Director: Katsushi Sakurabi
Starring: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Blake Shepard, Yui Ogura, Hilary Haag, Ai Kayano, Brittney Karbowski, Daisuke Ono, Illich Guardiola, Hitomi Nabatame, Shelley Calene-Black, Kouki Miyata, Greg Ayres,
Running Time: 320 minutes
Certificate: 12
Meet the NEET detectives. No, that isn’t using NEET as an adjective; NEET stands for Not in Education, Employment, or Training and has become a popularised term throughout Asia. As such a term may suggest, we follow a number of teenagers who have thrown off the shackles of everyday life in order to solve crimes. With such a premise you’d be forgiven for expecting some social commentary dealing with the unemployment problem, or a lack of drive for today’s youth. Unfortunately, these elements are nowhere to be seen and there’s a distinct sense of glamorisation as far as their lifestyle goes. It’s also questionable as to why the characters need to be NEETs in the first place, as they have long stretches of absence from the show which could be explained by a simple “I was at school.” This means that many viewers will automatically form allegiances and connections to the characters present. Hardworking folk may look down on these renegade layabouts, while certain members of society may celebrate their devil may care attitude.
No matter what camp you’re in though, you shouldn’t be too persuaded by the initial set-up thanks to our protagonist, Fujishima (Matsuoka/Shepard). He’s a hardworking student who also has a job, separating him from the other detectives in the agency. He is our platform into this world, as he stumbles across one of their cases one day and accidentally gets involved. He shares the limelight with Alice (Ogura/Haag), a young girl obsessed with her cuddly toys and finds it difficult to leave her room. Unlike Alice in Wonderland, she ain’t going anywhere, but her charming and perculiar nature offers us both a humorous but also damaged look at a smart for uncomfortable girl. She is a contradiction, as her toys betray her maturity despite the fact she talks like a cryptic adult.
The two of them join forces in order to uncover a series of mysteries, but just because these are kids involved, doesn’t make this a Scooby Doo party show. The cases are often very dark and include themes such as prostitution, drugs, and suicide. The ending is particularly grim at parts, but also uses such moments to explore the nature of its characters. The show is quite progressive in a way, but doesn’t look at the connection between unemployment, unhappiness, drugs, suicide and prostitution. Surely the characters could have formed some link that made them question their work shy ways? HEAVEN’S MEMO PAD isn’t afraid to delve into realms of comedy though, and even makes room for baseball and boob themed episodes. However, don’t worry, only one character has large breasts (which is good going for an anime).
HEAVEN’S MEMO PAD is a very enjoyable show with rich animation. The colours and details caught my eye from the very beginning. Beautiful recreations of Japanese city life, along with bright cherry blossoms work things out for the best in an aesthetic sense, while subtle touches such as a focus on body language to convey emotions add a delicate charm. The jumps between drug induced attempted suicides and bouncing breasts winning baseball matches are as conflicting as they sound, but on an episode to episode basis, you’re bound to enjoy the majority of the wacky adventures. If you can ignore the whole lazy, tax dodging, element.
HEAVEN’S MEMO PAD is released on DVD on 28th October via MVM.
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