects. Not to mention the series has a lot of gratuitous fanservice, with nearly all of the female characters being dressed in highly skimpy outfits because... reasons. This is especially jarring for the ones who are badass crimefighting superhumans, who you would think would be dressed in far more practical outfits. So like I said, the visuals are pretty average overall.
Sound & Dialogue (8.5/10):
"Kiddy Grade"'s soundtrack is surprisingly good. The opening and ending themes ("Memories of the Future" by Yuka and "Future" by Little Viking) are both very catchy songs that really fit the tone of the series, and there are quite a few good tracks that play during the episodes themselves. The voice acting, on the other hand, is a bit of a mixed bag. Colleen Clinkenbeard and Monica Rial (two of my favourite anime voice actors) star as the anime's lead duo, but this was at a very early stage in both of their careers and it shows. While Colleen Clinkenbeard does a great job as the cheerful-yet-badass Éclair, Monica Rial's performance as Lumiere is fairly monotone and overall can't even begin to compare to some of her later work. Beyond that, the voice acting tends to range from good to passable, with two of my personal favourite performances being Laura Bailey as Alv (using the same voice she uses for Lust in "Fullmetal Alchemist") and Dameon Clarke as Armblast. Admittedly, the dialogue is pretty bad in places, but overall the sound design stood out as my favourite part of the series.
Characters (7/10):
While Éclair and Lumiere both serve as the main characters of the series, Éclair is clearly the more dominant of the two. Personality-wise, she's cheerful, kind and dedicated to helping those in need, but also very rash, immature and unprofessional. Of course, that's not to say she isn't good at her job, because she definitely is. Her main weapon in combat is some special lipstick, which sounds ridiculous, but using it she's able to create a powerful whip to fight with, as well as unleash her massive strength by putting it on herself, though this does have the side effect of her not being able to control her strength when its on. She uses this in some surprisingly creative ways over the series, both to fight against enemies and in some cases even to prevent fights from breaking out, showing that while she may be childish, she's far from stupid. However, while amnesiac plots do generally intrigue me, Éclair's story ultimately falls on the weaker end of the spectrum, as it isn't really focused on all that much and never really results in her coming into any kind of conflict about herself. In fact, by the final arc of the series, the story isn't really about Éclair anymore, even if she is still the protagonist.
Second in importance is Éclair's partner, Lumiere, who despite her youthful appearance is by far the more mature and intelligent of the duo. On missions, she serves as the brains to Éclair's brawn, having no real fighting abilities but being able to hack into any piece of technology used in the setting. She's also much more refined and feminine than Éclair, and tends to be very critical of her partner's behaviour, to the point that calling out Éclair for her lack of elegance is practically her catchphrase. In general, it's shown in early episodes that Éclair and Lumiere's relationship isn't exactly phenomenal. They seem to care about each other, but during an episode where they have a rare day off, they don't want to spend it together. This is partially because they have conflicting tastes, but Éclair outright states that she would actually rather have one day away from Lumiere, with Lumiere being shown to have the same idea, implying that they would rather avoid each other if they can help it. Of course, just like any anime duo worth their salt, the two women do become a lot closer as the series goes on, and their initially distant relationship is revealed to make a lot of sense once Éclair's past is revealed. Sadly, there isn't all that much to Lumiere that I haven't already said, which isn't helped by her lack of emotional range, and compared to Éclair, she doesn't have much of a character arc, though I did like her overall.
As I mentioned above, the GOTT ES force employs a total of 12 people, each of whom have their own unique abilities, whether it's brining back the dead, being unaffected by gravity or controlling electricity. The problem is that none of the other ten agents are given anywhere near as much focus as Éclair or Lumiere, and while that is to be expected since those two are the main characters, the problem is that the series tends to introduce the other pairs of agents one after the other while rarely taking time to actually flesh them out. The episodic nature of the first half doesn't help with this, as there are a few episodes that don't feature any ES agents besides the main duo, so there's only so much time that is spent on the others, which ultimately results in several of their characters going in unexpected directions in the second half that, while interesting, are given very little build-up beforehand. Hell, I actually found myself liking Armblast (a mysterious man with a hidden agenda who often accompanies Éclair and Lumiere on their missions), GOTT's chief Eclipse and her secretary Mercredi more than I did any of the other ten ES agents. Overall, the cast of characters isn't exactly bad, but there's no denying that the series tends to barely focus on or develop a lot of them.
Enjoyment (7/10):
In the beginning, "Kiddy Grade" is a fairly lighthearted series despite the crime-ridden universe it takes place in, with Éclair and Lumiere almost always managing to solve the problem of the episode without any real consequences, though not all episodes are especially exciting. Furthermore, while the second half of the anime is certainly more interesting, it also deals with some surprisingly dark themes such as the problems faced by an immortal and the selfishness of the wealthy, as well as having some very dark endings. It never becomes too dark, but the depths it sinks to at times can nevertheless be pretty jarring.
Overall:
"Kiddy Grade" is currently over 20 years old, and sadly it's easy to see why people hardly even talk about it in passing anymore. The story is all over the place, many of the characters are underdeveloped, the art and animation are predictably average and the voice acting and script could definitely be sharper. Even the good parts of the series aren't really things you could find anywhere else, and unless you're a huge science fiction fan, I would definitely not call this series essential viewing.
Score:
6.5+7.5+8.5+7+7=36.5/50=7.3/10
