Synopsis
What comes and goes within that innocent pair of eyes? He is Shirase Akira, a rouge, freelance computer programmer, who possesses a brilliant intellect. While he is well known as a legendary hacker, very few people understand the true side of him. What does he want, what has he gained, and what has he seen in the infinite outskirts of the internet? What has he witnessed within the virtual and real images of his code? That story will now be told.
Review
Battle Programmer Shirase, or BPS for short, first aired in October 2003 through January 2004. BPS is directed by Hayashi Hiroki, who also managed Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040, and produced by Anime International Company, which has an english site available at http://www.aicanime.com/ The official BPS website can be found at http://www.anime-int.com/works/bps/index.html
For six screen shots and a mini preview hop on over to http://www.jascii.net/newanime/jascii.php?jascii_view=108
The Breakdown
It is amazing to conceptualize a person hacking to access a satellite then overloading the power infrastructure of a 100-story building, igniting gas lines until it abruptly explodes. It took a supercomputer to do so but even a cell phone now can be the medium. Anything electronic is no longer safe.
» The Pros
Battle Programmer Shirase is a title given to Shirase Akira, the protagonist of the series. His sister comments that no matter how old he gets he is still such a child. In Misao's words, he is like an older brother who helps her with homework and listens to whatever is on Misao's mind. Misao's personality lifts and she becomes more talkative in the presence of Shirase compared to her shy self at school. Misao is never lonely because they look after each other. But more often, he agrees to everything Misao says.
Another acronym the series uses is MPS, which stands for the Miura Programming School, a computer vocational school that Shirase once attended. Moreover, there is a person who they refer to as MPS, whose identity remains a mystery. What's missing is UPS (bad joke, gomen). The antagonist is the leading cyber terrorist group known as Callatech Corporation (not to be confused with Caltech - California Institute of Technology ^_^ ) run by a man who calls himself the King of America.
|
|
» The Cons
The defenders of the Clinton Presidency used to say that as long as he could run the government smoothly, what he does with his spare time is his own personal business. The same is true with Shirase Akira. He is able to find the address, gender, income, name, and relatives of any virus author and disclose them to the whole world with a single keystroke. However, when he is not on the job, Shirase is guilty of pedophilia. Not only that, he is committing incest, Misao is his niece. How do his employers respond when they catch him in new sexual positions? They didn't see anything (live studio audience laughs). Anime is not to be taken seriously. It is a good comedy element, the same lines repeated in every episode coupled with a backdrop of a spiraling universe condensing to a cloudy but blue sky. The image of a crying boy locked in a phone booth. I'm just morally against that sort of thing. That is all.
|
» Animation
9.0 |
Major Yoriko Yunoki of the US Navy, the young genius hacker, reminds me of Nene from Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040. Shirase's employers all have the same facial expression. Amano Misao is not the same girl as the one from Pretty Sammy although they are both shy at school, not all that well in sports, and their fathers work overseas. I like how they made the King of America fat. And the transvestite, dear Lord. |
|
|
» Sound
9.0 |
BPS possesses a romantic opening and ending. I'm going to start in reverse order. The Ending theme Pure Enough begins off with La la la la la la la la la la la la la la | La la la la la la la la la la la, like a cha-cha. It describes the feeling of a girl in love. You can think of it as Misao's song pronounced towards Shirase Akira. I love you more and more. The Opening theme Suddenly is sung by Naomi Amagata. The title refers to a sudden heartbeat but the mood is the opposite. It is how love is paralyzing so that a person does not want to hurt the other but ends up doing so anyway. She gathers all her strength to ask him for forgiveness because deep down inside she really loves him. It's always fun saying this. Oro? Ara ara. Yare yare. Kero kero. -Nya. -Gemma. Nyu. Uguu~ A new one to add to the list: Mau! Mau! Battle Programmer Shirase utilizes a narrator. The only other anime series that comes off the top of my head with a narrator is Samurai Pizza Cats. Usually we see this only in dramas or a play write. |
|
» Story
8.5 |
First off, the episode arrangement is strange. Each installment of BPS is only 12 minutes long. You can think of these as little chapters or parts because it takes three of them to equal one episode storywise. So for season I, there are 5 episodes composed of 15 parts total (3 * 5 = 15). Makes sense? **Update** The DVD release will combine the chapters as the episodes where intended to be. It would be most unfortunate for GANSIS and AIC not to come out with a second season. The conclusion only leaves the anime viewer with a string of unanswered questions: What is the Ultra Network? What role will Kawahara Saki play in the following episodes? In the opening, there are two dark silhouettes. If you visit the BPS website, they are revealed. The girl on the left had a short cameo drinking tea at the beginning of episode 5. The man on the right is principal Miura. We can assume that this person named Mika is MPS, but what is he like face-to-face? At the end of the final chapter is a man with glasses sitting. Is he Mika? Who are the two women behind him? Someone laughs saying next time I want to give you more. This can only mean that there will be more challenges ahead for Shirase. Will Misao fall victim in Season II? The narrator keeps referring to the anime series as how it all began. Meaning the events were all a flashback and the real story, the present situation, is about to start with Season II. Please stay tuned. |
|
|
» Recommend
7.0 |
The DVD box set for Battle Programmer Shirase is scheduled to be released on March 24, 2004. Priced at ?15,000 ($137.50). The decision to come out with a BPS Season II will be based upon DVD sales. |
|
» Other Information
Language: Japanese
Extras: None that I know of.
Package: Left Shirase Akira and right Amano Misao. Where's the logo? |
Saturday, May 30, 2026
